Gravel drifts up through our steps. A crunching sound our shoes make with the ground. My legs are exhausted, they can hardly take it anymore. We walk down an endlessly long avenue, trees looming over us on both sides. Over fifteen minutes ago we got off the arela, just Cian and I and have been walking along this road ever since.

The giant gate looms through the nineteenth-century streetlights. I quicken my pace when I see two elves fully dressed in uniform standing on either side of the over four-meter high gate – made of some unknown metal and decorated with gold leaf – and remember Cian's words.

Some man named Vulmon is after me and would prefer to have me dead, cut to pieces and then burned as well if I understood Cian correctly. Couldn't he have told me that after we were behind the safety fence and thick walls of Negaron?

I hear crackling among the trees to my left. My heart skips a beat and automatically I begin to run. The frequency of my legs is faster than ever before. With each step, my backpack hits my back with a thump. My heart pounds in my throat, so loudly that it is the only thing I hear.

My right footsteps on a slippery stray stone. I hear my ankle make an unnatural sound before a burst of pain from my ankle goes through my entire leg. A scream leaves my lips. I immediately stop running and lean on my left leg. I bite my teeth together and press my lips together so hard they must be purple from the pressure, doing everything I can to keep from crying out loud another scream.

Anxious as a hare, I look around. Where is it? Is it still looking at me? Is it now sitting in the bushes spying on me and laughing at me because I can't even run when my life depends on it.

I feel a tear running down my cheek; not from the pain, but from the shame. Even in need, I am hopeless and would never survive. Without Cian and the protection of Negaron, I would never stay alive. Furiously, I shake my head. I am a hopeless, weak girl. Even now that I am an elf, I am – I feel – not stronger.

I hear one pair of footsteps coming closer and closer. I don't dare look up, instead, I squeeze my eyes shut. This way I can't see anything and I also try to shut off all my emotions and thoughts. My breath is deep and short. My whole body is on edge and wants to take action, but I stand as still as a statue.

A few ice-cold fingers touch my shoulder. The coolness drills through my clothing. Stiffened, I remain still. This is it, passes through me. This is the end. Where are the guards at the gate, why don't they come and help me? Am I so worthless in their eyes? Where is Cian, my cousin?

I feel the unknown person leaning over me. He or she is taller than me. The stranger sweeps away some hairs that have fallen in front of my ear. My heart rate rises. I squeeze my eyes shut and press my lips together in fear. I feel a tear escape, this time the reason is fear though. Pure fear.

The stranger's breath passes by my ear. I see with my mind's eye how the stranger brings his mouth to my ear, a devilish smile on his face. I swallow deeply and loudly. My left leg I feel begin to tingle, a sign that it may fall asleep at any moment. I curse my leg. My left leg's right ankle.

"Shh, Aire. Calm down. Everything's fine. Breathe in, breathe out," Cian's voice sounds soothing. I blow out my held breath, which I didn't know I was holding, after hearing his familiar voice and dare to open my eyes and look back. It's Cian. My cousin. My protector.

My head cannot form words at the moment. Only relief and release of fear and tension pass through me. I wrap my arms around his waist. The tears I feel running, I no longer try to hold back, but let them flow.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I repeat several times. "I thought I heard something or someone among the trees along the road, so I immediately started running. Sorry," I rattle off in succession. I feel the adrenaline in my blood diminish and the pain in my leg comes more to the surface again.

"You don't have to apologize for anything, Aire. You really don't. I was just worried. When I saw you running, I immediately started running after you and then I saw you go through your ankle and was shocked," Cian shakes his head as if to blame himself for all of this. My eyes are sad and sincere.

I look at him. He always wants the best for his loved ones and always thinks of them first and himself last. That's a value I prize from him.

"How is your ankle? Can you walk on it? Those damned rotten stones too. What are they doing here on the road?" He angrily kicks the stone in question and immediately curses inwardly, after his foot comes into contact with the stone – which has remained unmoved on the path. I can't help but let out a giggle.

Cian looks at me mock-angry. "Well, I'm glad one of us can laugh about this." I grin at him and he childishly sticks his tongue out at me.

"Can you walk?" asks Cian, pointing to my foot, which I am still balancing above the ground. Carefully, I put my right leg down on the ground, but quickly pull it up, when a sting goes through my ankle.

