The Iron Rose: Volume 1

Gudomlay laughed when Albert wiped at an itch on his face only to get a smudge of fudge in the same spot. She took a cloth and wiped it off him, surprising him so he ducked away. She laughed again and waved it at him, the piece of cloth jumping about as she commanded it.

“Don’t be so much on the defensive. We’re having fun!” She said cheerfully and wiping up some of his mess. “You’re supposed to clean as you go too, you know,” she said, seeming focused on one spot.

Albert smirked and rolled another truffle. “These are actually turning out all right.”

“Of course they are. You’ve got a chocolate lover to help you,” she said, looking around his arm to watch him. “And all your combat skills are showing in your attention to detail.”

He scoffed. “Yeah. Punching and throwing makes me a skilled roller.”

She giggled into her hand and reached over him to take one.

“Hey!” He moved to grab her arm, but she’d already put it in her mouth with a snap.

“Mmm.” She looked at him with surprise and gave a nod. “I approve. Tapp will love these,” she said, taking delight in the piece melting in her mouth. She clapped her hands then and went to taste the chewy caramels dipped in chocolate. She grinned again and looked at him with a thumbs up of approval. “Hey. If striping doesn’t work out, you could always go into making chocolates,” she said.

“Don’t be so humble,” he said, looking to the side at her with a soft yet exasperated gaze. “Without you, they’d all be mush,” he muttered as he rolled another ball

Gudomlaygrinned at him, but instead of arguing, accepted the praise without a word.

“Is this where you’ve been all evening?” Both looked up and blinked to find Bard standing in the doorway. He looked both surprised and a little severe as he stared at them.

Gudomlay, not taking her eyes off him, slowly moved her hand to the plate of toffee they made earlier. But with a quick swat from Albert’s hand, she retracted it and pouted at him. Bard stared. In that moment, she looked like a little kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

“You’ve already eaten three!” Albert shouted at her, a loose strand of his hair pulled back falling over his eye. He had a whisk in hand now, raised as if he meant to hit her with it. The batter on it slid off and onto his arm so he glanced back at it and sighed. Lifting his arm then, he sucked it off.

“I can’t help it if you’re good at this. I just want to eat them all. Hey.” She turned to him, looking excited. He shifted his gaze at her sideways, a dead look on his face with his arm still in his mouth. “Give them to me instead of Tapp,” she said, picking at a bowl so he wouldn’t get upset with her taking finished products. She glanced at him to catch him frowning as she licked a spoon. When she saw his eyes flicker to Bard though, she paused. “Oh.” Her face fell. “Was that a secret?” She asked, looking guilty now.

“All the stripes know about Albert’s infatuation with the red star,” Bard said coming over. He shook his head then, wondering at the man wearing an apron. And with chocolate on his face too. With his hair half tied back so the tail was sticking straight out, he looked like he did this often. “But I never expected...this.”

“Why? Because it’s not manly?”Gudomlaysmirked.

Bard glanced at her with a tight lip, and she sat a little straighter. “Why waste your time with a star when she’s not going to respond?” He asked, annoyed by her raising her nose at him.

“Oh... He’s prejudice,” she said, tilting her spoon toward him and looking at Albert. Glancing at her sideways, he looked uncomfortable and was keeping his head down. She glanced back at Bard and hopped off her stool. “I’ll have you know that Tapp is working very hard at making him chocolates right now. Not that he knew. I wasn’t supposed to say, but it slipped in my excitement earlier so it doesn’t matter now.” She looked back at Albert, smiling at the small grin he wore.

“Besides. If there’s any star he has a chance with, it’s her.” She glanced at Bard with the spoon on her bottom lip. “She’s kind, she’s fierce, she's loyal, and totally stubborn. Not to mention that her grandmother, who’s been raising her since her parents died in the Wild Lands, is in love with the idea of star-crossed lovers.” She looked back at Albert in time so see him look up at her in alarm. She then leaned over the counter across from him and gave him a serious hard look. “So, if you’re not genuine, give me all these chocolates. Because if you break Tapp’s heart, I’ll break you. And I don’t need to catch you to do it,” she threatened.

“You mean to tell me that a high-class star would welcome a lower-class stripe into the family?” Bard said, narrowing his eyes at Gudomlay with doubt.

She looked back at him and straightened away from the counter. The cool stone was warm from them working on it and left an impression in her skin. “I’m not saying it wouldn’t be difficult. Tapp and her grandmother are romantics. Social status isn’t much to them, but their family is certainly full of a bunch of snobs.” She grinned at Albert then who’d turned pink. “But nothing worth having has ever been easy to obtain.”

“Anyway.” Albert cleared his throat, now nervous by the turn of conversation. “Why were you looking for me?” He asked Bard with a peek up at him.

Bard glanced at Albert and thinned his lips. “I only came in to see who was using the facilities after school hours,” he said in a low voice. “Rumors of a star walking the halls came to the security department. They asked me to look into it.”

