“Go get yourself cleaned up. There’s no way we’re going downstairs with you looking like that.”

  Felix knew he didn’t look his greatest, but seeing the looks Lara and Aster gave him still made him feel ashamed.

  As he left his room, he paid attention to his surroundings for the first time. His room had been rather plain but comfortable, only featuring a desk, bed, chair, and a small window that looked out onto a garden. Entering the hall, the place took on a cozy atmosphere.

  The rustic wooden walls, with soft, warm lights lining them, gave the place a relaxing air. A soft, dark red carpet stretched the length of the hallway. After the girls gave him some time to freshen up, they went downstairs to the dining room. Reaching the landing that separated the boys' rooms from the girls', he looked out over the room —Or maybe it would be better referred to as a hall.

  The hall reminded him of descriptions he’d read of hunting lodges in the frigid mountains of the Continent. To the left of the room, long wooden tables were arranged with benches to match. Children sat in scattered groups enjoying their meals. To the right sofas, hammocks, nooks, and coffee tables sat in front of fireplaces that lined the wall. It created nice social corners for aspirants to hang out, or quiet corners to settle down with a book.

  The most eye-catching thing of all was the far wall. From floor to ceiling, it was made of glass, through which you could see most of the Crossroad, and framed right in the middle was the Ways.

  “That’s– I didn’t know it was that big,” Felix said.

  “Yeah, we couldn’t see much with the dome covering us when we arrived. Why do you think they made the Ways that big?” Lara asked.

  “My grandfather once told me that the Ways aren’t just used by humans. It’s rare, but sometimes even giants use it. The gates are all that size because they need to fit giant children.” Aster answered.

  “If a child is that size, how large are fully grown giants?” Lara asked

  Aster shook her head.

  “You’re still thinking too small. Giants never stop growing. They just grow more slowly as they get older. There are still giants around from when the first races were created.”

  Felix and Lara were both stunned into silence. But while he stood astonished at the sight, his poor, deprived stomach had caught the scent of food coming from below and was swift in protesting his lack of movement. As the three made their way downstairs, an eager voice called out to them.

  “Lara! Over here!” Looking over, Felix noticed a waving Eugene as he sat with a few other aspirants. Far too drained to deal with any more emotions, Felix didn’t protest when Lara started leading them to the group.

  On the way, they stopped by a plump dwarven woman wearing an apron and voluminous chef’s hat. The lady took one look at Felix and the girls before exclaiming, “Oh my, you look like you got lost in the barrels for a fortnight. Have a seat with your friends, and I’ll have your food out before you know it.”

  Before so much as introducing herself, she vanished into the kitchen. Apparently, neither Lara nor Aster found this behaviour strange, as Lara simply yelled “Thank you, Agrona!" to her back before continuing to pull Felix towards Eugene’s group.

  “I see you found Felix! That’s great, come on and join us.” Felix immediately noticed a change in Eugene. He still looked the same, same freckles, same slightly chubby cheeks, same short, cropped black hair. It took him a moment to place the change. Where he used to avert eye contact when speaking to Lara, he now spoke with confidence.

  He was still much the same, but it was as if he had found something he had been missing on his journey that completely changed the way he carried himself.

  As they took their seats, Eugene started introducing the group. “Everyone, this is Lara and Felix. We’re all from the same homeworld. Lara was the last to finish her Journey. She’s the one the guardian told about the elite camp. Her friend Aster was the second last to finish.”

  “Guys, this is Irene, Marven, and Henry. We’re among the last to finish. That means we’re the most talented martial path aspirants on campus. We thought it might be a good idea to put our heads together and help each other. If we want to get into that elite camp in six months, we’re going to need it.”

  As Eugene introduced the others, he pointed at them in turn. Irene was a blond girl who was too busy frowning at Lara and Aster to pay him any mind. Henry, a dark skinned boy, seemed somewhat disinterested in the conversation.

  Marvin was the only one who stood out. His white hair had a vibrant blue sheen in the light. Faint, powder blue scales covered part of his neck and the edges of his face. Clearly, his beastking lineage wasn’t geared towards cute ears. Like Aster, his human features were more prominent, making it hard to tell what type of beastkin he was.

  Marvin immediately took an interest in Lara and Aster and started making small talk to ingratiate himself with them. Just watching it made Felix feel uncomfortable. There was just something slimy about the way he spoke to them.

  “So, Aster, what tribe are you from? How’d you end up in the Scattered Stars? It must be a great one to birth such a beauty.”

  “None of your business,” Aster responded with a straight face.

  “Hahaha, and funny too! And how about you? You’re Lara, right? It’s so impressive that you lasted that long. Your family has to be famous, right?”

  “Not really, no, my parents work with Felix’s. They do shipping between the Feywilds, Stonehold, and Scattered Stars.” Lara, as always, tried to be polite.

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  Felix just tried to make himself small. He didn’t want to talk to anyone or answer questions about himself. Especially not in a group trying to join the elite group.

  With Aster stonewalling any attempts at communication, the majority of the attention fell on Lara. While Felix could tell from her answers that she was trying her best to avoid any topics she felt might hurt him, it simply wasn’t possible for very long.

  The small talk had barely started before the conversation turned towards their journeys and their plans to become knights. Lara’s attempts to change the topic were futile as it quickly became apparent that everyone, except perhaps Henry, was already convinced that they’d be joining the elite group in six months.

  Things got worse when Eugene joined in. With Aster making for a poor conversation partner, Lara became the focal point. There was no way Eugene would let Marvin keep taking the lead. Irene had held his attention up to that point, but Eugene dropped his conversation with her as fast as he could to speak with Lara.

