The Realm Protectors - Chapter 11: Chapter 11

The rest of the week passes by in a blur of practice and classes until Saturday morning. Avani and I are walking to the auditorium to meet Professor Grantwood and the others to welcome the delegations as they arrive. We spent two hours last night after practice decorating each of the sections of the auditorium for the delegations of each country, and now we're missing breakfast.
Avani is not happy about this fact.
"Ridiculous if you ask me," She's grumbling as we see students entering the dining hall. "Make us stay up late and then make us miss breakfast. Ridiculous."
I start to laugh and accidentally snort. Snort. I cover my face as it gets warm and Avani stops grumbling to laugh. I take a second to regain my composure before I let myself laugh with her. We arrive at the auditorium, a giant mass of gray brick that astounds me every time I see it. It was both my favorite and least favorite spot on campus when I first arrived because of how many shadows there were. Great for hiding in, but shadows nonetheless.
It takes us a little while to walk down the stairs and onto the auditorium floor. It's called an auditorium, but it should really be called a stadium. Or a colosseum. Those are more appropriate for the magnitude of the place.
Professor Grantwood is waiting for us along with the others. She waves us over and begins talking excitedly.
"Fantastic. Now that everyone's here, let's go over a few housekeeping things before the delegations start to arrive.
"Each of you will take your element's delegation to your campus' facility. This is where they'll be allowed to relax and practice before the showcase in a few hours. After the delegations are taken to their facilities, meet back here so we can go over a few things before students start gathering here."
We all nod and a gateway begins to appear a few feet away from us.
"Let's gather near the edge so we don't get sucked into any gateways," Enya points out. We all nod and scurry over to the edge where the floor meets the seats. The gateway finishes forming and a woman walks out from it, smoothing off her white dress. It looks like it's made of clouds. Professor Grantwood and Faris step forward.
"Welcome, Headmistress Janssen." Professor Grantwood exclaims as students begin pouring in from the gateway. "And welcome to all of you students from the School of Wind and Clouds. Once everyone gets in here we'll get started."
"School of Wind and Clouds?" Avani mutters next to me.
"They're from Aria," I whisper back. "The air country. The official name is in Arian, and it's hard to pronounce for non-Arians. The language is very light and flowy."
"Everyone here?" Professor Grantwood asks the group when the gateway closes. "Excellent. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Faris Stellato. He will be guiding you to your home base while you're here for the showcase today, and he'll be escorting you back here for the presentations later."
Faris asks the group to follow him and he begins conversing with the Headmistress as they leave the auditorium. Another gateway opens and a man clothed in gold and white emerges with a crowd of students. Ciana steps up and they introduce each other before heading out.
"That was the School of Light, from Leve." I explain to Avani. She nods. Every time a gateway opens, I tell her the name of the school and where they're from. "Tijd School of Time; Stelluna School of Stars and Space; Vesi's Vende Kulu, or Water School; and the Maal Uaji, Dunia's Place of Growth.
"That's you," I nudge her. She stumbles forward to escort Dunia's Headmistress MacQuora and her students to the Earth Campus.
Finally the last gateway opens, and a strong-looking woman emerges, clothed in black.
"Ah, School Master Dankworth." Professor Grantwood nods to her as I approach. "Welcome to Center City, Capital and Asavanra Academy for the Elements. We're pleased to have you and your delegation here." More students – all built like bodybuilders – emerge from the gateway. I calm my features and try to mirror their composure, grace, and strength. I slip into my old habits of living back home.
"It is good to be here," School Master Dankworth replies. She looks at me. "Are you to be our guide?"
I nod, raising my head as is customary in Mork, country of darkness. "I am, School Master. My name is Nikolina Voronkova."
"Excellent." She begins forward and I step into line with her. "Voronkovs are to be very skilled, yes?"
"Yes, School Master." I respond. "I will escort you to Asavanra's Darkness Campus Facility, where your delegation can train. I will also come by to escort you back here to the auditorium later."
"Very good Miss Voronkova." She nods.
I ball my hands into fists to hide the shaking. The students march in their stiff formation behind us, reminding me of my past years of schooling. I'm afraid that if I look behind me, I may recognize some of the faces.
Including my brother's.
I dispel the thought from my mind as we enter the Darkness Campus, and I motion to the Dark Facility.
"Here you are, School Master." I raise my head again in a bow, and School Master Dankworth nods in approval.
"Many thanks, Little Voronkova." She responds. She pulls a whistle from under her black gown, giving two sharp blasts. The students stop at attention behind me and I barely keep myself from flinching. "Stodens! Atenson! Marhe!" Dankworth snaps.
The students march into the building, and as soon as the doors shut I slouch, releasing a breath I forgot I was holding. I hear another whistle from inside the building, followed by the reverberating shout of "Relahe!" as I walk away.
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I'm shaking by the time I make it back to the auditorium. Avani sees me when I walk in and looks very concerned. I try and will my body to stop but it's no use.
"Nik, are you okay?" She asks me. Ciana hears her and turns around to see.
"I'm f-fine." I stab my fingernails into my palm. "Bad memories coming back, that's all."
Avani presses her lips into a line but lets the excuse slide. We gather around Professor Grantwood and she begins to explain to us the plan for the showcase.
"You all know that you'll be performing last, since we're hosting, so you and the other thirty-two presenters will wait here in the tunnels with the delegations until your performance. The announcer will announce you as Asavanra's presentation, and then you'll begin."
