Chapter Text
The low hum of fireflies fills the endless night. Collei eyes threatened to close as she studies. Ever since the reform of the Akademiya, TIghnari had given her more and more work, and it’s not like Collei didn’t want to go to the Akademiya, she did, right? She did, but she didn’t know why. Is it because Tighnari wants her to, is it so she can make Cyno proud, is it because she wants to be like Alhaitham or Kaveh. She just doesn’t know, yet. She will continue her studies, continue her forest ranger duties, continue living, she’ll find what she wants. Maybe she can take a break now.
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Collei nervously walks into the House of Daena, it’s not the first time she’s been here. It’s the first time she’s been here alone. She carries her books and supplies with shaking hands. Her eyes dart around the room, she quickly locates a table in the corner, she positions herself in a seat so that her back is to the rest of the library. The Akademiya entrance exam is only months away and only now is she ready to start pursuing studies on par with Akademiya standards, when many are miles ahead of her. Alhaitham has been providing her with mock exams that she’s performed well on. She’s almost mastered the correct amount of time to spend on each question and section. However, the level of those tests are nowhere near the level they should be. Her hand aches from writing. She sets the pen down, stretches her fingers and rolls her neck. As soon as she picks up her pen again, she hears a voice with a hint of disdain in it.
“Fuchsia is spelling f-u-c, not f-e-w, and the s is before the h and add an I,” Collei jumped and she hears a scoff behind her.
“Thanks” Collei manages to squeak out somewhat evenly.
“What are you even writing right now?” the snark in his, his?, voice no less evident.
“Uh,” Collei stutters, she turns her head to look at her intruder, he had navy blue hair, cut into a sort of bowl cut, the color somewhat matches his slightly indigo eyes, but most noticeably, he’s wearing a giant hat!
“It’s an informative essay about the dangerous plants in Avidya forest,” Collei says shyly.
“Who’s it going to inform if there’s so many spelling mistakes,” The mysterious boy says while snatching her paper and reading it over marking it with his own pen. They sit in silence until he speaks again.
“Who even are you, an Amurta scholar, I haven’t seen you around here before, also what member of the Akademiya doesn’t know how to spell?” Collei feels heat rise to her cheeks. Even if all the things he said weren’t meant to be rude, his tone never changes, Collei decides that this is the way he speaks.
“Umm, I’m not a student yet, this is just supposed to help me practice writing essays, this happens to be a topic I know quite a bit about…I’m quite behind in my studies,” Collei trials off.
“Ah, studying for the entrance exams,” he scoffs. “If it means anything, aside from the spelling errors, the actual composition is pretty good and it is very informative, although…” he pauses.
“You may want to identify some good mushrooms, instead of saying there are many more bad ones.”
“Got it,” Collei squeaks out. Collei catches him muttering something along the lines of ‘When did I start acting like a real scholar’, he scoffs and turns away.
“Wait!” Collei squeaks. The boy turns his head and narrows his eyes.
“What?” he says very flatly, but sharply.
“What’s your name?” Collei asks. They stare at each other for a moment, Collei isn’t sure what he’s looking for.
“People call me Hat Guy,” he turned away without another word. Collei turns back to her writing, adds the correct spellings to her personal dictionary, and decides to take a nap surrounded by the knowledge of the House of Daena.
She was awoken by and promptly kicked out of the House of Daena. Collei was now dashing through the streets, trying to keep herself as dry as possible. Every time her foot hits the cobblestone streets, water splashes up around her, drenching her boots and tights. She kept herself hunched over to protect her books and paper from getting soaked. She scurried under the overhang and let out a sigh. Knocking on the door hurts Collei’s cool, numb, shaking hands. She prays that she doesn’t have to knock again. Moments later, the door opens and she is greeted by Kaveh’s smiling face. He drags her inside and she barely has time to put her books down before he shoves her into the kitchen. He shoves a cup of scalding tea into her hands. Normally this temperature would be unbearable for anybody, but at the moment it felt like she had the warmth of a fire in her hands. Once her hands were warm again, and hurting from the opposite temperature, she delicately placed it on the table. Kaveh, who's running around in the kitchen, sees this.
“I’m almost done with dinner, now, go get changed into dry clothes,” he chides her. Collei pulls some clothes out of her bag and changes in the bathroom. The house only has two bedrooms. Kaveh tried to make her sleep in his room and he would take the divan, but Collei insisted that she was okay. Kaveh was shocked the next morning that she wasn’t complaining of soreness. Alhaitham pointed out that Collei is significantly younger than both of them and it would be concerning if that was the case, but for an old person it’s perfectly normal. Of course, Kaveh did not appreciate this, and of course another round of bickering ensued.
Collei came out of the restroom in warm comfy clothes and immediately Kaveh smothered her with a blanket and a warm bowl of meat stew. After blowing on it a significant amount, Collei begins to eat.
“How was the House of Daena today?” Kaveh asked.
“Uh, Good, I’m almost finished with this one and I should be ready to present it to Alhaitham tomorrow,” Collei said nervously.
“Oh, I’m sure it’s amazing, this will be your best one yet, I bet!” Kaveh reaches out and ruffles her hair and Collei smiles.
“Where is Alhaitham anyway?” Collei asked.
“I don’t actually know, it’s somewhat concerning,” Kaveh pondered. “Anyway, have you made any friends at the library, it’s a very popular hang-out spot for desperate students, which is most of the Akademiya,” Collei put her hands in her lap.
“Not yet,” Collei said shyly. Kaveh takes her hands in his.
“That’s okay, the Akademiya is hard on people, it’s best not to suffer alone,” Kaveh says with a small smile. Collei let out a small chuckle. They both laugh together. Kaveh lets go of Collei’s hands and begins cleaning up.
There’s a creak and the jangling of keys and the door opens. Alhaitham stands in the doorway, drenched. He looks like a wet cat.
“Why are you so late?” Kavah asks exasperated.
“There was an incident…” he pauses, “With another Amurta student, we really need to stop these things from happening,” he brings his hand up to his forehead.
“Nahida was able to fix it in the end,” Alhaitham said and trudged off to his room. Before he closed the door there was a faint.
“Goodnight Collei.”
“Goodnight Alhaitham,” Collei replied.
“I don’t get a good night!” Kaveh screeched. His face was a little red. Collei laughed.
“Goodnight Kaveh,” Collei moved to cozy up on the divan. Collei heard when Kaveh brought Alhaitham his share of meat stew and she heard when he closed the door to his own room. Collei fell asleep for the second time that day. This time she dreams.