And vesper unconsciously touched her own pendent. Her hourglass pendent got a strange story. It's cracked and not really beautiful, not really. It's sand stuck in mid-fall. Anyone would have tossed it aside considering it's useless.
She got it from an pawn shop when she went on a trip with her orphanage kids , even at that time find a strange type of pull toward it. Because sometimes we make decisions for our soul not heart.
She was always a good kid, understanding the situation she was in so she always compromised, never ask for more, try to live just the way life take her.
Bit she still do don't know why she is still wearing this necklace. But it keeps her grounded to present somehow. If that doesn't make sense to anyone it's not her fault.
As she was lost in her thoughts frost was saying something she didn't notice first . "Came again" she said
"I was asking you about your destination" repeated annaya as she lean back on her seat.
Vesper blinked, pulling herself back to the present. "Oh. Obscura Academy. For arts, apparently." She gave a half-shrug. "I don't even remember applying, but… here I am."
Annaya's lips curved into a knowing smile. "Same. I filled out so many applications, I thought this one was just a scam. And then the letter came, and the scholarship… it felt unreal. Still does."
The train rattled on, shadows racing across their faces as fields blurred past. For a while, they spoke of little things schools, cities, how the world seemed to demand certainty when neither of them had any to give.
But every now and then, Annaya's gaze lingered on Vesper, like she was searching for something just out of sight. And when the silence stretched too long, she would touch the frost-crystal pendant at her throat, as if grounding herself.
Vesper noticed. She didn't ask. She had her own secrets pressed against her skin.
The hours passed quickly in their quiet company. Then, as dusk settled, the train gave a long, low whistle. The conductor's voice crackled through the corridor, naming the final stop.
Annaya leaned toward the window. Fog curled thick outside, swallowing the horizon. And there, rising faintly through it, was a shape that made Vesper's chest tighten spires stretching high above a valley, black stone lit with strange glimmers, like starlight trapped in walls.
Obscura Academy, Reads the broad.
Neither of them spoke. They didn't have to. The feeling was enough that nothing waiting beyond those gates would be ordinary.