Long Forgotten

Chapter 12) Domina

Celest POV-----
Ahh. There's the bell. My favorite part of the school day was over. I look over to my new friend, Rachel. This was her second year here and we were fellow Healers. There were quite a bit of Healers here. Around twenty. Arazu had gotten Esula and I some cool school satchels. I stuffed everything I got today in there. "Bye Rachel!" I tell Rachel as I walk out the door. "I hope we'll be together in another class!"
"See ya, Celest!" Rachel replied. After I got out into the hallway, I took a look at my schedule. Mrs. Golm Mattik. Magic History. I don't hate magic history, but I would much rather take actual magic lessons. Well, better than school subjects. "Room 106, Room 106," I muttered as I stared at the numbers on the doors. "104, 105, 106!" Room 106. Magic History I. Mattik. I opened the door to reveal almost twice as many people in my other class. This is gonna be a long day.
Time Skip----- Lunch-----
Diiiiiing! The bell sang. Yes! Finally! This class is so boring and it's finally lunch time! All the students rush out and I grab all my papers. I have to search for Esula and Rachel. Maybe Esula made a friend. I didn't really make any in Mrs. Mattik's class. I slip past the crowd and search for Esula's magic history class. Hmm. 284.. Found it! Students were still streaming out. Once the door was clear, I peeked inside. Esula was talking to another girl while packing her things up. Yay! We both made a friend on the first day of school! Soon, Esula and her friend made their way out and I hid beside the door outside. Her friend noticed me and stopped, but I put my finger to my mouth and she turned back around. I snuck behind Esula and poked her tickle spot. She shrieked and covered her mouth. I started giggling. This never gets old. "Celest!" she says happily and angrily at the same time. I join Esula and her friend and we walk toward the cafeteria.
"What's up? Who's this?" I say looking at the girl with light blue colored hair.
"Neogi. Neogi Guddnuyser. I'm an Ice Empress," Neogi answers for Esula.
"Oh, cool! You're both empresses! I'm Esula's younger sis, Celest!" I tell Neogi.
Neogi looked confused for a bit. "You two look nothing alike, sorry if that offended you in any way..," she said slowly.
Esula laughed a bit, "Nope! Not at all! We get that a lot."
Soon, we reached the cafeteria. We were a bit late, so it was packed.
"Wanna eat outside?" I suggested to Esula and Neogi.
"Are we allowed to do that?" Neogi questioned. Oh. So she's also a new student, too. Cool!
I answered Neogi, "I actually have no idea." Suddenly, I spot Rachel looking for a place to sit with a tray in her hands. I wave to her and she finally sees me and walks over. I turn to Esula and Neogi. "This is Rachel Yal. She's a second year and my new friend. We're both Healers," I introduce Rachel to them. I point at Esula, "This is Esula, my pretty sis I told you about earlier. And this is her friend, Neogi... Gui...?"
"Guddnuyser," Neogi helped me out.
They shook hands. "Nice to meet ya, Rachel," Esula and Neogi say.
"Likewise," Rachel responds.
"So," I say, breaking the silence, "Rachel, we were deciding where to eat and were wondering if we're allowed to eat outside."
Rachel answers quickly, "Yep, you just have to stay in the clearing behind the school or at the picnic tables on the side." She sounded rather anxious.
"Why can't we eat outside in the front?" Esula says tilting her head toward the glass doors and fancy tables out in the front.
Rachel suddenly leans in, "Because the strongest third year eats there. She's probably the strongest student in the entire school. You don't want to mess with her. Well, actually, it's her friend that scares everyone away. I think she's actually nice, but her friend keeps everyone away.. Let's just eat in the clearing in the back." Rachel turned and headed toward the back. Everyone followed her.
"Just how powerful do you think she is? I've seen plenty of powerful mages already. She's strong enough to scare even them away," Esula whispers to me across Neogi.
Neogi suddenly lights up. "Hey! What if it's Folia? Folia's really powerful! She has plenty of friends that can scare people away! She's also really nice!" Neogi whisper-screams.
Rachel suddenly stops in her tracks. She forces out some words. "No," she whispers. "It's not Folia. Domina intimidates even Folia."
I had a blank look on my face. "D-domina?" I stuttered out. It sounded scary.
"Her nickname. No one except the teachers know her real name. And the teachers all call her Domina," Rachel explained.
"What? No one can beat Folia! She's the strongest, kindest mage in the world!" Neogi bursts out. Good thing were almost at the door outside.
"Wrong. Folia uses charm magic that she inherited from her mother in addition to being an empress. People she selects and certain species aren't affected. Empresses are supposed to be affected, but you don't seem hypnotized. That means that she chose you."
Esula looked a bit confused, but then spoke clearly, "She said something like 'rather feisty one this time' when we crossed paths. Does that mean anything?"
Rachel opened the back doors, "I don't know. Let's just eat lunch."
Aaand that's when Esula and I didn't pack lunch this morning and didn't have lunch money. Uh oh. She and I shared a worried glance. Grrrruu. My stomach grumbled.
Neogi and Rachel realized that we didn't have lunch. Rachel suggested, "Wanna borrow lunch money today?" Esula and I aren't fans of borrowing money. We just find it uncomfortable.
Just as I was about to decline Rachel's offer, Esula piped up, "Nope. We're fine. Hey Celest do you think we can find Arazu and pay off the money by working at home?"
I brightened, "Esula, you're a genius! Let's go find her!"
Esula and I got up to dash back into the cafeteria but Neogi called out, "Wait, who's Arazu?"
I explained quickly, "She's a little older than Esula and she and her friend are taking care of us for the time being. We can take care of their place for money so we're gonna ask to borrow some lunch money."
Without waiting for an answer, Esula and I dashed out of the clearing and into the school, to look for Arazu.
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~Next~ Chapter 13) Who Are You?