It wasn’t long, yet it dragged like cold wax under a slow candle.

Hedi led Selina into the classroom, though in truth she leaned on Selina’s arm like a willow in wind.

It wasn’t weak knees.

She could walk without the wall, no real problem.

She just staggered a little, like a boat catching a small eddy.

Doing this would seed Selina’s confidence, or else nerves would send her fleeing like a startled deer.

Forty desks lined the room in neat rows. Each held a textbook and a notebook, like square islands set for study.

Silence.

Not the needle-falls-and-you-hear-it kind of sterile hush.

The rustle of pages rippled the air like reeds on a still pond, a quiet made of focus, immersion, and gentle harmony.

“This is my teaching assistant. Selena Viola.”

Selina’s nerves jolted under all those eyes. Her bright gaze tightened, a thin film of fear clouding it like frost on glass.

She crushed Hedi’s hand for anchor. She tried to hold her gaze steady, yet her eyes still skittered like startled fish.

Polite applause rose, light as rain on leaves.

Hedi glanced at Selina. The corners of her mouth curled up, tiny dimples like quiet whirlpools saying, first times are hard, you’ll get used to it.

Then, in a matter-of-fact murmur, “As a wife, you can’t lose your nerve before your husband.” She lifted a slender hand and smoothed the creases in Selina’s clothes.

The motion was unstudied, born whole. It was as gentle as wiping droplets from a dog’s fur.

Heat bloomed in Selina’s face, a faint dawn at first. When her skin felt the real warmth, the red deepened like embers coaxed to life.

“P-Professor…”

“Head for the back row. It’s your first time hearing me teach.”

“Mm.”

“Alone? Your legs look a bit shaky.”

“I’ve got it.”

Hedi watched Selina reach the last row. She patted the lectern twice, three times, and began the day’s lesson.

Last class, the students were near sleep, so she changed her style. She tossed aside the droning grind and chose a lively path, detailed and wry.

“Magithurgy…”

Her voice rose and dipped, hands sketching arcs like swallows. She turned abstract theory into quick stories and bright examples, so the subject opened like a lantern in easy air.

The bell rang.

“That’s it for today.”

A few soft “Eh—” slipped out, like kite string reluctant to let go.

They were still wandering a boundless magic world, feet off the ground.

Class over, Hedi and Selina slipped out together like twin feathers on a draft. The moment their silhouettes vanished at the door, whispers lifted in the room, warm as steam, about the subtle thread between the two.

“They’re definitely friends,” one student said.

Another nodded. “Professor even whispered something to Viola at the podium, but it was so quiet. I was in the front row and still couldn’t hear.”

“Let’s just ask the Professor.”

“She won’t say.”

“She might assign extra homework instead!”

Their chatter rose and fell like waves, when footsteps gathered at the back door, approaching with steady percussion.

Reyno pushed the door open. He wore a deep-blue robe of fine cloth, the fabric stitched with his family’s golden crest like a sun on sea.

He scanned the oddly quiet room. His gaze settled on the curious faces, and he smiled. “What are you talking about?”

“Professor Melvina’s assistant.”

“Wasn’t she on leave?”

“She’s been back for weeks!” A student near the front joked, “She’s not hiding from you, is she?”

Reyno’s amber eyes shifted, light like honey swirling. “Enough of that. Your sword class is starting.”

He led them toward the gymnasium. On the way he crossed paths with Hedi, but Hedi didn’t seem to notice him. She chatted with another girl, laughter bright as bells.

“You were too cute on the podium. Still just a brat with an unfinished mind.”

“I just… got a little nervous.”

“How was your first time in class?”

Selina nodded, earnest. “It was fun. You climbed even higher in my heart.”

“Of course. Without me, you’d have died of nerves on the spot.”

“Your face looks terrible, Professor.”

Hedi’s grin spread, almost exaggerated, like the Cheshire Cat strolling through a dream. “Didn’t expect it—having the upper hand feels great.”

“Tonight,” Selina whispered at her ear, a playful threat in warm breath, “you’ll regret it.”

“Nope, not a chance, you little brat.”

Laughter flitted across the campus like tag in sunlight. But when they crossed paths with students, Hedi’s face settled into sober gravity, a calm mask over bright water.

“You’re amazing,” someone said.

Hedi glanced at the student who’d just greeted her. She waited till they were out of earshot. “Haven’t you seen it before?”

“Still amazing.”

“Clawing through society—forget it. It isn’t a good skill.”

“It isn’t?”

“It’s fake. Sometimes I make myself sick.”

Selina raised her hand, cautious as a bird stepping to the edge. “I want to touch your face.”

“You felt my mood sink?”

“Mm.”

“My office is fine. But we need to stop by the library. I still haven’t returned last time’s books.”

Hedi slowed her steps. She and Selina walked side by side under the academy’s green shade. Snow crunched beneath their boots like brittle sugar.

Soon the paths branched on both sides like a tangled anthill. Hedi turned down one fork without thinking and gave Selina a tour in words. She mapped every road, every corner, every building, painting the campus into her mind.

“So hard to remember!”

“When I first came, I got lost for days.” Hedi walked ahead in quick steps, then turned with a sudden smile. “I’ll stay with you. It’s fine if you don’t remember.”

Days of drifting snow had washed the academy clean of dust. A deep earth scent rose like a hidden spring. The wind moved, and the grasses swayed left and right like small oars. Thin clouds trailed the frozen blue sky, pressed close like white silk.

“I can remember it!”

“No rush.”

Hedi saw Selina draw near. She leaned back in a show of resistance, lips half parting to explain, then she gave in and nestled against her like a cat finding sun.

“Can’t go half a day without it?”

“You didn’t refuse either. Afraid I’ll be sad?”

“Half and half. Mostly I’m thinking, what if someone comes?”

“Then… just push me away.”

“If you’re not steady and you get hurt—” Hedi buried her face in Selina’s chest. “I’ll be the sad one.”

“Don’t shove too hard.”

“Tsk.”

“Clicking your tongue again!”

“That’s why you’re a brat.”

They fell quiet, as if silence could slow the river of time to a glassy pool.

A breeze came now and then, like the earth exhaling after a long patience.

That breath slipped into the nearby grass, lifted the tips, then left with an easy flourish. Only the two of them remained, holding each other, rooted to the spot like a warm tree in snow.