NOVEL WEB (Chapter 8) Compassion
Soon after Levi and Tulip had finished describing things to me Levi had turned to leave, giving his reasoning of 'having important matters to attend to' in the few days we had before the school arrived. I had continued to ask in this time what the 'school arriving' even meant but I was simply left with one answer, that I would 'find out soon enough.'
This left Tulip to grab my arm and begin to tow me away while the other teachers brought their students to other sections of the building. I felt mentally and physically exhausted, and just the mere thought of having to do anything else today other than crawling into a warm bed left me shuttering. My mind and body were still aching from my accidental usage of sensing mana during the trial, and the few hours spent gathered in the courtyard with the other students was hardly enough time, or even a place I could relax.
Tulip for her part had remained mostly silent, and once we were outside of the courtyard she had finally let go of my arm. I simply just let out a slow, shuttering sigh as a grabbed my forearm where she had been holding with a vice like grip. I was just left wondering how she felt so strong as I followed close behind her.
Once more my eyes fell to the scenery around the hall, the brilliant decorations the same as before, this time with many new tapestries. Yet none of these I could recognize, they all seemed far newer, some depicted who I assumed to be Kings or Queens being crowned, while one depicted a strange woman with a glowing aura around her.
I was left looking at this strange tapestry for several moments, my eyes fixated on the woman before I was forced to turn and jog to catch up to tulip. Once I fell in beside her, a mere half pace away, I finally broke the silence that stood between us.
"Where are we even going?" I was quick to ask as I looked at her.
"To our temporary room, then to the city." Tulip said with a smile, a little hop in her step as she spoke. "We can't miss the celebration in the city after all!" Her voice picked up, joy clear in her words.
"Celebration?" I asked curiously as I looked towards her, again, barely paying attention to where I was walking. Simply trusting Tulip to know where we were going.
"Oh right- You don't know." Tulip smiled further as she slowed a little, making an audible 'hmm' noise while she thought slowly before she spoke again. "Well, it's a celebration for a few things. First of all its the week celebrating the founding of the nation, which also happened to fall on my fathers birthday in two days - albeit I hardly see that as a holiday the city should be celebrating. The biggest thing is just the fact that the new school year happened to fall on this week, it usually doesn't." She smirked as she finished speaking.
"Which means?..." I asked slowly, not fully understanding what the entire celebration was supposed to be.
"The entire city is one big party! Besides, we need to get you some stuff for the school year. You don't have a uniform, or any of the equipment, and while I don't doubt Levi will supply the bare minimum for you, I also don't doubt the fact that he won't think of anything you need or want personally." Tulip replied quickly as she looked towards me, her eyes quickly shifting forwards again afterwards to turn down a hall.
The decorations of this hall were much the same, bar the fact that there was a series of doors now, one every two dozen feet on either side of the hall. The doors were each outlined with a silver trim, and the wood itself was rather dark.
"And here we are." Tulip spoke with a gentle smile as she walked forwards, gently grabbing the handle she pushed the door open with ease. I simply followed her inside, looking around gently.
My eyes moved around the room slowly, taking in the lackluster decoration. The room itself was lit by a single window sitting on the far end between two beds, overlooking the city down below. I could now at least get a general idea of where we were within the city, a section near the port overlooking the coast and the outer edge of the city itself.
Walking over I inspected one of the two beds, it looked, usable. That was about the only thing I could say about it, it lacked any sheets and was just a plain white sewn mattress. Placing my hand upon the mattress it felt pleasantly soft, leading me to gently move and sit on it.
"Don't get too comfy there~" Tulip quickly teased as she walked over to her own mattress on the other side of the room, she turned and fell straight back across the mattress bouncing lightly. "Wow, this is a lot comfier than I expected." Tulip giggled a little, her head turning towards me slowly.
"Why are you being so nice to me?" I finally uttered out the question that had been lingering in my head, my eyes locked onto Tulip as I watched her slowly. "Don't you know who I am?... Why is the princess of all people being compassionate?"
Tulip froze for a moment, as if she was thinking over her answer before she sighed a little, sitting up slowly. She looked away from me, her eyes moving up towards the ceiling slowly. She took in a slight breath before looking back towards me.
"Honestly? I just wanted to see what the most talked about criminal in the nation was like. Given she was right in front of me, and well. I just met a girl like any other, hell, met someone I felt pretty sorry for. It's easy to tell by looking at you, you're scared, you got no idea what you're getting into, and you're just trying to survive." Tulip spoke with a far more serious tone than she seemed to hold for herself normally, yet she smiled all the same. "And I figured, if my dad put your dad to death, I can at least offer a hand to help you out some. Besides, its not every day I meet someone with the same hair color as me, silver hair is pretty rare after all."
I found myself just blinking as Tulip spoke, my jaw falling a little slack as I looked down. Could I trust her? I didn't know, but I didn't have a choice either. For all I knew she was just putting on a show for her own political gain, but if she wasn't, then she was just a genuinely kind person. I couldn't make the choice of which one I thought her to be yet, so I just sighed a little, giving her a gentle smile, the only courtesy I could find it in me to extend out.
"Thank you... Can I rest a little before we go out to the city though?... This has already been a really long day and I don't know that I can handle being in streets full of people." I could feel the pleading look I had in my eyes, while Tulip just gave a smile, waving at me as she laid back down on her own mattress.
"Go ahead, I'll wake you up in a few hours and we can head out. And, Kirin, I know you probably don't trust a word that comes out of my mouth. Honestly I don't deserve it yet given your position, but thanks for giving me a chance to prove myself." Tulip's smile widened as she crossed her arms behind her head, turning to watch the ceiling with her smile only just beginning to fade.
I found myself staring for a few moments before my exhausted body fell backwards slowly, nearly the same instant my head impacted the bed I fell unconscious. For once, no nightmares haunted my dreams, only a welcome, deep sleep.