Chapter 14: Chapter 14 – House of Nerifit

"I can't believe this!" Koa said, gasping for air and standing beside Aurora, entirely out of breath. She was chasing Lia for hours, but she couldn't catch her.

"You won't be able to outlast her." She wrote, watching the shorty jump up and down not that far away from them, pointing towards the outpost and its three-story stone tower, visible from everywhere on the flat field of red poppies. "Plus, it is getting close to noon, and the sun is out in full force; who do you think can replenish their energies faster? You or her?"

"Yeah, I get it!" She moaned, taking a deep breath, regulating her pumping heart. "I bet you feel awful now~," She said as she tried to switch topics.

"Not really." Aurora shook her head, "I always train myself to be in good shape."

"Tsk~" Koa rolled her eyes while they walked forward, following Lia.

The outpost had a handful of students, all of them at least in their 2nd-year. They were keeping magical beasts in equerries and tending to them throughout the day. Looking at their work uniforms, most of them were of the nature element, easily capable of calming down the animal if they would get rowdy.

"How cute~," Lia said with a beaming smile, watching the 4-meter-tall horses, saddled up, standing there, letting their caretakers brush their manes, standing on podiums to reach up to them.

"Can I help you?" One of the taller, lean-bodied students approached them, pulling off the gloves from his hands and wiping his forehead. He had short black hair and friendly brown eyes, looking to be around 18 years old.

"We are here to meet with… with…." Lia answered but had already forgotten the name, looking back at Koa and Aurora.

"With Ceiline from the House of Nerifit." Koa wrote, helping her out.

"I see." The guy nodded, looking them over; never before he has seen their faces around the school. "Well, Miss Ceiline is not really keen on meeting with people. You have to understand she is from one of the Six Houses; too many people want to meet with her. My name is Czerka, and I am in charge of organizing this particular outpost. I am already a fourth-year student, so if you have anything you need help with, I can happily oblige!"

"We killed the spiders!" Lia said proudly, and Aurora raised her bracelet, transmitting its recordings to Czerka.

"Mhm. Noted." He nodded after reviewing it. "I can acknowledge it; give me a moment, and your reward of 30 CP per person will be transferred over. Miss Ceiline has no time for something like this; I hope you can understand it." He explained patiently and wearing a friendly smile.

"We still want to meet with her," Koadriana answered, holding her hands behind her back and looking at him nonchalantly. "It is kind of a protocol."

"Protocol?" Czerka asked, raising his eyebrows, getting a feeling that something was going on in the background.

Cliques quickly start to form in the school, especially after the students spend their first year getting used to life on the floating island. It is the inevitable nature of humans and beast folks. These forming groups, alliances, or sects, whatever one wanted to call them, could develop friendly or even antagonistic views against each other. There were many so-called 'turf' wars inside the Academy. Sometimes these associations, containing hundreds of students, faced off against one another in the arenas to solve their 'problems.'

Of course, not everyone was part of a clique, and most of the independent students could spend their time in the Academy without ever joining one. But the benefits of being part of a group were much more enticing than going at things all alone and without support. Getting into the good grace of someone who was from one of the Six Houses was always the aim for most of the cliques. It would be the most potent boost or trump card in their pockets. It would not be the first time that a group of students would come and try to butter up to Miss Ceiline. She was not a teacher per se and only an associate of the Academy, a guest. Yet her family name alone carried enough weight to be on par with an official teacher's position.

She never made deep connections inside the school, mainly because of her shyness toward new people. Too many were trying to get to know her, and too many had ulterior motives. Not to mention, her outward appearance has way more telling signs of her heritage than most beast folks do. Her limbs are covered in dark, crimson-colored scales with a faint hue of purple light mixing into them when the sun's rays break apart on their surface. She also wears jagged, goat-like horns sprouting from her forehead, always holding up strings from her reddish hair. She is considered a beauty with an exotic look… but also as a dangerous woman, as her arms and legs end in sharp claws instead of fingers.

Her appearance always made her self-conscious, even back home. She found herself relaxed only when she was working with animals, magical beasts, or transformed beast folk. Being amongst humans was a bit nerve-wracking, making her even more conscious about her body. Attending to the Academy served two purposes for her. Being able to work with animals and interacting with the students, trying to fight back her anxious self. Yet the latter looked like it turned out to be a big failure as people here wanted nothing more than to ride her family name's coattails.

"Sorry," Czerka said in the end. "Miss Ceiline is too preoccupied to entertain guests, no matter which student organization you may represent." He said, shaking his head as he was also an independent student, already disillusioned by the various cliques.

"Huh?" Asked the trio simultaneously, tilting their head to the right in perfect synchronization. Now it was Czerka's time to be surprised. Were they not here because of that? Then…

"My name is Lia Amarin! These are my sisters, Koadriana Amarin and Aurora Amarin! We came to say hello!" Lia replied, smiling from ear to ear, and just hearing the name made Czerka freeze for a moment. Some of the nearby students also stopped, looking, trying to think if they had heard it correctly or not.

