Estella leaned her forehead against the glass pane. She traced a long, pale finger down the lacy hem of frost at the edge of the window. From her bed, Faye silently studied her roommate in the dim glow.
"What do you remember about life before the war?" Estella asked from the window seat.
"Summers," Cecilia's bright voice lit up the dark room like a candle, "On the seaside."
"Where?" Faye peered towards Cecilia's bed.
Cecilia shifted under her covers, tugging the woolen blanket around her ears against the penetrating chill.
"Theves Bay in Gallic."
"Down south?"
"Yes, it's where my mother is from."
Faye snorted at the irony, "My father is from Gallic, inland near Putnam."
"We used to stay at my grandparents' home by the sea. One year, we saw a shark while we were out in my Uncle's fishing boat. It was hunting at dusk. I can still see its shadow fluttering past the stern as it circled the net he and my grandfather had cast." Her voice flickered with a deep breath, "A week after we got back, Berchta invaded the Critans."
Faye sat up in bed. She pulled up her knees, wrapping her arms around them.
"That last summer, I was volunteering at the public library on the east end of Clare," Faye murmured, "Shelving books and such."
"For fun?" Estella scoffed, her oval face glaring white in the winter moonlight.
"Yes, for fun," Faye managed a wearied eye roll, "I like to read."
"I'm shocked." Estella smirked.
Faye ignored her and rubbed at the back of her sore neck. Her body still ached from the force of the zeppelin explosion that afternoon.
"Anyway, I lost my job at the end of the summer," Faye smiled to herself, "The head librarian dragged Annie Macklin and me out by the ears."
"What did you do? Make too much noise?"
"Yes, actually," Faye started to laugh, "Bear with me, this was when I was about twelve years old. We looked up the word 'fornication' in the dictionary. We laughed so hard, we were banished forever. To this day, I go to the library on the north side of town."
Cecilia sat up straight with a joyous bark while Estella nearly fell off the window seat in a fit of hysteria.
"You are such a rebel, Faye Zimmerman." Estella gasped, wiping away a tear.
Faye chortled, "Headmaster Burns would probably agree with you. Anyway, it was that next day that Berchta invaded."
They grew quiet once more. Cecilia leaned her head back against the white washed wall with a sigh. All three watched the delicate sweep of snow out in the mountain air. Estella stood, turning her back on the view of the mountain range at their doorstep.
"The summer Berchta invaded was the summer my mother died." Estella measured out quietly.
Faye blinked at her. They had been rooming for nearly a month and this was the first Estella had spoken of her family. Neither she nor Cecilia knew anything of her background except that her father was the former mayor of the desert metropolis of Marin City. It was the glittering playground of Antica, a hive of cinema stars and vacationing politicians. Faye couldn't imagine what it would have been like to grow up in that atmosphere, especially with the reputation her father had while he was in office.
Estella rocked on her heels, grasping her hands in front of her, "I remember she wanted to be buried here in Tyr. It's where her parents had been from and had died. In the hospital, she told me and my brother that our father had promised. She made it sound like it was going to be a fun trip. Like we were going as a family. It was sick. She knew she'd be dead."
Cecilia shrunk into her sheets at Estella's dry, bitter tone.
"Anyway, after she died, my father decided it would do better for his upcoming reelection to have her buried in Marin City. Help remind the public he was a family man. Maybe garner some sympathy votes," Estella scoffed, "When he found out, my brother hit my father. He was sixteen. They both went to the funeral with black eyes."
There was a strong shift of wind that hit the side of the school. Faye could almost feel its icy fingers slinking into their dorm room. Dressed only in her cotton nightgown, Estella stood in her bare feet on the frozen floor as though she didn't register the cold. She lifted her head and stared straight ahead, her posture perfect. Faye imagined she had looked somewhat similar at the graveside of her mother.
"Two months later Berchta invaded and my father said it was a good thing she hadn't been buried here. That we never would have seen her again. As though we could just jaunt down to the graveyard and have a chat with her over coffee," Estella inhaled sharply through her nose, "I'm glad I'm here. I want to be here."
Faye shook her head, "Why is that? You actually want to marry into Berchten society?"
"Not exactly."
