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A fork scraping against a plate. Someone chewing. Talking, talking, talking, talking-
Loud.
"-what do you think, Richeh?" came a voice opposite to her. It was her new professor, who would be understanding if she told them to be more quiet. He would smile and say it's okay, he wouldn't be mad... would he? Richeh gripped her fork tighter and continued resolutely to stare at her mostly eaten plate. The food didn't stare back. It wasn't alive.
Someone poked her shoulder and the fork she had been clutching clattered to the table. She sprang up and glared at the pink haired girl sitting next to her, her offending finger still out-stretched. The face staring back at Richeh had a look of shock and dawning understanding on it, but Richeh turned around before she could get a verbal response. She just had to get away for a little while, just for a minute, she just wanted silence-
"Richeh? Promise?"
Richeh stopped her speedwalk to realise she was at the front door with her cloak halfway on already. The voice that had spoken was a quiet one, a kind one. She didn't turn back, but took a deep breath and held up a finger. She pulled her cloak on completely as the same voice hummed in agreement.
"Oru, what does that mean-" the first voice was asking just as she opened and closed the door and stepped into the crisp evening air. She leaned against the wooden door for a bit, closing her eyes.
After her first few days at the atelier she had gotten overwhelmed while the she and the two other apprentices had helped with preparing lunch. Qifrey had had to run some errand at Kahln, so Olruggio had been the one to keep watch over them (and do most of the cooking). Richeh had shut herself in her room, and it had been around a quarter clockmark before a soft rap had been heard from her door.
She hadn't wanted to talk to Olruggio. Then again, silent treatment had never really been her go-to tactic with fights with Rili either so... Richeh made an affirmative noise from under the blanket.
"May I come in?"
A few moments of consideration, and another affirmative sound. The door opened quietly and Olruggio sat down on the floor next to the bed.
He had then proceeded to shape the conversation to be flowing even when one party only answered in positive or negative grunts and hums, and at the end they had a rule established. She was allowed to break off from conversations and situations if they got to be too much for her, but she had to signal about it to let the others know she wasn't going to disappear. Richeh promised to not run off (like it would be more comforting somehwere away anyway), and to stay within the spell wards of the atelier's yard. Basically it was what she would have done anyway, but maybe it was good for adults to know that too.
So now here she was, breathing already getting easier in the quiet of the evening. She pushed herself off the door and walked to near the edge of the agreed line and sat down. The grass was damp from dew, but it didn't matter since her new cloak had spells to make it water resistant. A deep breath, a glance at the dark evening sky.
Richeh gasped in a breath, eyes blown wide.
Lights.
Dozens... no, hundreds of little lights blinked in the sky, like little crystals bouncing a hitting light source back to you erratically. She was enamoured. Of course she had heard of stars and seen them in illustrations before, but to actually see them was something else entirely.
She couldn't help but compare their shine to the comforting sparkles of light mirrored by her crystals. Her own magic.
Thank you, Richeh. Your brilliance is what keeps me going.
Rili... had Rili ever seen the stars? He had chosen to stay in the Great Hall even after everything, and he might not have yet had any business outside when the sky was darkest. That thought didn't sit right with Richeh. How could anyone go without seeing the beauty twinkling in the sky above?
She didn't know how long she stayed sat on the grass for, but when she heard the door to the atelier open again, she was quite calm again. Quiet footsteps approached and reached her, but didn't close the last few steps to be right next to her. From the popping of the knees Richeh knew it to be Olruggio who was now sitting down on the grass.
"Are you cold?" was the first thing Olruggio inquired after he stopped grunting about his knees. Negative. The cloak was also very warm, and the chilly air had no effect on Richeh.
"Is this your first time seeing the stars?" he asked, making sure to keep his voice low. Richeh pulled her legs closer to her chest and rested her chin on her knees. A hum of confirmation.
"It was my least favorite thing about living there back in the day. The twinkling is quite comforting, you see?" Richeh tore her gaze from the patterns in the sky to glance at her watchful eye. His eyes had a kind of faraway look in them. She averted her eyes, choosing now to be busy with her hair.
