Dreamwalker 11
High-Sun had come, which indicated lunch time for the students of the Manor. It was difficult for Fu to get used to being on a clock that was regulated by something other than his mother’s requests. People here were always in a hurry, dictated by numbers on a disc, numbers that never existed for Fu until now.
The sea of faces was intimidating, even if most of them were concentrating on the food allotted to them from the Manor dining hall. The food smelled strange to Fu, as well, certainly not his mother’s cooking. He steeled himself as he wandered through the outdoors courtyard, looking for a place to eat. He couldn’t let anyone see he was homesick.
I would go to the library… if I knew where it was.
Fu didn’t know, though. He wasn’t going to ask either, thinking the embarrassment of relying on some school-child to tell him what he should already have known. Instead, he found himself wading through a different kind of embarrassment, knowing no one, though everyone else seemed familiar with each other.
Just when he was about to resign himself to a far corner where no one would see him, Fu caught sight of someone he had seen before.
NikKoRi.
Their first meeting had been less than stellar. But perhaps, he could make up for it now.
Fu picked his way through the other students, eyes focused on the one point of semi-familiarity he had. She was engrossed in a book of her own, eating her bread-fold with one hand. Long hair streamed into her face, once more half-loose, catching the sunlight in a way that Fu had to admit was nice to look at. Everything about her seemed neat, proper and kindly.
Working up the words in his throat, he paused, standing next to her, “Hello… Miss NikKoRi.”
Her chin jerked up at the sound of her name, brow furrowing at first, not recognizing him.
“I am FuSoYa…” he explained. “We talked earlier.”
“Oh,” she let the word out with a breath. He couldn’t tell if that was a good or bad reaction. She looked back down at her book, allowing her hair to curtain her face in defense. “Yes. I remember.”
“I wanted to…” Fu grasped for the word, “Apologize for my behavior earlier. I did not mean to come off as…”
“It’s fine,” the girl wasn’t looking at him. Her words were quick with a please-get-this-over-with sound.
“Am I interrupting something, Miss NikKoRi?” he tried to sound polite, while offering her a way out of the conversation she wanted no part of.
“Are you always this proper?” she asked, suddenly, out of the blue.
“Well I…”
“People call me Nikko,” the girl informed him.
“That is pretty,” Fu found himself saying before he realized.
She didn’t say anything. Not even the expected thanks.
Hopes sinking, he reached for a different, more humble, direction, “I did not really know where to go for lunch. I have never done this sort of thing. I might have gone to the library, but I do not know where it is yet.”
“It’s the large double doors in the Central Chamber,” Nikko almost dismissed him.
She wasn’t trying to be mean, he could see that much. She honestly didn’t look comfortable. Fu didn’t know if it was the way he had acted earlier. Though, even then, she was friendly. Right up until…
She found out I was a mind mage.
Fu let out a long breath, saying to himself, “That is it, isn’t it?”
“What’s it?” Nikko asked him, finally looking up again. This time, she rewarded him with a strange look.
“Um… did I say that out loud?” he frowned.
“Yes?” her eyebrows lifted with a duh-face.
“Huh…” Fu said to himself. Then he looked back at the girl, trying to salvage what he could. “Thank you for directions to the library. I am sincerely sorry for interrupting your studies and lunch. I would like to end this with the common closing that wishes to talk to you later. But I cannot tell if that is something appealing to you.”
Nikko just stared at him with a long, long look of confusion. Then she finally asked, “Are you for real?”
He gave her a blank look in return, “How else can I be?”
The girl folded her book in her lap, leaning forward. The first hint of curiosity overrode her defenses, “You’re a mind mage and you don’t know what I’m thinking?”
“Of course not,” Fu didn’t hide the shock on his face.
“But you can… you know…” Nikko made a motion to her temple.
“What?”
“Read my mind?”
“Huh?” the boy asked, looking somewhat insulted.
“Hear my thoughts?”
“Not exactly. It does not work that way,” he tried to explain. “It is loud here, in the Manor. It is hard to tell one person’s feelings apart from another. However, I never go out of my way to read someone’s mind.”
“But that means you can,” she pointed a finger at him as if he was supporting her debate.
“Can does not mean should,” Fu frowned. “Father taught me better than that.”
Nikko paused for a moment, then said, “Your father is Master SoYa.”
He looked away then frowned. Not sure if he should admit it, not sure what she knew of his father, he finally just nodded. “Yes.”
“He was my Intro teacher last year,” she said.
Fu cringed.
Wonderful. Going to the same school where Father works. Why did I not think this would come back to haunt me.
“No, it’s okay,” Nikko reached one hand out. She gave a little laugh. It sounded like music to his ears. “This time I know what you’re thinking.”
“You do?”
“He was nice,” the girl said. “I didn’t fit in here well at first, but Master SoYa helped me figure out what I liked to do.”
“Oh?” Fu asked, somewhat surprised. Before he knew what he was saying, he asked, “What do you like to do?”
Nikko pressed her lips together, thoughtful. Then she shifted her books to one side and offered, “Sit down. I’ll tell you.”