"So no. Can you climb on my back otherwise?" Cian doesn't wait for my response and goes through his crouch. Cautiously, I hop closer and wrap my arms around his neck, then hop on his back with my one leg. Both legs I wrap around his waist. I hang on to him like a baby koala.

In this way, a moment later, we reach the two guards, whom I think are still positioned in the same position. Their uniform has a night blue colour, which is also enhanced by the moonlight. Both have a meter-long spear in their hands, and when I get a glimpse of their backs as they turn to face each other, I see that each has a crossbow strapped to their backs.

I swallow deeply. They are as heavily armed as the procession of armed men in the marketplace when I had just entered the elf world.

At the same time, eerily, the two guards are tapping the ground with their spears. This makes me wake up from my thoughts and look at them. They both have masks on too, so I can only see the eyes. Two identical brown eyes stare at me. Am I seeing double? At the same time, they blink their eyes.

I feel my head dizzy and I bring my hand coolingly to my head, but at that moment slide off Cian's back, causing me to feel several stabs of pain go through my ankle with my convulsive attempts to clamber back onto his back.

"Names?" the guard to my left asks. His eyes narrow to slits, as if he thinks we might be a danger. I mean, look at the two of us; one who can't walk and who is sitting on someone else's back like a koala.

"Cian. The headmistress is expecting us. Tell her that Cian and Aire have arrived at Negaron and that she needs to come urgently because we are almost freezing to death here from the cold...and Aire is injured." Cian's voice sounds formal, yet he manages to make a joke about the cold. I look up at him from above and it only now occurs to me that he is also wearing only a thin, long-sleeved T-shirt.

"Last name?" asks the same guard who had also asked the first question.

"Doesn't matter. She knows who I am." I can't see it clearly, but I think I see Cian's lips curl slightly into a cocky grin.

The two guards confer quickly, then one runs away. Now there are only three left. It certainly hasn't escaped the remaining guard's attention either that he is now outnumbered, as he tightens his grip on his spear, so much so that his knuckles turn white.

After less than two minutes, I see an older woman with the same boy in uniform walking toward us at an increased walking pace. The woman has a graceful face. She has a stiff stature and the wrinkles on her forehead and the beginning of grey hair do not escape me, reflecting in the light. Although she looks old, there is wisdom and youth hidden in her sparkling hazel brown eyes.

Her face lights up when she appears to recognize Cian. "Cian, is that you? Boy, you've gotten so big! Come here, come here!" She speeds up her stride toward us and runs the last few yards inelegantly – especially for a headmistress – toward us. She spreads her arms open and gives Cian, and therefore partly me, a hug.

Cian smiles briefly, sincerely. He gently pats her back and says muffledly through the directress' shoulder, "I'm glad to see you too, Lilaca."

Only after a few seconds does she pull back and cough softly, as if reminding herself that she is the headmistress of the most important elf school in the entire elf dimension.

Her gaze then settles on me. Cian looks up at me as well, twisting his neck in an odd, uncomfortable position. "This is Aire, my niece."

"Aire? The Aire?" Her voice sounds full of disbelief, and stunned, she looks up at me. Uncomfortable, I look away after a few seconds. The Aire? What does Lilaca mean by that and how do the headmistress and Cian know each other.

The headmistress must have noticed my discomfort, so she smiles at me with a motherly smile. "I am so happy to finally meet you, Aire. It's an honour." She extends her hand to me and in the corner of my eye, I see both guards staring at me with open mouths.

"Uhm...it is also my honour to finally meet you," I repeat groggily, then shake her hand. She smiles warmly at my answer.

"She doesn't know yet, am I right?" asks Lilaca to Cian. Cian nods. Right? Right about what?

"Sorry to ask, but why can't you walk Aire?" Lilaca looks up at me.

"I just went through my ankle," I tell her and feel my cheeks turn red with embarrassment.

"Ah. This guard told me that you are cold, so let's go inside quickly. Follow me!" The headmistress turns one hundred and eighty degrees and walks to the side she came from earlier with one of the guards. We follow her. The guards stay behind at the gate.

"Do you know what Negaron got her name from, Aire?" The headmistress looks at me obliquely. Her hazel brown eyes are illuminated by the light, making them seem almost yellow. I shake my head.

"Negaron is an amalgamation of the names of the two strongest warriors the elven dimension has ever known. Negar and Garon. I'm surprised Cian hasn't already told you that," the headmistress explains.

