Magi: The Goddess of Hope [DISCONTINUED]

💮 Scene Eleven: As Daylight Dies

The weather was pleasantly sunny and somewhat warm in Leam, with people running around doing errands, children laughing and playing, and the occasional spats and general arguments that occurred in the market.

Maka hated the noise outside her window.

A budding scholar at the age of eighteen, and one of the only five female scholars in Reim, Maka was a fish out of water in the capital city of Caesaria.

She was, as others would describe her (to bluntly put it), cold, untrusting, and had almost no brain-to-mouth filter.

The fact that she was friendless from a less privileged background didn't help matters either. The noble girls just stuck their noses up in the air and whispered, the maids made their associations with her as brief as possible, and--

...well, Maka, despite wanting to be alone, did not fancy to be lonely.

So she turned to literature, history books, folklore, and war records to ease her loneliness.

Right now, she was reading a War Journal as she skillfully sidestepped each passerby and kept the food she bought out of reach from pick-pockets.

Walking into the communal house (more like a mansion, really), Maka walked in relative silence to the kitchen, where she marked her spot in the book with a leaf. "Miss Lupa, I bought the things you asked for. They had a sale at half-price."

"Aye, bless your heart!" Lupa exclaimed heartily as she grinned, the scar stretching across her face rippling. "Here lass, have an apple. It's my thanks. Now run along, child!" 
With a small smile and a word of gratitude, Maka proceeded to take the apple and shine it on her tunic before taking a hungry bite.

Mmm. Tasty.

"Oh? Stealing from the kitchens, are we?"

Maka rolled her red eyes at the irritatingly high-pitched voice and walked away faster.

"Hey! You!"

Maka ignored the voice again and snorted in an unladylike fashion.

"Maka!"

Ah, drat. She was so close to turning the corner too. "Yes, Sister Capricia?"

Capricia Giada was a daughter of the Noble House of Giada, whose descent was said to be from a companion of Lady Scheherazade and Lord Pernadius Alexius himself.

Bah. For all they knew, that so-called 'companion' was just someone who talked with them once a week or a month.

The haughty girl huffed and stalked towards Maka flanked by her cronies (which were of lower noble houses).

"Sister Maka," Capricia began. "I do hope you haven't been going deaf. I've called you two times."

Muffled giggles. Maka ignored them (despite the sting) and focused on her apple and Capricia's too-bright forehead. "Actually I wasn't sure you were calling me," Maka replied as she played with the silver ring on her finger with the strange green gem on it.

With defiant red eyes, Maka stared straight into the taller girl's eyes. " I've got a name, you see."

"You were the only one in the hallway far enough to warrant me to raise my voice in such a manner." Capricia drew herself up with as much dignity as she could muster. "I care not for your name. To me, you are a girl like I. And an impetuous and stony one at that."