#maybe imma make this a novelette thingy

[stories-by-rie]

#1 Jeanne Everley

Jeanne Everley.

  If there was someone who didn’t speak her name as she walked pass them, they at least thought it. This wasn’t due to her looks which clearly couldn’t count as exceptional. With her short dark blonde hair and pale white face, she wouldn’t be able to catch the attention of a whole school at once.

No, what made Jeanne so special was her heritage. It should be clear from the beginning that her presence there alone was outrageous at best. After all, she was the daughter of Alastair and Victoria Everley. The couple that had turned the whole Searcher’s Society upside down only a few decades ago.

  Call it what you want: dishonoured, expelled, fallen out of favour – they had succeeded on every level to turn into Searchers that no one dared to speak positively of.

Not only that, but also did they raise four children of which every single one had tried to follow their footsteps by applying to the Searcher’s School of Guhlsdorf. Obviously, none of them had been taken. None except of the youngest, Jeanne Everley.

  With her straight posture, soft steps and kind smile on her face, she walked down the old-fashioned corridors.

  The floor was tiled in a dark brown, the walls were lined with dark timber that nearly looked red under the yellow light. There was a special smell that hung in the air, some strange mix of  lavender cleansing agent and time. The Searcher’s School of Guhlsdorf was very prestigious and founded more than six hundred years ago. A fact that they liked to be proud of, and a fact that gave them the right to be ignorant when it came to their own mistakes. Though, let’s not dwell on that, the future will hold plenty of occasions to judge for oneself.

  It was the first day after the summer holidays, the first day at the school for the new students. The first graders walked together to the assembly halls. As most of them just had finished their general school education, none of them were too nervous about the new environment. Especially since those who had been accepted, weren’t likely to get worked up about such a trivial matter.

  Their futures would hold plenty of far more nerve wrecking situations and they all knew that.

Silence fell onto the assembly hall as they all had sat down and waited for the head mistress to start her speech. Latter was already looking at her papers one last time and adjusting the microphone in front of her.

  Still, barely anyone paid attention to her. How could they, if Jeanne Everley was sitting right there in the third row. The silence didn’t matter at all.

Trying the best to ignore the more than obvious tension in the hall, the head mistress coughed lightly and put on a professional smile.

  “Good morning everyone, and welcome. For those who might not know; my name is Ms Amber Williams and I am the headmistress of this very School of Guhlsdorf. We have the great honour to educate young students from all over the country into becoming well respected Searchers. If you are sitting here, it means that you went through the application process that counts as one of the hardest among all professions. Short: it means you are one of the best.” She delivered that line with a friendly tone and winked at the audience, as if she wanted to weaken her point. But that would have been a lie. The audience responded with polite laughter. “This high standard we are seeking is not without purpose. As future Searchers you will have to carry a heavy responsibility to serve our country and help the nation both in the fight against the creatures, and to follow our tradition of science. As the great Searcher James Duncan, who graduated from this very school in 1756, once said: The becoming of the golden glass is what secures the order, and the becoming of the order is what makes the golden glass possible. This is the origin of our school’s motto Illi ordinationem, qui aurum creant. Those who create order, create gold -”

  Suddenly a scoff interrupted her, prompting the rest of the audience to freeze. The dark brown eyes of the headmistress fell onto the person who had laughed, be it only so quietly. It had been no one else than Jeanne Everley. The head mistress had stopped only for a second. It was far more than enough to expose both herself and Jeanne, in a way it was the first time she acknowledged the alien element within their walls. But Ms Williams was not that easily angered. Like a professional that she was, she continued her speech. “And I want to remind you and urge you to act up to that motto every day.” Without doubt she kept to her script and finished her speech a few minutes after with useless effort.

 Not a single person except for Jeanne had continued to listen to her. Had they tried to ignore the scandal before her in the beginning, those attempts were forgotten as Jeanne had openly laughed at the head mistress’ welcome speech. Angry looks from the staff and other teachers pierced the crowd, but those quiet murmurs were decent enough and could not be called out without addressing the elephant in the room.

  The head mistress left the stage and a man in his fifties entered. The mayor of Guhlsdorf couldn’t miss an important event like that. It was the Society’s School after all that made his town so wealthy, its students that kept it safe, and their parents who paid the handsome taxes. He pointed out his gratitude, talked about Guhlsdorf’s famous background and popular attractions – in vain.

