3

She hardly showed up for any trainings. it had always been the case - her maidservants helped her get ready and they fussed over her first appearance for the apprentices. She was already effortlessly pretty. They just needed to make her effortlessly prettier.

"Do I need all these?" she pointed to the flowers in her head and they nodded.

"You don't want to appear too fierce or stern like the old lady that you are," they said shamelessly. Although old and her woild never be uttered in the same sentence. Her girlish face fell into a deep frown and she sighed, "I guess I'll leave it all to you guys then," she knew, of course, that they were enjoying this out of her sparse kindness. She could have acted more like the difficult goddess she could have been but her temperament and the wine in her didn't really allowed for that.

Besides, it was time she showed up to meet her "beloved apprentices". Or, they would probably forget that she existed.

"Her beloved apprentices" were all in their rooms, exploring and utterly amazed with their rooms. It was ethereally beautiful. They started thanking her at every point of time. If anything, her name was uttered even more fervently.

Ivor sat silently and they crowded around him, buzzing with the latest news about their beloved master.

"I heard she's the jilted lover," they said and Ivor frowned. Who would jilt her? Were they blind?

"No, I heard that 'He' sacrificed himself for the entire realm and left her alone for a mllenium before everything came back to life."

Ivor frowned. He couldn't and wouldn't believe that anyone would await in the abyss of nothingness for a millennium. It was too crushing and it was too lonely. The sheer thought of that sent him into a deep pensive state that he didn't realise that an unnatural silence had befallen upon the group till he looked up. Her eyes lingered on him for a spilt second before closing and lifting again. She coughed gently and he stood up to greet her like the rest did. She smiled aloofly, and her gentle temperament oozed with a strange distant kindness that he could plainly see but yet, it felt as though she was the farthest being from him.

She felt even more like a Queen Goddess, possibly more than his own did. He waved that thought away gently.

Her eyes lingered on him once again and he was vaguely glad that his face was lowered against the shade.

Finally, she spoke - her voice sounded exactly like she did. It was light, "I'll not hold any of you back. Here are the different books tailored to your name, physique, unique prowess and potential. You'll have to do some silent reading on your part and the enlightenment of it will dawn upon you. Should you need some pointers, you may seek the 21 teachers that I've assigned to each one of you."

"What... about you?" someone ventured to ask the burning question that everyone had in their minds but did not dare utter.

She paused before her lips arched slightly, "You'll find that you'll have little need for me as you immerse yourself into the richness of the books, but, and if, and if ever and even so, should you need me, you may inform your teachers and they'll notify me and yes, I'll have a word with you. As any master would."

She smiled before heading off with the aid of her maidservants.

And soon, the books were carried into their living quarters.

In other words..... as plain as day, she was hoping no one would bother her.

That much, Ivor could surmise.

He lowered his eyes slightly, vaguely disappointed with the lack of opportunities to face such a being.

Yet, his cool exterior showed no such signs - the rest of his fellow classmates weren't as hidden with their expressions and experiences.

"What good could this book do?" they lifted the scroll and were surprised at how deceptively light it was. Their eyes widened as the scroll translated into a hologram complete with their "teachers" that patiently answered all their questions. Ivor smirked at this eccentric way of teaching.

It was true that everyone would have their own personal teacher. He wondered how much she had spent on this modern technology.