Ghost in the Roses

“Is it just me or did the ceiling change again?” I ask Nina and Kai.

Sitting at one of the many tables in the West Lobby, my friends are happy to be eating their breakfast of rice with a fried egg and freshly pressed coffee. They don’t take my question seriously at all and are far more concerned with how much creamer is being poured into their brews. As I hear it out loud, it does sound a bit silly.

“What?” Kai smiles at my craziness and he samples his caffeine fix.

“We can talk later. Let’s eat. Our meals are timed,” Nina says.

“The ceiling. It changes,” I look up at it again.

“Are you talking about the painted clouds floating?” Nina gives me that same look.

“No. It’s not the clouds. It’s everything else. It changes. The angels’ faces change, some of the Libra’s tipping scales change in which way they lean, and the constellations move just like they would in the real night sky,” I name just a few of these phenomena.

“Really?” curiously, Kai looks up. “Are you sure, Adrien? It’s just a ceiling. Stone, wood, paint, and a cheap magic spell.”

“This ceiling is more than just enchanted. It all means something,” I wave my sausage on the fork at it.

“Adrien, I thought I’m supposed to be the one who’s supposed to see things,” Kai points at his head bandage.

“I’m serious guys,” my spoon mixes in the yolks. The yellow fat is a nice sauce for plain white rice.

“It changes, it’s subtle, but it changes,” nodding, I insist upon the observations made during the meals over this past week.

“Even still, it’s just a fancy decoration, Adrien,” Nina doesn’t understand why this is so important to me.

“It has to be more than that,” I disagree.

Nina doesn't seem to care about this debate any further. “Shoot, they forgot to plate me some bacon. I really wanted some,” she notices a missing item.

“I’ll get it,” as if it was a command, Kai is up to the task. He’s gone, long before Nina can utter a word of objection not to fuss over her.

“Oh, can you get me a small bowl of strawberries with honey yogurt on the side and a dash of mint?!” I shout.

Smiling, he shakes his head at me, knowing very well I’m calling him out.

In his short absence, my mind drift back to my thought about that ceiling. I don’t understand it either, but I know that this means something. I figured out the floor; the chess board and that life, like a battle, is a game of strategy. I figured out the columns; the harvest, the cream of the crop is the ones who are wanted, are the ones who make it.

“Here you go, Nina,” he places a well-stocked plate of bacon.

Nina laughs. “Dear gods, Kai, a few strips would have been more than enough,”

“Sorry,”

“It’s alright. Thank you, Kai,” she finds his attention very amusing.

Embarrassed, he sits back down and we continue to eat.

Tomorrow, a ball will mark the starting week of our actual training and that’s what Nina wants to talk about, not the ceiling. She quickly makes Kai forget what I’ve said before and the two begin talking about what important persons they hope to meet there.

I could care less. All that I hope for is not to make a fool of myself and have that affair pass me by quickly. Elaborate parties are never my favorite. I’m just a simple, small-town guy and much prefer a barbecue and playing a good ball game.

Hopefully, my unamused friends and I will figure out my ceiling mystery before due time. The orientation week is over now. After this weekend passes, the classes will start. With all the new knowledge that will be taught, I hope to use it as a guide in the right direction.