Chapter 12 : Beauty and the dwarf (Beauty a i norn)

Thankfully, the other teachers at Realta Ban did not possess the cheerful disposition of Hiril Cirilla. So, Diana's remaining classes went better than the disastrous hour in Alchemy.

Magical History, which Diana would've thought to be the most boring subject ever, was taken by Hiril Taira who did not know the meaning of boring. She had gray hair and a questionable sense of fashion demonstrated by her orange and green striped dress and a multitude of gold rings. But she took the subject with the enthusiasm of a teenager, enacting out the more interesting bits of the history with such dramatic flair, that it was nothing like the history classes Diana had slept through at her human school.

The Botany classes were held in the enormous greenhouses bursting with unique flowers, creepers, climbers and other assorted vegetation. Hiril Salvia, who took the subject was a plump motherly elf with enough dirt on her clothes to make Diana's obsessive anxiety for cleanliness go through the roof. But the lesson was so interesting, Diana could almost ignore the dirt encrusted hemline of her teacher. Almost.

Herdir Helix took Mathematics and Diana resigned herself to the fact that even in this new world, Maths was not going to leave her tail. It's not like she was bad at the subject, but she made so many silly mistakes (that prevented her from achieving the coveted full marks) that she'd grown to resent it. She could not resent Herdir Helix though. He was a thin, reedy man filled with so much energy he seemed to buzz around the classroom like a wound up toy.

At midnight, once a week, they trooped up the west tower to a circular room that made up a piece of the enormous glass dome of the palace. It had telescopes, astronomical charts and best of all, a large glass dome in the centre that contained a working model of space. Diana was shocked to learn that she wasn't even in the same galaxy as Earth anymore! Allohara was a planet inside a solar system of the Andromeda galaxy, about 2.5 million light years away from the Milky way. "Give or take a couple of light-years," murmured Arion matter-of-factly like they were discussing the distance to the ice-cream parlour in the corner.

Hiril Apolla took Ancient Arts which Diana had imagined to be a subject on ancient spells. But when she walked into the classroom, she stood gaping in awe. The classroom was less a room and more of a large hall partitioned with glass walls. One section had a raised stage in the centre with a futuristic sound system in one corner, another had a wall entirely covered in every musical instrument imaginable. Another partition had several art supplies set facing the mural of a large tree, its branches bursting with colourful leaves. Hiril Apolla was willowy; her clouds of caramel-coloured hair blew around her as she glided into the classroom. She announced that they were allowed to pick any of the arts or even all of them if they're positive that they would be able to keep up with the work. Diana knew that with five years worth of books to be studied in a short time, taking on everything was not exactly a good plan. But she could hardly resist the lure of the artistic opportunity that this class provided. She signed up for everything.

Herdir Mercury was a silver haired, silver tongued elf who could speak a dozen languages of Earth along with Elvish. This was the class where Diana finally faced the frustration of not knowing the language. She could hardly tell the teacher to take the lesson of Grammatical terms of the Elvish language in English. Worse, Hiril Cirilla came to pick up a book from Herdir Mercury and commented airily that Diana should be put into a first year Elvish class in order to "properly learn the language from its basics." Before Herdir could consider her recommendation too seriously, Aletheia piped up that she would help Diana come up to speed with Elvish. Diana gave her a relieved, grateful smile.

In Vorantian Beasts, they met their first dwarf teacher, Herdir Faun, a cheerful man whose size seemed to have no affect on his ability to handle large animals. He led them to an empty paddock in the grounds and whistled shrilly. At once, a flock of birds seemed to heed his call. As they flew closer, their size grew larger and larger till - "They're not birds!" Diana shouted in amazement. A herd of winged horses landed smoothly inside the paddock; roan, black, palomino, chestnut, you name it and the colour of the horse was there. "Pegasi," said Herdir Faun happily. "C'mon, gather round." The colts hid shyly behind their mothers but the older pegasi came closer to the students eating the sugar lumps that Herdir Faun passed around. A particularly small colt observed Diana from behind her mother. Diana smiled, enticing it with the sugar lump in her hand. As the colt shyly trotted forward, Diana started speaking to it with her special animal voice. It cantered forward at once and neighing softly started munching on the sugar lump in her hand. The colt was pure white with a large black star on her forehead and one black foot. "What a beauty!" exclaimed Diana.

"I see you have met our Beauty." Herdir Faun smiled.

"Is that her name? How apt!"

"You must have experience with animals. She doesn't usually go to strangers."

"A little," nodded Diana, brushing the beautiful pegasus' mane.

"Let's see if she'll let you ride her." said Herdir Faun, taking Diana by surprise.

"All right everyone, pick your pegasi and saddle it thus," he said, opening a shed beside the paddock and grabbing a saddle. He went inside the paddock and the largest pegasus of the group, a dappled grey trotted forward to have the saddle fixed onto his back.

"How is he going to get up there?" whispered Gemina.

"Should we help?" muttered Gemino hesitantly.

Miraculously, Herdir Faun needed no help getting on a steed's back a foot higher than his head. The dappled grey bowed its magnificent head, spreading his right wing and Herdir Faun easily climbed on using the wing as a foothold.

Then, as though he had done nothing more exciting than - well - mount a horse, he turned to instruct the students on fastening the saddle correctly. "Tut-tut Miss Bella, she's not going to eat you." He said sternly to a gorgeous, strawberry blonde girl in ocher who was backing away from her pegasus each time it neighed.

"Let me help you Bella," said Adriano immediately, the boy who had gotten Diana - for lack of a better word - arrested by the guards. He simpered at the girl who was complaining loudly that such dangerous activities should be avoided at school.

