Payphone call to Nunavut

Fog hung over Beata Academy, freezing it in an unfinished canvas, plumes of cloudy white hanging after the topmost parts of the building and leaving them invisible. Near the entrance of the campus, where the gate gave way to small concessional buildings and sheds, there were payphones, old and stained black from decades of little use. One didn't work, but the other one did, scratchy and dull. A girl stood there, wearing only a sweater in the freezing weather, held a note in her hand. A phone number. The other hand kept the phone steady to her ear.
"You made it there safely?" It was a man's voice, a Canadian accent. Hers was even more apparent.
"Yeah." Her voice was soft and smooth like spider silk, her eyes cast forward, back turned to the school. There was a pause, like he didn't hear her quiet reply, but he cleared his throat and continued.
"If you're starting to have regrets, you can take the train back, and I can take you back up."
"No." There was some urgency, "No, I'm fine."
"All right. I'll talk to you later, okay? Go sign in."
"It looks kind of scary." She sniffed, wiping her eye and drawing her hand over her tanned-bleach skin. She turned to the misty building, where no one was outside. It was noon on a Monday, but it still seemed vacant, and she recalled watching a movie like this in the camp as a child.
"Are you crying?" There was further concern on the other line.
"No." The girl lied and cleared her throat to alleviate the shaky tone.
"I'm sure it's fine inside. It's just a little rainy over there, is all. Okay?"
"Okay."
"I'm going to hang up now, all right?"
"All right." She cupped the bottom of the phone closer to her mouth, whispering, "Nagligivagit."
"Kaya..." There was a sigh, "You know I know what you're saying. Please, I am fifteen years older than you, you'll find someone there and forget about me."
She paused, and whispered even lower, "Nagligivagit." The man on the other line seemed to chuckle.
"You're a handful, Kaya." The old phone clicked, and she was alone.

The building surely was bigger than anything in her hamlet. She crossed her arms against the breeze, stared cross-eyed at the familiar misty cloud that came from her mouth with each breath. The courtyard was pretty spectacular, with more plants than she had ever seen in one place, and Kaya enjoyed her walk through them. When a particularly lengthy stalk or flower poked out to her, she brushed her hand across it, until both hands were stretched out across the path. It was like she was balancing on something, or playing airplane, and she kept this up until she reached the door, the large entrance to the building. And she stood there. Should she open it? What would be behind there? Where would she go? A calm breath, and she pushed through. The girl found herself in the middle of a large room, looking both ways, seeing many signs for offices but wondering which one was the right one. This was overwhelming. Perhaps she would call him again...

Sarah had been standing in the office grabbing some papers when she looked outside and saw a girl who looked lost. She grabbed the papers she had been getting and walked over to the girl. "Hey there! Are you looking for the office?" she asked, giving the newcomer a friendly smile.

Her gaze was stapled to the floor, but when someone came up to her, she freezed. A Native English speaker. It was different talking to one of those than per se, him, Loic, who spoke French as a native tongue and was just as learned in the language as she was. English. She thought herself as very good at speaking it, and others seemed to think so too, but she'd never encountered someone so...used to it. She was still used to Inuktitut being spoken around her.

"Y-yes. The office," she repeated, eyes wide, smiling politely. She must have looked different. This girl was white like Loic.

Sarah noticed that the girl seemed really nervous. The Autumn girl pointed in the direction she had come from. "It's right down there. I had just come from there, actually. So what's your name? Mine's Sarah." she said. She looks really shy. I hope I'm not scaring her or anything. she thought.

"My name is Kaya." Repeating her name brought about its irony. 'Don't go back,' it meant, reminding her. 'Stay.' She would probably be married soon, if not married already. "You are very lovely. Thank you so much." She turned, but froze once more, enamored by the symbols down the hall, above doorframes and along walls. They seemed to spell things other than what she was looking for. Where was 'awfis?' It seemed that in her search the letters began to morph. How do you spell awfis? It would have seemed obvious had she been studying in Arviat.

"I'm sorry, uh, very sorry." She turned back around, the small girl tugging on her sleeve. "Can you guide me to this place?"

Sarah nodded. "Aww thanks. You really think so?" she said, blushing slightly. She wasn't used to getting commented on. "Of course I can take you. It's right this way!" she added, motioning for the girl to follow.

