Chosen by the stars, chained by the sky

I wake up and find my tongue trying to dig a spot in my gums where my tooth is now missing. Remembering the metallic taste of blood quickly filling my mouth yesterday woke me up in a jolt; I felt the need to spit somewhere. Getting up wasn’t very helpful too; a sharp pain made me bite a grimace as I tried to feel my shoulder - was it dislocated? Or was it just healed from one? Whatever it was, it was a horrible feeling. At least it wasn’t worse than the first time I got in a scuffle - nothing was worse than the first time.

“Don’t scratch your scabs, sleepyhead,” a soft voice pulled me back from my injured musings. “It won’t just slow your healing, but it will end up as scars even the Medini won’t be able to fix.”

I didn’t even notice that my hand had automatically drifted to an older wound, a bad habit when I’m stressed. Picking the scab fully off- because it was already getting there created an interesting sensation of pain, at least enough to jolt my head from yesterday to finally focus on my roommate.

“S’rry” I mumbled, my tongue now back to finding that missing tooth.

I looked up from my bodily worry and was greeted with smooth white skin in front of me, porcelain almost. Wet curly waves of burnt sienna hair cascaded down as my roommate grabbed for a spare cloth to dry it.

“Am I the only one left to bathe, Bianca?”

A singsong hum of assent was my answer.

“Will you be joining me?” I ask carefully, not because I couldn’t bathe myself; of course I could, even with this dislocated shoulder. I ask because if I got up and left to bathe on my own, Bianca would probably not care if she had to chase me down the hallways with just a towel - or worse, she’d pin my other shoulder so I had to wait for her to finish.

“Alex,” she started, the cadence of my name like a song and a reprimand. “When have we ever been separated?”

I chuckled. “Never ever.”

We left the room hand in hand, her already fresh and ready for the day, while I - grungy and to be honest, still in pain- left with only twenty minutes to spare before roll call. I was about to ask her again- for the thousandth time, probably since we’ve been best friends - or maybe more, if she really needed to stand on guard as I bathed, but I already knew the answer. I knew the other girls would try to remove another tooth, or ‘accidentally’ leave clear shampoo on the floor so I’d slip. The latter, like traps, I’m able to be more confident checking. The former? The fact that someone could come up behind me as I wash the bubbles out of my face? Probably a harder thing to do while naked, slippery, and alone.

I find myself humming the same tune Bianca was humming as we walk from the showers and into the main hall. Even after living here all my life, I could never get past the wonder of what the main hall was. Dressed in ornate crystals from top to bottom, each column along this oval hall carried whispers of greatness. The dazzling lights reflected from the steadily rising sunlight outside, dancing along our skin as we walked. It was magical. The place breathed life into the stones, and the stones breathe them out, for I swear no day has the stones not moved, and I knew this because I tried - for a year to map out a specific crystal I liked, and every day that passed that I tried to look for it again, it would be off to somewhere entirely different.

Only a fool would take that wonder for granted.

The bell rang, ten minutes to get our butts in our respective chairs before the Head Matron Amarra came in. Bianca and I sat in our seats. There were five other girls already in their spots; it pains me to see that Bianca was one seat away from me, and the empty space between us was for another girl. A girl for not a lack of a better term, a prick. At least we were allowed to room together once we turned 21, definitely better than earlier years when we were all forced into one dorm.

Speaking of prick.

“Hey Alex, get a lisp yet?” a high-pitched voice tilled in my ear as the girl - Sierra- sat between me and Bianca. I tried hard not to bite my lip in annoyance - tried harder to stop my tongue from looking for that missing tooth in my mouth; else I’d get a canker sore from the friction.

Sierra was one of those girls, which was saying a lot considering I’ve only known less than a few dozen people in my life ever since I was raised here in school. Every day I get to see her face, and every day that the Gods made just made me want to punch her evil pretty face a little stronger. The snarl that was erupting from the back of my throat probably started because I could hear Bianca’s little clearing of the throat. It was almost a balm, really, how after years of this act I found myself steeling my temper when it came to her little mannerisms.

Thankfully, before I could retort- or leave my seatmate with her own gum gap- the last of the girls came in and quickly took their seats. Within seconds, Head Matron Amarra came in - her son, another prick at least in my book - trailing behind her like a self-imposed ruler.

Chairs slid through the smooth floor as we stood up for our greeting and recitations of our vows. If today wasn’t going to be different than any other day, I would lose it. I took a quick peek to my left; Elara was having a good morning, at least. She wasn’t mumbling the anthem like she usually did when she was out of it. I could at least break some boredom by making her laugh.

“If we discuss the distance of the Continents or their most laid fruit is again, I’m just gonna throw myself out the window,” I whisper to Elara. Her eyes widened, but the curve of her lips started into a smile.

