Lesatan smiled at Remus, "It is a pleasure to see you, but if you wouldn't mind, I do need to speak with my sister privately."
Remus stood up and gave a bow to both the prince and princess before he went outside to wait with the others. The three advisers remained standing at the table.
Sitting down in Routine's spot at the end of the table, Lesatan watched his sister eat for a few seconds before speaking. He tried his best not to glare at her. "You are eating this filth?" He picked up Routine's spoon from his soup bowl and allowed the white liquid to spill back into the bowl. "You are eating with these sorts? Not only eating with them, but sitting right beside the lowest of them all."
Lenore didn't respond to her brother.
"Are you quite done with your little rebellion?" Lesatan asked when he dropped the spoon. "Let us put the past behind us. You will come to my side, move back into the Royal Dorms, act as an adviser as our father wishes, and when we are finished with our studies you shall marry Krius. This is a favorable life for someone who was brought into the world as you have been."
She looked up from the piece of bread she was trying to nurse. Licking her inner bottom lip, she stared at him for a couple seconds before she threw the remainder of the bread into her bowl. Briefly she sucked on the back of her mouth to release food that was stuck in her teeth. "Lesatan, I would rather marry the commoner that sits beside me than one of your henchmen. I would rather live my life tilling fields than have to spend it standing beside you. Either of those thoughts, makes me lose my appetite."
"You just aren't going to allow the past to be buried, are you?" He stood up from the group and brushed down his uniform with his hand. "Bring her along." He ordered Krius, who was the only one that his sister feared.
Krius began to reach down to grab her arm and pull her up. "Come with us nicely, princess. I don't want to pick you up and humiliate you in front of your friends." He was the scariest one of the group, but Krius always spoke kindly to her and only her.
"Wait, milord." Armand interjected. "It would not look appropriate for any party involved, if you were to drag the princess out. All this will do is cause rumors to spread, of which there is already plenty surrounding your sister and your highness. I think it would be best if you allowed everyone to return to their meals, and we will deal with your sister at a later date. She is obviously not of the mind to have a rational conversation right now, and forcing her to go with us will only put her more out of the state that we need."
Lesatan took a deep breath. "Yes, of course, you are correct, Armand. Leave her." He looked toward Enoch, "Tell the kitchen staff to buy some desserts for everyone that was displaced by my intrusion. Give it to them at dinner tonight with my apologies."
With that, the prince and his advisers left the hall and everyone returned to their original seats. When Santh was finally seated, he frowned at the princess. Part of him hoped she would apologize for what happened, but he knew she never would.
"We barely have any time to eat our breakfast now thanks to the likes of you." Santh snapped.
"Santh, she..."
He cut Remus off by throwing up his hand to silence him. "You knew he would cause us trouble, but you just have to have your way. Always the selfish little princess."
Lenore looked up at him and smirked. "You are so certain of your morals and so outspoken when it's just me, but you cower in the corner like everyone else in front of my brother. If you want to be angry at someone for displacing you and wasting your time then you should place it on the person who gave the order." She drank the last of her water. "I will not take responsibility for someone else's actions, and perhaps you should stop attacking the weaker person simply because you fear the stronger." Standing up, she quickly left the dining hall.
Santh slammed his fist into the table. "She refuses to see where she has done any wrong, and she continues to do these things despite knowing that she is harming others."
Anton watched her leave. "I don't think it was really her fault."
"Excuse me?" Santh hissed.
"All she said was she didn't want to talk with him, and he was the one who made everyone leave. She's right, it wasn't really her fault."
"She knew the prince would clear the hall. She knows her brother's temper." Remus responded. "Don't you agree, Routine?"
"My name is Byron, not Routine." He had to swallow down soup in order to answer. "As for your question, considering that her brother has done this before, it wouldn't be impossible to assume that Lenore knew what she was doing. I believe she did this not only to humiliate her brother by ignoring his command, but was attempting to get others in the room to become dissatisfied with him. She does seem to enjoy when rumors of her brother's poor behavior is spread, even if she too is looked down upon by them."
"I see." Anton frowned and looked at Jolon who was trying to eat his meal quickly.
"I'll walk you to your classrooms." Ophelia announced as she hopped over to the table. "We should leave now."
The two newcomers soon learned that the classes were one of the rare times that the Royal Party actually mingled with the other parties. They didn't have their own special classrooms nor did they get special desks to sit at. Everyone had desks similar to the small square stackable desks that were in every dorm room. Everyone sat on the floor in the small classrooms whose doors opened to the outside. Each one story building had three classrooms that encircled a small courtyard where another class took place, but that was for fifth years and above.
In his first class, Jolon had Santh, Routine, and Lenore. Anton had disappeared with Ophelia to attend his first class of the day. Santh sat in the back of the room with his head on the desk while he slept. Routine sat in the front with his back straight and ready to take notes with his quill as soon as the class started. Lenore sat next to Jolon, she had come into the room, made eye contact and sat down right beside him without a word. She didn't look like she would be taking notes.
Jolon wondered why he was taking a class with a third year and two fifth years. It seemed like they would have already gone through it, but decided he would ask his roommates that night.
The classroom had a chalk board behind the larger teacher's desk with several banners with wise sayings hanging from them. Soon the professor entered the room. He was the younger one that had spoken during the freshmen speech. He still carried his deep scowl.
"I am Professor Thiach for you first years." He sat down at his desk. "My class is not easy to pass, as you can see many of your classmates far above your level are re-taking it. This is not like many other classes where you simply re-take it to refresh your mind every year. You pass or fail."
"I passed." Routine announced, "So did Lenore and Santh, and a couple others."
Professor Thiach frowned at his student. "Yes, some of you are gluttons for punishment." He looked around the room. "Santh fails the class today."
Immediately, Santh sat up and looked at his teacher.
"I tell you on the first day of class every year for the past five years, that you have to wear your school uniform to my class or it's an automatic failure. How can you remember all the Cosonk Battle Strategies and The Analects of Murioh Delucet off the top of your head but you can't recall to put on your clothes in the morning?"
"I apologize, professor." Santh bowed his head.
"Yes, yes, now leave or go back to sleep." He watched as his student laid his head back down and then returned to looking at the students. "Everyone else seems to be dressed appropriately." Standing up, he began to write several passages on the board along with their authors, when he was finished he sat down. "I want everyone to write down these passages and then explain to me what the author thought it meant and then what they mean to you. Work on this during the class."
Lenore looked at the passages and then spoke, "'Faults are meant to be identified, acknowledged and then abandoned' are the words of Xerthoc not Bryth Famu, professor."
"An extra point for Lenore." Thiach announced. He had noticed that several of the students were checking his error, but none of them had raised their hands not even Routine, and Santh didn't seem interested in looking at the board. If he hadn't already failed for the day, he would have waited until the last ten minutes of class and hurriedly scribbled down his passages which would always be correct. "When you know someone has made a mistake, you must inform them that they have done so or they will never realize their faults."
Jolon looked over at the princess and cocked his head to the side. It felt like he was seeing a creature for the very first time. The last thing that he expected from her was to know Analects and she didn't even open her book to verify the answer, she knew it off the top of her head.
Classes and lunch went well for the two new students. Anton had a class with the prince, but he didn't seem interested in lording over anyone during study hours. Although, he did nudge him with his shoulder once they were leaving the classroom in an obvious attempt to let Anton know that the prince was aware of his presence.
During lunch, Lenore didn't arrive for the meal. Santh complained that if she did this three times in the six day school week that on break day they would be doing chores. He then went on to explain that she always did this. It turned out that once a week, there was a break day where the students still had to be home in time for roll call but it was extended to eleven pm the night before and there was no morning bells to wake them. They were free to do with their day what they pleased.
