Chapter 10: Friends in the Night (Elly)

Elly woke up staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. She was lying in a comfortable bed, confused. Where was she? The last thing she remembered was running. Then she had… what had happened?

“Oh, you’re awake?”

She sat up, startled by the warm voice. A woman with brown hair and flawless pale skin sat beside her, wearing a small smile. She had long ears like Elly’s own sticking out from the sides of her head. Elly gasped. An elf? She hadn’t seen any other elves before, aside from her mother.

“Who… where…”

“You’re Elaindra?” The elf’s voice was kindly and warm, like her mother’s, though wizened with age. That’s when Elly got a close look at her eyes. They were green as the tree’s leaves, and filled with a softness that immediately set Elly’s heart at ease. Those kind eyes of hers narrowed into a smile and she extended a hand out to gently touch Elly’s arm.

“I… my name is Elly,” Elly said.

“I’m Leilandry,” the kind elf informed her. “You can call me Nurse Leilandry.”

“Nurse?” Elly gasped, looking around. She realized she was in an infirmary. It was rather familiar, and not in a good way. Back home when Derek Lyder used to beat on her, she would spend a lot of her time getting taken care of. She hated infirmaries and the disgusted looks doctors and nurses would give her. Nurse Leilandry was the first one who was kind. Looking around the empty room, Elly spotted her cloak on the chair, and gasped, her hands shooting up to her ears. She knew she’d felt a breeze! She ran her fingers across them, and her heart sunk in her chest. No… people… people had seen. She had tried to keep them covered, but…

“I removed your hood,” the nurse told her, placing a hand on her shoulder. “You were overheated, it was for your own health. My apologies.”

“Did… did anyone see my-“

“Your ears?”

Elly gulped, nodding, scared of the answer. The nurse nodded her head, and Elly felt the urge to cry well up inside of her.

“I’m sorry,” the nurse said again. “You collapsed during your Physical Training class, you had heatstroke. Two boys from your cohort brought you here. I treated you with my magic, and let you sleep for a few hours.”

“I was… who brought me here?”

“I didn’t catch their names.”

“Um, can I…” Elly glanced down, not sure if she could ask the nurse whether or not she could stay in the infirmary for the rest of her classes.

“Hm?”

“Can… can I stay here?” There wasn’t any harm in asking, right?

The nurse smiled, reached up, and patted her on the head.

“It must be hard going back to class right now, right?”

Elly sniffled and nodded. A loud whistle startled her and her ears twitched.

“I’ve been steeping some tea while you slept, would you like some?” Nurse Leilandry rose from her chair and sashayed over to a small fire orica stove, taking the kettle from it. “Do you like moonglove tea?”

Elly felt her throat go dry. She hadn’t had moonglove tea since her mother made it for her years ago. “Yes, please.”

“I brought it all the way from Shadowveil,” the nurse called over her shoulder. “Have you ever been to the homeland before?”

“No, I… I haven’t left Stormstar before now.”

“You must go someday,” the nurse murmured, walking back to Elly and handing her a mug. Elly inhaled the aroma and smiled. It smelled of a happier time. She raised the mug to her lips and sipped, it was as delicious as she remembered.

“Thank you,” Elly said, setting the mug down. It was already empty? How could that be?

“While we have a chat with our tea, may I ask, why do you hide your ears, Elly?” Nurse Leilandry sat down on the bed. Elly shifted so that she could face her. When she saw the older elf’s eyes, she found herself drawn into them. She couldn’t help but trust those eyes, and before she knew it she was telling this kind woman everything.

“People would tease me because I’m part elf,” Elly said, running a finger across the point of her ear absentmindedly. She could still hear the cruel words they’d called her and feel their fingers pinching and pulling. It hurt just remembering it. “It… it’s better if I just keep it hidden.”

“I see… so you’re pretending to be human?”

Elly nodded. “My mom says I shouldn’t, but… it’s hard when everyone looks at me like I’m a freak.”

“Well, you aren’t a freak,” Nurse Leilandry assured her.

