Madame Arsenault - The Sooth, S1/E6

Juni meets with the headmistress of the Sooth Academy and someone lies about important things. 11 min. read

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Previously: Seraphine’s body is shot into the sea by a cannon.

Madame Arsenault

Planet: Mariner

Two days later the Sooth Academy requested Juniper to stop by the Headmistress’s office on the second floor.

Maman had refused to come home from the beach with Papa, nor had she returned since. No one had seen her. When Juniper dropped Maman’s button in her pocket and pushed through the door, she found Papa in the dark on the tile floor. Juniper had helped him to bed and fed him in between running out to look for Maman, who was nowhere. Papa had not spoken since or ventured from bed.

The Academy door stood open when Juniper arrived. Not only had she never seen it open, but the retina-encryption normally thwarted visitors. Inside, no beautiful, diffused lighting emanated from the ceiling. No one in the lobby. No nothing. A dead building with an open door.

“Hello?” called Juniper, but no one answered.

Juniper crept up the stairs. When she arrived at the landing, the automatic lights did not turn on, but the corridor shone as it always did. Juniper wondered where its power source came from and why it was the only part of the building that still had one.

Juniper and Seraphine had spent hours together on the floor of the upper corridor of the Academy. The temper glass of the walls and floors and ceiling reproduced the sea and sky, not in the current gray but in their brilliant original blue. At the beginning of the corridor, the sand stretched along endlessly on either side. No black sand this but the white sand beach further down the coast. The suns overhead glowed yellow, and the sea furled out in stunning, deep blue. Beautiful, yes, but Juni and Sera’s favorite spot lay halfway down.

Someone had stuck a scrawled note to the wall:

If you’ve been called for a meeting with the Headmistress, Madame Arsenault’s office is the last on the left.

Juniper brushed her fingertips along the cool glass as she started down the corridor. The sandy scene led into the ocean, which continued deeper and deeper as the shore and then even the surface of the water receded behind. This place, the in-between where the sea first swallowed you whole, before the descent into the full deep — this was their favorite place, Juniper and Seraphine’s. This the space they returned to again and again to admire the sea that was, spin plans, practice weaving their song in the echo of the long hall.

Now Juniper walked in Seraphine’s grave. As the walls changed from aqua to deeper cobalt to inky indigo, she felt them close in and tighten around her like the sloped walls of Seraphine’s metal tube. She sped up, through the deep ocean scene, past the fish and whale and concormer that darted through the sea floor weeds, and sprinted the last few steps to the door.

A small plaque marked Madame Arsenault’s office. Juniper placed her hand on it and the Headmistress called for her to enter in a weary drawl. Madame Arsenault sat in her dark office and stared at holos scattered across her desk. Juniper had always admired the Headmistress’s pristine attire and efficient manner. Today, Madame Arsenault’s hair straggled from the barest remnants of a several-day old bun, her casual clothing bore stains from the rice wrappers that spilled onto the floor, and old tear tracks smeared down her blotchy face. She motioned for Juniper to take the seat across from her.