I Hate Dungeon School

I felt something gently poking me in the cheek. The temptation to bite the offender was pretty strong in me, but I figured that might not be the greatest way to start the day. Instead of a mandibular assault, I decided to grumble and try to roll over.

"C'mon Alta, it's time to wake up. It's morning." A soft singsong voice whispered into my ears, and I shuddered slightly at the ticklishness of the action.

"Dun wanna. Sleepy." I managed to utter, my voice sounding like some kind of horror from some long-forgotten dungeon, that was probably sticky and weird.

"Nope, sorry. You need to wake up. If you wake up, I'll give you kisses." That singsong voice offered.

Tempting. Very tempting. I, however, had a counteroffer.

"No, wake up. Give kisses anyway." A brilliant negotiator I was. Unrivaled in my acumen.

"Alta Marchesi, either you get up, or I will tickle you mercilessly. I'll do it. You know I will." The singsong voice turned slightly more stern.

"Evil! Monster! Demon!" I mumbled as I sat up, trying in vain to force my eyes to open all the way. Last night, and frankly most of the day before, left me feeling very tired, and I wanted nothing more but to be lazy, eat food, and then follow that up with being even lazier. I would be the greatest lazy person to ever laze. Is laze a word? It's too early for this.

"There's my sweetness!" The voice was bright and cheerful as the kiss on my lips finally started to rouse me into wakefulness.

"Good mornin', love," I mumbled, my mouth refusing to make certain sounds, as I kissed Eira back and pulled her into an embrace. As I started to tip back onto the bed, the committer of the crime of waking me up in my clutches, she managed to stop me.

"Nope, none of that. It's time for breakfast, and training." She chided me softly, petting my hair, which I could just sense was an absolute fright.

I did not wake up gracefully. Ever.

"Fiiiine." I groaned as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. I slipped from the bed and stumbled to the little washbasin, to try to make myself something vaguely resembling presentable to the world.

This was our first day on this little island getaway, and while I didn't really care what a bunch of strangers thought of me, I figured it was best to put on a good face for Eira's family.

I tied up my hair, grumbling at how long it was getting, and got to pondering what to wear today.

I settled on my sundress, and I was very much not in the mood for wearing the swimsuit quite yet.

"I set out your one-piece. This will be good for training in." She told me as she wrapped her arms around me from behind.

"You're lucky I love you, or I wouldn't be doing half of all this training stuff," I smirked at her as I looked at us in the mirror.

"It's for your own good. Trust me. Now, let's get you loaded up on food. You're gonna burn through most of it when I'm done with you. Now hurry up, sunrise is just about to start. You won't want to miss it." She said with a little kiss to the top of my head.

The lack of sunlight hadn't even occurred to me till just that moment. The warm golden light in the room was cast from little glowing globes in the corners of the room, and in my half-awake state they had completely fooled me.

I found my way out to the balcony on the little hut that we were going to call home for the next little while. It had nice-looking chairs, looking out on the ocean, the sound of the waves punctuated by the calls of sea birds, the smell of the sea breeze, and the low glow over the horizon made for a lovely atmosphere.

"Watch this. This is going to blow your mind." Eira said, pointing out over the water.

I looked and saw the glow get increasingly bright, and the sun peeked over the edge of that infinite expanse of water.

What words could I possibly use that could describe that sight? I'm not a poet or some kind of artist, and any attempt I could come up with would pale in comparison to what I saw. A shimmer gradient of golden and pink flowing into the brightening blue of the clearest sky I could have imagined, the last light of the stars giving way to the dawn.

It damn near took my breath away. I felt Eira hold me to her again, and we sat there in a comfortable silence watching the display of the first light.

Of course, the mood was immediately shattered by the obnoxiously loud rumbling of my stomach, to which we both descended into fits of giggling.

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"Let's get some food in us. This time of year, this sight is pretty typical, so plenty of chances to see it again." Eira took my hand and led me onwards.

The island resort itself was made up of several huts like our own along the edge of the water, larger ones set further away from the edge of the water, and nestled near the trees were some that were as large as some of the buildings at Dungeon School, but their complete size was hidden by the thick jungle foliage.

I also noted a few buildings along the edge of the water that almost looked like watchtowers of some kind. Of course, a place like this would need something along those lines. I didn't see any kind of defensive structures, but for all I knew,w they were just very good at concealing them. This was a place for relaxation as well as being a hideout for pirates after all.

They also had to worry about those horrors in the deep. I mentally shuddered remembering the thing. I really hoped I never had to deal with one of those monsters.

Breakfast was pretty good, a mix of fruit, some kind of vegetables, and a lot of fish. I had never really been much for fish, though I would never turn it down, but this was excellent. Ocean fish and river fish were vastly different creatures in terms of flavor.

