Ch 2.41: Nobility


    <span style="font-weight:400">The woman looked up, noticing she was being stared at, and then started beaming. “Carline!” She stood up and ran over, pulling Carline into a big hug as ina stared on. “Oh, and you’re Florence, right? Florence Stouth?” she said as she turned to Flora.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Oh, uhm, yes…” Flora said, looking uncharacteristically stunned. “We’ve met once before—”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“At the junior fencing tournament!” Kohpicia said. “Carline introduced us, right?” There was a youthful glee in her voice and eyes both, one that ina had a hard time reconciling. She looked young too, the same age as ina almost, which didn’t seem right either. Wasn’t she supposed to be Prisma’s older sister?


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah, she did,” Flora said, looking over to ina. <i><span style="font-weight:400">Why is she looking to me?</i>


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Oh!” Kohpicia said, looking at ina’s uniform and Tira standing next to her. “Are you their friends? I’m Koh, nice to meet you! Wait, maybe I shouldn’t introduce myself as Koh to you, actually.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I see you met the other academy traveler,” Abel said as he came from the back of the tavern. “There’s five seats at her table, so go ahead and join if you want.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“No,” Carline said, still looking panicked. “We don’t want to be a bother, so—”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Nonsense,” Koh said as she grabbed Carline’s arm and started walking back to her table. “It’s been years at this point, and I should go ahead and meet all the students I can!”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Carline didn’t reply, but did let herself get dragged along to the table, the rest of the group following shortly after. “I’m Tira Strask, by the way,” Tira said as she and ina sat down.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Strask? Oh, like the capital’s guard captain!”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah, that’s my mom…” Tira said. Flora had sat down as well now, and she and Carline were both looking down at the table.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I haven’t met her, but I know she has a good reputation,” Koh said, going back to her meal. She was so elegant as she ate, and ina couldn’t help but stare.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“And you?” Koh eventually added, and ina realized she was the one being talked to this time.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Oh, sorry, uhm, I’m ina? And you’re Prisma’s sister, right?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Koh’s eyes seemed to sparkle at the mention of the name. “You’re friends with Prisma?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yes— well, acquaintances, I guess…” ina said.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“That’s wonderful! Hopefully we can get to know each other more. Oh, but Prisma doesn’t actually know I’m here. No one does, really, so don’t mention I am to anybody, alright?” Before anyone could answer, Abel came back out with four more tes of food and sses of cider.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“It was a good thing I kept that room reserved,” Abel said. “She came inte, but she arrived nheless.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah,” Koh said, taking a sip from her mug and then wiping her face with a handkerchief. “There was trouble on the road. Carline, did you know that typuses are real?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Wait,” Tira said, mming her hand on the table. “You ran into those things?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Just one,” Koh said as she returned to her meal. “Scared my carriage driver half to death, but I was able to take care of it.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Take care of it?” ina asked in disbelief. “A big one or a small one?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“It was pretty big, I guess. Like fifteen, twenty feet tall? And yeah, I had to put it down, unfortunately…”


    <span style="font-weight:400">ina nced between her friends. Tira seemed as astonished as ina herself, but Carline and Flora seemed no more surprised than they had since they’d seen Koh in the first ce. <i><span style="font-weight:400">What could her aspect be if she’s taking on one of those things alone?</i>


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Koh…” Carline eventually asked, still not having touched her food. “What exactly are you doing here? Why would you be sleeping in an academy reserved room?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Koh frowned, the glint in her eyes dying out. It was a look ina was more than familiar with, the same look Prisma had worn every time they’d spoken since the first day they met. “Has the news made its way to the school yet?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Carline nced at ina for a moment, then looked to Flora, as if wanting confirmation. Flora nodded. “A couple days ago, the day we left for this mission.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I see… Well, it was always going to happen one day, but when Miss Ranlit died, it just sort of made sense to move things up a little.” Koh turned to ina and Tira, a polite smile forming on her face, a shadow of the joy she was disying earlier. “I guess you both had fencing ss with her? She was a good friend of mine. Once she died in the atta— in the ident, Headmaster Stormshine reached out to me.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“So yeah, I’ll be your new fencing teacher!” Koh said, returning to her meal. “I can’t measure up to her teaching skills, but I’ll do my best.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Koh,” Carline said, her voice dropping low, “how are you even going to—”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“It’s Professor Fireguard now, if you please. And Headmaster Stormshine arranged everything for me to get into the school.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Excuse me for, well, prying,” Tira said as she chewed her food, “but aren’t you the Fireguard heir? I don’t really know how that works.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">It was a question ina had been wondering as well, but the silence from the three noble girls, including the pause in the movements of their forks, indicated that the answer was obvious to them.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I was. My father decided— <i><span style="font-weight:400">I</i><span style="font-weight:400"> decided it was best if I stepped away from court life and took up teaching… I’m better suited to this anyway.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Carline looked up from her te, pity in her eyes. “But, Koh—”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“It’s fine, Carline…” Koh said, though the wetness of her eyes betrayed her. “We all knew it was going to happen. I’ve made my peace with it, and I’m sure Waine has as well.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Tira’s nostrils red, and ina dropped her fork onto the table at hearing the name. “Waine?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Hmm?” Koh said, cocking her head. “Waine Ferris, he’s in your ss too. He is, well, <i><span style="font-weight:400">was</i><span style="font-weight:400"> my fiance.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Was?” ina asked. She tried to ignore the conclusion her mind was heading towards.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yes, was…” Koh said, tears starting to fall from her eyes. She reached for her handkerchief again, wiping her face as she continued. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be crying like this in front of my new students.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“It’s fine,” Carline said, cing her hand on Koh’s arm before looking over to ina. “Listen, ina, I <i><span style="font-weight:400">really</i><span style="font-weight:400"> need to talk to you.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“No,” ina said, staring at her new professor. “Koh, what happens to Waine now?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Koh took in a deep breath,posing herself and putting her handkerchief away. “It is official at this point, so I guess I can say it. Prisma’s the Fireguard hear now, and she’ll marry him, so that the agreement between our houses can still be fulfilled.”