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Everywhere Tessia went, her long, confident strides turned heads and drew attention. Growing up the sole daughter of the King and Queen of Elenoir, she’d long been used to this, of course.
When she was young, of course, she’d hated the attention. When she was very little she’d even broken down in tears once, at the scrutinizing gazes of commoners and nobles alike. She’d hated going out into the city or being around crowds before Arthur began living with her, instead preferring to stay holed up in her room under her Grandfather’s care, or out in the woods with Rinia.
Living with Arthur had changed that, of course. He’d had… a surprising amount of advice for dealing with crowds and scheming nobles, for a four year old. When she was younger she sometimes wondered if he’d lied to her about just being a commoner, if in truth he was a runaway prince of Sapin or something of that nature, but she’d long-since put away those musings.
Now she could take the pressure of those gazes in stride. No longer did they dissect her and pick her apart for weaknesses, for ways they could use the little elf princess who sobbed and startled at the slightest noise. Now she knew they were gazes of admiration and desire. Be it because of her appearance, her status, her grades, or the work she did as Student Council President. What had once been a source of fear, she would turn into a source of confidence, to bolster herself and drive herself onwards.
It may have been her imagination, it may have been anxieties she thought long-buried, the second she felt pain rip through her chest and stomach she could feel the nature of those stares transform back into cold analysis and envy and hate.
Tessia stumbled over her own legs like a newborn fawn and tumbled to the ground, leggings scraping and tearing on cobblestone as her knees became scuffed and bruised. Briefly her vision blurred, and her breathing grew painful. Claws. It felt like sharp claws were squeezing her chest and lungs, digging into her solar plexus.
Her mana core. The Beast Will. It was flaring up again.
There was a buzzing in her ears. She shut her eyes and tried to focus on her breathing, to cling onto that and ground herself through the pain. In, out. In, out. She was at Xyrus Academy. She was Student Council President, going to a Council Meeting. She couldn’t let the pain distract her-- she was a representative of the student body, someone considered a symbol by students, radicals, and teachers alike.
She couldn’t show weakness like this.
Despite the pain, the world came back into focus around her. Tessia realized that the buzzing was actually someone speaking to her.
“Er, Princess? President? Tessia?” one student was asking her. She squinted-- she knew this one, right? This was one of Art’s friends, his roommate-- she hadn’t had the chance to talk to him very often so far. She should probably fix that. “Are you alright?” he asked again. Off to the side, she could hear the tittering and gossip of other students watching. She ignored them, and stood with the boy’s help, dusting off her clothes. Then Tessia flashed him a grateful smile.
“I’m fine, thank you, I just tripped. But don’t make yourself late for class on my account.” Her smile turned a little awkward. “Er, Elijah, right? Can you… make sure this doesn’t get back to Art?”
“Uh-- right, right! Sure!” he eagerly agreed. She began making quick strides away from them all again, as Elijah began crowing about how ‘the Lunar Goddess touched him!’
She needed power through the pain to get to the meeting room. Whatever rumors ended up spreading, whoever they ended up reaching… she’d deal with it. Later. There was a lot of work on the Council’s plate for them to get through today, not to mention homework later, and training with Director Goodsky…
President, you’re almost late, that’s unlike y--” the boy who greeted her, her fellow member of the student council, paused, really taking her appearance in for the first time. “...Are you okay?”
She flushed. Was her mask really slipping so much? “I’m fine, Clive. Class just ran a little late.” She quickly made her way to her seat before he could ask any other questions. “Is everyone here? Then let’s begin. We have a lot to discuss.”
And with little more fanfare, the Council meeting was underway. At first, just sitting down was a massive relief for Tessia. It made the opening ten minutes or so of the meeting go by smoothly, as she led the group discussion about the topics to be addressed. Unfortunately, the pains from her Mana Core didn’t go away. They scissored through her body every few minutes, causing her muscles to tense up and her palms to grow sweaty. The first time it happened, it was thankfully while most of the council’s attention was focused on Lillia. When the girl paused to ask if her proposal was agreeable to the group, Tessia merely gave a pained smile and nodded quietly.
She wasn’t quite so lucky the next time the pain struck. She was in the middle of talking and suddenly winced.
“Tessia, if you’re feeling ill, I can escort you to--” Clive began. Tessia took a deep breath, preparing to politely refuse, when to her surprise Lillia interrupted.
“Really, Clive, it’s rude to call attention to those matters,” she said.
“Those matters? What--” Clive’s face suddenly went very red as he drew his own conclusions. Tessia herself blanched, though she appreciated not needing to explain herself to Clive. He meant well too, though he could be… a little much, at times.
“Clive brings up a good point, though. Do you want me to escort you back to your room, Tess? Or get you anything else-- a hot water bottle, or some tea maybe?” Lillia whispered to her, as the meeting moved on. “We can go one meeting without you, I think.”
Tessia nearly shook her head, before she re-evaluated and instead acquiesced with a sigh. Classes should have started up again by now, and those few students playing hooky would be out in the city, not loitering around campus. Few students should see her, if she needed some help back to her dorm. “Yes, that would be fine. Thank you, Lillia.”
Lillia excused the both of them. Mercifully, her evaluations were proven right as her junior escorted her back to her room. She hung around a little longer as Tessia collapsed back onto her bed.
“Thanks,” Tessia said.
Lillia smiled back. “It’s nothing. It’s just good to know you’re a person, like the rest of us. Between Art and Elijah, I was worried everyone here would be some superhuman.”
Tessia laughed. “R-right?”
“Really, though, did you need anything else?”
“Ah-- it wasn’t what you thought it was. It was… something else.” Tessia winced. “Tea actually doesn’t sound bad… but more importantly, could you get Director Goodsky? She’ll know what to do.”
“Okay! Sure!” Lillia nodded, then darted from the room. At last, the door shut. Tessia collapsed over her pillows and bedding again, and exhaled.