“I know, but… sometimes I just wish I didn’t have these ears,” Elly said. “It’s not only my ears, either. Elves are supposed to have a lot of mana, right? But my mana level… it’s so low. Even lower than a human. It’s… it’s because I’m half, right? I don’t have the mana level of a human or an elf, I’m just… I’m just a failure.”

“It’s not how much mana you have; it’s how you use it.”

Her mother used to tell her the same thing. She’d heard those words so much they were noise at this point.

“I just… I just wish I had been born human. Or even a full elf. At least then I would have a high level of mana. People would still tease me, but at least I would be, like…”

“I’m sorry I don’t know what it’s like to live as a half-elf, or to not have a lot of mana,” she said, taking a sip from her mug. “But I do know a little thing about being ostracized from those around me. Do you see any other members of the faculty with lovely ears like these?” She tilted her head to the side and wiggled her ears up and down. “Leaving Shadowveil, working in human society, I’m very often the only elf around. In fact, you’re only the third elf I’ve met outside of the homeland! Now, certainly, I could do what you did, hide them behind a hood, pretend to be human, but I don’t.”

“But… but don’t people tease you?”

“Oh, my, yes, they did, and do, quite a lot.” Her eyes were distant and glassy. “And It was worse than just teasing. And yes, for a long time, I did hide my ears, just like you did. But then I realized something.”

“What?” Elly asked, her eyes lighting up, “what did you realize?” She tried not to sound too nosy, but she wondered if there was something that the nurse had learned about adapting to human society that she could tell her. Something that might make things easier.

“I realized that I could pretend to be someone that I wasn’t, but no matter how hard I tried to pretend not to be an elf, it wouldn’t change who I was here,” Nurse Leilandry explained, holding her hand over her chest. “I was denying who I was, and living in fear of being discovered for being an elf. So I realized there was nothing that they could do to me that I wasn’t already doing to myself every day in my head, when I was afraid that I would be found out.”

Elly’s heart sunk, feeling her ears droop. That wouldn’t help her not get teased or bullied by the other students in her cohort. She wasn’t sure what she expected, but she was hoping for something a little more helpful. Elly would love to be herself, if only she wasn’t so pathetic.

“That’s… I just don’t know,” Elly admitted. Now that she thought about it, what did this nurse even really know? She had just met Elly today, a few minutes ago, and now here she was giving her a bunch of life advice?! Just because she was a fellow elf? Elly wasn’t even a full elf, anyway! This nurse didn’t know anything about what Elly struggled with! “I’m not… I’m not sure if I can just… be myself. I don’t even know who ‘myself’ is. I mean, I know who ‘myself’ is, but, like, as an elf I’m not sure, so…”

Babbling, Elly, you’re babbling!

She was getting flustered because she didn’t know what to say to the woman. Her thoughts were in such a tizzy and she wasn’t even sure what she wanted to hear back. She finally decided on “may I have some more tea?” because she couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“Certainly,” Nurse Leilandry said, giving her a big, beaming smile. Elly shyly smiled back. The kindness in those eyes was still so reassuring.

…

Elly stayed in the nurse’s office until the sun began to set. Classes were long over, and everyone was probably in the middle of dinner. Her stomach was rumbling, but there was no way she could poke her head in now. If anyone had seen her ears, then people were the last things she wanted to see right now. She thought of Wendy and Melody. They were the closest things she had to friends. When they had agreed to be her roommates, she had been so happy.

Now, she doubted they would want anything to do with her. What human would want an elf to be a roommate? She knew the things that were said about elves. How they were stuck-up and tricky, how they seduced human men only to enchant them with horrible curses, how they were so anti-human that they lived secluded away on a distant sky island, and of course, the worst of all, that because of their ears they were really part demon, and out to destroy humans. Humans hated elves, she’d never met one who hadn’t looked at her like she was a freak. Other races, malkin, venti, they were tolerated by humans, but elves…

Why did I have to be half-elf? Why can’t a half-elf be friends with a human?

It was painful moments like these that made Elly resent her wonderful mother. How pathetic was that? Blaming her mother for having her, maybe she deserved to be bullied for thinking that way.

If Elly left now, she could hopefully get back to her room while those two were still eating, and then she would pretend to be asleep when they got back. Then when the morning came, well… that would be a problem for morning Elly to solve.