Since it was the beginning of the week, Anton and Jolon had five more days before that would occur. Ophelia offered to show them around the province on that day and even told them she would purchase them a nice meal. She returned to the dorms with them that evening to study. Her quotes from Professor Thiach's class were different from their own as he changed them for each class.
"Did the prince bother you much?" She asked as the three of them sat on the floor of one of the empty dorm rooms.
They both shook their heads as they finished up their assignment. Anton had gone to the library to get more books on the quotes they had been given.
"See a man who does." Ophelia read one of her quotes a loud. "What would that even mean?"
The door slid open behind them and a smiling Remus entered into the room. "Are you all taking Thiach's class?" He chuckled. "I took it three times, when I finally passed I swore never to return. It's more torture than learning." He said down beside them and looked over Ophelia's quotes. "Ah, yes, this assignment."
"Do you know what this one means?" She asked pointing to the quote she had just read aloud.
Remus shrugged his shoulders. "Santh would probably be the best one to ask about this. I basically made him do most of the work for me in order to get through that class."
"Why do the three of them keep taking the class?" Jolon asked.
"Santh likes the challenge, he's a very intelligent man even if he doesn't show it. He never studies and never takes notes, but seems to retain everything he reads." Remus leaned back on his hands and put his legs out in front of him. "Routine dislikes all the corrections that Thiach gives him. Normally, he slides through his classes through his vigorous studying, but Thiach doesn't let him get away with even the smallest mistake. So, it's a matter of pride to him."
"And the princess?" Ophelia asked when Remus paused and didn't seem willing to continue.
"Lenore is a strange one. She skips meals and dorms, but always seems to be in her classes. She takes both of Thiach's classes, the other one I hear is ridiculous. Not even Santh wants to be submitted to it, but it's optional which means she has been taking it for fun." He shrugged as much as he could with his weight on his shoulders. "I've never quite been able to figure her out. She's nice, she's mean. She's prompt, she's not. I akin her to a viper. It's unpredictable, and sure you might be able to handle it a few times, but eventually you are going to get bit. No one is an exception."
Santh appeared in the doorway and glared down at them. Remus had told him that he would return immediately after seeing what the freshmen were up to, but instead disappeared for some time.
"Ah good, you are here. Help these poor children answer their quotes." Remus playfully ordered.
With a roll of his eyes, he turned around and walked back to his own room.
"He takes a while to warm up to others." Remus apologized for him.
"Maybe we should ask Routine." Anton looked at the two he was studying with.
A chuckle came from Remus' lips and he quickly stood up. "I wouldn't interrupt him during his study sessions especially when it comes to Thiach's class. Also, I wouldn't ask him anything about Thiach's class, it makes him slightly enraged due to how he barely passes the class every year. He thinks that the professor is his nemesis."
They all seemed to nod and return to their work.
"None of you are going to the welcoming party tonight?" Remus asked.
The three of them shook their heads. With a smirk, Remus shook his own head and walked out of the room, sliding the door shut behind him.
"Where does she go?" Anton asked after he sent Ophelia off and they had their roll call. "She has to sleep somewhere. She can't come home, sleep for a couple hours, and be fine for the remainder of the day."
Routine was preparing his bed for the night. "It's none of our concern."
Crawling onto the top bunk, he listened to the bed frame creak. "Considering, we are punished for her actions, it's very much our concern."
There was no response from Routine as he blew out the candles and laid down.
"And why did she smell like butter cream? At my house, we only got to eat that on special occasions. Maybe once a year."
"Anton?" Routine spoke in the darkness.
"Hmm?"
"Be quiet. I am scheduled to be asleep by now."
"Sorry." Anton sighed and turned over on his side.
He had heard from Jolon about what she had done in class that day, and it only peeked his curiosity more about his strange roommate. Of course, it seemed they were all strange. Jolon didn't talk about his life at all. Ophelia was a chatter box that seemed rather lonely. He found out that Remus was the second son of the Merchant's Guild leader from some gossiping girls in class. No one seemed to talk to or about Santh at all, and Routine apparently had a high position amongst the Souchan though he didn't hear what it was.
Anton wondered if these were his friends now or if they would eventually become so. When he had left for Apisarn, he remembered his mother and sister crying and his father was proud. In two years, he could return and become an official for the Thatcher's Guild. His mother worried that he would be mistreated at university because of the horror stories that she heard, but that hadn't stopped his father from insisting he go. He promised his father that he would return after the two years and so far that seemed like it would be a simple enough thing to accomplish. Little did he know about the journey he and his new found friends would be embarking upon very soon.
Across the hall, the three men prepared for bed. Santh was enraged once again that the princess hadn't showed up for roll call and Remus just seemed to chuckle to himself over his friend's anger.
"What a waste of human flesh!" Santh cursed. "Spoiled rotten!" He plopped himself down on the bed. "If I had looked up at the board, I would have noticed that error just as easily. She thinks she is so intelligent and acts like a teacher's pet during classes, but she is a miscreant!"
Remus winked at Jolon as he climbed onto the top bunk, he was sitting on the floor doing what appeared to be some math problems. "You must realize that she is all you talk about lately, Santh?"
He sat up and glared down at the man on the floor. "If you start these rumors again amongst our roommates, I will have no choice but to cause you physical harm."
"What rumors?" Jolon was sitting on his bed, his head was inches away from the ceiling.
Remus smiled up at him. "Routine and I have believed for some time now that our dear friend, Santh, masks his lust for the princess behind this facade of anger."
"It's blatantly untrue. I mask my rage for her behind this anger. If I unleashed..." He watched Remus stand up.
"If it pleases the court, I will begin my case. Santh rarely talks to anyone ever, myself included, but when he does speak it's usually about our fair princess. Also," Remus began to pace the floor with one hand behind his back, and the other in the air with his index finger extended. "he can't seem to not talk to her. Whenever she is near he stares at her constantly. Dare I say, he can't take his eyes off her. Finally, for a man that couldn't care less what other people do unless it involves an injustice, you certainly seem to care about every single one of her missteps. Your verdict thus far, sir?"
Jolon nodded his head. "You make a good argument."
Opening his mouth to speak, Santh quickly closed it. "I shall not waste my breath on such obviously blatant lies."
"Firstly, you needn't use obvious and blatant in the same sentence, it's redundant. Secondly, they are not lies but observations." Remus corrected. "A man as intelligent as yourself, should know that. Now, do you have any logical reasons why you have managed to accomplish all of these things I have accused you of that would not include lustful feelings for the princess?"
Staring him down for a moment, Santh quickly turned over so his back faced them both. "I will hear no more of this."
Looking up at Jolon, Remus winked once more before he blew out the candles and laid down in his own bed. "I do enjoy how this debate always ends, Santh."
The Princess had once again come in during the middle of the night and had disappeared by morning. Her sweet scent was hidden by alcohol when she arrived, but the air was rich with scent of butter cream when they awoke. Anton was puzzled by her behavior. He kept telling himself that there was no possible way that she could only sleep a couple hours a night and still function the way that Jolon said she did during class.
At breakfast, they were served fresh fruits and yogurt over roasted oats sweetened with honey. The princes sat beside Anton like she had done the previous morning, and Santh had seemed slightly surprised that she had arrived.
"Two morning meals in a row now, you honor us, your highness." He had said when he sat down to his meal.
