The First War Mage: Skyline Trials

Tulip ran through the halls of the estate, but she was nowhere near as fast as Kirin. Especially so when Kirin was running with this level of embodiment.

"How is she so fast…" Tulip groaned as she tried desperately to chase Kirin down—She should have been around the same speed as Kirin. Hell, the last time they were measured Tulip had been a rank higher.

Yet, here she was, having lost Kirin in the halls of the estate. She only had a vague sense of the direction Kirin ran in. Of course, she also had the mess in the floor where her shoes had cracked the tiles to follow as well.

Tulip was almost surprised when she had first left the ball room as well, the guards there stood in stunned silence—After all, who in their right mind would break the rule of not using magic here?

Well, Kirin probably wasn't in her right mind. So, she could excuse the guards' lapse in judgement this time.

All the same, she kept following Kirin's frankly impressive trail. She certainly did not envy whoever had to redo all these floors…

As she slowed her sprint, knowing she wouldn't be catching up to Kirin until the girl stopped, Tulip began to notice much more familiar surroundings.

"No surprise there…" Tulip sighed out as she slowed even more. Kirin had run all the way back to the guest wing, Tulip could already hear the faint sound of Kirin sobbing.

That pained sound brought an ache to Tulip's chest, guilt ravaged her body—She knew this was her fault, at least partially. She had probably pushed Kirin too far, she pushed someone too far again. At least she had the good grace to feel bad this time…

Tulip stopped just before the door to Kirin's room, she leaned against it, listening silently as she did so.

All she could hear was the shuffling of blankets and Kirin's sobs. There was the occasional noise from Akemi, almost like the Kitsune was trying to console her.

Tulip sat there for what felt like minutes, just thinking about how she could approach the situation—It was only when Kirin's sobs ebbed away a little that she reached a hand up, knocking on the open door lightly as she stepped in.

"You alright?" Tulip said tentatively. She was barely even inside of the room, only just inside the doorway.

"Go away…" She heard Kirin's muffled voice, finally bringing her to take in her surroundings.

Kirin's room was much the same as it had been—The bed, a small privacy screen, a table, a few chairs and such. Kirin herself was on her bed, all of the blankets pulled over her shoulders while her knees were pulled tight to her chest.

Akemi lay next to Kirin, her trio of tails swaying wistfully almost like they were blown by an invisible wind.

"Look Kirin I—" Tulip started, but stopped when Kirin looked over and yelled.

"I said go away!" Kirin cried out. There were so many emotions underlying Kirin's voice, yet all of them were raw and explicit senses of hurt.

"Kirin, please just let me explain." Tulip was practically begging as she took another step into the room. However, she was promptly pushed back out of the room by a poorly aimed, yet impressively forceful pillow to her chest.

"I don't want your explanation! I just want to be left alone!" Kirin cried out, her pained, furious gaze now settled on the bewildered Tulip entirely. "I attended your stupid damn party, I got through that stupid presentation now just leave me be!" Kirin looked away again, sobbing once more.

"I don't belong here… stop trying to pretend that I do…" Kirin's low, almost weak sounding voice Tulip as she backed away slowly.

"I'm sorry…" Tulip's voice trailed off. She gently tossed the pillow back into the room, then slowly walked away.

It was only once she was much further down the hall, nearly all the way to the exit of the guest wing, that Tulip finally let her emotions out.

"Dammit!" She screamed as she turned, punching her fist into the wall. Tears were welling up in her eyes, her voice cracking as she spoke quietly. "Damnit… Why do I always do this…" She thought her words would be unheard by anyone, especially as she leant her forehead into the wall to fight her tears. That was until a familiar voice, one which she did not want to hear, spoke to her.

"Because you're a self serving bitch who barely stops for long enough to consider her actions and the consequences of them?" Carmine's voice broke through Tulip like a hammer straight to her skull. She spared no punches, especially not when she kept speaking.

