The first thing Nox noticed was that this was in no way an office.
It felt..no, looked as if he just stepped out of the building and out into the open field the moment they walked through the door.
The place seemed to be on the top of a hill, with a meadow of green as far as Nox could see.
But for some reason, this place seemed extremely familiar, almost as if he had been here.
"The old lady is at it again," Astra let out a sigh and Luna could only gave a strained smile in response.
The strongest people in this academy were.... strange, to say the least.
Each had their own unique quirk quirk you wouldn't expect from a Solar knight of their ranks.
Anyway, that was none of her concern, being around them would just add to her headache, so she was very much ready to go back to the ground floor.
At the highest point of the hill was a white pavilion, in which Nox could see a woman with white dress sitting, seemingly drinking tea...or whatever was in the cup in her hands.
She lifted her head from the cup and directly locked 'eyes' with Nox, who's eyes suddenly started glowing a lot brighter than before.
Without realizing, he suddenly stopped walking forward as he seemed to enter some type of trance.
The pavilion disappeared right before his eyes, so did the meadows, replaced by an endless expanse of darkness.
"Welcome Little light, I've been expecting you."
Standing before him, was the woman he had previously seen in the pavilion, drinking tea.
He could now properly make out her features. The woman had a head full of white hair just like the dress she had on, but his eyes were on hers...well, the white cloth with golden patterns that covered her eyes.
Was she blind?
"No, I see as much as you do, maybe even more, little light." She denied Nox's thoughts.
Nox immediately froze.
He was sure he hadn't said that out loud so how did she hear it?
"Don't worry, little light," she said with a smile on her face, "I can't read thoughts or anything like that, your thoughts are just very visible on your face."
Well, that explains that, but Nox still had questions.
"Who are you?" He finally asked, "and where are we?"
"You may call me Aurielle," she said. "Headmistress of Solar Academy."
He had noticed this earlier, but her voice really was serene.....wait did she say the headmistress of the solar academy?
"You don't seem surprised," She said, her face still maintaining its smile.
He really was, he was just having a hard time processing the fact that he had moved from the slums to standing in front of the headmistress of the Solar Academy... THE Solar Academy.
One of the greatest Radiant Academies in all of Aureum.
Nox's mind finally caught up, as he realized that he hadn't responded. "I'm… processing," he admitted quietly, rubbing the back of his neck. "You're the Headmistress? As in, one of the only five Transcendent rank Solar knights in Aureum? That headmistress?"
"I see you've heard of me," Aurielle's smile smile got a bit wider, "anyway, I should probably do what I intend to before that kid interrupts."
Slowly, she approached him causing him to tense up a bit, which she immediately noticed as she said, "try to relax, this won't hurt."
Before Nox could ask what she meant by that, Aurielle calmly lifted her hand, and her palm rested right where hist heart was, reminding him of what that being of light had done to him in that 'dream'.
He readied himself for the pain, but nothing happened. The only thing he could feel was the slight heat between her palm and his chest, besides that, there was nothing else....not the least bit of pain
"Hmm?" She looked a bit confused for a second before she nodded, "I see it's already activated... Then my part's done for now, let's get back to the office before the kid starts panicking."
***
Nox's eyes slowly opened, coming face to face with Astra, whose face was pretty close to his, causing him to quickly pull back.
"You're back," she said, "I hope the old lady didn't do anything strange to you."
It seemed whatever the headmistress just did wasn't anything new since both Astra and Luna seem to have an idea of what just happened or at least, who was responsible for him just staying in place.
Nox just shook his head in response to Astra's questions before looking back towards the pavilion.
Aurielle was sat there again, the cup still in her hand as she elegantly took a sip from it.
She set her cup down with deliberate care before finally speaking, her voice carrying effortlessly across the space between them. "You do know I can hear you, right?"
"Of course, old hag," Astra responded turning to her, "that's why I asked in the first place."
This earned a chuckle from Aurielle.
The three approached and entered the pavilion where she pointed to the empty chairs and said, "sit."
And they did.
Well, except Astra, who hadn't waited for invitation before sitting down, and Luna, who remained standing.
Nox still quietly continued observing her, she hadn't given any explanation before or after she did whatever she had done to him and she didn't seem interested in giving one.
"So Astra," She started with a smile on her face, "what's your reason for paying this old lady a visit."
"Don't give me that bullshit, you blind bat," Astra responded, "I know you've already seen why I'm here."
"You're contradicting yourself little girl," Arielle said, "first you call me blind and now you're claiming I've somehow seen your reason for being here?"
As harsh as Astra's words were, Arielle didn't seem the least bit bothered by them, in fact, she seemed pretty used to it.
"Bit—" before Astra's words could be completed, she froze just as Nox previously had.
"You always were terrible at keeping your tongue in check," the Headmistress said softly, tilting her head. "One would think an Ascended Knight would have learned a modicum of decorum by now."
Nox looked at Astra and then at the headmistress before asking, "what did you do to her?"
"Hmm?" She turned to him before smiling, "don't worry little light, she's just in time out."
"I see," he nodded before turning to Luna who just gave him a shrug.
This was always the scene whenever Ascended Astra and the headmistress met, a behavior that really was unfit for people of their ranks.
But what could she say?
Both were capable of turning her to ash with just a look and she'd rather that not happen, so she never tried to say anything.
"Now then, little light," Arielle spoke again, "let's get your destiny underway, shall we?"