Starrlings 1: House of Fire

chapter 33

L U M I

The first week at Hilverton College was the longest of Lumi's life.

She ate sparingly, because the food didn't agree with her stomach. In the mirror she could see her cheek bones becoming more prominent. The burns on her thighs wept, and she had to clean them every night. She was escorted between classes by Chiru, or a few of the other boys who Tai had already coerced into doing his bidding.

In the evenings, Tai sat in the largest armchair, by the fire, while Chiru sat as close to him as possible, asking him questions about Kakaio and how he was liking the school. Tai ignored most of Chiru's questions. He was focused every night on equations and diagrams and even a map - although when Lumi tried to look closer, he folded it and tucked it away. Lumi knew he wasn't working on schoolwork, but she had no idea what else was occupying his mind.

After that horrible experience in the magical physics class, Lumi kept her head down in all classes. She tried not to be noticed. The only class that wasn't complete torture was astronomy - the study of the stars - but only because the teacher seemed not of this world. His name was Mr Anderson and he was the tallest person Lumi had ever seen. He had to duck as he entered the doorway of the classroom.

He charted the suns and the stars with the class and showed them how to make maps of the stars. This is what Lumi was truly interested in. She loved astronomy and she excelled in the subject. She understood how their planet revolved around two twin suns, which were forever trapped in a dancing orbit around each other. She loved reading the stars.

Lumi spent her days mostly confined to the House of Fire with Chiru, reading, or chaperoned to mealtimes in the dining hall of the Old Building. One morning, instead of Chiru leading Lumi up towards the main building, she led her down the slopes of the lawn and towards a larger expanse of field beyond the canal.

"Combative training," Chiru explained. They'd released their tigers from the kinnhouses, and now Lumi was hesitantly leading Jinni, hoping that he would behave. "We take the class with House of Winter."

"Combative training," Lumi repeated. It was the type of exercise that the fire army practised. She would get a glimpse into what her life could have been like if she'd been in the army.

The grass was squishy underfoot from recent rainfall, and the orange and yellow leaves scattered on the ground were turning to mush. Lumi tried to avoid puddles, and when she finally looked up she realised there were more students than she'd realised, lining the field. All with their kinnlings; fire tigers or winter wolves. No falcon amongst them.

The caval, Rita, was the one who was in charge of this class.

"Listen up, starrlings," Rita shouted, quieting the crowd of excitable kids. "Welcome to your first day of combative training. Today we're training students from the House of Fire against students from the House of Winter. Your combative opposites and you'll no doubt put up a great fight. Wolves versus tigers. So, please separate into your houses."

When Lumi looked back at Jinni, she realised his ears were flat back against his head and his eyes were narrowed as he stared at the crowd.

"Jinni," Lumi said softly. She tried to lead him over towards where the fire students were gathering. It was difficult, but eventually Jinni relented and fell into position next to Yainni. Lumi didn't look at Tai.

"Ready, sister?" Tai asked her in the Fire tongue.

Lumi ignored him. She focused on Jinni, and murmured into the tiger's ear, hoping that he would understand her.

"Please be good for me today, Jinni," Lumi whispered. "Please be good. And I promise I'll be good to you."

It was much of a plea to herself as it was to the tiger. Lumi still had no idea what to expect from Jinni, and she knew she couldn't contain him if he decided he wanted to attack. She hoped with Rita the caval here, nothing bad would happen, but she was nervous all the same.

"I need every winter student to pair with a fire student, so that we can begin drills," Rita called out.

Lumi stared across the field, at the students from the House of Winter.

Tai was already striding forward, and without missing a step he approached a girl. Lumi watched in surprise as Tai and the girl nodded to each other, and then led their tiger and wolf over to an area big enough for them.

"Do you need a partner?"

• Author's Note •

Thanks for reading!

Who do you think will want to partner up with Lumi???/

see you next chapter!

elle xx