"Has Rili ever seen the stars?" she asked her knees. The knees stayed silent. They had no mouth.
An inquisitive hum from Olruggio. "Your brother? Well, it's hard to say since I'm not familiar with him or if he has assisted on missions yet, but most kids his age haven't been outside the Hall overnight. So, he probably hasn't."
Richeh mulled over the words in her mind for a bit. She had a kindling of an idea in her mind, ready to be nurtured into a full flame.
"Can I take the stars to him?"
Olruggio hummed thoughtfully. "I can't see why you couldn't make a contraption to imitate them... What is magic if not bringing happiness and comfort to people?"
Richeh hummed and gazed back at the stars. They sat like that for a while longer, until Olruggio grumbled something about deadlines and the bedtimes of little girls and made Richeh go back inside with him.
When they made it inside and had relocated their cloaks on the cloak rack, Richeh glanced around the living room. Agott and Tetia had disappeared to their rooms presumably, but she could hear the professor in the kitchen, presumably putting away the meal. She clutched her dress in her hands and wondered if she should say something, would professor be angry otherwise, what if-
"Hey, time to go to bed now." Olruggio was crouched down next to her, a few steps away to not be too crowding. She took a step forward, and then another, and soon she was on the stairs leading up to the apprentices' rooms. She glanced back to see Olruggio join her professor in the kitchen. She turned back to the stairs.
When she arrived back to her and Tetia's shared space, laying on her desk was a little pouch and a note. Richeh curiously peeked inside and saw an assortment of colourful candies. Her favorite. She picked up the note next to it and read its content: im sorry for makign you angry can we talk tomorow?
Richeh smiled minutely at a frowny face drawn in the corner. She pocketed both the note and the candies, picked up a stack of papers and a pen from the desk and made her way to her own room. She still wanted to be alone, and the possibility of the other girl coming into the shared area didn't sound ideal.
She had a spell to design.
○○○
"So, how did you like Winter Solstice at Qifrey's?"
Riliphin looked up from the packages in his hands at Beldaruit. They had just arrived back home from celebrating the day at his sister's atelier, and although it had been fun, he was glad to have a little peace at last. He smiled at his professor.
"It was nice. A bit tiring, but nice. I was glad to see Richeh again after silver eve." He turned to start heading towards a hallway leading up to his room.
"That's good to hear!" Beldaruit exclaimed and clasped his hands infront of his chest. "Well, good night now!"
"Good night, professor."
Riliphin made his way to his room and deposited the packages on his desk. There were three in total; one from Beldaruit, one from Olruggio and Qifrey, and one from Richeh. From his professor he had gotten woolen socks, and then from his sister's professor and watchful eye a warming snugstone and candies. He left them in their boxes and picked up the one from his sister.
She had been so excited to give it to him his heart almost squeezed out of his chest. Being at that atelier for eight months had been so good for her, she really seemed to be thriving. He smiled as he opened the box and took out one of the little contraptions.
It was a tiny ball — the diameter being around the width of his thumb — of crystal ribbon, with a piece of yarn attached to it. The other end of the yarn was attached to a tiny seal, whose purpose Richeh had explained was to attach to the ceiling. The real magic, so to say, was what was inside the balled up crystal though.
Looking very closely at the contraption, one could see a tiny plate with an even tinier spell drawn on it. Richeh had explained that the light it emitted was so faint it could only be seen in total darkness, but that it should last a long time because of that. Riliphin smiled fondly at the contraption and picked up the rest of them from the box. There were fifteen of them in total, all with a bit varying lengths of thread.
Using his sylph shoes, Riliphin attached all the little lights around his ceiling. When he was happy with the arrangement he took off his shoes and changed into sleepwear.
Shutting off the lights, the crystals twinkled minutely. They truly were like little stars, right here in the bottom of the ocean. He climbed into bed and gazed at them for a while before drifting off to easy sleep.