The dead shouldn’t mingle with the living. Yuna knew this well from being a student of banishing. Her professors had drilled it into her since the very first day of classes at Starfall Academy.

Thanks to the ghost of an imp—that had no reason to remove a roof tile but did so anyway because it was a devilish fiend that fed off of mischief—Yuna’s dorm room had a leak. One lecture after having discovered it, a quarter of her ceiling had collapsed onto her bed, and now she was forced to move.

Yuna lugged her belongings down the hallway. Thankfully, she was on the same floor, but why of all the rooms to have been affected had it been hers? It’s morning, and I could have slept in if not for that imp. Someone better catch it, or I’m going to do it myself. That thing deserves to freeze in hell for eternity.

She let her luggage drop in front of the door to her new abode and huffed, proud that she didn’t need servants to help her. She could imagine her mother rolling her eyes at how a Kimm had done her own labour.

With a smile at her accomplishment, Yuna hovered her hand over the sigil—this one was made of multiple overlapping squares created with a single line—on the door and imagined it unlocking. It didn’t activate. Huh, Parra said the room was ready for me. She took a deep breath, cleared her mind, and tried again. The sigil glowed this time, followed by the faint sound of a click. The frustration probably got to me earlier. She twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open.

A student was inside.

‘Oh, sorry,’ Yuna said, turning on her heels and returning the way she came. ‘Wrong room.’ She slammed the door shut, then paused. If I could open it, then it’s my room. Sigils only unlock for the assigned occupants. Yuna frowned. Was that person kind of blurry or was I seeing things? Annoyance flared inside her. That better not be what I think it is.

The sigil continued glowing, so the door was still unlocked. Yuna flung it open.

In the middle of the room was a short and curvy elf with long, blonde hair that was in the braided half-up hairstyle Yuna liked to call the braided-half-crown-elven-goddess-look-that-too-many-elves-wear-around-Sesteth. It made the elves pretty, so clearly it was a good style for them if it worked, so whatever. Right, it wasn’t like Yuna was jealous of how ethereal they looked with that hairdo or anything.

My perfectly silky, black hair is just as beautiful. She ran a hand through her long, wavy locks. They should be jealous of me.

The hair wasn’t important. What was, was that the elf with the round face was pale. Unlike Kardran elves, Semcranan elves tended to have lighter skin, but this elf was pale-pale. Her purple robe with the silver patterned trim looked to have faded a shade or two. Her body was the same, like the colour had washed out. If you squinted, you’d see that around the edges of her being, she was just a tiny bit blurry here and there. Those areas would snap back into a solid edge, and a different section would look smudged every few seconds.

A ghost.

‘Um, hello,’ the ghost said. Her voice was pleasantly soft, but who cared about that? She had to go.

‘You shouldn’t be here,’ Yuna said, picking up her banisher’s cane and entering through the doorway.

‘I know. This is your room now, right? I see you’ve brought your bags and stuff.’

Yuna stepped towards the ghost, who was a full head shorter than her. ‘Stop playing dumb, tiny ghost. You’re a banisher yourself—or you were when you were alive.’ There were different robe colours for different fields of study at Starfall. Yuna’s student robe was purple, too.

‘I’m not a tiny ghost, and I don’t know what—’

‘The dead shouldn’t hang around the living.’

‘Oh, that. Well, the thing is, I’m stuck here. I’m Velfy, by the way. Nice to meet you.’ Velfy held out her hand for a handshake.

Yuna stared at her and folded her arms across her chest.

‘Ah, my hand would go right through you, wouldn’t it?’ Velfy said. ‘The last ghost I helped wasn’t very tangible, not that they usually are, or well, I don’t think any of them are actually… um…’ She tugged at the side of her baggy pants as if adjusting them.

You could wear whatever you wanted under your student robes, as long as it was decent and appropriate. Yes, someone had once tried to get through the day with only underwear on underneath. No, it wasn’t a succubus. But yes, it had been a demon.