The girls went stone-like as the sound of Matron Mauntrel's flat footed stomp echoed down the hallway. Silently, Estella crept to her bed. All three of them dipped under their covers as their door creaked open. Faye peeked an eye open to see Mauntrel's statuesque figure steeped in shadow. The woman retreated, closing the door behind her.
There was one thing that couldn't be denied the Berchtens. Their efficiency following a crisis was impressive. In the Gazette office, the hole in the wall where the window used to be was already covered by a creamy piece of canvas the following day. It glowed with the morning sun as Faye, Roth and Gustav shifted through the mess.
"This place should have been cleaned out months ago," Gustav rubbed his golden head, holding a folder to the light, "This is chaos."
The pieces of glass and splinters had already been picked up, leaving a mess of papers like leaves in late autumn on the hardwood floor. The typewriter on the desk couldn't be seen any more for the folders dumped on it from the dented file cabinet. Gustav murmured that they had been needing a new one anyway.
"I'm surprised you hadn't already gotten the office all spic and span before now?" Roth chuckled peeking over his lean shoulder as he shifted through one of the cabinet drawers.
Gustav shot him a glare from the desk. Roth's face straightened and his Adam's apple bobbed as he turned back to his work. Gustav sighed, letting his hands drop to his sides.
"When did you become the editor?" Faye asked, setting a couple old annuals down on the desk with a thump.
"At the beginning of the year," Gustav muttered, sitting down hard on the swivel chair as he stared at a folder, "Why on earth did they keep the research from a piece done three years ago on the plumbing in the east wing?"
Faye perched a hand on her hip as she ran her hand over the desk. Her fingers peeled back a piece of damp paper, unearthing a dog-eared photograph underneath. The image was a yellowed shade of sepia. There was the view of the Tyric Mountains in the background, the same vista outside the walls of the school. Three children gawked awkwardly at the camera, two dark and one blonde. Their faces were somber and their clothing worn. Before Faye could study it closer, Gustav's hand shot out and snatched it away.
"That's a personal effect of mine." He growled without looking at her.
Faye felt as though she had been caught snooping in his sock drawer. Her face grew warm and she bit her lip. Quickly, she joined Roth on the other side of the room.
"My brother was the editor last year," Roth blurted out as she came abreast of him, "This is half his doing. He is the worst at keeping a place organized. To his credit though, Editor of the Gazette is no small job. I'm surprised Gustav over there hasn't gone mad. You couldn't pay me to do this."
"Well," Gustav leaned back in his seat, his eyebrows lifting slightly as he perused an old portfolio, "It certainly helps when you lack any semblance of a social life."
Roth grinned at Faye, "Gustav could be the most popular guy in the school if he wanted. With his boxing record and that family name, he could be riding high. But I don't think I see him anywhere but class, the library and here. He's a mystery."
"I'm still here you know," Gustav's voice raised slightly though kept its dull edge, "You can stop talking about me like I'm not in the room."
"Me, on the other hand," Roth continued with a grunt as he pulled a drawer clean out of the cabinet with a rusty squeal, "I need my friends."
Faye came up alongside him and helped set it on the cluttered ground. Roth rested his elbows on his knees where he crouched and glanced up with a glint in his bright blue eyes.
"So what do you do in your spare time, Faye?" He winked, "Hunt for a Berchten husband?"
Faye rolled her eyes, "You wish."
Gustav snorted. The bell out in the hallway rang for the first period.
"I need to get to class," Roth groaned, rising to his feet, "Where are you headed, Zimmerman?"
"Here," She sighed, surveying the mess, "It's my free period and I feel its better spent helping make sense of all this."
"We're going to need another bin to help organize," Gustav directed, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands, "And more folders. You can find them in the supply closet the next floor down. End of the hall."
Faye didn't expect him to say please. All the same, his demanding tone irked her. Roth smirked at her obvious derision.
"Come on, I'll walk with you." He offered congenially.
The east wing was nearly deserted after the events from the day earlier. The classes usually held in the damaged rooms had been relocated. There had been a school wide assembly where Headmaster Burns had informed them that none of the students had been injured grievously during the accident and their parents had been notified as such. He hadn't mentioned what the casualty count in the city of Tyr had grown to over the afternoon. Faye didn't want to think about it.
