Chapter 1
Cadet Durlap watched with a pinched face as Fairy Godmother, someone who is, for all practical purposes, her mother, returned from an undisclosed expedition into the Beyond with a girl not much younger than she was. According to Fairy Godmother, this girl was the All-Knowing, the wanderling to rule all wanderlings.
The All-Knowing’s soulsenses are meant to be out of this world, literally and figuratively, since most wanderlings, even those trained from birth, rarely have any ability to control the expressions of their souls; when they do, it’s normally only to retract them to make them harder to detect. The All-Knowing, according to the prophecy, will be able to use theirs to grate against others, or maybe even scalp them from one’s body, if the more extreme stories are to be believed.
She had read and heard the stories growing up, everyone did. Cadet Durlap was an oddity herself, since she was born into an area more subject to the Beyond’s influence than most sectors of physical reality; she cannot sense her own soul as a separate thing from herself, let alone the expressions of those around her. It makes her somewhat of a social buffoon, unable to read the cues most others get from the instinctive and reflexive responses of others.
Luckily, it means no one can really read her soul expressions and thus, her inner emotions beyond her facial expressions and body language. Cadet Durlap had thought “reading the room” was a figure of speech, but apparently it’s possible beyond body language and physical facial expressions.
The girl Fairy Godmother had brought seemed no different than the other cadets that attended through scholarship or village funding, at least to Cadet Durlap. Then again, she often relied on the visible reactions of others to figure out what to make of things.
Cadet Durlap watched disdainfully as this new girl was paraded through the halls. It was very looked down upon to refer to cadets by their first names, as that was usually the first step of trust and intimacy between bondmates, who often discovered they were each other’s soulmates.
She did her best to ignore the girl, Cadet Fox as she was called, even though it was a bit annoying how well she took to magic and the new social circumstances she found herself in. Cadet Durlap did not like that her new fellow cadet seemed to have no respect for the new social hierarchy she was surrounded by, talking to social elites and social dregs alike.
The actual problem began when Cadet Fox was sent on a mission and Cadet Durlap decided to go investigate something on her own, supposedly decently far from where Cadet Fox was meant to be operating, but no one told Cadet Fox that the other girl was even in the field.
As Cadet Durlap was trying to fiddle with a magic device that she was somewhat hotwiring to not give away her position to the attendants back at the castle, she was both murmuring to herself and momentarily unaware of her surroundings as it was fairly delicate wire work. Cadet Fox either didn’t seem to notice her absent attention, or did and didn’t care, and was able to sneak up on her.
“What the heck are you doing?” The sudden voice other than her own murmurings startled Cadet Durlap and she jumped, shouting a curse when this secret-from-the-adults mission was meant to be covert. Once she mentally chastised herself for likely blowing any meaningful cover they had, she wheeled around to ask what Cadet Fox was doing anywhere near her, still whispering just in case. Cadet Fox ignored her question. “The bigger question is why are you here, on my mission?” Cadet Fox finally took a moment to assess who she was looking at and rolled her eyes a little. “Oh. You’re Fairy Godmother’s prized Wanderling.”
Cadet Durlap, who was a bit sensitive about having people not refer to Fairy Godmother as her mother, bit back, “No, I’m not, she’s my mother.”
“Adopted. Now, why’re you intruding on my mission?” Cadet Durlap didn’t appreciate being brushed off, and as such rolled her eyes, asking why she had to tell her anything, which was responded to with, “Because it’s my mission? You have no right to be here.”
“It still is your mission.” She mumbles to herself oh so maturely, “Even though it’s not that hard.” They continue to bicker back and forth until Cadet Fox realizes that they’ve lost their target, then blames her for that as well. “Wait a minute.. You aren’t meant to be here either, are you?” Cadet Durlap realizes; she may not be the sharpest tack, but determination helps. “Who knew that Ms. Unknown Prodigy was a rule breaker?”
“Rule breaker? Please. We all know you use your status to get out of trouble.” Cadet Fox shoots back, which makes her hackles rise and she mouths off as well before she can stop herself.
“Do not!” She pulls a bit of a face, irritated that this girl is so easily able to pull a rise out of her. “Since neither of us are supposed to be here, I have a proposal.”
“Why would I ever make a deal with you?” The question from the other cadet is fair enough, neither has any reason to trust the other wouldn’t sell them out the moment that it’d benefit them. Cadet Durlap didn’t really have any good reason as to why, and it sounds as such. “Whatever. Have fun wandering the forest since you lost our chance. Don’t interfere again.” As Cadet Fox walks off, she takes the chance to make a childish face at her back before realizing that she does, in fact, have no clue where she is, and therefore will be wandering the forest. Stupid wayfinding lessons.. Cadet Durlap grumbles mentally as she begins to pick her way home.
“Cadet Durlap,” the girl flinched as Fairy Godmother’s voice rang out over the din of the hallway, “Cadet Fox. My office. Now.” Cadet Durlap wrangled the urge to run from the verbal lashing she was sure she would get before hanging her head and heading to the Headmistress’s office in the tower twin to the Astronomy Tower. She caught a glimpse of the unique brown into navy blue hair of Cadet Fox obviating the fact that she was doing the same.
