“Leon?”

A familiar voice eked its way toward the pair. Leon rotated his head to find a familiar face.

Approaching him, a man broke into a small smile.

“Man, am I happy to see you.”

The man placed both hands on Leon’s shoulders. Their interaction garnered a few reactions. The murmurs of the other residents made the atmosphere mildly weird, but the two men tried to ignore them.

“You too, Nick.”

The two stared silently at each other momentarily, Leon got the feeling that Nick was very ecstatic to see him, by him he meant anyone that wasn’t them, proceeding to eye their neighbors. Leon shared his sentiment. It was hard to find people who weren’t annoying to talk to… not that Leon tried to talk to people. So far, everyone he’d met approached him and he was lucky that he enjoyed their company.

“So, I assume you're free of any side effects?” Nick inquired humorously. Lowering his left arm, he left only his right hand on Leon’s shoulder.

Leon’s back tingled, those surrounding them had virtually bent forward to listen in on the question that gnawed on their minds. Some didn’t react, suggesting that they were probably at a different evaluation.

Trying his best to let them all hear his words, Leon proclaimed, “Yeah, I didn’t get any side effects.” He didn’t manage to raise his voice that much, his self-esteem held him back from doing such an action. Instead, he spoke every word as clearly as he could. He didn’t slur any of the words together, but his tactic worked. Well sort of.

Everyone understood what he said, leading to no more confusion. Of course, some didn’t believe him though. The real problem came with the fact that he had attempted to not shout to sound stupid but had ended up enunciating every individual word in such a way that he sounded like he was talking to a four-year-old.

It didn’t come out as ‘Yeah, I didn’t get any side effects,’ but more like ‘Yeah. I didn’t. Get. Any. Side Effects.’

Leon mentally kicked himself when he saw his friend’s reaction. Nick had cracked a small awkward smile. Leon really hoped he knew what he was going for.

“Haha…” Nick bellowed lowly as he lowered his last hand off of Leon’s shoulder.

“…”

‘I want to die.’

Leon’s only solace was that Kassandra wasn’t laughing. She just wore a simple smile, waiting for the two to finish, she did have her tour cut short after all. ‘I hope my last words were lost in translation.’

Drowning in his embarrassment, Leon remained silent. Nick had picked up on it and resumed the conversation.

“So, you’re staying at this dormitory?” Receiving a nod of affirmation.

“Cool, that makes us dorm mates.”

“It does indeed,” said a not-so-Leon voice.

Turning to his side, Nick was greeted by Kassandra.

Noticing Kassandra’s passive aggression, Leon cut in. “Ah, this is Kassandra. She helped perform our evaluation yesterday.”

Flicking his eyes between the two, Nick felt unusually uncomfortable.

“Yes, I remember you. Nice to formally meet you, Kassandra.” Nick said, adjusting the collar of his shirt.

With almost no hesitation, Kassandra spoke. “That’s Miss Kassandra to you.”

Leon was awestruck at the level of pettiness he was witnessing. They both stood at similar heights, but one felt much more intimidating. Nick felt her intentions and was quick to act. “Oh, shoot. I totally forgot. I have somewhere to be right now. Talk to you later Leon.” He sped off toward the entrance.

Seemingly content with her victory, she looked to Leon. “I’ll guide you to your room. I have a few things to discuss with you there.”

The man nodded stiffly and followed her down the hallway past the many onlookers. Soon enough, they reached a door that appeared no different from any of the others coating the wall. Pulling a key from her necklace, she unlocked the door and entered.

Leon noted the use of her necklace over her pocket.

The room was relatively bare. There was a thin mattress resting on a metal bed frame to the right. On the left were a wooden desk and a chair. In between them was a nice window directly across from the door. It was small but comfy enough. It reminded him of all the college dorm rooms he’d seen on the internet when he and his dad judged and rated colleges in his senior year of high school. Leon smiled at the memory.

Kassandra had already made herself comfortable in the room while Leon stood in a daze. She sat firmly on the bed and waited for him to notice. Eyes met and gestures were made for Leon to sit beside her.

