Chapter 08 - Confrontation
Wherein Rose has a run in with a spiteful co-student.
Life settled into a routine. Rose shared breakfast with Bosra on the way to college. They would grab a few pastries at a cart that sold them still hot from the oven. They would eat and walk on their way to the corner where two tube lines crossed and Rose would go her own way.
Tubes were strange contraptions. The rolling tubes had a strangely balanced platform inside that one could hop onto and off at any point during its circuit. Guide-rails in the street determined its course through the city, as it was pulled by thaumatic mechanical beasts. One paid fare to the ticket-vendor inside.
Rose would hop off near the College intersection, where the tube passed the ornamental fountain. From there it was only a short trek over campus by foot. If not for the price of a room, shared, use of amenities not included, Rose would’ve liked to move here. Maybe it would make her not stand out so much.
Each day she submitted herself to lessons; both practical and theoretical. The lectures were an endless stream of baffle garble about completely made up musical theory that did not come close to anything Rose had been taught before. Any critical thinker could point out the obvious incongruencies, but doing so would get one booted out of the course faster than one could say “Actually…”. Having seen this happen twice, she kept her mouth shut.
Most days Rose picked up dinner on the way home and ate it in the shared dining room of the smalls house where she was reunited with Bosra. She'd play her violin for a while thereafter, earning a coin or two from whomever felt they could be generous that night.
Luminsdays were the exception to this routine, then Bosra and Rose would meet with Valentina at Paragon’s Cup. Rose would play her Fair Field tunes in the street and afterward they’d all gorge themselves on delicious patisserie.
Six weeks passed like that.
The first days had felt endless on their own, but somehow, the weeks had flown by. Autumn storms had blown away the last of Summer’s heat. Fog and fumes were washed from the street by regular light showers of rain. Hats, shawls and mantles replaced airy jackets.
Suddenly, permission slips to enter the first semester were granted. Rose and her class - that had dwindled down from about 80 students in the first two weeks, to barely 30 in the last one - were notified of the possibility to enroll before the end of the day, at the end of their last hour of lessons.
Although Rose had doubted, and had been doubted by her friends, on this course of action she found herself joining in the gold rush through unevenly lit grey halls. The smooth tile floor and scent of disinfectant gave the impression of walking into the small health clinic back in Pinnacle.
Maybe, just maybe, the first real semester would be better. It could hardly get worse. Maybe she'd finally learn some interesting things. Learn new techniques. At the very least, she told herself, she would gain access to the library. There were bound to be interesting books in the library.
She didn't know yet how wrong she'd be about that.
In this mad dash she bumped into a girl she'd rarely talked with before. The girl’s dress reminded her of Valentina. It was stylish and made with quality silks. The cut betrayed it had been tailormade. But where her friend tried to downplay her riches, this girl – Brittany of Chaumes – flaunted them.
"I'm sorry," Rose apologised as she knocked an expensive looking thingamajig from the girl's hand and sent it crashing to the polished tile.
"Watch where you're stomping, cow!" The shrill voice rose above the din of the crowd.
Rose kneeled to pick up the thing. She couldn't even tell what it was now that she was up close. It hummed with a bit of magic, and it was oblong, made of crystal glass. Rainbow colours shimmered within. "I'm really sorry, I just..."
The device was snatched from her hand and deposited into a velvet lined case. Maybe it was a musical instrument after all.
"Sorry doesn't buy me anything," Brittany continued with a sneer. "I really don't understand why they'd let in riffraff such as yourself. A Fair Fields girl... really?"
Rose felt herself blushing and decided she wasn't going to listen to this. She'd heard the rants before.
She barely made it to the line at the reception desk, when someone gripped her hair and yanked her head backwards. The pain was as sharp as it was unexpected.
"Don't walk away when the important people are talking, heifer."
Rose was sort of surprised this upper-class girl knew a word like that. She gripped her own braid, to prevent more pulling. "Let go of me."
"Let go of me," Brittany mockingly repeated. She did release Rose with an extra jerk on the thick braid.
Rose breathed deeply, trying to stay calm. She turned around. "Look. I really am sorry about your... thing... that I dropped by accident. That doesn't give you any right to be nasty to me."
The face Brittany pulled was far from pretty. "And just because you can pay tuition fees doesn't give you any right to breathe the same air I do."
Rose breathed in sharply and bit her tongue. She smiled as kindly as she could. Kill them with kindness, was the saying back home. "You are completely right, of course," she drawled, heavily exaggerating her country accent. "Why don't you take my place in line?" Moving one person back was not going to change anything at this point.
And it really didn't. The administration office was closed by the time it was Brittany’s turn. Rose watched her stomp her foot and rattle the hatch. Loudly screeching her name and threatening with her father’s wrath did nothing but exaggerate the silence on the other side.
Noticing a sign taped to the hatch, Rose sighed. The sign said to return before noon on Thaumday as administration would be closed for three days starting now, due to a – heretofore unknown to Rose – holiday.
Nursing her sore scalp, she left.
She didn’t play that night. A headache that left her cross-eyed had set in sometime during her travel home and had intensified over dinner.
“Bed, Pupper,” Bosra urged, having taken one long look at her sweet-natured friend.
Rose sighed. Pushed leftover carrots around on her dinner plate.
“Carry you if I have to.” Bosra leaned forward to get right up in Rose’s face.
So Rose went. She left the leftovers as they were and dragged her warmed over carcass up two flights of stairs. After some trouble with the lock she stumbled into her room. Two more steps then she crashed on the bed. She had enough presence of mind to kick off her shoes. She drew the blanket over herself and managed to fall asleep without noticing the dwarf that closed her chamber door, then walked on.