“Thank you for letting me stay here,” Elly said, getting up off the bed and picking up her hood.

“Come back any time. I enjoyed our chat.” The nurse stood up as well and gave her a smile, held a hand over her heart, and lowered her head. “Ancestors watch over you.”

Elly flinched. It was a traditional elvish farewell her mother had told her about. How did the response go again? She mimicked the gesture that the other elf gave her, sticking up her middle three fingers as she did, and bowed her head.

“A-and may the ancestors protect you.”

The two raised their heads. Elly put on her cloak to hide her ears again and rushed out of the room. It was only when she was well on her way that she remembered that not only was her regular uniform back in the changing room, but she had forgotten her bag in the classroom. The bag that had the map of campus. She glanced around. She didn’t recognize the old hallway, and all the rooms were unlabeled. She turned around to look back the way she came, and froze. Had she turned right three times after she’d turned left? Or two times?

Elly gulped, a shiver running down her spine. It was still summer, so why was it so cold? And why were the shadows on the wall so long and twisted? And was that… was that shadow just moving a second ago?! Elly wanted to run, but she was petrified by fear. Where would she run to, anyway? She was lost.

She took a deep breath. She wanted to close her eyes, but that wouldn’t send the fear away. Instead, she squinted into the inky blackness ahead of her. As her eyes adjusted to the dark the monsters went away, revealing their true forms. There were no frightening monsters, just shadows. A shadow never hurt anyone.

“Oh? What have we here?” Elly let out a scream, whirling around and stumbling back, terrified. She focused her mana and created a barrier of light to shield her.

“My! That’s quite a barrier you’ve created!” Elly blinked, surprised, and opened her eyes a little. From out of the shadows, Reed Rivers stepped, holding a lantern with a light orica implanted into it, the smile on her face illuminated by the crystal’s glow.

“R-Reed Rivers?” Elly gasped.

Reed stepped closer, placing her hand on the barrier, causing it to light up with a rainbow of colors. Reed’s eyes widened, and her smile widened with it. “Wow! Is this a Magic Barrier? It’s quite finely made!”

“Um…” Elly didn’t know what to say, shocked as she was. Thank you? Was that the right thing? Or would the thought that she was being complimented be too presumptuous?

Reed waved her hand and a black circle shifted into existence in front of the barrier. She stepped through it, and another hole appeared inside, passing her through. She leaned over and grabbed Elly by the hands. Elly was stunned, Reed’s eyes shone with excitement in a way that was a little unnerving, but the way she looked upon Elly wasn’t unkind. The barrier shattered into shards that disappeared into sparkles of starlight.

Reed glanced over her shoulder and then looked back at Elly, obviously disappointed.

“…Sorry?” Elly said, wilting under Reed’s gaze. She looked up to the girl in front of her, Reed was such a talented mage, and to be confronted by her like this, it… Elly gulped again.

“Oh, don’t be sorry!” Reed said, helping Elly up to her feet. “Do it again! Again!”

Now Elly was just confused. She stared at Reed, not sure what was up with the girl. She had read up quite a bit on Reed Rivers, a talented mage, one of the star students of the Rem Magic Academy. She was a pioneer of her own magic, even more intelligent than some teachers. All the things Elly had learned about her secret idol, none of them had told her that she was so… odd.

“…Why?” Elly asked, seeking to find some clarity in the weirdness that was standing in front of her.

“I’ve never seen a Magic Barrier created by a half-elf before, that’s why,” Reed said, tilting her head to the side like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “It was enjoyable, if you don’t mind me saying.”

“H-half… half-elf?” Elly stuttered, stepping back from Reed. A chill went down her spine. She shook her head. “I-I’m not a-“

“Sure you are!” Reed chirped, stepping closer to Elly, the light in her eyes not dimming for a moment even with the knowledge of Elly’s heritage. She leaned in close and began sniffing at Elly’s collar. Confused, Elly backed away a little more, but the persistent girl followed after her, getting close enough to Elly she could smell the sweet scent of apples coming from her.