Lenore offered no reply and simply began eating her meal before the professors even began their words of wisdom for the day. Santh glared at her disregard for the rules which prompted Remus to get Jolon's attention with his eyes and motion toward Santh. The tease from the night before had already become a inside joke between them. That morning Remus had asked Santh a question and got no answer, and Remus simply started that it was because it had nothing to do with the Princess that he wasn't interested in discussing it.
Once everyone started to eat their meal, Santh noticed that Jolon and Remus were trying to hide some laughter. He decided he would have no more of her antics and put to rest their inside joke. "I know you realize that everyone else has to wait for the professors to finish, but for some reason you feel that you are above the rules. You are a selfish child and..."
Lenore looked up at him. "I find it interesting that whenever I come to a meal, you are so concerned over what I am doing. I am not a child that needs to be lectured every morning, and perhaps if you worried less over what I did and were less antagonistic, I would come to the meals more often and not be in such a rush to leave. Frankly, I find being in your presence to be quite the chore and I grow tired of your constant glares."
"I wouldn't lecture you if you followed the rules."
"Then it seems our problem is circular in nature." With that she stood up without her plates and left the dining hall.
Jolon smirked at Remus.
"I believe the court has witnessed this evidence first hand, and no further statement is necessary from the prosecutor's side." The elaborate man winked.
"Is someone going to let me in on the joke between you two?" Anton asked.
"We believe that our dear friend, Santh, may have romantic feelings for our lovely Princess." Remus announced.
Slamming his spoon down, Santh stood up and left the hall, leaving his two roommates to laugh. Anton thought for a moment before giving a head nod. "Yes, I can see that."
"Traitor." The girls' sitting in the etiquette classroom would hiss as Ophelia passed.
Every year all of the females were forced to take etiquette classes in lieu of the male classes of combat, but the males would eventually join them for dance classes. The Princess was said to be taking both and only because she was forced to take the etiquette class otherwise she couldn't pass the year.
The tables set up around the room sat two people each and when the etiquette teacher, who was not a professor at the school, entered everyone quickly found a spot. Ophelia was left standing and looking around the room for her place.
"There is a open chair over there, darling." The prim and proper teacher who wore a corset and skirt, pointed toward the back.
Ophelia turned to look and her heart sank. Anything but being the Princess' partner she kept thinking to herself as she slowly moved toward the back of the room and sat down. She remembered that last year she had heard the Princess had made her partner cry but she had been lucky enough to be in another class.
Lenore didn't bother to look up from her tea cup to greet her, and when the class began the two hardly spoke. It was the bare minimum of conversation necessary to please the teacher.
"I'll play hostess this time." Ophelia told her partner. "Would you like some more tea?" She held up the tea pot and Lenore held up her tea cup.
"Thank you."
As the hour ticked by, Ophelia thought this wasn't so bad. Lenore may not have been the chattiest of partners but she certainly didn't seem like someone who would bother enough to make someone cry.
A professor came to the door and summoned their teacher out. As she left, she instructed the girls to continue what they were doing, but that was far from what happened.
"Hey, Ophelia, getting cozy with the daughter of the man you betrayed?" One girl called out.
"Brown nosing her way back into the nobility. How so like her family." Another girl snorted.
Two of the girls walked over to the table. One picked up a frosted pastry and smashed it into her hair, while the other addressed the Princess.
"Your highness, don't you know who you are sitting with? You would be outraged and demand another partner if you knew. Her father is a traitor to the crown, he..."
Lenore slammed her hand onto the table and looked at the two girls. "You're annoying."
"But..."
"Say no more. Leave my presence, you are forbade from ever approaching me again." She looked around the room. "All of you are!"
The girls quickly found their seats and began whispering amongst themselves.
"Thank you." Ophelia frowned as she pulled pieces of the pastry from her hair and placed it on the plate in front of her.
"I don't care what they do to you, as long as they don't involve me." Lenore took a sip of her tea and then bit into one of the pastries that was similar to the one Ophelia was now picking from her hair.
She nodded at the Princess' answer. "Thank you anyway." She tried to hold back tears. She thought about picking up her napkin to wipe her tears away, but feared that the other's might notice.
"If you let them see you cry, then they'll know they got to you." Lenore said after a couple moments.
Looking up from the table to Lenore's face that was still staring down at her own plate, Ophelia offered a wide smile. "My mother always says that no matter what if you smile then people can't win against you."
"Your mother sounds like an imbecile."
She continued to smile and chuckled bitterly. "Yeah."
Reaching across the table, Lenore removed a piece of the pastry from Ophelia's hair and hurriedly tossed it in the direction of the girl that had put it there. She spun around to see what had hit her head and looked up at the Princess who was glaring at her. Lowering her head immediately she turned back around without a word.
Ophelia smirked as she sat with her hands in her lap and her own head down.
"That mathematics class will be difficult." Anton told Jolon as they walked back to their dorm. They would be having dinner in the next hour, but had decided to go back to the dorms where they hoped they would be safe. They heeded Ophelia's warning to stay out of the prince's way and knew the best thing they could do was hide away whenever they weren't in class. They had yet to be picked on but neither one wanted to take the chance.
Their last class of the day was together and it seemed like the only class they would have together for the year. Three days of the week they would go to one set of classes and the other three another set. It was tiring. Six classes a day, each being fifty minutes long and then there was an hour for lunch.
After breakfast they would have five classes until lunch, then another class and an combat class. Once those were done there was a mandatory study hour in the library followed by three extra hours before dinner. They could take two extra elective classes or head back to their dorm. The boys thought it was best to join one extra class so they would be around the professors where they were safe. That only left one hour before dinner for free time, and then three hours after dinner. It would take some time getting used to their schedule.
Jolon's question about how higher level students were in the same classes was answered for him that day. He discovered that the professors would give each level more difficult work and more work in general. They were also expected to help the students of lesser levels in their class. He wasn't about to ask anyone for assistance, their looks told him that he wasn't welcomed there, so he hoped his roommates would be of assistance.
"Welcome to Apisarn, commoners." A voice spoke from the pathway to their dorm. The chunky Mondue that took their roll call smirked at them along with his two lackeys. "The prince wanted us to invite you to leave."
One of them punched their own hand and smiled.
"To show how very serious we are..." At those words the two lackeys stepped forward and grabbed each of their tabards.
Jolon held onto the wrists of the man who held his clothing, while Anton just struggled to move away, but it was for naught. A couple fists flew and connected with their faces, before Anton fell to the ground and Jolon was released and stumbled back; the fight was over for them, yet the thug continued with someone else.
Santh seemed to move with ease around the larger men. His hand to hand combat was obviously superior to their own as he applied kicks to their abdomens, blocks to their attacks, and some outright avoidance maneuvers. He didn't seem to be hard pressed in order to defeat them and when they stumbled back behind their chubby leader, he stared them down while gulping for air.
"I told you last year that I wouldn't put up with this behavior." Santh snapped. "How many times do I have to do this to you before you understand?"
The three men didn't talk and their unwounded leader announced that they would leave and scurried off.
"Thank you." Anton stood from the ground and used the back of his hand to wipe the blood away from his lip.
Looking behind him at his two roommates, he frowned. "I didn't do it for you. I despise how the parties believe they have the right to lord over others." He began to head down the dirt path to their dorm, and the two commoners were quick to follow.
"Where'd you learn to fight like..." Jolon slammed into Santh's back when he came to an abrupt stop in the muddy court in front of their dorm.
Anton and Jolon looked around the man with unkempt shoulder length hair at the woman sitting on the steps that led to the dorm. Lenore was sitting with her hand out as Ophelia filed her nails.
When the Princess saw that they had arrived, she stood up, grabbed Ophelia's collar and walked her over to the commoners. "I believe this is yours." She mumbled before she left the girl next to them and began down the dirt path.
