Starrlings 1: House of Fire

chapter 30

A R I

The rest of Ari's day was spent tailing Lumiko Tsukasai, who was accompanied to all classes by a girl Ari discovered was a ward named Chiru. At lunch, Ari sat as inconspicuously as possible at a table of other wards, as close to the table with the Tsukasai twins as possible.

She observed the way Lumiko seemed to defer every question to her brother in the conversation. Ari couldn't hear what they were talking about, but she could read their body language. The princess relied on her brother almost entirely to answer for her, and talk for her. She wondered if it was part of some backwards Kaio culture of female subordination. She remembered reading that in Alamadi women were treated as less than men. Maybe the same was true in neighbouring Kakaio.

Ari's afternoon lessons were spent entirely in classrooms, so it was much more pleasant than her morning playing with winter magic. Ari thrived in her language classes - she studied Ancient Vastien and Norrlish - and in her classes on history and literature. She felt most at home in a classroom where books and knowledge were valued over magical power.

Then there was a few hours of break before dinner, during which the Tsukasai twins spent the entire time in the House of Fire, while Ari sat in the cemetery across the street, her homework in her lap as she watched the front door, waiting to see when they left for dinner.

Prince Raphael was nowhere to be seen, for which Ari was grateful. If the prince entered the House of Fire, Ari would not be able to follow without arousing suspicion. It was meetings between Raphael and Lumiko that Katja was most interested to know about, but there wasn't much Ari would be able to do if the prince visited Lumiko in her House.

At dinner time she followed the twins and their ring of followers - now made up of three boys and Chiru - to the dining hall, where Ari sat at another table close by.

She hadn't finished her homework because she'd been too focused on the twins, and she knew she had potentially two more hours of sitting in that cemetery tonight, in the cold, before curfew, so Ari tried to complete her history homework at the dinner table.

After dinner, most of the wards had duties to complete, but Ari was again following the fire twins around the school grounds, keeping her distance but never letting them out of her sight. They went straight to their House, and this time Ari planted herself on the front steps of the music building, just down the street from the House of Fire.

It was a lonely existence.

The bell in the clock tower rang to signal curfew, and Ari finally slipped off the steps, stretching out her legs, which had gone stiff from sitting so long in the cold. The two suns were dancing just above the horizon. It would be dusk for a few hours more, but the streets of the college were illuminated by lanterns of solar magic, which glowed for a few hours after the light wards lit them every evening.

Katja, Sanna and Tom were waiting for Ari in the House of Winter.

Katja was sitting at the head of the long wooden table. The room was lit by big candles on the centre of the table, as well as the fire, which was dancing in the hearth. Katja's pale skin was lit by candlelight, but she looked a lot better than she had a few days ago.

Sanna sat in a chair closer to the fire, with her feet stretched out close to the hearth. Her long brown hair was out of its usual braid, and was left to flow loosely down her back. She looked beautiful, with her hair undone.

Tom was sitting at a chair at the table, with homework open in front of him, but he closed it when Ari approached.

"What news?" Katja asked.

Ari sat down.

"I've followed the princess all day," Ari said. "She went to every class. Her ward, Chiru, never left her side. She ate every meal with her brother and a few other fire students. They spent their free hours in the House of Fire."

Katja frowned. "What is she doing?"

"It appears she's doing exactly what she's supposed to, Kat," Tom said.

"I don't trust her. Ari, what's the impression you got of her?"

"Her brother seems in control of her. He did all the talking at meals, while she was silent. After classes this afternoon, he was waiting outside the House of Fire for her to return. It's as if he doesn't want her out of his sight."

"Protective brother?" Sanna asked.

"I'm not sure," Ari admitted.

"I don't know what to make of this, Ari," Katja said. "You'll have to keep following her. Make sure you don't lose her."

Ari nodded.

Katja stifled a yawn. "I'm exhausted. The first day of school is always so tiring, isn't it?"

Ari didn't reply.

Katja pulled her hair out of its intricate arrangement and let it fall around her face as she stood up. "Good night, my loves," she said. "Don't study too hard, Tomas."

"You know I'll be here for hours," Tom said.

Ari glanced over at Sanna, by the fire, to see that Sanna was watching her.

"Good night," Ari said, and left the grand hall, returning to the entrance hall. But instead of taking the stairs up, she waited near the front doors, and stared up at the set of landscape paintings of Norrlish fjords and hills and sheep that decorated the entrance hall.

A moment later, Sanna joined her.

• Author's Note •

thanks for reading! Don't forget to vote on this chapter by tapping the star ;)

all my love,

elle xx