Colm woke up on the day of his graduation ceremony. Dread in his stomach. Today was the day he needed to interpret the prophecy. Today was the start of his time as a protector. His grades did not improve much leading up to graduation, but he passed with a solid B in most of his classes. Colm sighed. He got up and carefully got dressed. He packed up what little was left in his dorm. He looked around at what has been his home for the past 4 years and sighed. He fixed his hat and robes then headed out with his suitcase.
4 long years of studying yet he felt empty now. He was one of the younger students. He started at this university when he had just turned 17 years old with all the pressure that his family put on his shoulders. He wondered if his mother was allowed to come to his graduation but he didn't get his hopes up. His grandfather would never let that happen.
He set his luggage down on the designated trolley for his train. He walked over to where the other students were gathering to enter the ceremony. There were groups of friends laughing together, and taking image spells with each other. Colm looked on feeling a little lonely. He spent his entire time here stuck in tomes at the library. Everyone else somehow found a way to spend time with friends. He couldn't understand how they could balance it. He had to turn down outings with his classmates that weren't class related so he could keep up, he never set foot at any of the campus parties or clubs. There was just no time.
"Students please line up and get ready to walk into the ceremony." Came the loud booming voice of the school's dean. Colm took his place in line behind a guy with messy black hair and a leaf garland with red flowers on it. He was top of the Druid class. He was laughing with his friend in the line next to them. Colm looked down at his robes. He didn't have any kind of adornments. He was just an average student.
"Hey, here you go." A voice pulled him out of his thoughts. He looked up to find the Druid handing him a sprig of lavender. "Here I think this colour fits you well." he said smiling. Colm couldn't help but to blush. He took the sprig of lavender "Thank you." he said and stuck the sprig into the lapel of his robe.
"Hey Morgan! I think a carnation suits you!" He yelled out falling out of line to go talk to a raven haired girl. It took Colm an embarrassingly long amount of time to notice he had a fist full of flowers. It took him longer to notice that everyone around him had different flowers on their lapels as well. He looked down and blushed. He was just being nice, not trying to be friends.
Soon the ceremony started. It was a long ceremony with the keynote speakers, valedictorian and the dean making a speech as well. After the Bard college finished their performance they started going down the list of names. Name after name the auditorium lit up with applause and sometimes some scattered fireworks shot up from wands of proud families.
"Malcolm Ambrosius Emrys" The dean's voice boomed. Followed by silence. Colm walked up with only a few courtesy claps. He went up and grabbed his diploma and quickly went back to his seat. The ceremony continued. Malcolm looked around and saw that he couldn't find anyone from his family there for him. Colm looked down and felt incredibly lonely.
When the ceremony was over Colm headed straight to the train. He walked past other students and their families, posing for image spells and celebrating. Colm looked down and kept walking. On the train he took off his robe and hat and stuffed them into his bag. He closed the door. He just wanted to be alone. He soon fell asleep in the uncomfortable train cart.