Silently we looked at her and then my brother coughed, a bit embarrassed, and filled her in.

As we interestedly watched the blood drain from her pale face, Celine bit her lips and said, “What are your plans then?”

Waving a hand, my brother stifled a long yawn and headed to the door, where he paused, half of his body outside, as he said, “We’ll deal with it tomorrow. Everyone has to gather up at the dining hall earl-, no make it late tomorrow. Sleep in as long as you can. We aren’t going to get much rest after this.”

With that, he was gone, and nodding to me, Sir Patrick followed him. Teacher ruffled my hair and went too, followed by Sir Dustin who ushered a reluctant Celine out.

Flopping on my bed, I thought of how life was going to be, and honestly, I didn’t know what I was going to do.

I was about to go to sleep when I changed my mind and instead, rose and went to Ares' room and knocked.

Opening it, a bleary-eyed Ares looked at me and, hastily, I said, “Go back to sleep. Sorry, I thought you might be awake.”

Yawning hugely, Ares blinked back tears of sleep as he shook his head. Then he muttered out, “no, no, I’m fine,” and then fell silent as I pushed him back inside and shut the door.

Leaving Ares behind, I wandered to Sia’s room but hesitated for a long time outside before I decided to leave it for the next day.

Just as I was about to turn away, the door opened, and Sia gazed at me.

“What happened to you, immortal boy? Can’t sleep?” She asked mischievously.

Grinning, I looked at her and said, “What about you? Were you waiting for someone?”

Whacking me over the head, Sia grinned back and said, “I was waiting for the sleep fairy but she didn’t come and instead this irritating balakash came along,”

“Hey!” I said, offended.

“Hurt your feelings? I’ll make it up to you. Let’s walk.” and she took my hand and strode off, me trailing behind her with a smile on my face.

Wandering outside, we watched the night sky that was hued with soft white light from the moon and then Sia led me to the rooftop, where we lay and just stared up at the sky for a long while.

Finally, Sia asked, “Tell me, what happened?”

And so I did. I told her everything that my brother had said, as well as the Teacher's oath of fealty to House Drayke.

She had smiled a tight smile at our future difficulties, but when she heard about the teacher's oath; she bolted upright and looked at me incredulously.

“Teacher took the oath?” she asked.

“He did,” I confirmed.

Sinking back down, Sia stared at the sky and then she took my hand in hers and looked me in the eye.

“Faust…,” she said.

“Mmh?” I looked at her.

“When I become a knight…. I’ll bow the knee to you. Not to anyone else. But you’ll have to beat me in a fight before that.”

“Don’t I already beat you in a fight,” I said with a laugh, getting a sharp elbow in return as she turned her red face away from me.

Then I pulled her back and earnestly looked her in the eyes and said, “I will. I definitely will. I promise you”

She smiled at me at that, then her elbow jabbed me even worse than before as I shamelessly added, “So you better go easy on me.”

Chuckling, I jumped down to the well and, working the ropes, filled a nearby pail with water, which I carried over to where we were lying down on the roof.

Then cupping my hands and filling them with water, I raised them to her lips and said, “No glasses, so we’ll have to drink like this to our promise.”

Raising her eyebrows and blushing a bit, Sia said drily, “You have a finite ring with a canteen in it.”

Blinking my eyes at her, I wanted to slap my head, but my hands were full of water. I was about to take them away when Sia lunged forward and held my hands before drinking deep from the water cupped in them.

Then, wiping her mouth, she bared her teeth in a smile and said, “Your turn.”

Expectantly, I looked at her, only for her to snort and say, “You wish.”

Downcast, I cupped more water from the pail and drank it. The water had been sweet before, but now it tasted all the sweeter.

Refreshed, I lay back on the tiles of the roof beside her and closed my eyes.

I don’t know when I slept off, but when I awoke, Sia was curled up beside me, watching me with large eyes.

Shielding my eyes against the glare of the sun, I smiled at her, and then I hastily dodged as she threw a punch at me.

Albeit a weak punch.

I was about to protest when I saw her begin to massage her leg where a clear Faust leg shaped mark stretched white on her tanned skin.

I immediately apologised to her, and she waved off my apologies with a curl of her lips as she said, “You still haven’t bought me that outfit you ruined!”

Smiling, I held out my hand and pulled her up as I said, “Let’s go shopping today if we have time.”

Dusting herself off, Sia looked at me and stuck out her tongue as she said, “How? We’re bankrupt now. Let’s not spend the last of our money on clothes. Besides, I quite like these new clothes.” Saying so, she twirled around.

My mouth suddenly dry; I nodded fervently, eliciting a laugh from her before we were clambering down the rooftop as the smell of breakfast floated up tantalizingly.

Jumping down, I pondered about what we could do to change our situation.

As thoughts and ideas ran through my head, I heard my brother’s voice boom out,

“Gather around everyone! Important discussions ahead.”