"Of course, the Princess is going to abandon her duties to the dorm once more." Santh hissed but he seemed to be ignored by Lenore. "Don't think that I don't know you couldn't hear your roommates were being bullied either!" He turned around to watch her continue to walk away. "You have no honor! You are just as bad as your brother!"
"What happened?" Ophelia asked and looked at her two friends.
Anton had a bruised cheek and a bleeding lip, while Jolon's eye seemed to be swelling and his nose bled.
"We were greeted by the prince apparently. You didn't hear?" Anton pointed with his thumb behind him toward the path.
She shook her head. "No, I didn't hear anything. Although, I was just going on about the Princess' nails. She has just pretty slender fingers and I was telling her how I wanted to paint them, but she wouldn't let me so I wrestled her into letting me file them a bit. It seems that she chews on them though, so there wasn't much that could be done." Ophelia waved her hands in front of her face. "That's not important now. I'll run to the medical building and get you some things for your wounds." She took off down the path before anyone could stop her.
"She is always running around." Jolon chuckled.
"She goes on morning and evening jogs everyday." Santh informed them. "Probably to be fast enough to run away from the people that bother her."
"Is it really that bad for her?" Anton asked as he made his way with the other two men toward the dorms.
"Her father was accused of betraying the king. They had him executed and her family lost it's position amongst the Souchan." Santh told them as he walked to the dorm. "This is why the parties are not for the people, but simply a way to rule over one another. She had nothing to do with what her father had done, but yet she is still shamed by his actions. It's disgusting." He spit before entering into his room and shutting the door behind him.
Ophelia returned with some herbs and bandages for her friends rather quickly, she smiled at Remus who walked passed her and headed down the path. When she walked up the dorm steps, she found Jolon and Anton in the spare room where she usually visited them. Routine was in a class and Santh was taking a nap before dinner.
She sat down on the floor with them and began to make a bandage for each of them. They simply watched her for a few moments as they thought over what Santh had told them about her. Both wanted to ask questions, but she had been so kind to them since they had arrived that they feared upsetting her.
Jolon thought at first it was the dank lighting of the room, but he thought that there was something wrong with her hair. Reaching out his hand, he touched the hard yet sticky portion where the hair clumped together.
Ophelia looked up at him questioningly and then seemed to remember. "Oh, I got picked on in class today. Some girl shoved a pastry into my hair." She giggled as she sat up playfully and offered Jolon his herb caked bandage. "It'll help with the swelling, there isn't much we can do about the bruise." With that said, she went about making more for Anton. "I think the scary Princess might be nice."
They both looked at her curiously.
"When the girls started to make fun of me, she sent them away and even threw some of the pastry at them." Her smile widened. "She told me that she didn't do it for me, but because it was annoying. I think though that she doesn't like that sort of thing." She offered Anton a bandage. "For your cheek. The bruises can't be helped and the bleeding has stopped." She pointed to some ointment she had brought in a small canister. "Put this on your lip so it doesn't get infected twice a day. Trust me, I am used to bandaging wounds."
"If she is as you say, then why does she treat people like that?" Anton asked. "She had to have heard us being bullied."
"I told you before, I didn't hear anything, but then again I was blabbing on about her fingernails like I told you before. She really does have pretty hands. When I first heard about her, I imagined this beautiful, elegant woman but she is a little plain, for a Princess at least. I guess overall she is prettier than me, but..." She cut herself off. "I am going to stick to her like... like... like this honey is sticking my hair together." She laughed. "Even if she doesn't want me around and I stay at somewhat of a distance, I bet the others will leave me alone."
Jolon finally decided to ask. "Santh said your father betrayed the king. Is that why you are bullied?"
The happiness on her face turned into a bitter smirk. "You heard about that? I suppose it was only a matter of time. My father was executed for treachery. He was part of a group that wanted to overthrow the king and had a rather active part in it from what I understand." She sat back with her arms propping her up. "My mother and I had no part in it, and the king seemed satisfied with that. I don't know why, but he put a temporary regent in my father's position and told my mother that if I could complete four years at Apisarn that I could take back my father's house."
"You have to stay here for four years?" Anton asked with surprise in his voice.
She shook her head, "If I stay for only two, then I'll be assisted in finding a suitable husband. I want to take back the house and replenish my family name, but I can't stay here. I am treated poorly enough as it is."
The bells began to ding in the distance which told them that it was time for their dinner. Ophelia popped up and the solemn look on her face was immediately gone. "Time to eat. Let's hurry!" She said in a chipper voice before running out the door.
Near the front gates of Apisarn was a small shed that was used to hold gardening tools. This was the spot that Remus met with his associate to give orders for the night. Leaning against the stone wall he whistled lightly and would occasionally kick a nearby bucket, as he looked at the trees that surrounded him.
In the fall, there were leaves everywhere in this area and in the winter it was simply barren. He had seen this place many times over the years and knew all it had to offer visually. After a few moments, a hooded figure turned the corner and pulled down the hood.
"I gasp whenever I see your lovely face." Remus smiled down at her as he stood straight up.
Lenore frowned. "What do you need tonight?"
Putting his arm around her shoulder, he pulled her in close and then looked around. The truth was he didn't really need to do that as this place was always empty around this time, but it fulfilled his urge to touch her. He liked knowing that she would someday be in a position of power but for now she was his play thing and he could touch her without any retribution.
"Another associate of mine will be at the hamlet gates, I need you to collect the cargo and take it to The Enchantress'. Also, bring back a bottle for me."
"I am assuming it's alcohol then?" She watched him give a cheeky smiling nod.
Lenore knew that Remus had a network of people working with him and that he was called The Fox though most people thought that Remus was just another one of Fox's associates. She, on the other hand, had refused to work for him unless he put all his cards on the table. Since she was a Princess she could move around the school and hamlet surrounding the university without being bothered by the guards outside or the Mondues inside. That meant that as a courier for his illegal goods the Princess would always go unchecked.
She had smuggled a great deal for him. Anything that the students of Apisarn would want had gone through her hands; pornography books, alcohol, drugs, and any other item that was forbidden inside the Apisarn walls. She also ran errands for him on the outside like this one he had hired her to do. Take a more than likely banned alcohol to another associate whom worked at the brothel to be dispersed. Remus liked to keep his associates from mingling too much or having too much knowledge of where things came from or where they were going. So, often a product would change hands several times before it found it's proper owner. Sometimes, Lenore was the one delivering to the client and other times she was the beginning or even the middle of the transaction. He normally used her in places that the Mondues or guards were most likely to search like the hamlet gates.
"How much is your profit margin on this?"
Remus exhaled. "You will be compensated as per our agreement."
She continued to frown at him. "You short changed me last time. I get ten percent of everything that I am involved in, and don't pretend that you don't make deals that I am not part of. You come to me because you know no one else can get the item through. If you deceive me once more, I will put an end to our arrangement."
Stepping back, he removed his hand from around her shoulder and patted her back. He stared at her for a moment before licking his bottom lip as he nodded. "Fair enough. You are in a position that makes my dealings less stressful. After you deal with the alcohol, I want you to collect the newest printing plates from Garen and take them over to the printers." He grinned from ear to ear, "That boy may only be eleven but he has a devilishly filthy mind. His art truly speaks to me."
Lenore continued to listen to her tasks for the evening and when he was done, she quickly turned to leave without any formal salutations that she was exiting their conversation. Remus was used to this behavior and simply smiled at her for several long moments until she was out of sight. How he loved controlling the Princess and for a few measly coins too. If only her brother knew what withholding her allowance was forcing her to do.