Kaya pulled her small bag further over her arm, feeling the soft fur of its strap even over her sweater. She walked in toe with the other girl, looking into doorways they passed, a sleeved hand close to her chest as she looked in. Children seemed hard at work, teachers talking in fast English, some mumbling and some direct. She clenched her teeth. She shouldn't have come. The nice girl ahead of her was pretty nice, but it didn't do much to calm her nerves. It was all so big. She gave a sniff. That all seemed like such a good thing before, but now it wasn't looking that way.

"Okay, thank you!" It wasn't a very long meeting but an important one for Larissa. She had just recently started classes, and with it being so far into the year already, she had missed quite a bit in her studies. It didn't help that she sucked at math and she had come to her teacher for some help. She had gotten some tips, but nothing of much help at the moment. She wished that Danny had this same problem. She hated going places on her own, especially since she had practically done everything with her brother all of her life. However, he was busy doing something else and so she had to make this trip alone. At this point, she was just ready to get back to her dorm room.

Quietly, the summer closed the door to the office, taking a moment to wrap her pink fuzzy scarf tighter around her neck to prepare for the cold. Letting out a small sigh, she quickly turned around from facing the closed office door only to basically step into Sarah and Kaya. Thankfully, Larissa caught herself and stepped back, hitting the wall in the process but hardly noticing it through the shock of the spontaneous appearance of the girls behind her.

"S-Sorry!" The summer said, folding her hands behind her back while her eyes just stared at the girls in surprise. "I didn't know anyone was behind me. I didn't hit you, did I?"

Sarah shook her head. "Nope, you're all good." she said, smiling. The Autumn girl turned to Kaya. "Well, here it is. The office!" she told the girl.

The short girl jumped back as Larissa almost ran into her, a one-two step back before blinking and putting a sleeved hand to her mouth. "No." She said simply, a soft sound to her voice. She looked at Larissa with a shy smile. "I am sorry." She held her bag up further to her chest, the ᑲᔭ singed engraving upward in caribou fur. With a turn, she nodded to the other girl. "Thank you Sarah."

But she turned to the office, looking in at the people who walked around and sat in it, and stood there with a pondering look in her eyes. She did nothing.

Larissa, still looking a bit panicked from practically running down two girls behind her, looked between Sarah and Kaya before the initiate walked into the office. Glancing at Sarah, she smiled bashfully, still trying to get over the embarrassment of what just happened. "I really am sorry... I should have watched where I was going. I-I didn't see anyone there. Are you sure you're okay?" she asked before she took a few steps into the office. "Are you sure you're okay?" she wasn't just going to run off. She needed to make sure she at least didn't hurt them, especially the new girl.

Sarah smiled and nodded. "I'm fine. You didn't do anything wrong." she said in a friendly tone. She turned to Kaya. "You're okay, right?"

The entranced girl flinched, casting a glance back at the people behind her, and swallowing, the strange girl whispered, "There are much people in there." Her Canadian accent was thick but smooth, rounding interrogatively, as if she was asking if this fact was true. Who was she to ask for her dorm key? They all looked so busy...

The summer quickly looked around Kaya and into the offices. She was right. People were hustling around all of the desks running papers back and forth as phones were constantly ringing. Usually things weren't this busy. Maybe it was because of winter break almost being over? There certainly didn't seem to be anyone simply sitting at the desks. "Hmm..." Larissa muttered as she looked around for the signs. This place confused her too when she and Danny first arrived. Honestly, she couldn't exactly remember where to go but hopefully someone would point out the way. She started to walk towards one of the desks but stopped quickly, turning on her heel to face the girl again. How was she supposed to help her if Larissa didn't know her name? "I'm Larissa... by the way," she said. "What's your name?"

"Kaya." She spun on one foot and came to rest gracefully, piping up with outstretched fingers to the ground. Silently, she raised her caribou-skin bag, tracing the ᑲᔭ symbols across her bag with her finger; Kaya. "Kaya Yakone, it is much nice to meet you." Who needed an office when she was making so much friends? Loic was right, but hopefully these two wouldn't leave her...

She absentmindedly tugged on the high collar of her sweater.