Ciana grabs my hand and squeezes it, her light ability making her skin really warm. I squeeze back before letting go and focusing on Professor Grantwood again.
"After your presentation, the headmasters of each school will all get up to speak, followed by the High Arches. Then there will be the closing ceremony, with a bit of a performance by the High Arches, and then you'll escort your delegations back to your facilities, and they'll open a gateway there and go home." Professor Grantwood finishes. "Any questions?"
"How long do we have before we need to escort the delegations back here?" Ciana asks.
"A few hours. The ceremony begins at one o'clock, and it's only nine o'clock right now." Enya replies. "We'll be ready, Professor."
"Excellent." Professor Grantwood smiles at us. "I'll see you all later." She walks off under the stands and Enya turns to us.
"Alright, we have four hours until the showcase begins, so only about three and a half before we have to meet with the delegations." She says. "That's about three hours for hair, makeup, and costumes."
"I still can't believe we have to wear makeup," Faris pouts.
"It's not that much for the guys – it's practically nothing." Enya assures him. "You won't notice it after a while, I promise."
"The girls are the ones who'll have the thick makeup on their faces." Avani smirks, shoving Faris's shoulder a little. Faris tinges pink when Ciana giggles.
"Let's all go to the costume room and grab the costumes before we meet in the Green Room." Enya checks her watch and starts walking under the stands. We all follow her to a door labeled ACTORS ONLY, going inside and turning through multiple large hallways.
Five minutes of dark hallways later, we arrive at a door marked COSTUMES and go inside. The room is huge, with racks and racks of different costumes, labeled by show and year. We pass racks filled with costumes for Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Into the Woods, and more before arriving at the far side of the room, which is clear of racks but full of clutter. Two tables of sewing machines are pushed against the rightmost wall, and shelves full of fabric line the center wall. The leftmost wall is adorned with high shelves of mannequin heads covered in wigs and hats marked with labels, and below them are mannequins standing around. A group of teens are standing and sitting in this room, fluttering about like butterflies.
"Jaq?" Enya calls. The teens look at us and one of them starts pushing through the crowd. She emerges from the clump of people and mannequins, wrapped in a swatch of fire-orange fabric with a pincushion on her wrist. She's shorter than some of the mannequins, with mousy features and brown hair tied up in an elaborate bun on her head.
"Enya!" She smiles. "We've just finished with the last costume. They're right over here." Jaq leads us back into the racks of costumes to a rack marked RAS. Jaq pulls one off the rack, and we all make noises of admiration. The costume has a sheer skirt wrapped halfway around the torso, made from red at the waist and spreading out to varying shades of orange and yellow. The bodice of the torso is studded with little gemstones to make the wearer look like a living flame.
"It's gorgeous, Jaq!" Ciana breathes. Jaq grins, showing off rows of perfect teeth.
"Let me show you yours," She says, grabbing one that somehow looks white and gold at the same time. The costume makers somehow captured the sun and made it into fabric, I swear. The thing is made of shiny fabric and catches the light from every angle. It looks like little mirrors are sewn into places to absorb all the light and distribute it back out.
Jaq shows each of us our costumes: Nile's made with layers of sheer blue fabric in every shade, Carter's made from a deep silky blue that fades to bronzy gold at the ends, Lyra's made of purple with touches of luminescent fabric that appears pink, white, or pastel blue from different angles, Avani's constructed from individually cut swatches sewn together to look like leaves, and mine made from oily black fabric that seems to disperse the light, pooling around my feet like shadows.
"They're perfect, Jaq." Enya grins, admiring her fiery costume. "You and your team are miracle workers."
"Oh, stop it." Jaq giggles. "The hair and makeup crew will be in the Green Room in half an hour to help you all with hair and makeup. Don't put your costumes on until after hair and makeup, please."
"How long do these take to get on?" Nile asks. "Us eight have to lead the other delegations back here."
"Not long, they have hidden zippers in the back of each of them." Jap explains, showing us behind the flap of my dress. A black zipper is barely visible, but it's there. "We knew you'd have to be escorting them around, and we don't want them to see your costumes until your presentation. A few of the crew and I will be in the Green Room to help you if need be."
"Thank you Jaq," Enya gives her a squeezing hug. "You're the best."
"Anything for you, En." Jaq says, smiling. "Do you want some racks to cart all these up to the Green Room?"
"Yes please, that'd be great." Enya says.
"What's the Green Room?" Avani mutters to me. I shrug.
"In the Otherworld, a Green Room was a room backstage in an auditorium where the cast would get ready for a show." Ciana whispers to us. "I'd assume it's the same here."
Jaq and three other girls come back with eight carts for us to put the costumes on, one for each element. After they're all loaded up, we wave goodbye and walk back out into the dark hallways.
"Why is it so dark down here?" Avani asks.
"They like to keep it as dark as possible backstage." Enya explains.
We arrive at the door marked GREEN ROOM and go inside. It's a fairly large room, not as large as the costume room, with light-up mirrors and vanities along the longest wall. There's two vending machines in the corner – one for snacks and one for drinks – and a few lounge chairs and benches spread out. Two doors lead to the bathrooms on another wall.
"Whatever you do, do not sit on that couch." Nile says to us, pointing to a couch in the far corner, under a broken light bulb.
"Why? It doesn't seem broken." I mumble. Ciana coughs and she makes a vulgar motion with her hands. "Oh. Ugh."
We ignore the couch.