The only thing I was missing was some coffee. I asked Eira about it, as my cravings were getting a bit strong.

"You're really hooked on that stuff, huh?" Eira smirked at me.

"Yeah, the stuff just really wakes me up, you know? It's not the best tasting stuff, but it does the job better than tea for me." I said with a shrug.

"Well, luckily for you, the island here grows its own. After you have some, you're going to hate the stuff back at school. It's strong enough to wake the dead. I don't know if you could handle it." She boasted.

"Challenge accepted!" I felt my mouth watering at the idea of coffee that not only tasted super good, outside of a café that is, but would satisfy my cravings.

"I'll go get it. You just hang on." Eira got up and walked away through the dining area, which was full of all sorts of people of all species.

I couldn't help but stare a bit, but I imagined people watching was expected in places like this. Humans and elves abounded, of course. But there were dwarves, kobolds, goblins, drakekin, bastetian, more of those caitsith folks, gnolls, a minotaur family, some of those Shau-gan too, even a couple of the shrimp folk like the cook back at the harbor. I spotted a couple of harpies as well, but looking different from Sasa and Lele, more like seabirds. A real mix of people.

Compared to Burgotova, Revenstahd felt impossibly diverse; this island put that city-state to shame. It really brought to focus how sheltered I had been. So much of the world I didn't know about. The Mortal Kingdoms were varied and wide, and even that was a tiny part of the world at large.

So much to see and learn about. Truth be told, it was daunting.

"Fascinating, isn't it?" A voice in front of me said, and I nearly dropped my food in shock.

Before me was an elven woman, with night-black hair, long pointed ears, even longer than my own, and the most piercing green eyes I had ever seen. And I mean green. There wasn't a hint of white in the eyes. Or black for that matter. Just solid green. It was as lovely as it was a bit unsettling.

I searched my memory for what kind of elf she was, and nothing was coming to mind.

"I see those gears turning in that Burgotovan elf head of yours. I'm not from around the Mortal Kingdoms, if you must know, but other than that, I wouldn't worry about it too much." She said, her voice at one musical, deep yet very feminine.

She rested her head on the back of her hand and just stared at me for a long time.

"I'm sorry, but that seat is taken," I said, feeling increasingly like I was being analyzed for some unknowable purpose. I didn't like being analyzed in general, and I liked to know why.

"I know. Don't worry, I won't be long. I just wanted to get the measure of you." She said softly, her voice nonetheless carrying over the din of the dining room.

I was beginning to become very disturbed, and I was tempted to just get up and find Eira, when I saw her appear behind the strange woman with an expression of annoyed disgust.

"I would thank you not to freak out my girlfriend, Mother. I swear these little tests you and either father give are the most irritating things. Can we please have breakfast in peace before you start poking at people's souls, or whatever it is you claim to get up to?" Eira glowered at the woman, who apparently was her mother. One of her mothers. This was going to take forever to get used to.

The woman turned to Eira with a fluid grace that I wouldn't have thought possible for someone sitting at a dining table in what amounted to a high-class cafeteria.

"Eira, my dear, surely you can understand a mother's concern! You leave for your adventure, nip off to some foreign school, never write except on holidays, and you come back with a scrappy little Burgotovan on your arm!" She huffed at Eira imperiously.

"Nope. Not having this discussion this morning. Scoot. Leave. We will discuss this later. Go on! Off with you!" Eira set the two cups of coffee down, lifted the woman off the seat, and pushed her in the direction of the door, in a rather amusing display of irritation.

She stormed back, flopped in the seat, and sighed.

"Oh gods above and below and in the deep blue, why so early! I was hoping she'd at least wait till dinner before she decided to be dramatic and weird!"

"Hey, don't worry about it. I was kind of prepared for this. I figured your family would be some flavor of protective." I shrugged, reaching greedily for the coffee in front of her. The smell was divine, and I had to have it in me immediately.

"My whole family is a bit over the top, as you've seen so far. I have to admit, I did not miss it at all." She laughed as she pushed the cup closer to me.

I sipped the hot drink, controlling the urge to down it in one go. I abstained from sugar and cream like I typically liked, as that would take away precious seconds from my heavenly brew, and felt the warm surge of energy flow into my body.

"Oh my gods, you didn't lie, this is amazing! Oh no, coffee back home is ruined for me. You witch! How could you do this to me?!" I bemoaned in playfully dramatics.

Eira couldn't help but laugh at me, and we went back to eating and chatting.

After we finished, we made our way outside, and I stretched in the sunny warmth.

Eira pulled me close. "And now, it's training time."

"I had truly hoped and prayed you would forget." I sighed, not looking forward to this at all.

"Sorry, beloved. Not going to happen. Let's get changed. I don't want you sweating in your nice sundress." She took my hand and pulled me along, ignoring my fruitless whining.