Adelaide (Summoner Fan Fiction)

Chapter 3: Meeting

Adelaide wasn't intending to eat, she only told Fletcher and the servant she would so she could leave the room. She looked back to the wave of second years approaching her, she swiftly moved away, twirling as she did so. Her velvety, dark brunette hair flowed gracefully behind her.

She watched them all go by, jealous of their full night of sleep. Celtore could feel her anger and snarled at the second years, but he was too small to make a noticeable difference to the echoes of discussion from the zombie warlocks.

Adelaide bowed her head so no one could see her, hiding her sparkling, crystal blue eyes. She held her finger up and the wyrdlight got sucked back into her finger, Celtore raised his head as he felt his power refill again. Adelaide continued to stare at the floor until the rest of the second years marched to the banquet, which anticipated the arrival of it's devourers.

Once the number of second years had disintegrated into nothing, Adelaide made her way to her dorm. She heard the voice of the servant and Sir Caulder dissipate in the distance, she ran up the stairs to get to her room before anyone else saw her.

Adelaide creeped up the stairs, she scowled at Celtore to warn him not to make a sound. Celtore cowered and held his head down in shame, but Adelaide cheered him up by rubbing her fingernails under his chin, he closed his eyes in content.

Adelaide continued to climb the many stairs, it was all going well, until a small boy with a beard stood in front of her as she turned to walk up the next flight of stairs. She stopped, with her arms balancing her; she lost her balance a little with one foot in front of her, and one foot on her toes behind her. The boy stared at her, confused.

There was a short pause of silence between them both, until Adelaide could no longer keep herself up. She put her arms down and looked at the boy, disappointed in her failed attempt to be discreet. "What are you looking for, boy?" She asked him. "If it's a toy you're looking for, I'm afraid you've gone too far. The toy shop is far behind this building." She bent down to his height and spoke to him like a child, "You are in an academy. Do you need help finding your way out?"

The boy looked like he would shout, but Adelaide heard him sniff, "I'm not a child!" He exclaimed, "I'm a dwarf!"

Adelaide opened her mouth in shock, she felt absolutely terrible, "Oh, my. I am so sorry, I did not know." She held her hand to her mouth, she felt like crying herself, she had never insulted someone so much in her life. "We had not been given a head's up about your arrival. If I'd have known I-"

"You'd what? Not talk to me like a boy, yet scoff and tut at me for being a dwarf?" The dwarf got very defensive, and as he did so a rock creature walked out from behind his leg.

Celtore looked at the creature, puzzled, just as Adelaide had felt. She attempted to apologize to the dwarf again, "Look, I am so sorry. Please, let's make amends," She held out her hand, meeting Fletcher had given her new confidence in herself and the first years, maybe they wouldn't be so bad as the second years. "My name is Adelaide, but please, call me Addie." It was the first time she had given anyone permission to call her the name her father used to call her. Upon recalling the memory tears welled up in her eyes, but she held her emotions back.

The dwarf reluctantly shook Addie's hand, "My name is Othello." They smiled at each other, but their demons did not.

As Addie and Othello shook each other's hands, Celtore pulled at Addie's uniform to guide her away from the dwarf and his golem. Addie shook her right shoulder which forced Celtore to let go of her arm, but this made him cling tighter on her body. Addie moved her arm away at the pain and pulled Celtore off her shoulder, she couldn't work out what had gotten into him. She could feel he was jealous, but neither of them had felt this emotion before.

Addie held Celtore up above her head and Othello watched in anticipation for what ever she was going to do, "What has gotten into you?" She asked him. Of course this was a rhetorical question as Celtore had no way of answering her, but it made him think about what he had done.

Addie did have the option to infuse Celtore, but without him she would not be able to control herself if she ever felt like breaking down in tears. She understood that Celtore would still be with her but she needed to see him, she needed to hold him, she needed to be reminded that her father was still there. Somewhere.