“In other words,”Gudomlaysaid twisting to look at Albert. “I’m an unwanted visitor.”

Albert frowned instantly and scowled at Bard. “She’s my guest,” he stated.

BothGudomlayand Bard blinked with surprise and thenGudomlayslowly smiled.

“Does that mean we’re friends, Albert?” She asked, leaning to look up into his face and seeming happy.

He glanced at her from what he was concentrating on and smiled small. He didn’t say the words, but the pleased look on his face was answer enough.

“I’m glad,” she said, gathering her things. “However.” She checked to see that she had all her books and then turned to glance at him. “It doesn’t change the fact that I’m not welcomed. I’ll go see Kunagi. Make sure you clean up and good luck.” She said.

Albert, now frowning, watched her go past Bard. When she was gone, he glowered at him. “What was that for?” He asked impatiently. “She took time out of her day to help me with something as silly as this. And you chase her away, treating her as if she meant me harm.”

“Doesn’t she?” Bard asked, his eyes intense as they rested on him. “Why is she encouraging you to go after a star when you both know it’s impossible?” He asked, his face getting hot with aggravation.

“I don’t see why it has to be,” Albert retorted, going back to his chocolate. And then he realized-- “I didn’t ask her how to wrap these!” He cried. Putting the chocolates in their boxes, he grabbed the ribbons and dashed out the kitchen. “Thanks Bard!” He shouted sarcastically behind him. Bard stared after him and then looked back at the mess of the kitchen.

Mumbling to himself and rolling up his sleeves, he went in to clean and ignored Albert’s shouts as he hurried out the castle.

“Gudomlay!” He ran down the steps two at a time, making his fellow classmates gawk. They wondered at him. He was making desperate leaps as he held the boxes to his chest so they wouldn’t burst open and the ribbons with them. It wasn’t until he started down the steps outside that he reached her. “Gudomlay!” He called, making her take pause to glance back at him.

She blinked, wondering at his being out of breath. Then he stopped, tilted forward from his waist, and took a moment to catch it.

“Are you all right?” She asked, peering down at him with concern.

He nodded. “I forgot.” He lifted his boxes and the ribbons. “How--”

She blinked and then smiled. “Sit down,” she said, now laughing. The sound of the wind blowing behind her made her take pause. With a glance back, she took a deep breath of all the scents it brought with it. Trees, grass, and chocolates. She shrugged with a smile and turned back around to watch Albert.

He’d obeyed, and she took a seat with him. She put her things down, and he set the boxes and ribbons in his lap. Holding one out for her, she showed him how to tie the ribbon around the box and made him do the next one and the one after that. It wasn’t easy. Ribbon tying wasn’t exactly something Albert was readily good at. But after a couple of tries, they weren’t bad enough to laugh at anymore.

“There. See. Not so hard,” she said, smiling at him and looking rather pleased at his work. When she lifted her eyes, however, she shrunk a little. A crowd of stripe students had gathered around them and were wondering what they were doing. Some were leaning over the walled railing while others were standing behind Albert on the steps they sat at.

“Who are those for, Albert?” One asked, getting his attention.

Albert, having done a good job at ignoring them up until now, held the boxes against his chest. He gave Gudomlay a helpless glance, and she blinked and then laughed.

“It’ll be her first time getting chocolates, you know,” she said, ignoring the boys.

Albert glanced at her, his face twisted with disbelief. “That can’t be true.”

She nodded. “There are lots of girls who don’t get chocolates. I was one of them forever,” she said, picking her books back up. She had every intention of leaving. Though she got along with the stripes, being surrounded by them like this was a little intimidating. If only the stars knew what she did. They wouldn’t be messing with them so much. Or…maybe they’d do it more for competition’s sake. Her face fell. That would be a terrible turn of events for everyone. The school would probably blow up.

“I thought all the girls on the star side would get chocolates,” one of the guys in the crowd said. He looked confused at his friends who were also surprised. “They’re all so pretty.”

“Yeah, there’s not a bad looking star at school.”

Gudomlay glanced at them and nodded. “Maybe. But it wasn’t until the last couple of Lover’s Days that I started getting chocolate. Granted, those were my first years at the academy. But the first of the day didn’t start out very promising,” she said with a wry grin.

They stared at her, blinking dumbly and waiting for an explanation. She took a breath, a little nervous and glanced at Albert, who was giving her the same look the others were.

“O...kay...” She cleared her throat. “I’m an orphan. Most of you probably know that. Kunagi is my guardian. So, when I first came here there was a rift between myself and the other students. The only friends I had were my roommate Tapp and her friend Britta.” She scratched her head through her soft hair and shrugged. “They were worried because no one talked to me. I was an orphan and under the care of a stripe professor. So, my first Lover’s Day, they came to me with a bunch of chocolates, claiming them to be from a lot of secret admirers. But they’d actually spent the whole previous day making them for me.

“Their plan worked. Next thing I knew, I was getting belated gifts from the other star students and I was suddenly adored by all of them. It was sneaky of the girls, and they don’t know I know, but that’s how it happened.”