Remus stood up and gave a bow to both the prince and princess before he went outside to wait with the others. The three advisers remained standing at the table.
Sitting down in Routine's spot at the end of the table, Lesatan watched his sister eat for a few seconds before speaking. He tried his best not to glare at her. "You are eating this filth?" He picked up Routine's spoon from his soup bowl and allowed the white liquid to spill back into the bowl. "You are eating with these sorts? Not only eating with them, but sitting right beside the lowest of them all."
Lenore didn't respond to her brother.
"Are you quite done with your little rebellion?" Lesatan asked when he dropped the spoon. "Let us put the past behind us. You will come to my side, move back into the Royal Dorms, act as an adviser as our father wishes, and when we are finished with our studies you shall marry Krius. This is a favorable life for someone who was brought into the world as you have been."
She looked up from the piece of bread she was trying to nurse. Licking her inner bottom lip, she stared at him for a couple seconds before she threw the remainder of the bread into her bowl. Briefly she sucked on the back of her mouth to release food that was stuck in her teeth. "Lesatan, I would rather marry the commoner that sits beside me than one of your henchmen. I would rather live my life tilling fields than have to spend it standing beside you. Either of those thoughts, makes me lose my appetite."
"You just aren't going to allow the past to be buried, are you?" He stood up from the group and brushed down his uniform with his hand. "Bring her along." He ordered Krius, who was the only one that his sister feared.
Krius began to reach down to grab her arm and pull her up. "Come with us nicely, princess. I don't want to pick you up and humiliate you in front of your friends." He was the scariest one of the group, but Krius always spoke kindly to her and only her.
"Wait, milord." Armand interjected. "It would not look appropriate for any party involved, if you were to drag the princess out. All this will do is cause rumors to spread, of which there is already plenty surrounding your sister and your highness. I think it would be best if you allowed everyone to return to their meals, and we will deal with your sister at a later date. She is obviously not of the mind to have a rational conversation right now, and forcing her to go with us will only put her more out of the state that we need."
Lesatan took a deep breath. "Yes, of course, you are correct, Armand. Leave her." He looked toward Enoch, "Tell the kitchen staff to buy some desserts for everyone that was displaced by my intrusion. Give it to them at dinner tonight with my apologies."
With that, the prince and his advisers left the hall and everyone returned to their original seats. When Santh was finally seated, he frowned at the princess. Part of him hoped she would apologize for what happened, but he knew she never would.
"We barely have any time to eat our breakfast now thanks to the likes of you." Santh snapped.
"Santh, she..."
He cut Remus off by throwing up his hand to silence him. "You knew he would cause us trouble, but you just have to have your way. Always the selfish little princess."
Lenore looked up at him and smirked. "You are so certain of your morals and so outspoken when it's just me, but you cower in the corner like everyone else in front of my brother. If you want to be angry at someone for displacing you and wasting your time then you should place it on the person who gave the order." She drank the last of her water. "I will not take responsibility for someone else's actions, and perhaps you should stop attacking the weaker person simply because you fear the stronger." Standing up, she quickly left the dining hall.
Santh slammed his fist into the table. "She refuses to see where she has done any wrong, and she continues to do these things despite knowing that she is harming others."
Anton watched her leave. "I don't think it was really her fault."
"Excuse me?" Santh hissed.
"All she said was she didn't want to talk with him, and he was the one who made everyone leave. She's right, it wasn't really her fault."
"She knew the prince would clear the hall. She knows her brother's temper." Remus responded. "Don't you agree, Routine?"
"My name is Byron, not Routine." He had to swallow down soup in order to answer. "As for your question, considering that her brother has done this before, it wouldn't be impossible to assume that Lenore knew what she was doing. I believe she did this not only to humiliate her brother by ignoring his command, but was attempting to get others in the room to become dissatisfied with him. She does seem to enjoy when rumors of her brother's poor behavior is spread, even if she too is looked down upon by them."
"I see." Anton frowned and looked at Jolon who was trying to eat his meal quickly.
"I'll walk you to your classrooms." Ophelia announced as she hopped over to the table. "We should leave now."
---***---
The two newcomers soon learned that the classes were one of the rare times that the Royal Party actually mingled with the other parties. They didn't have their own special classrooms nor did they get special desks to sit at. Everyone had desks similar to the small square stackable desks that were in every dorm room. Everyone sat on the floor in the small classrooms whose doors opened to the outside. Each one story building had three classrooms that encircled a small courtyard where another class took place, but that was for fifth years and above.
In his first class, Jolon had Santh, Routine, and Lenore. Anton had disappeared with Ophelia to attend his first class of the day. Santh sat in the back of the room with his head on the desk while he slept. Routine sat in the front with his back straight and ready to take notes with his quill as soon as the class started. Lenore sat next to Jolon, she had come into the room, made eye contact and sat down right beside him without a word. She didn't look like she would be taking notes.
Jolon wondered why he was taking a class with a third year and two fifth years. It seemed like they would have already gone through it, but decided he would ask his roommates that night.
The classroom had a chalk board behind the larger teacher's desk with several banners with wise sayings hanging from them. Soon the professor entered the room. He was the younger one that had spoken during the freshmen speech. He still carried his deep scowl.
"I am Professor Thiach for you first years." He sat down at his desk. "My class is not easy to pass, as you can see many of your classmates far above your level are re-taking it. This is not like many other classes where you simply re-take it to refresh your mind every year. You pass or fail."
"I passed." Routine announced, "So did Lenore and Santh, and a couple others."
Professor Thiach frowned at his student. "Yes, some of you are gluttons for punishment." He looked around the room. "Santh fails the class today."
Immediately, Santh sat up and looked at his teacher.
"I tell you on the first day of class every year for the past five years, that you have to wear your school uniform to my class or it's an automatic failure. How can you remember all the Cosonk Battle Strategies and The Analects of Murioh Delucet off the top of your head but you can't recall to put on your clothes in the morning?"
"I apologize, professor." Santh bowed his head.
"Yes, yes, now leave or go back to sleep." He watched as his student laid his head back down and then returned to looking at the students. "Everyone else seems to be dressed appropriately." Standing up, he began to write several passages on the board along with their authors, when he was finished he sat down. "I want everyone to write down these passages and then explain to me what the author thought it meant and then what they mean to you. Work on this during the class."
Lenore looked at the passages and then spoke, "'Faults are meant to be identified, acknowledged and then abandoned' are the words of Xerthoc not Bryth Famu, professor."
"An extra point for Lenore." Thiach announced. He had noticed that several of the students were checking his error, but none of them had raised their hands not even Routine, and Santh didn't seem interested in looking at the board. If he hadn't already failed for the day, he would have waited until the last ten minutes of class and hurriedly scribbled down his passages which would always be correct. "When you know someone has made a mistake, you must inform them that they have done so or they will never realize their faults."
Jolon looked over at the princess and cocked his head to the side. It felt like he was seeing a creature for the very first time. The last thing that he expected from her was to know Analects and she didn't even open her book to verify the answer, she knew it off the top of her head.
---***---
Classes and lunch went well for the two new students. Anton had a class with the prince, but he didn't seem interested in lording over anyone during study hours. Although, he did nudge him with his shoulder once they were leaving the classroom in an obvious attempt to let Anton know that the prince was aware of his presence.
During lunch, Lenore didn't arrive for the meal. Santh complained that if she did this three times in the six day school week that on break day they would be doing chores. He then went on to explain that she always did this. It turned out that once a week, there was a break day where the students still had to be home in time for roll call but it was extended to eleven pm the night before and there was no morning bells to wake them. They were free to do with their day what they pleased.
