Does the S stand for Sleepy?

“Room E twelve.”, I mutter as I look at the doors in the hallway, “Room E twelve.” I stop in front of the room as I exclaim, “Here it is!”

I open the door to see the large muscular girl from the wagon trip standing in the cramped room. I will be fine with the size of this room, but I feel bad for her. I look around the room as I walk over to my new bed. It looks to be about the same size as Dandelion’s room back at the orphanage.

“Well hello again!”, The girl says as she is unpacking her luggage. “Looks like we’ll be roommates while we’re here.”, She adds. “I’m Birta.”, She introduces herself with a smile that I could hear.

“I’m Lydia.”, I introduce myself as I turn around to face the older girl. Yup, she is in fact smiling widely with a hand outstretched. I shake her hand. “Nice to meet you Birta.”, I add as we let go of each other.

“Nice to meet you too Lydia.”, Birta says as she turns back around to her luggage. An awkward silence begins to fill the room until the girl says, “Glad to see you’re okay. You really surprised me when you vomited and then nearly passed out into it.” My eye twitches at that last part. I definitely did not need to know that. Learning that makes me quite mad that ever since I was sent to this world that I cannot forget anything. I quietly sigh in resignation, a photographic memory is a double edged sword it seems.

-- -- --

“Should we head to bed?”, I ask as we finish putting our luggage away. “I was told we have practical exams at dawn.”

“That’s right!”, Birta exclaims in surprise. “We probably should.”, She answers my question.

We both quickly get into our small beds. This is quite uncomfortable, I am already the length of the bed and I am just going to grow more. I turn my head to look over at Birta. I can barely make out her large silhouette. But I can make out her long legs perfectly bent over the end of the bed. Poor thing.

“Are you alright?”, I ask her.

“I’ll be fine.”, She replies. “It’s just how it is for ogres.”, She adds.

“Ogres?”, I unintentionally inquire aloud.

“You don’t know?”, Birta asks as I see her silhouette shift to face me.

“Sorry, no.”, I answer, “I grew up in a rather isolated orphanage with only other humans.” The ogre’s silhouette shifts away from me before the owner of it speaks.

“Well I don’t know everything.”, Birta begins to explain. “But I can explain a little bit.”, She says with a hint of, sadness? “Unlike the other folks of Toranota. We ogres were created by the giants that enslaved all the other folk…”, She says, her voice full of melancholy. Not surprising since she is talking about slavery. Giants enslaved all other folk? Who are these other folks? Humans, obviously. Elves? Whatever the Guild Master is?

-- -- --

I jolt up into a sitting position. My first night away from the orphanage since I got here and I have to wake up when I used to there. I quickly get out of bed and look out the window to see the moon low in the sky. Glad helping with the kitchen all those years prepared me for early mornings. I step over to Birta’s bed and lightly shake the sleeping ogre.

“Birta.”, I quietly say to the teen, “It’s time to wake up.” In response Birta merely shifts with a groan. “We need to head out for the exam.”, I softly exclaim as I pull the sheet off of the sleeping teen.

-- -- --

“Alright!”, Xentel’s voice echoes through the large courtyard as all of us applicants are standing around the area. “Glad to see you all here.”, The Guild Master says as his voice booms through the area. Was he using a megaphone? It sounds like a megaphone. “Now you will be separated into groups to test what you will be best suited to study while here.”, He explains. I look around at the people near me. Many of the applicants appear to be trying to stay awake while various official guild members walk around grouping the sleepy teens together.

“Yamakuma.”, A woman says from behind me.

“Yes!”, I jump in surprise at the voice as I turn to see a lanky weary looking woman. She is probably as tired as the teens she is corralling, if not more so. Maybe she had a few too many late night shifts before this early one.

“You’re in Group S.”, The tired guild member says to me before walking away.

“Uhhhhh.”, I respond stunned by the lack of explanation. “Where am I supposed to go?”, I yell as I follow the worn out woman.

“You’re so damn loud.”, The woman groans as she stops and turns around. I nearly bump into her because of it. “Just follow me and shut up.”, She glares at me with a look I have not seen since I was sent to the principal in high school. “Got it?”, She rhetorically asks. She turns back around and looks at a complete douche bag that is unfortunately also fully awake like myself. “Goodswell.”, She says to the boy.

“William Goodswell.”, The douche says in the haughtiest tone I have ever heard.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”, The woman ignores his ‘correction’. “You’re in Group S. Follow me.”, She adds before she walks away. Oh great, I am stuck with a total tool.

-- -- --

I look at the rising sun as the dozen of us in Group S are all standing against the wall leading to the training yard. As my eyes adjust to the new lighting I look at the other applicants in my group. I miss electricity, it would be so much easier to see these people when we first gathered together.

“This should be quite easy for someone as great as I.”, William the tool exclaims with arrogance as he puts a hand on his chest. I quietly sigh to myself as he continues, “I have been training with a blade since I could walk. As befits a Goodswell.” I have to assume Goodswell is some big noble house with the way this idiot acts and speaks.

“Group S.”, We hear Nir’s voice from around the corner. “Time to see how well you all can use weapons.”, The burly man says with a chuckle as he turns the corner to face us.