Kael
Ren had already packed the books when I told him I hadn't accepted the room yet.
He looked at the two closed boxes.
"They're books. They can wait in boxes."
"You were confident."
"I was free this morning. Those aren't the same thing."
I put the academy notice on the desk. The twenty-ninth day of the seventh month was printed beneath my name. Gold standing had been approved, subject only to collecting the new room key and completing the ordinary transfer record.
I had read the notice four times before bringing it upstairs.
Ren had looked at the first line and started clearing a shelf.
"The new rooms are farther from your morning station," I said.
"Yes."
"And there's another stair."
"There are porters for the boxes."
"I meant afterward."
He stopped winding the loose cord around his hand.
"Then let's discuss afterward before you reject a room because you imagine I'll spend the rest of my life walking to it."
I sat on the edge of the bed.
