Aveline returned to class after two days of absence with the quiet confidence of someone who had decided the world could manage without her for a little while.
It was a decision she felt entirely justified in making.
After all, she had been busy, she had been sore, she had been learning, and frankly, the universe had been very rude to her body. Two days of rest had seemed like the least it could offer in return.
So when she finally stepped back into the classroom, expecting perhaps the usual noise, the usual students, the usual chaos, she stopped in the doorway.
The room was empty.
She blinked once.
Then again.
Not a single person sat at the desks. Not a single voice echoed through the space. Not even the professor was there.
Aveline stared at the vacant classroom with the same expression one might wear upon discovering that an entire banquet had been eaten while one was still on the way to dinner.
"Well," she muttered, "how rude."