“…Yup! Just as I thought!” Reed said, raising her head and stepping back, looking into Elly’s eyes with a wide grin on her face. “The smell of your mana is like Nurse Leilandry’s! But also like a human’s as well! So you’re a half-elf, right?”

“N-no, I’m not!” Elly tried to protest, even though she knew at this point it was futile. There wasn’t anything she could say to change Reed’s mind. She sighed in defeat and hung her head, nodding glumly. Her idol knew her shameful secret. Elly wanted to wither up and die.

“Ah! Cool!” Reed said, her expression strangely getting brighter at the knowledge she was talking to a half-elf. “Can I see your ears? Can I? Can I?”

“N-no!” Elly gasped, pulling her hood down further. “Th-that’s private!”

“Oh…” Reed’s face sunk. “Okay, then, sorry. Then what about that barrier again, huh?”

Elly blinked. She had told Reed that she was right, that Elly was a half-elf, and yet… the other girl didn’t seem to care? Those colorful eyes of hers were as unflinchingly relaxed as they always had been, without a speck of disgust. She seemed more interested in seeing Elly make another barrier than she was in what was under Elly’s hood. It didn’t make sense. “I-I guess I can…” Elly held her hands up and focused her mana, visualizing a barrier appearing in the air in front of her. A wall of light capable of repelling attacks, both magical and physical. As she pictured the patterns of the spellcraft in her mind it shimmered into being.

“Wow, you did it again!” Reed gasped, turning and touching the barrier, running her hand across it curiously. She held her hand up, and to Elly’s surprise created an identical barrier on the other side of the girl, Elly glancing behind her in shock.

“You-! But that’s-!”

“We all learn about Magical Barriers in our first quarter here,” Reed explained. Elly’s ears drooped. Even the one thing she could do okay was common magic here. She just couldn’t win.

“It’s the only thing I really know,” she admitted, shame no doubt burning on her face.

“Still, yours is better than mine.” Elly’s ears twitched in surprised and she raised her eyes to look at Reed, not sure she’d heard right.

“Wh-What?”

“I put more mana into mine, and yet yours seems to be just as tough,” Reed mused, not even looking Elly’s way. She was too busy studying the barrier of light in front of her. The girl rapped her knuckles against its surface, creating more ripples of color. “Yup, real solid. I wonder if that’s secret elven spellcraft? Very fine work…”

Elly wasn’t sure how to respond. She had never been complimented for her magic before. It was a compliment, right? Reed’s kind words were tugging insistently on the corners of Elly’s mouth, but she didn’t want to embarrass herself by smiling like a dope in front of someone she admired.

“Well!” Reed straightened up and turned back to Elly. “Thanks for giving me a look! Are you sure I can’t sneak a little peek at those ears of yours?”

Elly dispelled the barrier and averted her eyes, shaking her head. “No, that’s… still no.”

“Oh, well,” Reed shrugged. She snapped her fingers and dispelled her own barrier. Where Elly’s had shattered to pieces like a dropped mirror, Reed’s faded away cleanly, like it had never been there to begin with. Even the way she released her magic was amazing…

“So what’s you name again?” Reed asked. “I don’t know if I caught it before.”

“Be… before?”

“Dinner, last night? You were sitting with Blake, right?”

“You… remember me?” Elly asked. The thought that Reed Rivers of all people remembered who she was, that was almost as much of a shock as being complimented for her magic.

“’Course!” Reed laughed like a wind chime. “After all, you had such good eyes, you knew all about my transportation magic! I was so surprised to have a fan!”

“…Well, I mean… I kind of look up to you, since you’re so talented,” Elly admitted, her cheeks flushing. “M-My, my name’s Elly, by the way.”

“Hey Elly,” Reed grinned, holding out her hand. “I’m Reed!”

“…Yeah, I know.”

“Oh, sorry, I forgot,” Reed laughed again, scratching her hair sheepishly. “Anyway, what brought you out to this wing of campus tonight?”

Elly was having trouble keeping up with Reed, she seemed to be jumping all over the place. “I’m, um, I’m lost,” Elly explained. “My, um… my classmates brought me to the nurse’s office, and I don’t know how to get back to my room.”

“Oh, yeah, I get it,” Reed laughed. “I don’t know why the nurse has her office all the way over here, kind of hard to find your way through.”