  Meanwhile, Felix felt like there was a hole in his chest. Sitting with these people, animatedly talking about a dream that would forever be out of his reach. It felt like a dagger twisting in his gut.

  He tried his best to keep his face neutral, while inside he was screaming in frustration.

  Eventually, the boys gave up completely on trying to engage Aster in conversation. Any question directed at her was answered with short, to-the-point answers, half of them just declining to answer. Felix wasn’t sure if she was socially inept or just not fond of these people. Regardless of the reason for her being excluded from the conversation, it wasn’t long before Eugene tried to drag him into it.

  “Felix, you haven’t told us what happened to you. Lara was very worried, Are you ok?”

  Felix frowned, trying to learn from Aster. He mimicked her strategy.

  “I’m fine.”

  Eugene was taken aback by his clipped answer. He was further helped by Agrona, who stopped by to deliver food. He tried offering her a smile of thanks, but judging by the sympathetic smile and the squeeze of his shoulder she gave him in return. He wasn’t hiding the toll the conversation was taking on him very well.

  At least the food was a welcome distraction. He got a stew without a single ingredient he could identify. A salad that didn’t have any green plants and a mug with some strange spiced beverage. The drink was awful and bitter on its own, but when he had a sip after he had some of the food, it became a lovely spiced drink that soothed his nerves and warmed his body.

  He hoped they would just keep ignoring him until he finished his meal so he could slip away unnoticed, but Marvin wasn’t about to let him go so easily.

  “So Felix, are you also aiming to be a martial artist? When did you finish your Journey?” Felix could feel everyone's eyes turn to him. Their stares made his skin itch.

  Just wanting to get it over with, Felix responded in a voice that sounded hollow even to him.

  “I finished first.”

  Felix tried to keep his attention on his food, but he couldn’t resist a quick glance around the table. Some eyes met him with disdain, some with indifference or pity, and some he couldn’t read at all.

  Just as the silence around the table was starting to get awkward, Marvin tried to salvage the situation. “Oh, I guess all our talk about knights must be boring you, then, huh?” Marvin added with a chuckle in an attempt to diffuse the tension. Instead, it was just another twist of the knife in Felix’s heart.

  “So I guess you’re not going to be a Traveller, huh? Do you know what you’re going to do when the year is up?” Felix wanted to rage against the assumption. He wanted to boldly proclaim that, of course, he was going to be a Traveller. But he was just so tired, blow after blow, it just wouldn’t stop.

  Taking a moment to build up his answer, he took another sip from the spiced drink, its warmth doing little to soothe him.

  “No, I’m still going to be a Traveller.” He wished they would just go back to ignoring him.

  “What? If you were first, doesn’t that mean you don’t have any talent? I think most of the people who finished early are just going to be civilians."

  Much to his surprise, Eugene was the one to speak up in his defense.

  “Haha, I’m sure that if anyone could do it, it would be Felix. Besides, I think how long you stay only matters if you want to be a martial artist. I’m sure you’ll find a way to be a mage even if you can’t be a knight.” His voice sounded sympathetic but also off in some way. Like he was using sympathy to cover what he was really feeling.

  “Haha, not that bad? Why don’t you share with the group? What affinities do you have? What spell? Maybe we could offer some advice, after all, you’re going to need all the help you can get.” Irene joined back in, not bothering to hide her disdain.

  “Guys, c’mon there–” Lara tried to interrupt, but she was cut off.

  “Yeah, why don’t you tell us? We’ll, try to help, isn’t that right, Henry?” Marvin asked, while clearly amused.

  Henry just rolled his eyes.

  “Leave me out of your drama.”

  On another day, when Felix wasn’t so tired, he might have stood up for himself, but right now, he just wanted it to end. He didn’t feel like dragging it out, so he just told them. “Life and mind.”

  A murmur of confusion spread through the group before they started discussing what something like that could be used for. Even Henry seemed confused by his affinities, occasionally adding to the conversation. Apparently, his curiosity was stronger than his desire to mind his own business.

  Felix just focused on eating his meal as fast as he could without making it obvious what he was doing.

  The group continued to speculate until Henry asked him a question. “What spell did you get? That should give us a clue, right? All of us got spells related to our affinities.”

  “Guys, I don’t think–” Lara tried to stop them again, but this time Eugene stopped her.

  “C’mon, Lara, we’re all just trying to help. We can’t help him if he doesn’t share, isn’t that right, everyone?” Lara tried coming up with something to say, her mouth opening and closing as she tried to start speaking, only for the words not to come to her.

  By now, Felix had blocked out most of the conversation as he just focused on eating. He answered almost subconsciously, not really thinking of what they were doing at this point. “It improves the quality of my sleep,” he stated simply.

  Marvin and Irene didn’t hold back their laughter, and Eugene only made a token effort. Henry just looked like he was mulling over the information.

  “You want to be a traveller with a spell like that? What are you going to do, snore your enemies to death?” Irene forced out between fits of laughter.

  Finally finishing his meal, Felix stood up. “I’m going to go check out the rest of the Crossroads. I’ll see you in the morning, Lara.” He nodded at Aster before taking his leave. He could see Lara standing up to follow, but Aster stopped her, whispering something in her ear.

  He didn’t stay to see if she would follow. He just wanted some time to himself.

  As he reached the door, he could hear Lara turning on the group to scold them. The last thing he heard before the door swung shut behind him was someone saying. “Why are you bothering with that loser? You’re going to leave him in the dust anyway. There’s no way he can be a Traveller–”