Since it was the beginning of the week, Anton and Jolon had five more days before that would occur. Ophelia offered to show them around the province on that day and even told them she would purchase them a nice meal. She returned to the dorms with them that evening to study. Her quotes from Professor Thiach's class were different from their own as he changed them for each class.
"Did the prince bother you much?" She asked as the three of them sat on the floor of one of the empty dorm rooms.
They both shook their heads as they finished up their assignment. Anton had gone to the library to get more books on the quotes they had been given.
"See a man who does." Ophelia read one of her quotes a loud. "What would that even mean?"
The door slid open behind them and a smiling Remus entered into the room. "Are you all taking Thiach's class?" He chuckled. "I took it three times, when I finally passed I swore never to return. It's more torture than learning." He said down beside them and looked over Ophelia's quotes. "Ah, yes, this assignment."
"Do you know what this one means?" She asked pointing to the quote she had just read aloud.
Remus shrugged his shoulders. "Santh would probably be the best one to ask about this. I basically made him do most of the work for me in order to get through that class."
"Why do the three of them keep taking the class?" Jolon asked.
"Santh likes the challenge, he's a very intelligent man even if he doesn't show it. He never studies and never takes notes, but seems to retain everything he reads." Remus leaned back on his hands and put his legs out in front of him. "Routine dislikes all the corrections that Thiach gives him. Normally, he slides through his classes through his vigorous studying, but Thiach doesn't let him get away with even the smallest mistake. So, it's a matter of pride to him."
"And the princess?" Ophelia asked when Remus paused and didn't seem willing to continue.
"Lenore is a strange one. She skips meals and dorms, but always seems to be in her classes. She takes both of Thiach's classes, the other one I hear is ridiculous. Not even Santh wants to be submitted to it, but it's optional which means she has been taking it for fun." He shrugged as much as he could with his weight on his shoulders. "I've never quite been able to figure her out. She's nice, she's mean. She's prompt, she's not. I akin her to a viper. It's unpredictable, and sure you might be able to handle it a few times, but eventually you are going to get bit. No one is an exception."
Santh appeared in the doorway and glared down at them. Remus had told him that he would return immediately after seeing what the freshmen were up to, but instead disappeared for some time.
"Ah good, you are here. Help these poor children answer their quotes." Remus playfully ordered.
With a roll of his eyes, he turned around and walked back to his own room.
"He takes a while to warm up to others." Remus apologized for him.
"Maybe we should ask Routine." Anton looked at the two he was studying with.
A chuckle came from Remus' lips and he quickly stood up. "I wouldn't interrupt him during his study sessions especially when it comes to Thiach's class. Also, I wouldn't ask him anything about Thiach's class, it makes him slightly enraged due to how he barely passes the class every year. He thinks that the professor is his nemesis."
They all seemed to nod and return to their work.
"None of you are going to the welcoming party tonight?" Remus asked.
The three of them shook their heads. With a smirk, Remus shook his own head and walked out of the room, sliding the door shut behind him.
---***---
"Where does she go?" Anton asked after he sent Ophelia off and they had their roll call. "She has to sleep somewhere. She can't come home, sleep for a couple hours, and be fine for the remainder of the day."
Routine was preparing his bed for the night. "It's none of our concern."
Crawling onto the top bunk, he listened to the bed frame creak. "Considering, we are punished for her actions, it's very much our concern."
There was no response from Routine as he blew out the candles and laid down.
"And why did she smell like butter cream? At my house, we only got to eat that on special occasions. Maybe once a year."
"Anton?" Routine spoke in the darkness.
"Hmm?"
"Be quiet. I am scheduled to be asleep by now."
"Sorry." Anton sighed and turned over on his side.
He had heard from Jolon about what she had done in class that day, and it only peeked his curiosity more about his strange roommate. Of course, it seemed they were all strange. Jolon didn't talk about his life at all. Ophelia was a chatter box that seemed rather lonely. He found out that Remus was the second son of the Merchant's Guild leader from some gossiping girls in class. No one seemed to talk to or about Santh at all, and Routine apparently had a high position amongst the Souchan though he didn't hear what it was.
Anton wondered if these were his friends now or if they would eventually become so. When he had left for Apisarn, he remembered his mother and sister crying and his father was proud. In two years, he could return and become an official for the Thatcher's Guild. His mother worried that he would be mistreated at university because of the horror stories that she heard, but that hadn't stopped his father from insisting he go. He promised his father that he would return after the two years and so far that seemed like it would be a simple enough thing to accomplish. Little did he know about the journey he and his new found friends would be embarking upon very soon.
---***---
Across the hall, the three men prepared for bed. Santh was enraged once again that the princess hadn't showed up for roll call and Remus just seemed to chuckle to himself over his friend's anger.
"What a waste of human flesh!" Santh cursed. "Spoiled rotten!" He plopped himself down on the bed. "If I had looked up at the board, I would have noticed that error just as easily. She thinks she is so intelligent and acts like a teacher's pet during classes, but she is a miscreant!"
Remus winked at Jolon as he climbed onto the top bunk, he was sitting on the floor doing what appeared to be some math problems. "You must realize that she is all you talk about lately, Santh?"
He sat up and glared down at the man on the floor. "If you start these rumors again amongst our roommates, I will have no choice but to cause you physical harm."
"What rumors?" Jolon was sitting on his bed, his head was inches away from the ceiling.
Remus smiled up at him. "Routine and I have believed for some time now that our dear friend, Santh, masks his lust for the princess behind this facade of anger."
"It's blatantly untrue. I mask my rage for her behind this anger. If I unleashed..." He watched Remus stand up.
"If it pleases the court, I will begin my case. Santh rarely talks to anyone ever, myself included, but when he does speak it's usually about our fair princess. Also," Remus began to pace the floor with one hand behind his back, and the other in the air with his index finger extended. "he can't seem to not talk to her. Whenever she is near he stares at her constantly. Dare I say, he can't take his eyes off her. Finally, for a man that couldn't care less what other people do unless it involves an injustice, you certainly seem to care about every single one of her missteps. Your verdict thus far, sir?"
Jolon nodded his head. "You make a good argument."
Opening his mouth to speak, Santh quickly closed it. "I shall not waste my breath on such obviously blatant lies."
"Firstly, you needn't use obvious and blatant in the same sentence, it's redundant. Secondly, they are not lies but observations." Remus corrected. "A man as intelligent as yourself, should know that. Now, do you have any logical reasons why you have managed to accomplish all of these things I have accused you of that would not include lustful feelings for the princess?"
Staring him down for a moment, Santh quickly turned over so his back faced them both. "I will hear no more of this."
Looking up at Jolon, Remus winked once more before he blew out the candles and laid down in his own bed. "I do enjoy how this debate always ends, Santh."
---***---
The Princess had once again come in during the middle of the night and had disappeared by morning. Her sweet scent was hidden by alcohol when she arrived, but the air was rich with scent of butter cream when they awoke. Anton was puzzled by her behavior. He kept telling himself that there was no possible way that she could only sleep a couple hours a night and still function the way that Jolon said she did during class.
At breakfast, they were served fresh fruits and yogurt over roasted oats sweetened with honey. The princes sat beside Anton like she had done the previous morning, and Santh had seemed slightly surprised that she had arrived.
"Two morning meals in a row now, you honor us, your highness." He had said when he sat down to his meal.
Lenore offered no reply and simply began eating her meal before the professors even began their words of wisdom for the day. Santh glared at her disregard for the rules which prompted Remus to get Jolon's attention with his eyes and motion toward Santh. The tease from the night before had already become a inside joke between them. That morning Remus had asked Santh a question and got no answer, and Remus simply started that it was because it had nothing to do with the Princess that he wasn't interested in discussing it.