Elly nodded, smiling a little. But she felt a little uneasy with the conversation. She wanted to ask Reed what she was doing there, but was too shy to actually ask.

“The dorms aren’t that close, but it’s no problem at all,” Reed said. “I can take you back.”

Elly’s face brightened. “Really?” Reed’s transportation magic could bring her there with the snap of her fingers! “Um, I live in the First Year Stars Cohort dormitory, so can you transport me there?”

“Oh, no, sorry,” Reed said, shaking her head. She gave Elly an apologetic smile. “I got in a little bit of trouble with my cohort leader earlier today for transporting another student against their will.” She looked down. “So I’m not allowed to use my transportation magic on others for a few days.”

“I remember,” Elly said. Seeing Blake drop into the classroom suddenly had been shocking. It was probably for the best, if she was being honest. It would have been convenient for Reed to transport her to her room, but at the same time, when Blake did it, he looked like he was going to throw up. Elly had already thrown up once today, she wasn’t interested in a repeat.

“It’s okay,” Reed assured her. She turned and headed down the hall, holding her lantern up, gesturing to Elly for her to follow her. “I’ll show you to your room the normal way, no need to worry.”

“Th-Thank you,” Elly said, trailing after Reed. She stood at the edge of the lantern’s light. At first she had just been star struck, but now she was fascinated by the older girl for a different reason. She wasn’t treating Elly like anyone else who learned her secret ever had. She wasn’t acting like Elly was a freak, even though she knew she was an elf. She was talking with her like Elly was… a human. Not looking disgusted at her, calling her names, or ignoring her, nothing. Elly wasn’t sure what to make of that.

Elly was so lost in her thoughts, she didn’t realize that Reed had asked her something. “Sorry, I was thinking, what were…?”

“Oh, I was asking if you were friends with Blake.”

“Um… no, not really,” Elly said, shaking her head. He wasn’t really a friend, especially now that he knew what she was. Reed had been a surprise, but Elly didn’t believe for a moment that the other students in her cohort would think the same. But it would be nice, at least, if Wendy and Melody would...

“Darn, I was hoping you could put in a good word about me,” Reed winked. “He’s so distrusting, even though I just want to get to know him a little better… he knows all about dragons! I love dragons, and those dragon eggs, I want to get a closer look, but he’s not letting me near them.” She let out a long sigh.

“Blake is a little, um… sorry, I don’t know him very well, but… he really loves those eggs, and after, um, what happened to his family…”

Reed stroked her chin and sighed.

“I might have been a little too forceful. People are always telling me I need to be more thoughtful of others. But when I see something exciting, I just get all… excited, you know!?”

She inhaled, swooning a little.

“Dragons are so amazing… when will the eggs hatch, do you think? I hope they hatch soon. How many eggs are there, do you know? It must be difficult to look after a lot of baby dragons, maybe if I ask nicely he’ll let me take care of one! What do you think?”

Reed was hitting Elly with so many questions that she was starting to get confused.

“Do you like dragons? I love them myself, I’ve read everything the library has on the subject! House Harker’s History, Myths of Dragons, oh! And Reinha- oops, I mean, ‘The Compendium: Dragon Volume’, sorry. Can’t use the old name.”

It was quickly becoming clear that much like Amy, Reed was more interested in talking at Elly, rather than with her. Well, that was fine. Elly didn’t feel much like talking tonight, even less so than she usually did, and Reed in particular was overwhelming in a way she wasn’t used to. So Elly just fixed a small smile to her face and bobbed her head up and down as Reed continued to explain all the great things about dragons.

…

“Here we are!” Reed said, turning down a familiar hall. Elly sighed in relief. She’d finally gotten back. And after lectures on only three species of dragons. She relaxed for only a few seconds before her feelings of anxiety returned. Her roommates were definitely back by this point. Just thinking about that confrontation kept her rooted in place.

“Th-Thank you.” Elly swallowed the cracks in her voice and cleared her throat, looking up at Reed. She smiled back at Elly and shrugged, like it wasn’t that big of a deal.