“Wow.” They all seemed so surprised it madeGudomlayturn pink.

“Anyway. I’ve been getting chocolates ever since. But no confessions or dates,” she said with the raise of her finger. “They’re all just obligatory chocolates. Some of the girls don’t even get those, so I try to sneak them some of mine. But I have to be careful not to offend anyone. It’s all so bothersome, but I feel like everyone should get something for Lover’s Day. Even if it’s just a smile. Here.” She turned to them all and laughed. “I wish I could give something to all of you, but this is what I have.” She smiled at them, and it seemed to Albert that they each melted at the sight of it.

“Shouldn’t we do something then?” Someone said, leaning over to catch one of Albert’s ribbons between his fingers. Its middle was soft and the edges a little rough. Albert frowned at him and jerked it away.

But then he looked at Gudomlay who blinked at him. And then they stared into the crowd.

“Our job is to take care of the stars, even though they don’t know it.”

“Yeah. Shouldn’t we make sure those girls get chocolates?”

“We can’t buy them from the store. Those are gross.”

“We can make them,” someone suggested. All eyes turned to Gudomlay then, and she knew that she wasn’t going to be seeing Kunagi anytime soon.

She laughed, about to step away when her arm was grabbed.

“Come on, Gudomlay. Help us!”

“But I--” There was no fighting it. She was dragged up the steps and back to the kitchen.

Albert hurried behind after her, carefully hiding his chocolates away. He didn’t want them to be mistaken for some kind gesture. Besides. He hadn’t cleaned up and...

He stopped when they got there, gawking. The kitchen was clean. It looked as if no one had come in. He frowned, feeling guilty. Bard must have cleaned up after him. He sighed. Now all these stripes were going to make a mess of it again. He rolled up his sleeves, and knowing he couldn’t leaveGudomlayalone with the lot of them, dove in to help.

––

“I told you, I can’t explain! It’s why I didn’t let on to Zhi that I suspected anything when he told us what the message said.” Britta gripped Tapp’s shoulders fiercely as they stood outside Kunagi’s tower. That she had crossed into stripe territory at all had her nervous. Even whenGudomlaywas hurt. She hadn’t gone down into the dungeon with her and Kunagi. But Tapp went down there all the time now so it would be safe for her.

“But I don’t understand. What do you mean the rouges Zhi was talking about are targeting Gudomlay?” She asked. “All he told us was that the message said to protect his flower. That doesn’t translate to anything. It might not even be a person.”

“Please, Tapp. Warn Kunagi. He’ll know what it means!” She begged.

“Britta!” Tapp cried as she was pushed back toward the tower.

“Look.” Britta stared up at her anxiously. “Something happened. I saw something I don’t think I was supposed to and met someone who might not even exist. But if that message said to protect his flower, then maybe Kunagi and I aren’t crazy.” She bunched her hands into fists and stared up at Tapp. “Something is happening to Gudomlay. I mean. Those guys are after her and someone wants our help to keep them from hurting her. Rogue Death Stalkers, Tapp! What do you think they’re going to do if they’re really after her?”

“I don’t know. Zhi said the assignment was to capture. If that’s all, she’ll just be missing a day and then returned--”

“Rogues, Tapp!” Britta cried with the wild throw of her arms. “That means someone who is deviating from the plan to fulfill his own desires. Do you know what some rogue, hormonal males would want with one of the most beautiful and weakest girls on campus?” She asked, now practically shouting.

Tapp winced and stiffened. “You don’t think--”

“I don’t know if I’m right. There are other things of course,” Britta said, backtracking to comfort herself. “But I don’t want to take the chance. Kunagi won’t let anything happen to her. Please, tell him. He’ll know who sent the message. We can trust him. I thought he was just a ghost, but he might be real and he’s already asked me to protect her once. I can’t ignore a second plea!” She cried, now squeezing Tapp’s arms so tight it’d started to hurt.

“All right!” Tapp said, pulling away. “I’ll tell Kunagi,” she muttered while pouting at her.

“Right. I’m staying the night at your dorm too,” she said, sounding relieved. “She doesn’t sneak out, and no one sneaks in. She’s not allowed to go to the wall and no one is allowed past us,” she said firmly, her brow so tense it had begun to twitch.

“Britta,” Tapp scoffed. “She’s gotten out more times than I can count without me ever realizing she’d gone. Stealth is the one thing she excels at. If she wants to get past us, there’s a way. I just don’t know how she does it.” She lifted her gaze, contemplating the whole thing. That Gudomlay went to the wall at all was odd enough.

“We’ll keep watch,” Britta went on, not worried by her concerns. “Whatever it takes. Just tell Kunagi!” She pushedonher again and Tapp obediently rushed down the stairs to report Britta’s information to him.

When she’d gone down, Britta quickly left. And when she’d disappeared, Bard, who’d been listening from the cool shadows of the tower, turned to go find Zhi.