"We just wanted to say hello, so no other House would say the Amarins have no manner…." Koadriana explained, sighing, getting a bit frustrated, "But if not, then not! Let's go, girls!" She patted their backs.

"But I want to meet new people!" Lia protested while being pushed away by Koa.

"Goodbye." Aurora bowed respectfully, but before they could get far, Czerka rushed before them. He was still a bit suspicious, but he couldn't let them go just like that. If they told the truth, this could also be problematic. Letting them leave with a sour aftertaste bode not so well for his future prospects.

"Wait, please! Let me escort you to Miss Ceiline!"

"You know…" Koa said, after they nodded, following him towards the stone tower, "We hate using our names. Can we keep that part… between us?"

"Yeah! It's a secret!" Lia also added loudly, as if she was making sure everyone who had heard it before heard this part too.

"Sure." Czerka nodded after a brief pause, sighing a little, debating if they were telling the truth, but he had never met someone who would dare to play around with one of the Houses' names.

In the tower, walking up to the second floor, they came across a spacious room filled with colorful lights. When the sun's rays went through the prism-like window, they were separated into multiple colors, landing on different plants housed under a glass dome. It was clearly an experiment as they were surrounded by different types of mana, all representing the natural elements. In the middle of the room stood Ceiline, reaching 160 centimeters in height, not counting her horns. She wore a flowery purple dress, and her wavy hair reached her ankles. She was nibbling on her lower lips with her sharpened teeth, thinking, watching one of the plants with crossed hands.

"Khm… Miss Ceiline!" Czerka cracked his throat as she did not pay attention to them after they had arrived.

"Ah!" She flinched, turning towards them, realizing she was not alone anymore. "H-hello!" She said, a bit flustered, realizing she did not know who the three girls were.

"How cooooool!" Lia exclaimed, hopping forward like a bunny, looking at her with sparkles in her eyes. "My Dad has similar claws after transforming! He can smash through metal and all! I bet you can do that too!"

“Ah… um… not really….” Ceiline answered, flustered by Lia's energetic aura. "Who are you?" She asked, looking at Czerka questioningly why did he bring people here.

"I am Koadriana Amarin; they are my cousins, Aurora and Lia Amarin." She said, holding the shoulders of Lia and pulling her back. Aurora, in the meanwhile, placed her hand on her chest, gently bowing. Just hearing their names, Ceiline immediately fixed her posture, performing the same gesture.

"Ceiline Nerifit, meeting you is my pleasure!" She said, looking at Czerka, telling with her purple-colored eyes to him to leave them alone. "I didn't know you had arrived. I thought beside me; the only one here from the Six Houses at the moment is Master Lauron, in charge of the Tower of Light. Did you come to visit him?"

"No!" Lia said with a wide grin, "We are here to attend school!"

"Oh…" Ceiline blinked her eyes, surprised at the notion. Usually, when a House sends its children here… that has some meaning behind it. The last time was because the previous Headmaster was suspected of exerting pressure on kingdoms to bend them to his will. It ended up not just as a scandal and a brawl but also pitted two Houses against each other in the outside world. The reason was simple, they couldn't come to terms with who would be named the next Headmaster. In the end, all the Six Houses sat down, and after a month of closed-door deliberation, the new Headmaster was appointed. Yet after that, the unofficial ranking of the Houses clearly changed for the following centuries.

"It's a punishment." Aurora wrote, seeing her eyes moving rapidly, coming up with possible reasons for their presence. "They were way too naughty, and I was assigned as a guardian."

"Hey!" Koa and Lia said simultaneously, in the same voice, "Koa was the naughty one!" Lia added.

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"Hey, hey!" Koa repeated, now alone, "You bribed me with a vibrator! You didn't have any problem stealing it from your mom!"

"You asked for it!" She replied, tilting her head backward and looking up at her. "It was a fair trade for the scepter!"

"See?" Aurora wrote again, drawing the stunned expression of Ceiline onto herself, "They are naughty. We are here, so they can grow up."

"I… I see…" She murmured, not knowing if she should laugh or not. "Well… we are allies." She scratched her throat, bowing towards them, "If you need help, you can come to me. Although I don't know how much I can help you with, I am not really a combat specialist…."

"We just want to make friends! A lot of friends!" Lia said, already ignoring Koa's pouting expression, adding Ceiline to her friend list.

"Friends?" Ceiline asked, and she was so overwhelmed by her direct attitude that she simply accepted the invite.

"Yeah! What are you doing here?" Lia asked, looking closely at one of the plants that looked like a rose. It was around 30 centimeters in height, right amidst blooming and its petals were covered in thin, orange flames, constantly burning.

"An experiment…" Ceiline answered, watching them, trying to figure out what was happening… Were they here to ask her about something private? Doing it in a roundabout way? Are they here for her experiments? Or, indeed, they just came to say hi?

"You are infusing the eight elements into the plants?" Lia asked, going towards another flower that looked like a scorpion grass, covered in a barely visible layer of ice.

