Chapter 2- the Letter

To Mina’s surprise, her father wasn’t home when she made it back. A note left on the counter said he wouldn’t be back until later than normal. Grateful for the unexpected break, Mina hopped into the shower and cleaned herself up. Proper feather care for angelkin took time, and she didn’t want to have to rush later. She was nearly finished with dinner when her father finally returned. He looked exhausted, and a bit pale, and seemed lost in thought. He dropped his hat and coat on the rack by the door and dropped into one of the chairs around the table.

“Evening.” He said. “Sorry I’m so late. Things took a lot longer than expected.”

“Did work run late?” Mina asked, emptying stir-fry onto a pair of plates and bringing them to the table.

“No. I was finishing everything I needed to finish in order to give you your gift tomorrow.”

“Oooo, what’d you get me? Huh? Huh?” She asked, leaning across the table and poking him with her chopsticks.

“Don’t worry about it. You’ll find out about it soon enough.” He said, his tired eyes getting a mischievous glint in them.

“Well, what if I don’t want to wait?”

“Too bad.”

Mina pouted.

“You’re no fun.”

Her father snorted.

“We’ll see about that.”

After dinner, Papa excused himself to turn in early for the evening. Evidently the combination of work and doing whatever he was planning for tomorrow had taken a lot out of him. Mina couldn’t help but worry that maybe his health was starting to deteriorate again. If it was, things were about to get a lot harder for the two of them. Gods willing, it wasn’t that.

Mina walked back to her room and flipped open her laptop to browse the web, ultimately landing on watching a documentary about the history of skydancing. It wasn't long, however, before she found herself dozing off in front of the screen. Evidently she'd pushed herself a lot harder today than she realized. Shutting the computer and yawning loudly, she stripped off her pants and slid into bed. Despite her excitement about tomorrow, sleep found her again in moments.

Mina awoke on her eighteenth birthday to the sound of rain falling on the roof overhead, punctuated a few moments later by the distant rolling boom of thunder. She sighed. Of course it would be raining on probably the most significant birthday of her life. Why wouldn't it be? Pulling on a pair of leggings, a tee shirt and a hoodie, she made her way out and towards the kitchen. 

She made it to the living room when she realized she heard someone in the kitchen. It sounded like they were crying. She peeked her head around the corner to peer into the kitchen to see her father sitting at the table, his face in his hands, weeping quietly. In front of him was an opened letter of some kind, although she couldn't read what it said from the doorway. Seeming to sense her arrival, Papa looked up at her, before clearing his throat and wiping his eyes.

"Sorry. Hope I didn't wake you." He said, folding the letter up and sticking it back in the envelope.

"Is something wrong? What happened?" Mina asked, stepping over to the table and placing a hand on his shoulder.

Papa wouldn't meet her gaze for a long moment. When he finally did, the collection of emotions on his face was impossible to read. He looked sad, and tired, and maybe a little sick, but there were other emotions there too that didn't seem to make sense. Was he also... happy? He cleared his throat again and motioned to the chair across from him. "Sit down."

Mina did as instructed. Her father appraised her for a long moment, tapping the edge of the envelope against the back of his hand several times in thought. Frustratingly, he had the face of the envelope with the return address pointed towards him so she couldn't see it.

"You asked yesterday what I was doing for you for your birthday. I told you you'd have to wait. That was because I had planned on giving this to you tonight at the party, but to be honest, I just don't have it in me to drag this out any longer." He said. 

He stopped tapping the envelope, before holding it out to her.

"Happy birthday, kiddo."

Mina looked at the letter with faint air of suspicion. The way he was holding it, she still couldn't clearly see who it was from.

"What is it?"

"Just open it."

Mina took the letter from his hand, and turned it towards her. She froze when she saw the return address, a strange nervous thrill running up her spine and making her feel queasy. There, in elegant calligraphic script in the top left corner of the envelope were the words "Caltriss Academy of Performing Arts", then immediately below that "Admissions Office". Mina's eyes went wide, and she looked up from the envelope at her father. He was smiling.