Both girls trudged up the stairs, like prisoners to the gallows as Fairy Godmother came in, shutting the heavy wood door behind her. “Do you both know why you’re here?” Cadet Fox responds respectfully, with a carefully clipped “yes ma’am”, while Cadet Durlap murmurs a soft “yeah” in the presence of her mother figure. “Tell me then.” Her voice is final, like a judge trying to get a confession.
Cadet Fox, not one to easily lose her composure, responds first with her head held somewhat high, “Captured defectors escaped because we were arguing.” Cadet Durlap nods her confirmation, knowing that it was mostly her fault.
“That is what I was told, yes,” Fairy Godmother confirms before giving their sentencing, “For your punishments, you must work together on a mission of my choosing.”
Cadet Durlap’s head snaps up, brow furrowed as she and Cadet Fox speak at the same time, “Wait, together?” Both girls are exasperated, this is one of the worst punishments that they could’ve come up with.
“Yes. Together. And if I get wind of either of you strong-arming the other, I will not hesitate to make this punishment permanent, is that understood?” Fairy Godmother’s tone makes it clear that the decision is not up for debate, but that doesn’t stop Cadet Durlap much.
“But mother-” her objection is quickly shut down by a sharp look and rebuff from Fairy Godmother. “No if’s, and’s, or but’s, missy. Now get to work.”
“Miss, if I may…” Cadet Fox speaks up, and Cadet Durlap realizes she has an almost Elvish accent, then realizes that Fairy Godmother isn’t shutting her down, looking for an explanation only to see her mother with a raised eyebrow, likely because Cadet Fox rarely speaks against the headmistress. “Is this really a wise decision?” Cadet Fox seems to almost brace to be shut down, but when she isn’t, she hesitantly continues, “We have both made significant errors on missions when we weren’t working together.. Besides you know my track record with partners..”
Cadet Durlap’s curiosity is piqued, and not for the first time when it comes to the socially reclusive Cadet Fox as Fairy Godmother responds, her tone as calm as a pond. “Yes, I believe it is a good decision, and if I am incorrect I will atone. Yes, you both have made mistakes, but you both tend to learn from them. I think your heads put together, not in a horn lock, would create uniquely positive results, despite your differences.”
Cadet Fox sighs, knowing to quit while she’s ahead. “Very well, headmistress, what mission did you have in mind?”
Fairy Godmother’s smile is almost shark-like as she speaks. “I’m glad you asked. You’re going to work together to recapture the defects you both lost.” Cadet Durlap wants to pull her hair out, and a quick glance at Cadet Fox shows a similar exasperation, but she swallows it much better as she nods.
The pair are soon dismissed, as classes will be resuming from their lunch break soon, and the two girls stiffly agree to meet in the library that night to try and figure out how to start.
“Alright. So, how’re we going to do this?” The blonde haired girl tiredly asks as she scrubs her face with one hand.
“Oh so now you’re going to help?” Cadet Fox frostily asks as she looks up from her book. “After what, 3 hours?”
“I have a hard time focusing, and I wasn’t talking to you, I was talking to me.” She tries her best to keep a grip on her temper as Cadet Fox sighs, especially when it seems the other girl is going to drop it.
“Whatever. Look, this is the main base,” Cadet Fox points to a secluded point near the base of a mountain range, deep in the forest on the map spread on the table. “They are most likely back there. We just need a way in.” Cadet Durlap, genuinely confused and still a little snippy, points out what feels like an obvious flaw in the plan. “Why would they go there if they know we know where it is?”
Cadet Fox smirks cockily as she reveals what the other girl doesn’t know, “They don’t. As far as I am aware, I am the only person who knows, and I found it on my own.” Cadet Durlap is a mix of shocked and impressed as she speaks, “Wait, really?”, genuinely trying to set up a basis for a partnership, only to be shut down as the other girl responds, “Of course. There’s a reason they called me a prodigy. Now, either figure out something or stay out of my way.”
Any impetus to actually try with the other girl that Cadet Durlap had developed was quickly quashed, but then Fairy Godmother’s threat from earlier rings in her ears. “Mother said this would be permanent if one of us bossed the other.”
Cadet Fox rolls her eyes, “I’m just telling you to get to work or stay out of the way. You really consider that bossing, Fakling?” That last word poked a raw nerve as Cadet Durlap wasn’t a wanderling in the traditional sense of one’s soulsense giving a cadet a magicks specialty. Thus, she had taken to calling Cadet Durlap “Fakling”, a fake wanderling, when she really wanted to cut the other girl deep.
“What did you just call me?” Cadet Durlap asks quietly. It wasn’t the first time she had been mocked for her own origins, but it was the first time it was said so brazenly to her face, her direct connection to Fairy Godmother usually containing such comments to whispers and behind-the-back gossip. “You heard me. Get. To. Work.” Cadet Fox’s tone is chilly, and Cadet Durlap stands, her chair scraping loudly against the marble floor of the library, excusing herself as Cadet Fox murmurs with a scoff, “Can’t even handle the truth.”
