Luckily, on the day that she did miss breakfast, Elliot had saved her some cheese and berries, which he passed to her wrapped in one of the cloth napkins from the dining hall.
“Oh, thank you so much,” she said appreciatively as she sluggishly sat at the desk next to him. By some great stroke of luck - or perhaps magic - Riley, Elliot and Bruno had all been assigned to the same homeroom class.
“No problem,” Elliot replied. “Still getting used to the schedule?”
“Yes,” Riley told him. “I can’t believe people really live with those bells going off at all hours of the night! Like, I get it, it’s midnight, isn’t everyone asleep by then? Why isn’t it quiet?”
“I never really thought about it that way,” Elliot said. “There’s all sorts of noise at night in Gavinston, so I wasn’t even thinking about sleeping through the bells.”
“They could’ve at least put the belltower further away from the dorms,” Bruno grumbled from behind them. He looked miserable, with dark circles under his eyes that matched the ones Riley had seen on her own face in the mirror that morning.
Riley bit into a strawberry and sighed happily. One of the benefits of going to a school like this was that the food was always fresh and always perfectly ripe. The head chef was deliciously talented at cooking magic and had a prideful streak that made every meal perfection.
Elliot looked as if he was going to say something else, but a loud voice accompanied by the click of kitten heels entered the room, drawing everyone’s attention. “As lame as this school is, it’s a wonder that some students even got past the entrance exam at all.”
Riley was unsurprised to see Alora, talking to a couple of other manicured girls who followed close behind her. Alora was already one of Riley’s least favorite people, even though Riley was trying to make a point to not judge anyone on appearances. It didn’t help that she was undeniably gorgeous with perfect porcelain skin and shimmering waist length blond hair. Her familiar, a patterned snake, hung around her shoulders like a gleaming, polished scarf. She was graceful and poised and seemed entirely out of place in the earthy setting that Ms. Purple’s provided. This might have been fine if Alora hadn’t been so snobby about it. She quickly had made it clear to anyone and everyone that Ms. Purple’s was quite beneath her and that she deserved to be attending a higher quality school.
“I mean, it seems like some students don’t even know what a hairbrush is,” Alora continued, pointedly letting her gaze linger on Riley before she sat at the front of the class. Even as Alora’s back turned, her snake kept it’s eyes fixed on Riley, it’s mouth open as if it were silently laughing.
Riley felt her face flush, trying to remember the last time she had brushed her hair. With her sleep rhythm messed up, she had been a little neglectful of her grooming. Not that she was particularly attentive to her hair when she was more alert. Despite her best attempts to convince him otherwise, Herbert was constantly making little nests in it for his own comfort. In the past year since he’d become her familiar, she’d given up on keeping up with the tangles.
“You know, Alora,” came a teasing response from a student in the back of the room. “I don’t think I know what a hairbrush is. Maybe you can teach me later. You… me… romantic dinner?”
“In your dreams, Cappy,” Alora scoffed.
“Oh, I’ll keep dreaming,” Cappy replied, completely unbothered. He was lounging across the top of a couple desks that had been pushed together. He always seemed relaxed, as if there wasn’t a single thing in the world that could trouble him. He saw Riley looking at him and winked. Riley quickly looked down at her food, hoping beyond hope that he couldn’t see her blushing even harder.
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Riley was saved by the sound of the belltower announcing that it was eight in the morning. On cue, as she did every morning, Professor Talbot strode through the doorway exactly on the eighth chime.
“Good morning class,” she said as everyone settled. There were a couple of snickers from the students as she added to Cappy, “Mr. Greenleaf, get down and at least pretend you know how to be civilized.”
Riley quickly shoved a piece of cheese in her mouth before stashing the rest of her food in her bag. She wasn’t sure what Professor Talbot’s policy was on eating during class, but she wasn’t keen to find out. Professor Talbot looked average at first glance, but she had a certain way of sharpening her voice that made Riley want to sit up a little straighter in her chair. She did not want to get on her bad side.
“I trust that you have all enjoyed your first few days of classes,” Professor Talbot said as she passed out a paper to each student. “Your schedules are set so that you have space for five classes each semester. You have already been introduced to four of those five, and today it is time to select the fifth, your elective. Elective classes will start a week from today.”
Riley felt excitement as she looked down at the paper in front of her. So many options to choose from, and she could only pick one. She skipped directly to the list of Level One Magic courses, reading:
- Sigil magic
- Potion making
- Familiar bonding
- Ethics of magic
- Power of Meditation
“Many of you enrolled in Ms. Purple’s already knowing what discipline you would like to specialize in, whether it be Magic, Politics, Warfare, or Adventuring Support.” Professor Talbot continued. “Choose carefully, because your elective could be the deciding factor in whether you stick with the same specialty or decide to switch. Remember, you do not have to declare a specialty until the beginning of the second year.”
Riley considered her options. Sigil magic was an immediate draw to her because that was what she and Herbert had spent the most time playing around with. Compared to potions it came to her far more naturally and she felt a nostalgic connection to them too. Her mom always stitched protective sigils into her clothes and decorated their house with sigils of luck and goodwill. However, maybe it made more sense to take something like potion making precisely because she didn’t know as much about it. Same thing could be said for Ethics of Magic or Power of Meditation. Familiar Bonding of course would be useful no matter what, and she probably would end up taking that class later if not now…
What do you think? Riley thought to Herbert. Naturally he should get a say in it as well. She listed out the classes to him through their mental connection, giving little explanations when she felt any confusion from him. Her focus was broken by the feeling of a hand on her shoulder.
“Riley?” Elliot said, sounding concerned. “Are you ok?”
“Huh?” she responded, blinking at him as she tried to get a grasp on what was happening around her.
“You seem a little out of it,” Elliot said. “I wasn’t sure… you weren’t answering…”
“Oh, I was talking to Herbert,” Riley explained. “If I seem spacey or whatever that’s probably what’s going on. He doesn’t understand ‘people’ language and can’t read so I’m his connection to…” Riley struggled to think of the right word and ended up just gesturing to everything around them. Luckily Elliot seemed to understand.
“My bad, I didn’t mean to interrupt you,” Elliot said, his concern melting into a sheepish smile. Riley was suddenly very aware that he still had his hand on her shoulder, surprised at how much she liked the feel of it. To her disappointment, he dropped it, turning to Bruno and asking, “Bruno, what are you going to take?”
“Rescue,” Bruno stated, obviously not having the oscillating indecision that Riley was with her selection.
“Sweet! I heard that class is taught by Professor Fernanda. She’s so cool. Did you know that…”
Riley let their conversation fade into the background to check back in with Herbert. Thoughts? she asked. Herbert responded with the image of Headmaster Karasu in the auditorium, his crow familiar up on the podium, speaking in his place. Thank you, Riley told Herbert, grateful that he had strong feelings about the matter. She smiled as she pulled out her pen, drawing a star next to ‘Familiar Bonding’ on her paper.