Once everyone started to eat their meal, Santh noticed that Jolon and Remus were trying to hide some laughter. He decided he would have no more of her antics and put to rest their inside joke. "I know you realize that everyone else has to wait for the professors to finish, but for some reason you feel that you are above the rules. You are a selfish child and..."
Lenore looked up at him. "I find it interesting that whenever I come to a meal, you are so concerned over what I am doing. I am not a child that needs to be lectured every morning, and perhaps if you worried less over what I did and were less antagonistic, I would come to the meals more often and not be in such a rush to leave. Frankly, I find being in your presence to be quite the chore and I grow tired of your constant glares."
"I wouldn't lecture you if you followed the rules."
"Then it seems our problem is circular in nature." With that she stood up without her plates and left the dining hall.
Jolon smirked at Remus.
"I believe the court has witnessed this evidence first hand, and no further statement is necessary from the prosecutor's side." The elaborate man winked.
"Is someone going to let me in on the joke between you two?" Anton asked.
"We believe that our dear friend, Santh, may have romantic feelings for our lovely Princess." Remus announced.
Slamming his spoon down, Santh stood up and left the hall, leaving his two roommates to laugh. Anton thought for a moment before giving a head nod. "Yes, I can see that."
---***---
"Traitor." The girls' sitting in the etiquette classroom would hiss as Ophelia passed.
Every year all of the females were forced to take etiquette classes in lieu of the male classes of combat, but the males would eventually join them for dance classes. The Princess was said to be taking both and only because she was forced to take the etiquette class otherwise she couldn't pass the year.
The tables set up around the room sat two people each and when the etiquette teacher, who was not a professor at the school, entered everyone quickly found a spot. Ophelia was left standing and looking around the room for her place.
"There is a open chair over there, darling." The prim and proper teacher who wore a corset and skirt, pointed toward the back.
Ophelia turned to look and her heart sank. Anything but being the Princess' partner she kept thinking to herself as she slowly moved toward the back of the room and sat down. She remembered that last year she had heard the Princess had made her partner cry but she had been lucky enough to be in another class.
Lenore didn't bother to look up from her tea cup to greet her, and when the class began the two hardly spoke. It was the bare minimum of conversation necessary to please the teacher.
"I'll play hostess this time." Ophelia told her partner. "Would you like some more tea?" She held up the tea pot and Lenore held up her tea cup.
"Thank you."
As the hour ticked by, Ophelia thought this wasn't so bad. Lenore may not have been the chattiest of partners but she certainly didn't seem like someone who would bother enough to make someone cry.
A professor came to the door and summoned their teacher out. As she left, she instructed the girls to continue what they were doing, but that was far from what happened.
"Hey, Ophelia, getting cozy with the daughter of the man you betrayed?" One girl called out.
"Brown nosing her way back into the nobility. How so like her family." Another girl snorted.
Two of the girls walked over to the table. One picked up a frosted pastry and smashed it into her hair, while the other addressed the Princess.
"Your highness, don't you know who you are sitting with? You would be outraged and demand another partner if you knew. Her father is a traitor to the crown, he..."
Lenore slammed her hand onto the table and looked at the two girls. "You're annoying."
"But..."
"Say no more. Leave my presence, you are forbade from ever approaching me again." She looked around the room. "All of you are!"
The girls quickly found their seats and began whispering amongst themselves.
"Thank you." Ophelia frowned as she pulled pieces of the pastry from her hair and placed it on the plate in front of her.
"I don't care what they do to you, as long as they don't involve me." Lenore took a sip of her tea and then bit into one of the pastries that was similar to the one Ophelia was now picking from her hair.
She nodded at the Princess' answer. "Thank you anyway." She tried to hold back tears. She thought about picking up her napkin to wipe her tears away, but feared that the other's might notice.
"If you let them see you cry, then they'll know they got to you." Lenore said after a couple moments.
Looking up from the table to Lenore's face that was still staring down at her own plate, Ophelia offered a wide smile. "My mother always says that no matter what if you smile then people can't win against you."
"Your mother sounds like an imbecile."
She continued to smile and chuckled bitterly. "Yeah."
Reaching across the table, Lenore removed a piece of the pastry from Ophelia's hair and hurriedly tossed it in the direction of the girl that had put it there. She spun around to see what had hit her head and looked up at the Princess who was glaring at her. Lowering her head immediately she turned back around without a word.
Ophelia smirked as she sat with her hands in her lap and her own head down.
---***---
"That mathematics class will be difficult." Anton told Jolon as they walked back to their dorm. They would be having dinner in the next hour, but had decided to go back to the dorms where they hoped they would be safe. They heeded Ophelia's warning to stay out of the prince's way and knew the best thing they could do was hide away whenever they weren't in class. They had yet to be picked on but neither one wanted to take the chance.
Their last class of the day was together and it seemed like the only class they would have together for the year. Three days of the week they would go to one set of classes and the other three another set. It was tiring. Six classes a day, each being fifty minutes long and then there was an hour for lunch.
After breakfast they would have five classes until lunch, then another class and an combat class. Once those were done there was a mandatory study hour in the library followed by three extra hours before dinner. They could take two extra elective classes or head back to their dorm. The boys thought it was best to join one extra class so they would be around the professors where they were safe. That only left one hour before dinner for free time, and then three hours after dinner. It would take some time getting used to their schedule.
Jolon's question about how higher level students were in the same classes was answered for him that day. He discovered that the professors would give each level more difficult work and more work in general. They were also expected to help the students of lesser levels in their class. He wasn't about to ask anyone for assistance, their looks told him that he wasn't welcomed there, so he hoped his roommates would be of assistance.
"Welcome to Apisarn, commoners." A voice spoke from the pathway to their dorm. The chunky Mondue that took their roll call smirked at them along with his two lackeys. "The prince wanted us to invite you to leave."
One of them punched their own hand and smiled.
"To show how very serious we are..." At those words the two lackeys stepped forward and grabbed each of their tabards.
Jolon held onto the wrists of the man who held his clothing, while Anton just struggled to move away, but it was for naught. A couple fists flew and connected with their faces, before Anton fell to the ground and Jolon was released and stumbled back; the fight was over for them, yet the thug continued with someone else.
Santh seemed to move with ease around the larger men. His hand to hand combat was obviously superior to their own as he applied kicks to their abdomens, blocks to their attacks, and some outright avoidance maneuvers. He didn't seem to be hard pressed in order to defeat them and when they stumbled back behind their chubby leader, he stared them down while gulping for air.
"I told you last year that I wouldn't put up with this behavior." Santh snapped. "How many times do I have to do this to you before you understand?"
The three men didn't talk and their unwounded leader announced that they would leave and scurried off.
"Thank you." Anton stood from the ground and used the back of his hand to wipe the blood away from his lip.
Looking behind him at his two roommates, he frowned. "I didn't do it for you. I despise how the parties believe they have the right to lord over others." He began to head down the dirt path to their dorm, and the two commoners were quick to follow.
"Where'd you learn to fight like..." Jolon slammed into Santh's back when he came to an abrupt stop in the muddy court in front of their dorm.
Anton and Jolon looked around the man with unkempt shoulder length hair at the woman sitting on the steps that led to the dorm. Lenore was sitting with her hand out as Ophelia filed her nails.
When the Princess saw that they had arrived, she stood up, grabbed Ophelia's collar and walked her over to the commoners. "I believe this is yours." She mumbled before she left the girl next to them and began down the dirt path.