After some time, all the students were on the back of the pegasi, holding their reins nervously. Unlike horses who had bits fixed inside their mouths, the reins of the pegasi were fastened around their necks on a leather collar. Apart from Diana, no one had chosen a colt or so she thought till she saw Silvanus trotting forward on a chestnut colt slightly bigger than hers.

Herdir Faun instructed them on how to guide the pegasi in the air by nudging them with the heels and directing them with the help of the reins. He explained that the pegasi had extremely sensitive necks that could feel the lightest pressure and therefore no extra force is to be used on them. "Remember, it is a powerful magical creature. You do not want to be bucked off mid-flight." The pretty complaining girl, Bella, looked alarmed at this piece of information. "Don't worry Bella. I'll fly by your side," simpered Adriano, his colourless eyes turned toward her attentively. Aletheia rolled her eyes at them." Those two are the worst stains on the name of elf. Bella-Beinve would never even look at that idiot if he was not the son of the Reagent of Haradren Paen. She was trying the same tricks on my brother last year. Power-hungry fool."

"Are you the daughter of a Reagent too?" Diana asked interestedly. She knew she had to be someone important considering her popular standing on the social scene here.

"Don't you know?" asked a puzzled Arion. "Aletheia is the daughter of King Talish."

Diana's mouth fell open. "Whoa whoa! I'm not a Princess, all right. At least, not a real one. King Talish adopted me a seven years ago."

"What happened to your parents?" Diana asked gently.

"They died in the war. I am, originally, from the Eastern Rivers - Runen Ravel." Aletheia was looking away to the front of the class as she spoke.

"So that means..... your brother is Silvanus...."

"Yes, that's right. And speaking of Syl, I wonder why he's been avoiding me for the past couple of days," said Aletheia peering confusedly at Silvanus on his chestnut pegasus.

Diana felt a twinge of guilt settle down inside her stomach. Silvanus had not been avoiding Aletheia, he'd been avoiding Diana. And since Diana was always with Aletheia these days, it was impossible for him to talk to her. Silvanus had spent the past two days trying to get Diana to speak to him but every time he came two steps forward, she would run four steps back. Please stay away, Silvanus, she'd said. And for God's sake, my name is Diana. The truth was that Diana felt uncomfortably exposed every time he was near enough to hear her thoughts. She didn't want him to discover her dark past and be horrified like those she had harmed. And if he told these elves, her new acquaintances, they would shun her the way the kids in her previous school had. In this unusual school, she was not an unusual child and she wanted it to remain that way. Moreover, Diana was hoping that the longer they remained separate, the link between their minds would weaken and disappear leaving her with precious privacy. She had made this clear to Silvanus through her thoughts and so, feeling slightly hurt, he stayed away. His hurt troubled her but it wasn't enough to make her overcome the desire to leave her past far far behind, where it would never ruin her again.

Though Silvanus did not speak to her, he was always there. She would catch him staring at her sometimes, across the classroom, from the opposite end of a corridor. It felt like he was waiting for her to do something. And when she would pointedly look away, he would sigh with renewed disappointment. He'll understand. Diana thought sadly. He wouldn't want to be stuck inside my head if he knew what it held.

Herdir Faun called the attention of the class. "On my mark, you will lift off, circle the lawn and land in the paddock. Do not try any tricks. The pegasi will not like it. Okay. One, two, three.......... Pheeeeee!" His whistle rang sharply and the pegasi cantered a few feet forward before unfurling their large feathered wings and taking off.

"WHOOOOOOOOOO!"

Shouts and yells erupted as the pegasi flew into the clouds gracefully. Beauty seemed to need hardly any direction from Diana as she soared above the rest of the pegasi in a wide arc. Diana nudged her to the ground as the other pegasi turned towards the paddock. Herdir Faun had already landed and only a few stragglers were in the air with Diana. Suddenly, a shrill scream sounded. Bella-Beinve had lost control of her pegasus. The reins slipped through her fingers and she tumbled dangerously onto its right wing. Losing all sense of direction, she rolled away and fell through the air screaming in terror.

Diana acted out of instinct. She turned Beauty around and urged her into a dive, streaking across the air in a flash of green and white. Right before Bella could crash, Diana caught her hand and managed to heave her across the front of her pegasus. In those few thorny seconds, Beauty had grown frightened, feeling the reins loosen around her neck and the additional lopsided weight on her back. Diana looked over Bella's screaming to see the enormous sycamore trees growing larger and larger in front of them. Seizing the reins, she tugged the left one turning Beauty around in a sharp arc and landing her on the grass with a canter. Bella slipped off the pegasus clutching her heart. Diana dismounted and patted a winded Beauty with her trembling hand.

Herdir Faun cantered forward with Bella's pegasus whose neck was bleeding. Aletheia and the others surrounded Diana while Herdir Faun shouted himself hoarse at Bella who was staring sullenly at the ground. Apparently, she had tugged on the reins so hard that his collar had cut into his skin making him buck mid-air.

Well done. Silvanus was smiling from a few feet away, with the reins of his chestnut pegasus in his hands.

Soon Herdir Faun was wringing her hands, thanking her profusely. Diana smiled through her embarrassment at the admiring expressions on the faces surrounding her.

"That was one fine flight right there, Diana."

"Amazing turn!"

"You should try out for Equineox!"

"Er- what?"

"Oh, you don't even know what Equineox is!" Aletheia hit her forehead with her palm. "It's an elven racing sport."

"Played on pegasi," added Genevieve.

"With a baton relay." said Gemino.

"The most spectacular sport in the world," piped in Gemina.

"Try-outs are next month! You should definitely play for Annui."

"Oh-okay. I'll go for try-outs," said a slightly bemused Diana who had never had any talent for sports. "Although, I must tell you, I've never managed to catch a beach ball in my life. How will I catch the baton?"

"What's a beachball?"

"Never mind."