Editing Eldramin (section)

== Chapter 2 ==
''Fannara''

Ana led me out of the lobby, commenting on my trip, and leaving opportunities for me to talk, but I didn’t take them. I was too distracted. ''What is different about you? Why do I feel like this?''

We got to her vehicle, a black thing that almost looked like an earthen car, but was hovering just above the road. As the doors opened seemingly of their own volition, I noticed the vehicle was armored, which. This too confused me. From all I’d heard, Paladine was a peaceful country. It had been for nearly a century, with neither domestic nor international conflicts. Why was her vehicle armored then?

I hesitantly climbed into it, trying, and failing, at hiding my confusion.  Everything was so different, yet somehow familiar. Ana began telling me about her kids when I remained pensive, informing me that her son, Moren, was in my class. She had a daughter too, LaraWrynn, who apparently was a week away from turning fifteen. I muttered congratulations, hardly looking at her before returning my gaze out the window. Right at that moment, the vehicle began gliding down the pavement; the cityscape unfolding outside of my window.

The next ten minutes of the drive comprised me gasping at the grandeur of the Elquar skyline, as Ana told me about what school will look like, and my occasional response or question. I gaped at the enormous palace on a hill overlooking the city, seemingly made of pure gold as the setting sun shone on the vast windows.

Ana caught me staring at it and quietly remarked, “It’s very bright in there this time of day, but those rooms have the best view of the city. The other side is nearly blinding in the mornings, but provides a beautiful look of the mountains.” I turned and stared at Ana.

“You ''live'' there?”

She laughed at my shocked expression, quickly returning her eyes to the road in front of her. “I have for the last twelve years after my husband took the reins of our country as Greatest Lordleading position in the government {I really need to name this} after the last one resigned.”  She seemed sad as she remembered the past family that dwelled in the palace.

“May I ask what led them to resign?” I put the question out there tentatively, trying to express that she did not need to explain if it made her uncomfortable.it was ok(I would use okay or OK) for her not to explain.

 Ana heaved a sigh, a tense look spreading across her face. It was the first time she had stopped smiling.

"You don't have to tell me." She turned to look at me, relieved., relieved gratitude in her eyes. 

"It happened years ago, but I don't know if anyone who knew them has fully recovered yet. It may be best not to bring it up around some." She pushed away the dampened mood with a cheery smile “Anyhow, we’ve arrived. Welcome to Elquar University.”

I stared at the campus. Rows of gigantic, fake trees encircled, acting as a fence for a twenty-story building, the top of which was emblazoned with a decorative “E”. The "trees" were connected by a curling sidewalk which was covered by a crystal canopy of fake leaves supported by marble columns covered in vines. 

The vehicle glided to a stop in between two of the giant trees, which I could then see were buildings of some sort. The doors opened and Ana stepped out.

“These are the dorms, and that,” she pointed at the closest “tree,” “is the one you'll be staying in.”

I turned and stared at her once more, a strange new habit I seemed to develop. “No way,” Ana merely nodded at my amazement. “But it’s ''huge''. How many people go here?”

Ana laughed outright. “Thousands. Keep in mind only that the brightest live here. This get in, but this is the best school in the galaxy.” She turned on her heel and walked towards the “tree”. I grabbed my bags and stumbled out after her, jogging to catch up to her long strides. 

The tops of the tree buildings stuck out over the road, casting emerald light dancing down from the translucent roof. The place was ultramodern and packed with buildings, but it felt like a forest for giants. 

Ana strode into the lobby, pulling a miniature silver frame from her pocket. I looked at it quizzically, wondering why she would pull something like that out while waiting in line in a girl's dorm. She grabbed two of the corners, sliding them open and then pushing a hidden button on the side of one. A screen lit up the area inside of the delicate frame. She began typing on it as if it were an earthen cell phone and kept typing for a while.

I took the time to look around the lobby, taking in my surroundings. Couches covered nearly the entire floor space and were in turn covered in dozens of throw pillows and exceptionally loud girls. What looked like a small café sat tucked against one of the curved walls. The crystal walls let in enough sunlight to light up the whole gigantic room. 

Ana suddenly slammed the frame in on itself and strode past the people waiting in line, seeming to give no regard to what they thought. She spoke with the woman at the desk, looking behind at the couch girls and nodding as the other woman spoke. She handed Ana a white bag, and suddenly looked over at me, eyes wide. Ana grabbed her arm and hissed something at her. I glanced away, confused again. ''Why is this place so weird?'' 

Ana walked over to where I stood, a fake smile on her face.

"Sorry about that, we had a bit of a mix-up." She took a deep breath, her face relaxing into a more natural smile. Ana stretched out her arms, offering me the white bag. "This has essentials and your schedule. Now, would you like to meet your roommates?" My gut dropped as she handed me the bag.

"Uh... sure." I had never had good interactions with the girls I roomed with on Alithos. Heaven forbid the daughter of the king's second cousin's, twice removed's fiancee be stuck with the scholarship girl. I was a plague among wannabe royals. I just hoped none of these girls knew how to get in my head.

Ana led me to one couch and three girls shot up, caught off guard. One girl was grinning from ear to ear.

She was the shortest of the three, but was by no means short herself. She had tanned skin, a frizzy head of brunette curls, and ridiculously excited brown eyes. Standing next to her was a very tall, skinny girl. She had dark skin, dark eyes, and a huge poof of hair, dyed in various shades of purple, bunched into a bun on top of her head. The third girl looked the least friendly. She had slightly tanned skin, stone grey eyes, and strawberry-blonde hair with two pointed and slightly curved ears peeking through. A very serious expression on her face told me she was reluctant to accept me. I was not expecting to get along with ''her''. 