"Of course, the Princess is going to abandon her duties to the dorm once more." Santh hissed but he seemed to be ignored by Lenore. "Don't think that I don't know you couldn't hear your roommates were being bullied either!" He turned around to watch her continue to walk away. "You have no honor! You are just as bad as your brother!"
"What happened?" Ophelia asked and looked at her two friends.
Anton had a bruised cheek and a bleeding lip, while Jolon's eye seemed to be swelling and his nose bled.
"We were greeted by the prince apparently. You didn't hear?" Anton pointed with his thumb behind him toward the path.
She shook her head. "No, I didn't hear anything. Although, I was just going on about the Princess' nails. She has just pretty slender fingers and I was telling her how I wanted to paint them, but she wouldn't let me so I wrestled her into letting me file them a bit. It seems that she chews on them though, so there wasn't much that could be done." Ophelia waved her hands in front of her face. "That's not important now. I'll run to the medical building and get you some things for your wounds." She took off down the path before anyone could stop her.
"She is always running around." Jolon chuckled.
"She goes on morning and evening jogs everyday." Santh informed them. "Probably to be fast enough to run away from the people that bother her."
"Is it really that bad for her?" Anton asked as he made his way with the other two men toward the dorms.
"Her father was accused of betraying the king. They had him executed and her family lost it's position amongst the Souchan." Santh told them as he walked to the dorm. "This is why the parties are not for the people, but simply a way to rule over one another. She had nothing to do with what her father had done, but yet she is still shamed by his actions. It's disgusting." He spit before entering into his room and shutting the door behind him.
---***---
Ophelia returned with some herbs and bandages for her friends rather quickly, she smiled at Remus who walked passed her and headed down the path. When she walked up the dorm steps, she found Jolon and Anton in the spare room where she usually visited them. Routine was in a class and Santh was taking a nap before dinner.
She sat down on the floor with them and began to make a bandage for each of them. They simply watched her for a few moments as they thought over what Santh had told them about her. Both wanted to ask questions, but she had been so kind to them since they had arrived that they feared upsetting her.
Jolon thought at first it was the dank lighting of the room, but he thought that there was something wrong with her hair. Reaching out his hand, he touched the hard yet sticky portion where the hair clumped together.
Ophelia looked up at him questioningly and then seemed to remember. "Oh, I got picked on in class today. Some girl shoved a pastry into my hair." She giggled as she sat up playfully and offered Jolon his herb caked bandage. "It'll help with the swelling, there isn't much we can do about the bruise." With that said, she went about making more for Anton. "I think the scary Princess might be nice."
They both looked at her curiously.
"When the girls started to make fun of me, she sent them away and even threw some of the pastry at them." Her smile widened. "She told me that she didn't do it for me, but because it was annoying. I think though that she doesn't like that sort of thing." She offered Anton a bandage. "For your cheek. The bruises can't be helped and the bleeding has stopped." She pointed to some ointment she had brought in a small canister. "Put this on your lip so it doesn't get infected twice a day. Trust me, I am used to bandaging wounds."
"If she is as you say, then why does she treat people like that?" Anton asked. "She had to have heard us being bullied."
"I told you before, I didn't hear anything, but then again I was blabbing on about her fingernails like I told you before. She really does have pretty hands. When I first heard about her, I imagined this beautiful, elegant woman but she is a little plain, for a Princess at least. I guess overall she is prettier than me, but..." She cut herself off. "I am going to stick to her like... like... like this honey is sticking my hair together." She laughed. "Even if she doesn't want me around and I stay at somewhat of a distance, I bet the others will leave me alone."
Jolon finally decided to ask. "Santh said your father betrayed the king. Is that why you are bullied?"
The happiness on her face turned into a bitter smirk. "You heard about that? I suppose it was only a matter of time. My father was executed for treachery. He was part of a group that wanted to overthrow the king and had a rather active part in it from what I understand." She sat back with her arms propping her up. "My mother and I had no part in it, and the king seemed satisfied with that. I don't know why, but he put a temporary regent in my father's position and told my mother that if I could complete four years at Apisarn that I could take back my father's house."
"You have to stay here for four years?" Anton asked with surprise in his voice.
She shook her head, "If I stay for only two, then I'll be assisted in finding a suitable husband. I want to take back the house and replenish my family name, but I can't stay here. I am treated poorly enough as it is."
The bells began to ding in the distance which told them that it was time for their dinner. Ophelia popped up and the solemn look on her face was immediately gone. "Time to eat. Let's hurry!" She said in a chipper voice before running out the door.
---***---
Near the front gates of Apisarn was a small shed that was used to hold gardening tools. This was the spot that Remus met with his associate to give orders for the night. Leaning against the stone wall he whistled lightly and would occasionally kick a nearby bucket, as he looked at the trees that surrounded him.
In the fall, there were leaves everywhere in this area and in the winter it was simply barren. He had seen this place many times over the years and knew all it had to offer visually. After a few moments, a hooded figure turned the corner and pulled down the hood.
"I gasp whenever I see your lovely face." Remus smiled down at her as he stood straight up.
Lenore frowned. "What do you need tonight?"
Putting his arm around her shoulder, he pulled her in close and then looked around. The truth was he didn't really need to do that as this place was always empty around this time, but it fulfilled his urge to touch her. He liked knowing that she would someday be in a position of power but for now she was his play thing and he could touch her without any retribution.
"Another associate of mine will be at the hamlet gates, I need you to collect the cargo and take it to The Enchantress'. Also, bring back a bottle for me."
"I am assuming it's alcohol then?" She watched him give a cheeky smiling nod.
Lenore knew that Remus had a network of people working with him and that he was called The Fox though most people thought that Remus was just another one of Fox's associates. She, on the other hand, had refused to work for him unless he put all his cards on the table. Since she was a Princess she could move around the school and hamlet surrounding the university without being bothered by the guards outside or the Mondues inside. That meant that as a courier for his illegal goods the Princess would always go unchecked.
She had smuggled a great deal for him. Anything that the students of Apisarn would want had gone through her hands; pornography books, alcohol, drugs, and any other item that was forbidden inside the Apisarn walls. She also ran errands for him on the outside like this one he had hired her to do. Take a more than likely banned alcohol to another associate whom worked at the brothel to be dispersed. Remus liked to keep his associates from mingling too much or having too much knowledge of where things came from or where they were going. So, often a product would change hands several times before it found it's proper owner. Sometimes, Lenore was the one delivering to the client and other times she was the beginning or even the middle of the transaction. He normally used her in places that the Mondues or guards were most likely to search like the hamlet gates.
"How much is your profit margin on this?"
Remus exhaled. "You will be compensated as per our agreement."
She continued to frown at him. "You short changed me last time. I get ten percent of everything that I am involved in, and don't pretend that you don't make deals that I am not part of. You come to me because you know no one else can get the item through. If you deceive me once more, I will put an end to our arrangement."
Stepping back, he removed his hand from around her shoulder and patted her back. He stared at her for a moment before licking his bottom lip as he nodded. "Fair enough. You are in a position that makes my dealings less stressful. After you deal with the alcohol, I want you to collect the newest printing plates from Garen and take them over to the printers." He grinned from ear to ear, "That boy may only be eleven but he has a devilishly filthy mind. His art truly speaks to me."
Lenore continued to listen to her tasks for the evening and when he was done, she quickly turned to leave without any formal salutations that she was exiting their conversation. Remus was used to this behavior and simply smiled at her for several long moments until she was out of sight. How he loved controlling the Princess and for a few measly coins too. If only her brother knew what withholding her allowance was forcing her to do.