  After a full hour, all speeches and instructions had been given. The audience’s attention had been barely enough for them to catch the important information on what to do next, but they finally managed to follow the instructions and sign their names into the house lists. There were five dormitories and before attending their first day, the students had been assigned theirs. Now they only had to sign behind their name to check that everything was without mistake.

  Needless to say, there was one list where the students waited sparsely. Jeanne had walked up to her list and signed quickly, yet the others’ hesitation was severe. After all they would share a dormitory with her.

  A girl with long dark brown hair and rich tawny brown skin finally stepped out of the crowd, shrugged and grinned broadly. After she signed she walked over to Jeanne.

  “So, they actually let you come”, she said and suddenly Jeanne burst out in laughter.

  “Yeah! Yeah they did, but I guess I am still on probation”, she replied and just with that, the ice was broken. The girls laughed at each other and that had been all it took for the whole hall to finally relax. In a matter of minutes all students had signed their places and collected the orientation booklets before they left the assembly hall again.

 “My name is Ahn, by the way. Le Trang Ahn.”

 “Well, I’m...”

 “Yes, yes, yes. No need to introduce yourself. If there was an outsider here who didn’t know about your family before, they sure do now.”

 “Has your family been in the business?”

 “They have been for six generations now.”

 “Wow, that is very impressive!”, Jeanne gasped sincerely.

Even if it was quite common for the Searchers to keep the profession in their families, there were only a handful of families that could reach back further than ten generations.

  “So, I am being blunt here, but why did they actually accept you?”, Ahn asked.

  “I think it was the interview. All my siblings did excellent on the tests, but failed the interviews. I just talked my way through them and even if it was a pain, they probably just couldn’t find anything against me. Also, I heard that they need some extra money to build a new dormitory, so since my family is pretty rich and likes to donate… “ She left the sentence open, obvious what she was aiming at. Ahn just answered with a broad smile. With a sudden sigh, she pulled out her phone from her jeans pocket.

 “I’m sorry. It’s just my mum asking how I am doing and if I have made friends yet. Oh! Should I answer that I made friends with Jeanne Everley? Haha! That would really turn the tables!”

She typed down a message and kept giggling. Jeanne just kept her smile, either indifferent to that statement or polite enough to not make a fuss out of it.

  As they left the central building, the cold autumn wind blew into their faces. Single leaves danced in front of them, the first ones that had fallen from the great oaks that grew on the small park in front of the school. Both the school and the dormitories were well hidden behind a big wall, not because it would be a secret place. Back when it had been built, Guhlsdorf had been one of the most dangerous towns in their area, so the wall had actually been a protective measure to keep the inexperienced students safe.

  A distant church bell rang ten times in the distance, a little proof of the outside world. Somethign that didn’t go unnoticed.

  Ahn pulled her scarf tighter, her phone clenched tightly in her hand. “It’ll be pretty lonely here, won’t it?”, she wondered and for a moment, Jeanne just looked back at her until she shruged her shoulders.

  “Do you have a big family?”

  “Oh yes. All my grandparents live at our place. And the great grandparents of my mother’s side. And I have two siblings. So. It’s not exactly quiet at home. This school feels so sterile and strict. Have you read the house rules? You’re not even allowed to run or sing on the floors. What if I am late for class?”

  “I doubt you’d be punctual if you sang on your way getting there.”

Ahn laughed and nodded. “You’ve got a good humour, Jeanne.”

They were just about to enter their dormitory, as they were stopped by two boys. One of them looked rather shy and a little as if he didn’t want to be there at all, whereas the other had a mean look on his face. As Ahn and Jeanne had fallen back from their group, they were the last ones to enter, but those kids blocked the way quite obviously just for them.

  “Jeanne Everley, what let you think you’d be allowed to be here?”, he asked with a thin voice.

But Jeanne didn’t even spare him a look. She rolled her eyes and set out to walk farther. A hand landed on her shoulder to hold her back.

  “I asked you a question”, the boy said.

  “I decided to ignore it”, she replied. It wasn’t some weak come-back. It was not an answer that left room to discussion. She just decided that he was at least worth to be informed of the matter, and then walked straight pass him.

  And consequently, it was the first time that Ahn frowned at the girl before her, and the power that she seemed to hide underneath her surface.

~ masterlist ~