Litvir read the sheet of paper one last time, double-checking their work. Everything looked correct, at least to them. All the questions had been answers, Litvir had shown all their workings out, and they had remembered to sign their name at the top of each page. Once Litvir was sure they were done, they put their pen down, then silently raised their hand.
After a few moments, a teacher made their way over.
“Are you done?”
“Yes, I am done.”
“May I take your papers?”
“Yes, please.”
The teacher collected all of Litvir’s work, then nodded towards the desk at the front, where another teacher was sitting. Litvir knew what to do, they had done this a lot recently. They put their pen back inside their pencil case, then got up and walked to the front desk. This teacher looked Litvir up and down. After a moment of inspection, the teacher then opened a nearby box and handed Litvir a key.
“Collect your belongings from the locker outside, then take your key to Captain Kietras. They are waiting for you in the assembly hall.”
Litvir took the key, bowed slightly, then left the classroom. Litvir’s locker wasn’t too far away, and they quickly unlocked it and grabbed their belongings, including their communicator. Litvir shoved most of their belongings in their satchel, then slowly made their way to the assembly hall.
But just as Litvir started working, they rather surprisingly bumped into Missa, who had been in the classroom next door, and they were grabbing their belongings too.
“Hello.”
Miisa turned around and smiled. “Litvir, hello! Are you done with your exams?”
Litvir smiled back. “I am, yes.”
“All of them?”
“I just finished my last exam. I need to go and give my key to the teacher in the hall.”
Missa smiled some more and very quickly packed everything into their satchel. “We can talk together, if you want?”
“That would be nice.”
Miisa swiftly sorted themselves out, then skipped down the hallway, inviting Litvir to chase them. Litvir however made a tutting noise and appeared next to Miisa, who was just outside the assembly hall now.
“Um… How did you do that?”
Litvir frowned. “Oh. Sorry.”
“You teleported!” Miisa exclaimed. “Like a Skyavok who does shadowjumping but not in the dark!”
“I did not teleport!” Litvir tried to explain. “I just went really, really fast.”
“The speed of light?”
Litvir nodded.
“But would you not… like, heat up or something? That is very fast. Stupid fast. It would make all your armour melt off from friction in the air.”
Litvir thought for a moment, then shrugged. “If I was not a deity, I think you would be very right. But we live in a universe where the speed of light is very high and gravity is not very strong. But also we have two big proper deities who make sure everything works. Anyway, we should hand in our keys.”
Miisa shrugged. The pair of them walked into the assembly hall and quickly handed in their keys. The teacher looked up, inspected Litvir and Miisa, then smiled at both of them.
“Well done, you two. You earned your gold medallions.”
“Our exams have not been marked yet though?” Litvir asked. “When will we find out?”
“Next week. But you two, Miisa, Litvir, you have done well and are both very calm. I am certain you will both score well.”
“We appreciate that!” Litvir beamed, but suddenly paused. “What do we do now?”
“Head down to the canteen and get something to eat and drink, then feel free to relax. Dinner and Curfew are at normal times, but we recommend not playing loud games, as other students are still doing exams.”
“Oh. That sounds good. We should do that, Miisa!” Litvir went back to smiling again. “Thank you, Kyr!”
“No worries. Go and relax.”
Miisa and Litvir both bowed, then left the hall. Once they were outside, Miisa took Litvir’s hand and led the way. The first thing they did was go to the canteen, which was weirdly quiet.
“I expected there to be more people?” Litvir was confused, both by the hand holding and the lack of people around.
“We finished early. That is probably why.”
“Because we are smart?”
“Well, yeah.”
Miisa made their way over to the food hall, which was basically a massive buffet that ran from 7am to 9pm, closing briefly between breakfast, lunch and dinner. Today though, because of the exams, food was available all day. Litvir got one of their favourite foods, pizza, but Miisa was hungry and ended up putting themselves a lot of things. A bowl of mash, some sausages, curly chips and gravy.
Rather than eating in the canteen though, Miisa decided to head outside.
“Is there somewhere you want to go?” Litvir asked as they followed Miisa all the way to a particular spot. The spot where Miisa had seen Litvir and given them a lucky medallion. “Wait…”
Miisa sat down, then invited Litvir to join them.
“Can I be honest, please?”
Litvir looked Miisa up and down. After a moment though, Litvir put their head in their hands and sniffed.
“You like me. A lot. But…”
Miisa blinked in confusion. “Did you just read my mind?”
“Accidentally. I hate it. I do not like seeing what others are thinking…” Litvir whimpered a bit. “And I am not ready. I am a baby. Also, I am aware that I have similarities to the death-honoured General.”
Litvir expected Miisa to be really upset. Instead, they put their hand on Litvir’s shoulder.
“I am sorry.”
“I forgive you, Litvir. You are not ready. That is fine. But I have some… alternative options.”
Litvir straightened themselves out, then sighed. “What do you mean?”
“Well, we will have two more weeks here, as we apply for the Legions we want. We will have free time, and it would be nice to spend that time together. But also, we are applying for Legions in the same place, yes?”
“Well, I am going to the 11th Legion no matter what… Are you suggesting we get our own houses in Phos, so we can be close?”
Miisa nodded. “Yes, basically. And we may even work at the same place, because I want to be an advisor.”
“Oh!” Litvir suddenly squeaked. “You want to work in the 99th Legion, for dada Relkir!”
Litvir’s phrasing caught Miisa off guard, but they shrugged it off. “That is what I want, yes. Just to still be friends, now and after we leave the 900th Legion.”
Litvir did somewhat calm down. “That is… reasonable. We can be friends when we have work and stuff, yes?”
“Yes!” Miisa nodded. “That is what I want.”
“I want that too.”
Miisa held out their hand. Litvir glanced at it, then shook Miisa’s hand, very gently.
“Always-driends?”
“Always-friends.”
“Yay.”