Nepenthe • Something that can make you forget grief or suffering.
Never feeling like they belonged was a feeling that Lissa Dragomir lived with, even with her family and life long best friend, although they aided in that feeling not being so strong...
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Two weeks until Christmas.
Kate, who before the Academy used to avoid the holiday, was crossing out the days on the calendar each day, there were three other dates that she was dreading and looking forward to.
December 15th, the Death Anniversary of the Death of Prince Eric, Princess Consort Rhea and Lord Andre Dragomir, as well as Novice Rose Hathaway.
December 28th, Dimitri's 25th anniversary.
And that night, December 11th, the night she was going with Dimitri to talk with an older and retired Guardian for her Qualifier Exam. This Qualifier Exam wasn't something that the Dhampirs at the Academies could study for. One either passed or they didn't. High-up Guardians visit Novices during their junior year and met individually to discuss students' commitment to being Guardians.
The true content of the interviews was largely unknown, and those that had passed the Exam differed in their stories. But what had been told to Kate, by her classmates, that the interviewers assessed character and dedication, and that some Novices had been deemed unfair to continue down the Guardian path.
Since that night, or rather those nights in which everything went to hell, since everything with Jesse and Ralf and Viktoria, since everything with Victor and Natalie, things had calmed down.
Enough for Lissa to return to the Moroi dorms, much to the Headmistress's happiness, although security became tighter. Kate resumed her training sessions, and went public with her relationship with Dimitri, which as expected had been a cause for gossip, until Dimitri was seen walking around campus with a genuine smile.
And Viktoria had ceased to be the main reason for gossip, mainly because she took down every Dhampir that dared try and make a joke out of what she lived through.
And certainly for Kate to be marked again, this time a Molnija mark, a mark that looks like two streaks of jagged lightning crossing in an X.
All in all everything returned to a set of normalcy that felt good, easy and natural.
"You said yesterday that you thought that the pills weren't working as well anymore." Kate stated as she looked away from the calendar as she buttoned her bell bottom jeans.
"Not, not working." Lissa quickly shook her head, her platinum blonde hair smooth and hanging over her shoulders like a bridal veil. "Just not as efficiently. My bond with magic is still strong, but it feels less faint, almost out of reach."
Kate nodded slightly, knowing exactly what Lissa meant, and not only because she felt what Lissa felt. But rather because that was exactly how Kate felt when she overused her gift.
