All the Way

The sun, high in the sky - it had to be about noon or shortly after, the boat had barely left dock - beamed down warm for the late summer, early fall weather.

The girl hung over the edge, her arms resting firmly against the side of the ship, as she twirled on strain of dark hair around her finger. She frown at the colour, the way it shined in the light but didn't...

Glow.

Her blonde hair use to glow.

She briefly wondered if she should change it back, but... she wasn't sure if she was ready for that yet. Her hair was... it was a part of her, and although she didn't feel quite as lost as she had all summer, there was still a part of her.

She felt as if she always had the potential to fall that far again.

With a soft sigh she let the ringlet she had been playing with fall, springing back up around her face, and began once again to gaze out at the water.

It was just another start, of another year.

The Uchitel took a deep breath as she boarded the ship. The summer was over all too soon. Of course she wanted the holidays back; sure, Durmstrang was exciting, but she was more terrified than excited this year.

There were a myriad of questions Lena needed, wanted to be answered: Is Anya still mad at her? How was Kait? What was wrong with Dylan? And of course the most important of all... how was Rhys? Was he safe? Where was he staying? Would she ever see him again? Would she even hear his voice?

Enya, please chide me, Lena sent, concentrating on an image of a stallion. The stallion seemed to appear before her, and she patted its mane. She knew that she would probably get caught with it, but she was in one of her more careless mindsets, so she didn't really care.

The wind blew gently on her blonde locks, which she had cropped once again like she did last year. Last year, the burden went with her hair, but not this time. Instead, it was as if the space where her hair once was made space for the burden.

Lena headed for the edge of the ship, where a brunette was standing. Something about her stature seemed familiar, but the blonde didn't know what, or even who it was.

She made sure her steps were silent as she approached the girl. She stood next to her, pretending to look at the ocean, but her eyes were really stealing glances every few seconds to check who she was.

It was the girl she'd met in the alley in Hogsmeade.

"Nice to see you again," Lena let out, though she wasn't really in the mood to make conversation, "I like your hair. It matches you."

The girls steps were all but silent, Ash would give her that, she was good, but she still heard them coming. It was much more of a strain, if she had been being sloppier - as she would have been in the past - she would have missed it, however now Ash couldn't afford to not be always listening.

She couldn't be snuck up on.

"Hmm, does it?" she said softly, only glancing out of the corner of her eyes to look at the girl; of course she immediately recognized her from her short visit to England last winter. Had that really been almost a year ago? "I changed it more in a tantrum, than anything else. Though it seems to have stuck for the moment."

"I see you've come back to take over Durmstrang again," she smiled slightly. "Can't really say I kept the space warm for you. Got distracted."

Rhys paused on his way onto the ship to allow a cluster of more hurried students to pass him unobstructed. Once he had made it to the deck, the boy slowly turned back, but the head of the boys' home had already departed. Not that it mattered. Rhys didn't care.

Unlike in previous years, the teen did not move with a clumsy tread. Instead, he carried himself with a melancholy grace which somehow emphasized his deep sadness - a broken kind of beauty.

Making his way along the deck, Rhys wandered until his gaze fell upon a familiar form. He closed the distance separating them, circling his arms about Lena's waist from behind as he pressed his face against the back of her shoulder. Breathing deeply in, he then breathed out slowly.

He'd missed her.

The blonde ran her fingers through her chopped hair. "I wish I had the courage to change my hair colour, but if I put anything other than shampoo or conditioning potions, it will fall out faster than you can say 'hair care.' Trust me; I've tried." She then twirled her finger around one of her locks, only to find it impossible to do it for very long. "I wouldn't go for brown, anyway. Brown doesn't look good at me. If I had to dye my hair one colour, would say... ginger. Or purple. Or both."

"Yeah," Lena sighed, letting a small chuckle out of her lips, "I don't need all of Durmstrang to myself, though. Just the Fifthies will do. And maybe the Fourthies. Not the Thirdies; they creep me out. The other option is to be Queen of Uchitel." She smirked, looking directly at Ash. "That sounds better, actually."

Merlin, she sounded cocky. And arrogant. All of the things she once was.

It disgusted her.

Someone surrounded her waist with their arms, and because she was startled, Lena let out a brief squeal. "Holy shit!" she gasped, and swivelled around to see who it was. Shedding a single tear, she flung her arms around the ginger. "I missed you," she whispered, burying her head into his shoulder. She wanted to cry into it so, so much. "I'm so scared," she muttered, so only he could hear, "I'm so scared for you, and for me, and for us..."

The hug seemed too short when Lena remembered that Ash was still there, so she turned back round to acknowledge her. "Oh... Ash, this is my boyfriend, Rhys," she announced, "and Rhys, this is my... friend, Ash."

"It looks good cut," she said with a nod, "Its probably better that you don't... I don't know - like I said, emotional fit. I'm not sure how I haven't come to regret it yet."

She shook her head, and the dark hair sprawled around her. It was still as volumous and springy as ever. She sort of wished the potion had killed a bit of it - easier to manage.

"You can be Queen of Utchetil, I'll be Queen of Hitrost," she said back, her old smirk sliding onto her face, although it didn't feel quite as comfortable as it sometimes did.

She did not jump when the boy came up behind other girl, again having heard the approach from a distance. She did flinch slightly at the other girls scream, having no way to prepare for that. She let out a slight sigh. She was going to need to work on her nerves still. If she was going to jump at every sudden loud noise, her way of life was going to become highly difficult.

She knew she couldn't keep hiding forever.

