Chapter 58: Chapter 57: Hunter and Hunted

Tess stood in the line nervously, trying to ignore the barely concealed stares from those around her. It was graduation day, and it was finally time for the thing to actually start. It had been a long morning, the school had made them do a rehearsal for graduation, and, much like in school itself, no one was quite sure how to act around her. It was a lot like how she imagined people would treat a potentially live explosive; lots of staring and maintaining distance, very little actual contact.

She had grown used to it in these past two weeks, but it still hurt. She had grown up with most of these people, known them for over half of her life, and here they were treating her like she would snap at any moment.

But she couldn’t blame them for that. They didn’t know the whole picture, and she probably would have reacted the same way if she was in their shoes. Still, it had made for quite the awkward morning, and she was glad that it was finally reaching its end.

The principal began to read off the names of the students, and the line began its agonizing march towards the podium. And…nothing happened. She got through the line, there was a slightly strained handshake with the principal, and then she was given her diploma and was directed to sit down while the ceremony concluded.

Unfortunately, that conclusion took another half hour, and only then it was time for people to go meet with their families and mingle with their peers.

Not that Tess expected to hang around very long. Gramps was her only family here, and she doubted anyone would be looking to stay and chat with her.

And then she found herself caught in a friendly headlock, a familiar voice sounding from behind her. “Surprise!”

“Alice?” Tess asked, blinking. “What are you doing here?”

Alice let go of her headlock, and Tess turned to face her. She looked…different. Her skin was still that same dark brown, but it had lost its wooden texture, and her hair had gone from a leafy green to a subdued black.

Alice grinned, holding up her hand so Tess could see a ring on one of her fingers. “I got special permission from the Guildmaster to be here for you. Figured it was a big enough day for the two of you that I should come.”

Tess smiled and gave the older girl a hug. “Well, I’m glad you did. It was getting a little…lonely, I’m not going to lie.”

“I thought it might.” Alice replied. “Let’s go say hi to everyone else, shall we?”

“Everyone else?”

“Ker and Jin are here, and so is the rest of the Guildmaster’s party.” Alice informed.

“Oh, um…yeah, let’s go say hi!” Tess said. She hadn’t been expecting such a…large group to turn up, but she was happy they had. It made this whole thing seem just that much more tolerable.

It appeared that Ellie was already talking with Jin and Ker, who were…much shorter and much taller, respectively, though their appearances were otherwise the same. Standing next to them were Gramps, Ava, Atum, and Eyfura.

It was odd, seeing Eyfura and Atum looking like humans when she was so used to them being…well, not human. “Hey, everyone.” She said. “Um…thanks for coming, you really didn’t have to.”

“Nonsense!” Ava replied, waving a hand. “We couldn’t just let you two have just Evan for company today, you deserve more than that.”

Eyfura clapped her on the back. “Congratulations.” She said, smiling widely. “You’re all done with your education, how does it feel?”

“Weird.” Tess replied. “I was always assuming I was going to go to college after this, learn how to be an accountant, but…well, I’m kind of glad I’m not going to. It just seems like it’d be…boring.”

Eyfura snorted. “You’re telling me. I couldn’t imagine sitting at a desk all day doing math. I would probably die of boredom after a week. Why would you want to go into something like that, anyway?”

Tess shrugged. “Seemed like good money, and I don’t mind math, so…I thought it would be kind of cool.”

“Well, if it’s money you’re after, you’d be insane to do anything other than what you’re doing now.” Alice said wryly. “Might not transfer to here the best, but I’m sure you’ve already noticed how unusually high your income is.”

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Tess scratched the back of her neck embarrassedly. “Yeah, I was kind of made aware of that when I got those cores the other week. Feels almost unfair, to tell you the truth.”

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