Cian puts a hand on his chest, fake hurt, from which the headmistress laughs. She gently taps him on the arm. They are so genial and friendly with each other, which makes me suspect that these two have known each other for a very long time.

We walk into the imposing building. The walls are made up of large uneven stones and are over three meters high. The corridors are endlessly long and a staggering number of times we turn left and right before finally stopping in front of a door. It's a wonder to me that people don't get lost in such a majestic castle.

The headmistress pulls out a key from the pocket of her coat and hands it to me. "This is your room. One of the best, if I say so myself." She winks at us at her last sentence and I have to smile. She is guaranteed to be nicer than the principal at my previous school.

"Now go get some rest. You guys must be dead tired from the trip. Would you like to come to my room tomorrow morning? My room is in the highest room in the south wing. Then we can discuss the plan for the coming year together."

"Thank you, Lilaca," says Cian and bows slightly, not too deep because then I would smack on the floor. I thank her as well.

The headmistress swats away our thanks with a smile and then leaves. I hand the key to our room to Cian, who opens the door.

The room is huge: it is made up of one large living room where there is a couch, chairs, and a television on a cabinet. On the left and right sides of the living room is an identical bedroom. And finally, we also both have our own bathroom. All the walls, except the bedrooms, have a light blue colour, the colour of clear water. The bedrooms have three white walls and one dark blue wall where the head of your bed is against it. The colour is the same as the uniform worn by the guards at the gate.

I am exhausted. Immediately after exploring our luxurious room, I go to my bedroom with an adjoining bathroom and get ready for bed. I say goodnight to Cian and then dive into the bed. The mattress is soft and warm. I bury my head in the fluffiest pillow I have ever felt and close my eyes.

•••

I knock twice on an oak door. Cian and I have just walked up countless flights of stairs to finally arrive at the upper south room, the headmistress' room.

"Enter," Lilaca's familiar voice rings out. I turn down the cool gilded door handle and walk-in. Cian follows me.

Her room is beautiful. It is large, like everything here in Negaron. Her desk is in the middle, directly across from the door we just came out of, and the material of her desk matches the door, as well as the cabinets on either side of the room. Across from her tidy desk are two comfortable chairs with both a back and armrests.

But the most impressive thing about her room is the view she has of Negaron and the wider area from here. Partly because of the altitude we are at, the view seems endless. I see the large forests, fields on which I see very small dots – people – training and even a river.

The headmistress makes a hand gesture to the chairs and quickly Cian and I take our seats.

"Did you sleep well?" she asks. She looks at us alternately. I nod and watch Cian do the same.

"Lovely, ma'am," I agree sincerely.

"Good to hear. Of course, you're wondering why I'm calling you so soon. Fortunately not because you've done anything wrong by now," she chuckles at her use of the word and I just smile, not knowing how else to respond. She's right though, this morning it was haunting me all the time why we have to come to the rector already.

"The year has just begun – we are now in the middle of the second week of the new school year – and I think it would be wise for you to start your classes today so that you don't build up too much of a backlog. If I'm not mistaken, Cian is one year older than Aire and therefore sits one grade higher, right?" She looks at Cian and he nods.

"That's why I requested all your rosters," as she says this, she pulls from a large stack of papers two coloured sheets and slides across her desk one paper to each of us. "Tomorrow, you will also receive your uniforms, which every pupil is obliged to wear on weekdays."

I take the sheet in my hands and study it. At the top is my name Aire in big letters and below that are several columns and rows of times, days and different types of classes. I move my finger to today and see the first lesson listed. My eyes narrow. I swallow slowly and immediately get a big lump in my throat.

"Um, ma'am?" I ask uncertainly.

"Yes?"

"What exactly does this entail?" I slide the sheet back to her and point to my first lesson with my finger. Please, I think to myself, don't let it be what I think it is.

"Transformation lesson. One of the more fun classes taught at Negaron agrees most of the students. During this class, we are going to practice transforming into our elf form."

I feel my heart sink into my chest. I think back to all the pain I experienced the first time I transformed and immediately get goosebumps. That pain, that horrible pain, I never – ever – want to experience again.

I sigh deeply again and see Cian looking at me with pity as if he understands what I am thinking and experiencing right now. "Thank you," I say quasi-grieffully to the headmistress. She smiles reassuringly at me, but I don't feel reassured.

On to transformation class, then. Already a good start to Negaron. But...it can't get any worse than this, I encourage myself.

If only that was the case...