She let her gaze wander back to the two as her name was meantioned, it lingering on the oddly quiet boy for a fraction longer than possibly polite, before giving a slight smile and nodding her head.

"Hello," she let her gaze flick between the two of them, before smiling once and going back to looking out at the water, "You two look cute together."

Rhys loosened his hold to allow Lena to turn around to face him. Then he hugged her all the tighter, as though fearful she might disappear if he didn't.

The redhead lifted his gaze up to the other girl, studying her dully. She was Lena's friend. It would be rude not to greet her, wouldn't it? And yet, the words would not come. In fact; Rhys didn't even try to make them come.

But the corners of his mouth did twitch upward, the movement brief - gone before it had started. It was was nowhere near a smile, but it was closest the boy had gotten to one in over a month.

"Wow, I'd do anything to not feel regret over everything I've done," Lena muttered, staring at her reflection in the water. All these things I've done, she muttered, because it is my blood. But exactly what blood do I have?

At the thought of her and Ash being queens, Lena laughed, yet it was a hollow one. She knew what sort of Queen she'd like to become. Not the dictator-type Queen she'd seen in books or anything, but someone who ran the world the way she wanted, but compromising with the needs of the people.

She thought she would make a great Queen.

There she was, being narcissistic again. She hated this - contradicting herself at every given opportunity. Why was she like this? No. She would not make a great Queen. She would make a terrible one. Queens are supposed to be crystal clear and flawless and perfect mannerisms, yet she had so much blood on her hands. Too much blood to be considered healthy.

"Oh... that's grand," Lena replied after an awkward silence, "I'd love to be Queen of Uchitel. We'll create some sort of badass alliance so that if the annoying Other Houses attack we can kick their asses."

At the mention of her and Rhys - Rhena, as she had remembered from a conversation with her brother a few years ago - being a cute couple, the blonde's cheek began to flush. "Thank you," she replied, and she looked back at Rhys to see his lip twitch for a brief moment. She could see it because she knew him well enough to know these things

For her, that was a good enough response, and had to blink back tears.

Her gaze lingered on the boy for a long moment, taking in his silence, and her eyes narrowing ever so slightly at the slightest twitch of his lips, before she just nodded her head, and went back to the water.

Ashleen snorted, "Oh trust me, I'm a big ball of regret... I just somehow managed to miss the bullet when it came to my hair."

"I'd be a god awful Queen; selfish as hell. I'd use my power to get my own way. The only reason I don't know is I'm lowest pawn in the game."

Rhys' gaze had settled into the middle-distance as his hand intuitively sought out Lena's. It was a convenient noncommittal habit he had formed. People knew he was possibly still listening, yet felt free to continue speaking without him. Not that Rhys contributed to conversations, anymore.

The boy leaned ever-so-slightly, possibly unconscious of doing so, bringing his body a fraction closer to the blonde. Meanwhile, he steadfastly thought of nothing at all, lest his mind wander to memories he'd rather forget.

"The lowest pawn in the game?" questioned the girl, "maybe it's because of how the air around you feels, but I don't quite believe you." The blonde shrugged her shoulders, "I've noticed that it's the strongest who have the biggest secrets."

Feeling Rhys's hand far away, Lena took it without hesitation. She gently squeezed it because... she didn't know, actually. Perhaps it was to let him know that yes, she noticed him? Merlin, nothing made sense anymore. The warmth of his palm was enough, she supposed.

The Uchitel exhaled, "So. Do you have anything exciting planned for the year? It's a brand new year, brand-new start." And brand new it was. It was her first year without speaking to Anya, or Kait. She wasn't sure about Frodo, but she thought it safe not to talk to him.

Ashleen smirked her lips slightly, "Even if I have secrets... I don't think they move me up in the world. I think they just... make things complicated."

She shook her head and let the slight wind push her hair back and out of her face. She sighed slightly, and her eyes flicked slightly to their silent companion. Her curiosity wanted to know what was wrong with him, but her only grain of propriety that she had stated that she shouldn't - nor would not - ask.

"I suppose not failing counts as a plan doesn't it?" she rolled her eyes and snorted. "Honestly? Plans, not really my thing. I have more of a just get through it attitude."

Rhys blinked, pulling himself back to the present as Ashleen's curious gaze managed to penetrate through the cloud of numbness surrounding him. His gaze almost met hers before dropping, moving to Lena. He put gentle pressure on her hand, waiting for her to look at him. Then, he glanced to Ashleen and back before his gaze moved off again, settling once more into the middle-distance.

The redhead wasn't quite so removed from the present this time, however, as was indicated by the way he leaned every so slightly against the blonde.

Lena's heart felt a pang of regret. "They do," she breathed, thinking of Rhys, and how he would react if he ever found out about her kiss with Frodo. She knew he was too broken to be able to get back up - and even more so if she told him. Merlin, there was no way in hell was she going to be responsible for his breakdown this time. That was there and then she decided that she would do anything in her power to stop him from knowing.

"Not failing classes sounds like a plan," the blonde agreed, "and I wish I could show off some attitude but nooo... the Professors have deemed me too pleasant to ever have one. Yeah. Yeah right. If they knew anything about me at all... but none of them know me too well, now do they?"

The Uchitel, feeling a little guilty, decided to press her lips against Rhys's cheek. She then chose to turn herself around and bury herself in his shoulders, needing all the warmth she could get.

Ashleen looked at the two for a long moment.

"Professors just... like to see what they see," she gave a smirk and a shrug.

Her gaze lingered again, before she pushed herself away from the railing, "It was nice to see you again "Not-Russian" and it was nice to meet you Rhys."

She flounced slightly away from them, "I'll see you around sometime."