"I only heard it happen." Roth said on the stairs as they talked about the explosion, "I can't believe you saw it."
"I can't either," She breathed as they reached a landing, "And at least lived to tell about it."
"Were you alone in the office?"
Faye pursed her lips, "Not exactly. Anson Goldrick was there as well."
"Really?" Roth replied with a playful nudge.
"Why is that amusing to you?"
His lips parted briefly in thought, "It's not. It's only interesting considering you were so vehemently against getting to know him."
"I still am," Faye snorted, "Sharing a life threatening experience does not a friendship make."
Roth opened the door to the floor where the supplies were kept and gave her a coy grin, "I guess you'll just have to wait and see."
"You're incorrigible." Faye shook her head.
"See you later," He chuckled.
After striding few feet down the hall, Faye realized that she had just experienced her first painless conversation with a Berchten. With a quiet smile, she hoped that she and Roth would become friends. It was something that would have been unthinkable a few weeks earlier.
Stacking a few packs of folders into an empty, cardboard box, she then trudged up the flight of stairs. Part of her was dreading the next hour alone with Gustav. She guessed he would keep to himself. His outburst from the previous morning had been the only true display of emotion she had seen in him. Other than the moment he won the boxing match over Anson. She didn't like to think about that event.
It scared her how little she understood him. Faye was used to sizing people up fairly quickly. Her intuition about others was very rarely wrong. However, she kept on coming up blank with Gustav. He was a contradiction. The young man was everything the Emperor wanted in a Berchten youth and at the same time, Gustav seemed to loath everything for which the Empire stood.
The image of his bloodied, shining face after the match flashed into her mind's eye. His full upper lip snarled upwards in disgust and his nostrils flaring, brow furrowed. He had seemed to hate the crowd cheering on his victory with every iota of his being.
Her thoughts came to a screeching halt as she paused a few feet from the half open door. In the abandoned hallway, she strained to hear the heated voices struggling to stay quiet in the Gazette office.
"She doesn't do it because she wants to. She does it for you."
"She has her own mind and opinions-"
There was a harsh male scoff, "Don't give me that line, Gustav."
"Do you actually believe I would put her in danger?"
"Honestly, I believe you capable of anything if you were passionate enough about something. And that scares me."
There was a thud, as though someone pounded a fist on the desk.
"What would you have me do then? Tell me, Anson. What do you suggest?"
Faye felt a pang of guilt for eavesdropping. Despite her curiosity, Faye was unwilling to be involved with anything too closely at the school. As casually as possible, she brushed in through the open door. Anson straightened his impressive figure, his narrow dark eyes blinked over at her as his mouth loosened into a frown. He glanced over at Gustav across the desk from him. Gustav ran a hand through his golden hair with a groan.
"Just set them over there." He directed sharply, pointing across the room.
Anson peered at Gustav with an accusatory glower. Faye tried not to appear too inquisitive as she breezed towards the file cabinet. She brushed past Anson without a glance.
"How are you doing today, Faye?" Anson groused over his shoulder.
Faye noticed the bandage on his neck. The bruise on his black eye was morphing into a sickly yellow green. He certainly was worse for wear.
"Well. You?"
"They stitched me up just fine after the- what did Burns call it again, Gustav?" He snarled, "An accident?"
Gustav sighed as he sat down once more, "I believe that was the term."
"Quite fitting if you ask me. An accident and nothing more," Anson chortled as he stalked to the door, "Best be careful around this one, Faye. Accidents tend to be Gustav's forte."
"And yet I was with you in this very room when the explosion happened yesterday," Faye murmured with a half-smile that didn't reach her grey eyes, "How do you account for that?"
"Just lucky, I guess." He replied curtly, studying her boldly.
Faye frowned and turned her back on him.
"Gustav, think about it." Anson snapped, slamming the door back against the wall as he left the room.
Faye winced at the crash, thankful Anson hadn't decided to stick around.
"I wasn't aware you two knew each other so well." Faye couldn't help commenting once they were alone.
Gustav shifted in his seat, perching an elbow on the arm rest. His green gaze wearily drifted up to her.
"I've known Anson for years. He knows me better than most."
"How did you two become friends?"
Gustav sniffed, "I didn't say we were friends."
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