“Bite your tongue,” Freyja warned, almost visibly reeling at his ‘dead to the world’ sentiment. “She wasn’t sleeping in, you imbecile, she wasn’t even in the room. It’s not like she has any friends. Well, other than me, and, unfortunately, you, of course. But when you say you don’t have friends, you still have girls that you fuck and objectify, I’m assuming only sometimes in that order. Arah doesn’t have anyone, like, for real, anyone.”
As if she had just realized who she was talking to and that it didn’t serve her any benefit to be rambling to the enemy, Freyja scoffed and turned, nearly brushing his shoulder as she did so. She hoped it would be enough to get him to step to the side at least the slightest bit, giving her the pleasure of asserting her dominance and self-regarded superiority. “Anyway,” she called over her shoulder, “if she doesn’t return by the evening, you’ll know who sent the administration to your door. I’ll have them blow you a kiss for me, maybe it’ll make up for the one I denied you last night?”
Smirking to herself, the fire element turned the corner and escaped, narrowly avoiding some sort of biting remark. As she did, she saw the familiar figure of her boyfriend looming in the distance. With a long, confident stride, she made it across the hall in time to link arms with him, keeping up appearances despite the lack of communication they had exchanged since the night prior. Freyja was certain that he would still be mad and emotional about whatever she hadn’t done, as he usually was. But, instead of acting like a good boyfriend and engaging in emotional warfare by way of debate like she did when she was upset, he simply stuffed it until he looked like an angry cloud waiting to pour rain down on someone at the most inconvenient time.
“Smile, darling, that frown makes your face look puffy.”
Glaring down at her from his position beside her, he breathed a heavy sigh and faked a smile as the pair strutted down the hall toward their ethics in magic wielding class. Despite his desire to, he said nothing.
“I didn’t see you in the exam, where were you?”
“I took it yesterday. I had something to attend to.”
“Something that I’m not allowed to know about?”
“Something I don’t care to tell you about.”
“And why’s that?”
“It doesn’t concern you.”
Reaching the class and finding their seats in the middle of the auditorium, Freyja was relieved to look down and see Arah enter. Although she appeared a bit frazzled, she didn’t seem harmed. Although, she was still wearing the clothing she had worn the night prior rather than the school uniform, so she stuck out like a sore thumb.The only thing that was saving her from being formally chastised by their professor was the fact that he was the least ethical out of all of the professors, and also that she had taken the care to throw her academy blazer on over the sweater she was wearing beneath it.
Not long after, Zane entered. She watched the relief wash over his face once he too had noticed that Arah was okay, then she watched him look for her in the crowd. Once he had spotted her in her usual spot beside Henriik, not in the seat she was assigned beside him toward the bottom of the stairs, she was unsurprised to see that he’d flashed her some sort of look that was supposed to be something. Intimidating? Self-righteous? Spiteful? Surely he’d put the latter two on his resume, although she could only think of a handful of times in her life when she’d considered him the former.
She blew him a kiss, straightened her face to that of displeasure, then made an obscene gesture that even made Henriik tense. He could be so hypocritical, so innocent, so holier than thou when he wanted to be. Any time the pair were in front of Zane was one of those moments. Perhaps it was because he thought Zane would report him for a non-existent charge such as disappointing his uncle or not living up to familial expectations. What an asshole.
Not long after they’d had their silent war across the auditorium, the professor came in and stood at the front of the stage, beginning to speak. “Today we’re going to continue our section on letting personal feelings interfere with our ability to wield magic ethically. As you all know, the purest magic is done with the purest mind, and when we’re focused on the person we’re working with, we put ourselves, that individual, and those around us in danger. Is anyone willing to admit that they know there’s someone in this class that they probably shouldn’t work together with on a spell? I’d like to do a demonstration, so I’m looking for two strangers and two individuals who agree that working together would probably end badly.”
Fall 
Night 
Heavy Rain Moon: 