"Fannara, this is Alamara," the short one, "Melody," the tall one, "and Arienna." The steel-faced one. 

"It's so great to finally meet you!" Alamara bounced as she spoke, excited energy radiating off of her in waves. “You can call me Mara. Then that’s Mel and Ari.”

"Yeah, thanks. It's nice to be here." I felt like an idiot as the words awkwardly tumbled out of my mouth. 

Melody smiled at me, her eyes conveying that Alamara was always like this. 

"Well, I'll let you ladies get her settled." Ana turned and smiled at me one last time. "If you ever need anything from me, I believe Moren is on your brother floor."

"My what?"

"He is?" Ana and I turned and looked at Arienna, who was now looking very uncomfortable. Melody and Mara exchanged knowing glances. 

"I think what Ari means is that he'll be a ''great'' help." Alamara was trying to fix the little mishap, but somehow her comment seemed almost sarcastic. Ana seemed a little uncomfortable as the girls tried to hide their grimaces.

"I'll let you settle in now, happy classes!" Ana left the building, leaving me with a trio of girls I was convinced wouldn't like me. 

Arienna turned to the other girls, a look of upset shock on her face. "We’re stuck with ''Moren Keleth''?"

Melody grimaced. "It would seem so. Training is going to be very interesting." I watched on as the three nodded in agreement 

"I'm sorry, but I'm not sure what the problem is, or what this 'brother floor training' stuff is about." The girls looked at me as if they had forgotten I was even there. ''Typical''.

"Yeah, sorry. Hmm...how to explain the jerk that is Moren Keleth." Arienna furrowed her brows in an overdramatic show of thinking, her index finger tapping her chin. 

Melody gave a small chuckle. "How about we do that while helping Fannara move in."

"You just don't want Ana to come in and hear us making fun of her son." Arienna raised an eyebrow at her friend’s attempt at avoiding a potential confrontation. 

Mara jumped in. “I think Mel’s right. No need to talk about this right now.” She seemed uncomfortable with Melody and Arienna’s attitude towards this boy, and yet she hadn’t disagreed when Arienna had called him a jerk. 

“Alright, let’s get you settled in.” Arienna glanced at my two carpet bags and the canvas one Ana had given me. “You want help with those? We live on the top floor.” 

My eyes widened. “How many floors are there?”

“Seventeen.” Arienna looked at me, confused at my look of dread. She let the silent confusion hang in the air as the three stared at me. “There’s an elevator.”

“Oh, thank goodness.” The three looked at me, clearly shoving down giggles.

Alamara seemed to swallow a laugh as she asked, “Do you not have elevators on Alithos?” I shook my head at her. 

''We do not need seventeen stories; we aren’t huge on neck aches.'' I said none of my thoughts out loud, of course, and I mentally kicked myself. These girls had been nothing but kind, to my amazement, and it wasn’t fair to think such things. However, old habits die hard, and it would be a while until I fully stopped my cynicism.  

Melody took one of my travel bags. “I’m just going to carry this for you then.”

“You really don’t need-”

Arienna held up a hand, “Mrs. Keleth is infamous for her overpacking, that bag probably weighs a ton.” I lifted my arm experimentally. The white bag was rather heavy, and the straps looked about ready to snap off, but I had been so nervous, I hadn’t realized how heavy it was. 

“I guess it does. Thanks,.” I tried to make my smile look genuine, but I was very out of practice. Melody nodded her head, her purple cloud above her head bouncing as she began leading us to the elevators. 

Alamara began talking as soon as the doors closed, letting me know I was sharing a room with Arienna and that she and Melody were our suitemates, we would share a bathroom. 

The sudden stop of the metal box we were standing in shocked me as a bell dinged and the door glided open. I hadn’t realized we had been moving. We walked out of the elevator into a brightly lit, circular hall. The faux leaves of the roof patterned the wooden floors in emerald light. The center of the large hall was a kind of balcony, looking down at the other floors. I noticed the bottom floor that I could see was not the lobby, most likely for privacy reasons. It was the level above it. 

We walked around the decedent walls and doors without handles until we reached our suite. Two doors proclaimed who’s rooms they were. ''Arienna Harlen, Fannara Harpson'' were on a piece of elegant paper. The other door had ''Alamara Mullid, Melody Harfeld''. It seemed that Arienna and Melody had met in something name-related, and I had been assigned because of my last name to be her roommate. No doubt they had been going to room with another friend and something interfered with that. I hoped ''I'' wasn’t what had interfered. 

Melody put my bag down and reached into her pocket, pulling out the same kind of silver frame that Ana had used in the lobby. She stretched out the corners, much more carefully than Ana had, and swiped to a code of some sort. She passed it over a black square that was set where the handle should have been. A small click and the door swung open. 

“Ana probably armed you with a telecom. It’s how we get textbooks, sign up for classes, and talk.” Melody waved her screen around as she listed off the many uses of a “telecom”. She shut the frame again, the screen disappearing as the corners closed. Arienna grabbed my carpet bag before Melody could and strode into our room, her blonde ponytail waving behind her at Melody’s look of fake annoyance. Arienna turned her head and gave her an innocent smile.

“What, Mel? I don’t get to help my roommate?”

Mara leaned over to me and explained whatthat Melody and Arienna where doing, “They are competing to see who you’ll become friends with first. They are competitively nice and it’s ''weird''.” I looked at the two girls as they tried to out-shinenice each other. I had expected no one to know me from a bar of soap, but my roommates were aggressively trying to befriend me.and here were these three girls, all hoping to get along, be friends even, with me. I did not know what to do with the kindness they seemed to need to bestowed upon me. For the first time in years, I thought I had made friends, however long that would last.