Starrlings 1: House of Fire

chapter 26

L U M I

After talking to the chancellor that evening, Lumi and Tai returned to the House of Fire to find the air was sparked with a fiery excitement. The students had just learned that the prince and princess were among them, and it seemed that everyone in the house wanted to meet Lumi and Tai.

Chiru led them through to a drawing room furnished with armchairs and tables, decorated with student paraphernalia: a noticeboard with sheets for kinnfighting sign ups and lost items; ribbons and trophies along the walls; and a table set up with what Lumi recognised as the Alamadian game jisr. The room was alight in activity. It seemed that every student was now crammed into this one room.

Lumi felt painfully awkward, but she stayed in the shadow of her brother, with her head lowered. She found the voices overwhelming. Their strong accents and shouting made it almost impossible for her to keep up with the conversation. She just wanted to fade into the shadows, to retreat, but Tai seemed to have a different idea.

He stepped forward, into the center of the room, taking position in front of the biggest fireplace. Tai's gold hair pin glinted in the firelight. His high cheekbones and long nose made striking shadows on his face. As he stepped forward, the other students seemed to realise who he was, and a hush fell over the room, dousing the conversation.

"Good evening," Tai said.

Lumi glanced around the room at the boys and girls who she shared a house with. All of them, strangers. They were from ages fourteen to eighteen. Some looked like they came from the Fire Lands, but others looked like they could have been born anywhere around the world - the islands of Vastier, or the fjords of Norrlund, or the rolling green hills of Frühland.

"As our welcome so far has been, unfortunately, limited, I shall provide an introduction. I am Taikku Tsukasai, crown prince of the Fire Lands of Kakaio."

Lumi hoped he somehow forgot about her, and she could shrink into inexistence.

Tai stepped forward, further into the firelight. His eyes were lit with the reflection of the fire, as he turned towards her, and cast a hand towards her. "My sister, little Lumiko, who will also enjoy a Lombardian education."

Every single pair of eyes landed straight on Lumi.

She inhaled, feeling the heat of the fire, and forced herself to raise her head, slightly, in acknowledgement of the introduction. Inside, she felt like frost.

"We have just spoken with Doctor Hart," Tai said. "She has given us very sound advice. We must forgive the grievances of the past, so that we can forge new friendships, together."

Lumi glanced at Tai. She remembered the chancellor saying no such thing.

"I am here to forge friendships with Lombardians," Tai said. "And those of you in this room shall be my first and strongest. Who amongst you is ready to set aside our history, and step into a new era together?"

Chiru was the first to step forward, straight to Tai's side. But she wasn't the last. Three of the biggest boys in the room stepped forward towards Tai, eager to greet him and have him learn their names.

As they did, a gap in the crowd appeared before Lumi. She could see the doorway and the stairwell beyond it. Without thinking, Lumi stepped past the boys and fled into the corridor, and up the stairs.

No one seemed to have noticed her departure.

The stairwell was cold, and she felt the absence of the warmth of fire tingling on her skin, as well as the frostiness of her power diminishing as she left her brother.