Nola didn't hear Maika's excited scream at first. She was half-lost in sleep under her blanket, face turned to the wall, her eyes dull from another night of too little sleep and too many thoughts that wouldn't quiet.
Then the blanket was yanked halfway off her head.
"Wake up, drama ghost! Wakey, wakey!"
Nola groaned. "Please stop yelling."
"I absolutely will not, not today," Maika said, practically glowing with energy. "Get up, right now. You're going to miss the coolest thing that could ever happen in this school."
Nola cracked one eye open.
"Is it breakfast again?" She said mockingly
"No. It is even better." Maika grinned.
"The Moon Legion is here. To meet a legion in your first year, you sure are lucky, Maika." She referred to herself in third person.
Nola blinked. The words barely registered in her head.
"They're stopping at Eldhollow for rest or inspection or something. I don't know much about it. But it doesn't matter. They're in the courtyard right now."
Nola didn't move.
Maika stopped mid-button on her jacket, softening just a little.
"You okay?"
"I'm fine," Nola said, sitting up slowly. "Just tired."
But she wasn't tired. Not really.
It was something else. A lingering fog from the conversation last night.
Auriel's voice, steady, gentle and broken, still echoed in her head.
His words of I will protect you had wrapped around her like warmth, but they didn't take away the chill that had crept into her bones.
He had meant them.
But that didn't make her any less angry.
He said it like it was a promise.
And she'd still hung up.
"I can stay here with you for some time if you want," Maika offered quietly, already halfway to the door. "They will be here till tonight."
Nola stared at her blanket a second longer, then stood. "No. I will come."
She didn't want to be alone with her thoughts anymore.
The courtyard felt like it belonged in a different world. It was brighter and grander with silver shine.
The Moon Legion arrived on horseback. The whole legion shined with silver.
Their armor was silver like morning frost, smooth and seamless, each piece reflecting the sunlight in soft waves. They looked like moving statues, carved out of elegance and war.
And Nola felt small watching them.
Smaller than she had felt since the day she walked into the headmistress's office.
'I don't belong here.'
That thought came uninvited. She clenched her jaw against it.
Maika elbowed her.
"Okay, wow. I knew they were cool but this is next-level. Look at that guy's cape. That's not even a standard issue. That's a fashion statement."
Nola tried to smile, but it didn't quite make it to her eyes.
She watched the soldiers move like one unit, confident and weightless, like they knew what they were made for.
And that's what stung.
They knew what they wanted.
She didn't.
She wasn't even sure she wanted to know what she wanted.
'I didn't ask to be anyone's sword but I don't want to be a princess protected by everyone.'
One of the soldiers turned too sharply and bumped Maika's shoulder.
"Hey, watch it," Maika said, startled.
"You walked into me," the cadet said curtly. His face was sharp, pale under his helmet. "This area is restricted to Legion formation."
Maika raised an eyebrow. "We're allowed here. The courtyard is open to students."
"You're too close."
Nola stepped slightly in front of Maika before she realized what she was doing. Not aggressively but instinctively.
"Back off!" She said fiercely.
The cadet's hand twitched near his side.
And Nola's fingers brushed against the hilt on her back.
She didn't mean to reach for it but her hand was pulled towards it.
A voice cut the tension clean.
"That's enough, Fen."
A woman stepped forward, she was taller than most, with dark hair cropped short and a relaxed confidence in every step. Her armor shone like the others, but something about her presence was different.
She reminded Nola of Auriel's presence.
Like power wasn't something she wore but it was something she was.
"Cadet Fen, do us all a favor and remember that students aren't classified threats," she said.
The cadet stiffened, gave a terse nod, and backed off.
The woman turned to Maika and Nola.
"Sorry about that. He's new. Sharp sword, no sheath yet."
Maika let out a nervous laugh. "No offense taken. I'll just file it under some 'bonus combat training.'"
The woman chuckled. "You've got teeth. I like it."
Then her gaze landed on Nola.
Her expression shifted the second she saw her.
Something softer. Familiar.
"You're Nola Makinoshi, aren't you?"
Nola hesitated. "Yes."
The woman reached into a pouch and drew out two small silver pins shaped like a crescent moon crossed with a narrow blade.
She handed it to Nola and Maika like it was nothing.
But Nola knew it wasn't.
"I'm Commander Caelis. Head of the Moon Legion. That is not a favor," she said lightly. "But it is an invitation."
Nola stared at the pin in her palm.
It was beautiful. Cold and real.
An invitation to intern. To one day stand where they stood. To fight.
'Why me?'
"I don't understand," she said, barely above a whisper.
Caelis smiled. "You don't have to. Yet. But I have been keeping tabs on young Auriel's little sister for a while now."
Nola's breath caught.
Of course.
It was always Auriel.
Even here, even now, her name only mattered because it came second to his.
She nodded, numbly, fingers closing around the pin.
Commander Caelis gave a respectful nod and turned to rejoin her Legion.
Maika leaned in once they were gone.
"You okay?"
Nola nodded again. "Yeah."
But she wasn't sure.
She stared down at the silver pin.
Her chest was heavy again. But not with dread. Not entirely.
It was… complicated
And under it all, a question that wouldn't go away.
'What am I going to do?'
She didn't have an answer yet.
But something told her—the world was about to find out