"Tulip, you're a good kid, I like you a lot more than the rest of your family. However, you are also inept, incapable of reading people and push everyone around you too far," Carmine paused when Tulip turned around. Red met violet in that moment, each appraising one another for eternal seconds. Tulip was in pain herself, it reflected in her wide, tear filled eyes—Carmine looked to be annoyed, tired perhaps, but more than all of that; She was worried. "Tulip, do you understand what just happened with Kirin?" Carmine asked with a sigh.

"I… I pushed her too far." Tulip said resolutely. Her head was hung low, she couldn't bring herself to Carmine's gaze anymore.

"Yes, yes you did. Now you both need to cool off, then probably apologize to each other in a day or two after things have simmered down," Carmine said matter-of-factly as she turned, pausing only slightly to make a last statement. "You're better than you think you are Tulip, don't let the mistakes of the past define your future." With that Carmine walked away, leaving Tulip in a self contemplative silence.

She wanted to go back, to go and apologize to Kirin. But, she knew she couldn't… She also couldn't go back to the ball, not now. So, with only one option left, she reluctantly returned to her room.

I sat in my room, my knees to my chest and my chin upon them. Everything felt wrong, I felt ready to puke, ready to just crawl up and die—That feeling only got worse after I yelled Tulip out of the room.

The only real comforts I had were the heavy blankets over my shoulders and the tiny, furry figure resting next to my feet.

I couldn't even focus on any one thing that set me off. I just felt ready to puke, like every muscle in my body had too much and too little energy at once. My head was running so quickly and so slowly at once—Nothing made sense, it all just… hurt.

It hurt in ways I didn't even understand. It was like everything and nothing was happening at the same time. I was honestly thankful when something came in, grounding me back into reality with a jolt.

"Kirin?" Carmine's voice broke me from my stupor, bringing my gaze slowly towards her. "Good, you're still awake." Carmine said as she stepped forwards.

She entirely invited herself into the room, stepping in and closing the door behind her. After she did so she turned towards me, crossing her arms before walking over and sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"Wanna talk about it?" Carmine asked as she sat, turning her head towards me.

"Not really…" I sighed out miserably.

"How are you feeling?" Carmine asked, pulling one leg up to rest her cheek on her knee while she did.

"Miserable…" I said in a weak tone. But silence dragged on despite my answer, Carmine's face clearly wanting more information before she'd move on. "It feels like everything is… On and off at the same time?" I offered, not entirely sure how else to put it into words.

"Like the worlds running a million miles a minute, and at a complete standstill?" She offered with a pitying expression.

"Y-Yeah…" I stuttered out, my gaze falling back down to the bed.

"What were you feeling before that?" Carmine asked, her voice growing much, much softer now.

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"I'm… I'm not sure honestly," I said with a heavy sigh. "I felt people staring at me… I swear I could feel how a few of them felt." I shivered just thinking about it again. All those voices, the pressure, the raw weight bearing down upon me—It was almost enough to set me off again. It would have set me off again if Carmine hadn't placed her hand on my head.

"It's alright Kirin, don't think too hard about it for now, alright?" Carmine spoke in as reassuring a tone as I had ever heard from her. "I might know what happened, but we can talk about that tomorrow." Carmine shifted over a little more, her arms wrapping around the blankets with me still inside of them. She held me there, in a soothing, warm embrace.

We sat like that for what felt like minutes, my head simply resting against Carmine's shoulder as she held me. She would occasionally sway side to side, or Akemi would look up and give her own soft sniff of approval. But otherwise, we remained exactly like that until when my breathing finally fully calmed, she let go.

"Feeling better?" She asked with a soft smile, now holding me at arms distance.

"Yeah… Thank you." I nodded, feeling a little embarrassed now and looking away from Carmine. She let out a soft laugh at my embarrassment, pushing off from the bed she stood up and stretched.