“It makes one feel that way, doesn’t it?” She replied, now with more mirth in her small, hushed voice. “I get you, you know? It feels like we could recite every rule and every royal from the past epoch to now and still it won’t be enough to have us finally graduate from the topic.”

“Feels like I’ve learned about the decorum and degree of bowing before I could even distinguish blue from red. God forbid Head Matron Amarra let us learn about something different. We’ve literally been learning this since we were two.”

A cocky clearing of the throat brought me back to the boredom of Head Matron Amarra’s speech; there, her son, A-choo or something, staring at me like daggers. I gave him my ugliest sneer before going back to the drawl of today’s lesson.

“Can you believe it, Bianca-” I groan loudly as we finished the whole day’s class. We spent five hours - again, again practicing decorum and learning how to make our bodies soft, pliable, and warm.

What is that even?” I sigh, dropping myself to the ground in a cross-legged position. Bianca followed suit- but obviously in a much more proper fashion, folding her skirt under her before taking a seat with her knees tucked and legs angled to one side.

“Not to mention hygiene,” Elara spoke up from behind me, before taking a seat beside Bianca - her straight platinum hair now frazzled after having someone - who was as good as bald - practice on her hair for the sake of decorum and ladylike manners.

We took a moment to be still, even if it was five hours of decorum and manners; we only had thirty minutes of reprieve before we had to go back for the last two hours of our lesson. A few other girls branched off into their own little groups.

“I wish we could feel something other than this grass,” Bianca said, surprising me with her wistfulness. She was never one to complain about how school was, even if we’ve literally been here since our eyes opened. “We’re turning twenty-two soon and yet, all we knows in in books and theories. We know the maps of the Continent by heart, and yet, we can’t even truly imagine what they look like.”

“Hear hear” I heard a pair of girls as they decided to sit beside Elara. Noticeably, our little group didn’t settle into a circle, more like a weird line; no one seemed to want to sit beside me except Bianca, probably afraid that the terrible trio would come after them.

“Speak of the goddamned devil,” I breathe out, and once again, just as I thought about them, here they come strolling out. Sierra and her goons; her platinum hair making me want to rip them off. Considering how one of her goons also had the same shade, it was telling how much I hated Sierra more.

“Hey Marin, look at this little thing I fished,” Sierra cooed as she fished from her pocket, and lo and behold, my missing tooth.

“Ew, Sierra - why do you even have that with you?” screamed Marin. Her dark hair, a stark contrast to the other two, leaped backwards as her shoulders shuddered. “Can’t believe you kept it, and oh my god, is that blood?”

“Blood? Lemme see.” Of course, the other goon was here.

“Carmen, please, if you wanted to see blood, there’s Alex right there for the taking; I’m sure she’d be happy to get another one-on-one with you.” Sierra smiled cruelly.

I was pretty good of a fighter, I know I am, but last night’s tournament-style exercise was a pain in everything. Carmen was an incredible fighter - incredible and loud. At least she wasn’t some sadist like Sierra, though. I’m pretty sure once she dislocated my shoulder and I blacked out- she took the win and called the round to end. If it was Sierra, I’m sure I would have gotten another lost tooth just because she could kick my face while I’m already down.

I looked up to see Carmen grimace. “Nah, not a fair fight.” She shrugged before grabbing my tooth from Sierra’s hand and bounding elsewhere.

“There’s always something to say about Carmen’s free spirit,” whispered Elara, almost always in awe. I was sure that she would love to be friends with Carmen, but there was the matter of Sierra- and that Elara and I were first friends.

“Y’know, Sierra, if you really wanted a piece of me so badly, you could have just asked; I would have given you a little kiss to go with that tooth you kept for a whole day on your person,” I said, looking up at her with a sickly sweet expression. The thunder that tore through her face and the pink that flooded her cheeks were so worth it.

Since Carmen strolled off, the playing field just got a lot easier, and if I made sure not to use my shoulder too much, I could definitely take both of them on, but before I could stand up and offer a little fight, the door heading towards the corridor opened and A-choo spoke.

“Break time is cut short, trainees- we have very important visitors coming. Everyone back to their rooms; whatever is left of your two-hour lesson will resume after dinner.”

A chorus of low groans aired in the group, Bianca and even Sierra included. If there was anything worse, it was knowing that we could have had free time, but no - our evening free time was going to be taken from us. Now we all will be fighting for the warm showers before curfew. Not to mention if our lesson is too taxing, we’ll be hungry for a midnight snack since dinner would come first.

“Now everyone!” A-choo barked before tossing his robes backwards and heading back in.

With a grumble of my own, I stood up, and we all hurried back in; hopefully we have enough time to grab lunch before the visitors come in.