To which Leon did what anyone would do… surely. He grabbed the chair and sat across from her.

Kassandra didn’t appear annoyed but just confused. Either way, she continued with her predetermined conversation.

“Anyway, your classes will start in a week as I said before. Don’t worry about the schedule, you’ll be given one later on. And now…” Kassandra said, reaching for her chest.

She ended up grasping at the air for a few moments. With each passing second, her smile faltered more and more.

“Ahem.” She fixed her expression and adjusted her posture. “So… it seems I’ve misplaced the language book for Leqan…”

Leon's eyes rolled and he inhaled. Catching himself halfway, he tried to switch his expression to that of a more understanding one. It was nice though in some way. His comfort around her returned alongside some of his lost self-esteem from the previous event.

With this, Leon took this moment to poke a tiny bit of fun at her. “It’s alright. It happens… Miss Kassandra.”

Her face flared up in embarrassment as she processed the statement.

“I… uh…you. Mmm.” Kassandra failed to find the right words. “Well…you seeee. Ummm. About that.”

Leon reveled in the moment. He found it funny that she struggled socially just as much as he did at times.

“Sorry,” Kassandra blurted out, realizing how petty it had sounded. And with that, her organized agenda for this conversation fell apart.

Leon chuckled, relaxing a bit more. “You’re fine.” He waited for her face to un-redden. “I have to ask though… Why am I allowed to Kassandra? It would make sense for everyone here to call you Miss.”

He was prepared for her to get embarrassed again but was met with disappointment. Kassandra answered his question promptly and stoically.

“Because I thought you were a child. You can’t get mad at a kid for something like that.”

Leon blinked a few times. ‘That kind of… stung. You couldn’t say I mistook you for a child? Or at least said it somewhat apologetically.’ Reminding himself to move on from the personal grievance, he nodded.

“That makes us one for one on being petty then,” Leon said, receiving a shy nod from her.

“So, why do you still let me call you just Kassandra?” He continued.

Once more, she was stumped. It took her a bit of time to think of an answer. Ultimately, Kassandra just shrugged it off as getting used to it.

“Plus, you’re my apprentice now!” Exclaiming to convince herself more than Leon.

Leon wasn’t sure if there was an actual reason or just Kassandra being excited about having someone to talk to about magic and the like. Thus, he decided to restrain his curiosity. There was still more to talk about, after all.

Kassandra saw that Leon smiled at her answer. With newfound confidence, she reached for her necklace once again… this time actually retrieving something. In her hand was a small pendant with a sigil engraved into it.

“This is my insignia, make sure to have this on you. It will allow you to enter the castle freely,” she said, placing the parcel in his hand.

It was light and made of metal. The design portrayed a crescent moon with what likely were stars randomly scattered around it.

With bright eyes, Kassandra spurted out more information. “If you think of a specific accessory, it can turn into that. Of course, this is assuming the one you have in mind doesn’t require more volume or mass than is already there.”

Leon scrutinized the item, deciding to follow her instructions. He stared hard at it and attempted to make a ring. A minute passed with nothing happening. He had thought of a ring, he imaged a ring, visualizing it as clearly as he could in his head.

“Focus on your hands,” Kassandra suggested.

He focused on his hands. That didn’t work. Quickly realizing that she probably didn’t mean to just stare at his own hands, he began brainstorming.

Leon figured that it was related to mana. ‘If it’s mana, then it might have to do with my green spark, and if that’s correct… then,’ he began trying to imitate the sensation he felt inside the starry landscape.

His fingers began to tingle and without hesitation, Leon thought of the ring once more.

The ring began to disfigure and move as if it were clay. Folding in on itself and stretching out on repeat, it took the form of a ball. The ball then began to continue the same process until it morphed into a ring shape. With final vibrations finishing the process, the sigil’s design reappeared along the outside.

The stars all clumped together on one side of the crescent moon and repeat that pattern around the ring now.

He marveled at the ring as he pinched it with his index and thumb. A single word of incredible intellectual prowess came to his mind.

‘Cool.’