“Not at all, don’t worry about it. I enjoyed our talk about dragons! Let’s do it again sometime! Besides, I was headed here this way myself, actually.”

Wait, what? Reed had been coming this way all along? Elly watched Reed walk down the hall, her eyes scanning the doors. She must have found the one she was looking for, because she stopped in front of it and knocked loudly.

The door swung in and Elly saw Reed’s face light up.

“Blake! It’s me, Reed! I missed you at dinner, but I was wondering if you’d like to go for a walk? We can talk about dragons, and-“

The door slammed shut hard enough that fringes of blonde hair were blown out of the girl’s face. Elly resisted the urge to snicker. She felt bad for Reed, but at the same time it was kind of funny. It would be mean to laugh, though. Reed turned and headed back towards Elly. If she was feeling hurt beneath the smile she wore, Elly couldn’t tell. She still felt the need to apologize anyway, giving her a small “sorry” as she passed.

Reed waved her hand dismissively. “Don’t worry! I’ve never experienced getting a door slammed in my face before, I really enjoyed myself!”

Elly didn’t really know what to say to that, so she just watched Reed depart, the corridor falling into darkness. She sighed, turning back to her door and the reunion she’d been dreading.

She couldn’t avoid it forever. She gulped and stepped inside, preparing to recoil from whatever abuses they laid on her.

“Elly!” Wendy hopped off her bed and ran over to her, her eyes wide. “We haven’t seen you for hours!”

“H-huh?” Elly blinked, partly to adjust to the light of the room, partly because she wasn’t sure if what she was seeing was real or not. The concern in Wendy’s eyes… maybe she hadn’t seen her ears after all? Elly sighed. She had been worried for nothing.

“Are you okay?” Melody was sitting on her bed. Peering over a thick book were eyes just as untouched by scorn as Wendy’s. “You left your clothes and your bag, we brought them back.”

“Thanks,” Elly mumbled, glancing at her things laid gently on her bed.

“We wanted to come visit you, but the nurse said you needed your rest,” Wendy said. Elly smiled a little, that made her feel better. “I was surprised that the school nurse was an elf!”

“Y-Yeah, it was surprising,” Elly said, keeping her smile plastered on her lips. She didn’t want them to think that anything was wrong.

“Speaking of elves, why didn’t you tell us?”

Elly gulped. “T-Tell you what? About the nurse? I didn’t know either…”

Wendy laughed, clapping Elly gently on the shoulder. “No, silly, I mean about you! You’re an elf, right?” She reached up and pulled on the tips of her own ears.

For the second time that day, Elly felt the urge to throw up. She took a shaky step back, her face going pale.

“You weren’t observant enough, Wendy,” Melody scolded. “Her name was the tip-off.”

“Um, elf, I’m not a-“

“Huh? But we saw your ears.”

It was over. No talking her way out of this. Elly felt the strength leave her body. She stumbled over and fell into bed, her head spinning. This wasn’t happening. She’d spent all afternoon worrying, but somehow she had hoped that no one would have noticed. What a foolish hope. She didn’t have it in her to take another look, certain that their eyes would be so much colder now.

“I don’t see what the big deal is.” Melody’s voice cut through the fog of worries gathering around Elly’s head, and she looked to her roommate in her confusion.

“Huh?”

“Sabine was talking about how disgusting you were because you were an elf, but I don’t really understand what the issue is,” Melody explained, shrugging her shoulders. Her eyes hadn’t changed a bit, they were still as shiny as ever.

“I’m just glad you’re okay,” Wendy nodded. Like Melody, her eyes were still kind. “You are okay, right? It was just heatstroke? You didn’t have a bad reaction to the sun because you’re an elf or anything?”

“No, um, elves don’t… have problems like that…” What was going on? Was this really happening? Melody and Wendy didn’t seem to care about her being an elf in the slightest. Where were the looks of disgust, the cruel voices and jeers that had followed her all her life?

Utterly confused, she tried to ask. “You… you aren’t disgusted by me?” Her heart was beating even faster as she waited for their answer.

Wendy and Melody shared a confused glance with each other. They both turned to look at Elly, Wendy saying “no, why would we be?”

Elly wasn’t sure what she was supposed to say to that.