"Good, now go take a bath and get some rest. Unlike you girls, I do have to be at this ball all night," Carmine spoke as she walked to the door, pausing only once she was at the frame to smile back at me. "Have a good night, Kirin."

"You too, Carmine." I met her smile with one of my own, even as the pit in my stomach re-opened when she left the room.

I sat there for several minutes after Carmine left, almost returning back into the wallowing I had been in—I would have returned to that wallowing if not for Akemi, who had the audacity to meet my distant eyes as she sent an exceptionally painful bolt of electricity into me.

"Ow! Akemi!" I shouted more in surprise than in pain. I nearly kicked the fox before she jumped back, letting out a series of barks that nearly sounded like snickering.

"Stupid. Go." Akemi's soft, ethereal voice whispered from all directions at once. The more often I heard that voice, the more utterly certain it was Akemi's.

"Fine…" I sighed, slowly unwrapping myself from the shelter of blankets I had made. "A bath does sound nice right now…" I grumbled, glaring at the Kitsune when she hopped off the bed with a far too joyous posture.

Without anything else to distract me, I quickly grabbed a change of clothes and made my way to the baths.

It took nearly a minute for me to strip out of the dress—Even if it was a simple one, the number of buttons and just how tight it was made the process tedious, if not difficult.

But, that effort was all well worth it when I wrapped myself in a towel and stepped into the spring.

The way the humidity washed across my skin was almost heavenly, the feeling was only outdone when I dropped my towel and slowly settled into the water.

Hot water just had a way, that when it washed across one's skin it chased away all of the aches. It very much did that for me at this moment, easing away the aches and pains, even if they were far from physical ones.

I felt the tension in my body release, my shoulders and back finally easing up and letting me rest back head back against the lip of the spring.

It was so relaxing that I didn't hear the door open, only just starting to look up when I heard the distinct splash of someone dropping into the water.

My gaze moved over instinctively—Only to snap in the complete opposite direction a moment after locking onto a pair of red eyes that were well above the water's surface.

While the pool itself was thankfully opaque, there was nowhere near enough steam in the air to save me from seeing all of Tulip before she had sunk into the water.

"S-S-Sorry…" I mumbled out, now completely facing my back to the taller girl.

"I-It's fine… I should have said something…" Tulip spoke quietly as she sank into the water. "You… You don't have to look away now." Tulip offered after several moments of a rather intensely awkward silence.

Yet, even as I slowly turned, resting my back against the wall of the spring once again, the silence still persisted. Honestly, it was evenly more awkward now and was plainly building into tension.

"Kirin—"

"Tulip, I'm—"

Tulip and I both started to speak at the same time, just to totally cut one another off and fall silent.

After several long moments that threatened to once again turn awkward, I raised an arm, gesturing for Tulip to speak first.

"Kirin…" Tulip sighed out, her gaze turning away slowly. "I'm… I'm really sorry about earlier—I-I didn't mean to push you that far, make you do things you didn't want to…" As Tulip spoke she pulled her knees up to her chest, slowly hugging them to her body. "I know I'm terrible at that habit though…"

"It's… Fine." I sighed out. Frankly, I just felt too exhausted to stay angry—Even if I desperately wanted to still be mad at Tulip, it was just tiresome. "Just, don't be so pushy next time?" My voice was soft, but Tulip nodded at my request.

"Kirin…" Tulip started after a few moments of silence, pausing with uncertainty in her tone.

"Hm?" I asked, looking towards her again.

"How… How long were you in those mines?..." Tulip asked with uncertainty.

I was surprised when she asked that, I knew it had to be plainly showing on my face—Especially when Tulip looked away and began mumbling.

"S-Sorry… You don't have to answer that…" She mumbled out awkwardly.

"N-No, it's fine," I said quickly. "I just thought you would've known, so I was surprised, that's all." Another sigh left my lips, my gaze falling down to the water. I met my own gaze within the ripples, the almost grayish reflection of crimson within the water.