"Y-yes!" Ceiline nodded, surprised but visibly excited. "I am trying to determine if only we, as intelligent creatures of this land, can use magic or if it is universal!"

"Wait, what?" Koa asked, getting lost, while Aurora just crossed her arms, listening to her.

"We have magic beasts, yes?" Ceiline asked, getting more open and excited as they seemed to be interested in her research. Especially after seeing Lia's eyes, not even blinking, waiting for her to continue. "They can grow to enormous sizes and are able to display affinities related to the eight elements! They do not cast magic like we do, per se, but they can manipulate the elements!"

"But they were smart as us once!" Lia added, remembering Cici.

"Yes!" Ceiline clapped and nodded happily. "That is one of the academic explanations for why beasts can use different elements and manipulate part of nature around them! Take, for example, the salamanders of the central plains! They can breathe fire! Do they cast magic? Not really; there are little mana fluctuations when they do it! Do they have a special organ to do that? The answer is no!"

"But they still do it," Lia said, her eyes darting along the different plants, thinking about who knows what.

"Yes!" Ceiline nodded again, "There are many studies that explored it; most conclude that is because of their bloodline heritage! From the times when they were the third intelligent species next to us! Before the Undead truly rose up! I want to know if that is true... and, if not, could it be that plants can become... magic wielders too?"

"Huh… I never heard about that. Plus, that last part sounds... weird!" Koadriana said, and Aurora also remained silent, without writing as she was on the same train of thought as Koadriana. The library of the Amarin's was extensive… but still. Regarding beasts and nature, the House of Nerifit was the absolute Number 1 on Meriath.

"Are these…" Lia asked, watching the flowers displaying different elements.

"These are all artificial." Ceiline sighed, "The prism collects mana, and the glass domes are laced with elemental formations. I try to induce a change in the plants by subjecting them to the elements. But there is no reaction from any of them yet." She watched her experiments with a sad look, feeling she had run into another dead end.

"I never heard of plants casting magic anyway." Koa smiled, but then Lia spoke up suddenly.

"They are similar." She murmured as they looked at it, and Ceiline's eyes flashed, wanting to hear more… as she once said the same thing back home and she was ridiculed because of it. "They are similar to the magical beasts." Lia continued her mismatched eyes looking into Ceiline's while smiling a little, "Or else why are some plants perfect to be used in Alchemy? Why are there strict requirements for which plant is good to create potions that reinforce fire spells? And which would result in weakening them…." As she was saying it, Ceilin's eyes were shining with an even stronger light as her heart was beating quicker and quicker. This was the thought that pushed her to try and explore if plants could be capable of casting magic… or gaining intelligence. Something that others laughed at, and she was marginalized because of it back home.

"Eh, I wouldn't brew tea from everything!" Koa rolled her eyes, listening to Lia.

"Just as not every leaf is good for tea, not every plant is good for potion making." Lia chuckled, not feeling offended, grinning happily, turning back to Ceiline. "Ahaha, you are so cool!" She rushed forward, hugging her, surprising Ceiline once again, but she truly felt uplifted. She finally found someone who said the same thing she thought about years ago. She wanted to cry but was squeezed so strongly that she felt her scales crack along her waist.

"Woah, Woah, easy there!" Koa laughed, grabbing Lia's twintails and pulling her off Ceiline.

"Teehee~" Lia giggled, sticking out her tongue.

"Sorry, she is easy to excite." Aurora wrote, but Ceiline just shook her head.

"No, no problem! Not at all!" She nodded repeatedly. "What she said is something I completely agree with! I also had an extra line of thought since then!"

"Oh?" Lia asked, her eyes sparkling, waiting for her to continue.

"Why does the Undead have that horrible aura? Why can they use spells? There are multiple records of the dead casting all of the elements! Bodies that, when still amongst the living, being ordinary people, when raised as an undead have an abundance of mana and can cast spells! Something… is not right! We are missing something!"

"Something is not right," Koadriana nodded, "The fact that the dead rises up is in itself not right!"

"Yes!" Ceiline agreed immediately. "Exactly!"

"Huh?" Koadriana asked, a bit confused, looking at Aurora, who just shook her head, turning towards Lia, who was tilting it from left to right, then back to left.

"Hm?" She flinched, looking at her two sisters, "I don't know, don't look at me!"

"Ahaha…" They chuckled, drawing a smile onto Ceiline's face, too, calming the girl down.

"Sorry," Ceiline said, "I was just too excited to finally meet with someone who understands what I pursue!"

"Understanding is a big word," Koa murmured, drawing a nod from Aurora, but Ceiline didn't take it the wrong way; she was happy that Czerka brought the three up to her tower.

"Let's go up!" Ceiline said, clapping with her scaled hands, smiling, showing her sharp row of teeth, but none of the girls were surprised by it. "I will make you a nice tea, and we can talk! I rarely have visitors!"

"Yey! I'm hungry anyway!" Lia laughed, "There will be snacks, yes?"

"Of course!" Ceiline chuckled, waving her hand and lowering a hidden spiral staircase as they followed her to her abode on the third floor.