"Well go on!" He said.

Mina looked down at the envelope and swallowed hard. She fought the contents out of the envelope with trembling hands, and it felt like her heart was about to explode out of her chest. She finally got the piece of paper unfolded, and started to read.

"Miss Mina Seras, our office is pleased to inform you that your application for admission to Caltriss Academy's College of Dance has been accepted. Due to the unique nature of your financial circumstances, and the letters of recommendation provided with your submission, we are additionally pleased to inform you that you have been awarded a full scholarship, including lodging and sundries, for a period of four (4) years starting from the effective date listed below. 

Due to the late arrival of your submission, however, the academic year has already begun. In order to retain the scholarship awarded above, you will be required to arrive in a timely manner and begin your studies in media res. We have no doubt as to your capacity to maintain pace with your peers, despite this difficulty. 

Please arrive to campus no later than....."

The letter continued on, but Mina's eyes were too full of tears to read any more of it. She looked up at Papa to see he was crying too.

"What? How...? I never even applied...." She started.

"I know you didn't. I applied for you, when you said you weren't going to." He said. "One of the people I did work for recently has a family member who happened to work in admissions. They made sure the application made it to the right people for a proper review, along with a rather thick stack of recommendation letters. Evidently, they determined that based on your skills and the fact that you also happen to serve as primary breadwinner with your teaching that you deserved a full ride."

Mina looked down at the letter again in disbelief, then back to him.

"I-I... I don't know what to say...." She finally managed to stumble out.

Papa smiled. 

"Generally, it's considered polite to say thank you." He said. "I know how much you've always dreamed of going there, what with Flera having studied there. I figured my girl deserves to have what she's always longed for, whether she'd ever admit it or not."

Mina started to cry again, and scrambled out of her chair to hug him. She squeezed him so tightly that he protested for air before she released him. She looked up at him.

"But if I'm gone, who will take care of you? You'll need the money I make teaching!"

He shook his head.

"Nah. Unbeknownst to you, I've been saving for a while now. And, all of those people who wrote letters begging the school to take you? They've offered to help where they can in your absence. I'm going to be fine."

Mina looked down at the paper in hand, finally reading the last part. Her eyes shot back up to him, wide with fear.

"They're expecting me to arrive there TOMORROW?!"

Papa laughed, then nodded.

"Yep. I'm afraid so. And about two months into the academic year too. That's what I was upset about earlier. I figured I would have a lot more time to prepare you a proper goodbye, but evidently not."

He pulled her back into a bear hug.

"You'll be fine, kid. You're more than talented enough." He said.

"But what about the party tonight? What am I supposed to tell everyone?" Mina protested.

"Everyone coming already knows. June included. Tonight is also your going away party, so expect going-away presents on top of your regular birthday gifts."

"June knew and she didn't tell me?" 

Papa laughed again.

"Yep. She did. Knowing her, it must have taken all of the effort in the world to not let it slip out."

"Well, that explains her super weird questions yesterday." 

Mina set the letter on the table.

"I can't tell you how much this means to me, Papa." She said.

"You don't have to. I already know." He replied, tossling her hair. "Now, since you know what's going on, here's where the less fun part comes in. You have to be completely packed and ready to leave before the party tonight. After the party is over, we're going straight to the train station. The only way you'll make it to the Academy by the deadline is if you set out tonight. It's three days to the city by train, and the deadline's in four. I've already got tickets from the overnight departure, courtesy of June's family. So, you'd better get to it!"

When Mina finally returned to her room, she couldn't do more than sit on her bed and stare at the page in her hand, re-reading it over and over and over, expecting at any moment to wake up from the dream she was in. But no. This was actually real. She looked up at the posters on her wall, and had a sudden vision of posters of her one day being on someone else's. And before she even realized what she was doing, she was dancing around her room, screaming for joy.