"It was… Almost five years," I started, my gaze remaining stagnant. "Four years, seven months and nineteen days. Give or take a day or two, but I think it's accurate." The room was silent when I finished, only the continuous sounds of bubbles surfacing echoed throughout it.

"Why'd you want to know?" I asked, slowly looking over to her. Tulip was looking down at the water herself, her face contorted into a sort of confused or contemplative look.

"I just… Wanted to know I guess," Tulip said uncertainly, taking a deep breath before continuing. "Honestly… Eh, nevermind—" Tulip forced a smile to her face, her gaze moving up towards me as she did so. "—Just know that you're strong, I guess. Don't really know where else I was gonna go with that."

The little awkwardness in the way Tulip spoke brought a soft giggle out from me. It was a strangely alien and relaxing thing to feel now, almost like it wasn't supposed to be from me after everything that had just happened.

"Hey-Hey! Hope you didn't think we'd be leaving the two of you on your own!"

Both Tulip and I looked over as a new voice and two sets of footsteps suddenly entered into the room. I looked over just to see a pair of miss-matched red and blue eyes, shimmering with an almost mischievous smile. Of course beside Lucia was the deep red hair of Silva—The former having been the one to speak.

"I thought you two were at the party still?" I asked with a tilt of my head.

"Ehh… Not really much to do there, too many stuck-up types for my taste," Lucia said with a smile. "Plus, the only people I had any interest in actual conversations happened to have already left." She added as she walked over, shedding her towel before quickly hopping into the water where she let out a satisfied sigh.

"I only needed to ask MIss Nenema a few things," Silva added with a shrug. She too quickly found her way into the water, albeit far more modestly than Lucia.

"Hmm…" Tulip sounded, raising a hand to her chin with a smile. "I think, just maybe, we might need to just all have a day out to go shopping—" She made her offer, looking first towards the other two before looking at me. "—If you're fine with that, Kirin." She said as she met my gaze.

"Out in the town?…" I asked uncertainly, almost reflexively pulling my knees up again. "I'm not sure… Not sure if I wanna be around that many people again right now." I sighed, entirely reflexively resting my chin on my knees now.

I closed my eyes, silently thinking over it while the others themselves were also quiet. It however only took a few moments for me to come to a consensus—Going shopping did sound nice, on some level or another.

"Just… Don't be mad if I want to come back a little early?" I asked, looking over to Tulip. For her part she just smiled knowingly, giving a quick and affirmative nod.

"Just say the word and we'll head back, no issue." She said with a smile.

"Shopping does sound rather nice," Silva said in her usual, monotone way. "There are a few things I could use for classes…" She mused softly.

"God… I don't even know the last time I had a bit of time to go to the markets—This'll be fun." Lucia sounded far more energetic. Frankly, I was quickly starting to get an impression about how much more sociable she was than me.

"Then… I'm gonna go and sleep—I'm… Really tired," I said before looking around at the other girls—Whom were practically surrounding me—Rather anxiously. "C-Could you all look away, please?" My words brought soft laughs from them, but they accepted the request. Their gazes turned away, granting me some decency until I could be wrapped within a towel.

"See you all in the morning then?" I asked once I was well and fully sure that the towel was covering everything.

"See you in the morning, Kirin," Tulip said with a soft wave. "Sleep well." She added a beat later.

"Have a good night Kirin!" Lucia chimed.

"Rest well… I know how exhausting that can be." Silva said with a slight shiver.

I had a slight pause at Silva's words, but all the same I raised a hand—Waving to them as I walked out. I only had to think softly that, maybe, talking with Silva could be a good idea… Especially if these sorts of social torture would be made more common.

Every step back towards my room I could feel the exhaustion setting in deeper. It was an utter, bone-deep tiredness that I had somehow never felt before. In fact, the exhaustion was so intense that I barely even had the energy to put clothes back on before collapsing into bed and fully accepting the rest that came with it.