Under her robe, Velfy wore a tunic embroidered around the collar. It wasn’t very fashionable, and it wasn’t something Yuna would like to die wearing.

Why are her clothes so big and baggy? Just get ones that fit. Some people are so strange. ‘Wait, are you the girl who died in her room last year?’ Yuna recalled her classmates talking about a student who had passed away in the dorms. The girl had been in her second year of advanced studies in the banisher department if Yuna remembered correctly.

‘Yeah, that’s me!’

‘You’re the one who died the day before her birthday.’ There weren’t that many people studying banishing, so Yuna should have recognised Velfy. But I don’t think I’ve seen her around. Then again, I don’t really pay attention to my classmates.

‘Yup, who knew avoiding death was so difficult, and I had to confront it almost daily as a banisher. What’s with that look?’

‘You didn’t die fighting the undead. You just… died in your room. Unless there was something here you were banishing?’ Yuna glanced around.

‘No, but… I accidentally kinda…’ Velfy shrugged. ‘Aging is a victory.’

Yuna snorted. ‘I made it to twenty-three this year. What a victory.’

‘We’re the same age, then. Well, I died at twenty-two, though…’

‘Great. Wow.’

‘You don’t have to be like that. You could die at any time. Death comes for everyone.’

‘Ha, dark. You’re really getting into being a ghost, huh?’

‘Look, I’ve no idea what your problem is, but I’ve heard about you. You’re a Kimm, right? I’ve seen you around before.’

‘So?’

Velfy put her hands on her hips. ‘So if you’re wanting me to bow to you or whatever you Kimms are used to, you should look elsewhere.’

‘Hard to take your words seriously when you have a ridiculous name like “Velfy”.’

‘What?’

‘Your name is “Velfy”. It literally has the word “elf” in it, and that’s what you are.’

‘There’s someone down the hall called “Thuman”, and he’s human. And you’re called “Yuna” while you’re Yoonish! From Yoon!’

‘I wasn’t born there.’

‘Oh, sorry. But, um, you’re Yoonish?’

‘Yes.’

‘So I’m right.’

‘Do I care?’

‘Wha—you’re the one who started—’

‘You’re a ghost.’ Yuna tapped her cane on the floor. The cane was made of dark wood with a steel tip and metal bands separating it into thirds. It didn’t have the hook for a handle that she was used to, but the carved silver sphere that replaced it as a pommel was to her taste. She liked how the birds looked like they were taking off from the bottom and spiralling up into flight at the top. ‘You shouldn’t be here. Leave, or I’ll make you.’ She aimed the sphere at Velfy.

‘I’m not causing trouble. I just need to help my cat before I move on from this mortal plane, you know?’

‘I don’t know, but last chance.’ Yuna brushed her thumb over the birds and concentrated.

Velfy held her hands out. ‘Look, I really—’

The silver sphere glowed red.

‘Don’t fireball me! You’ll burn the room down!’

Yuna blinked. Shit, she’s right. The glow faded, and she lowered her weapon. None of the other sigils inside her cane would be a good idea to use either, not if she wanted to keep the room intact.

‘Gods and goddesses, are you insane?!’

Yuna wasn’t insane. She was just always a little too eager to use fire. It was exhilarating. It was fun. She enjoyed tossing it around to purge evil. Was that so wrong? It was a shame that Yuna couldn’t use the custom sigils that she’d paid for. She liked feeling the searing heat rush forward in a giant molten ball of lava wrapped with flames and watching the undead disappear. ‘If I can’t blast you, I’ll have to do it the hard way.’

‘You’re not going to—’

Twisting the cane, Yuna unsheathed the hidden blade from inside.

‘Of course you are.’ Velfy gulped.

And Yuna stepped forward.

‘That’s gonna hurt,’ Velfy said, inching back.

Yuna smiled. ‘Good.’