Galahad sat on the edge of his bed, staring out the portal window at a wheat covered valley. The wheat looked like it had been growing for some time as it waved in the wind, moving like waves on a golden ocean. It reminded him of home. The valleys and forests, the plains and rivers… he missed it. Even if he had left to get away from his parents, Galahad still missed them too. He wondered if he should give them a call soon to check in, but eventually decided against it. He was supposed to be living on his own, at least for a time. With the ticking of the clock, he tapped his foot before finally deciding to get up and bathe. His shower was small, but the water was as hot as he needed to relax his wound up muscles. He reached up and rubbed his own shoulder as he stretched the arm in a circle. The way he had held his arm to finally cast that transmutation spell yesterday had been straining on his body. The strange hand shape, the odd angle of his arm, and the concentration required was a lot more than he had expected. Miss Manus had been right, you couldn’t do it fast and loose like other schools of magic. He cupped his hand before arduously contorting it and focusing in on the water in his hand. His mouth moved as near silent words left his mouth. He felt a sizzling in his hands as the water heated up and boiled before becoming a light yellow color. Bringing it to his nose he smelled lemonade and dared to drink it, “Ugh, too sour,” He grunted before washing his hand clean of the sour drink. 
	As he finished lathering and rinsing his body, Galahad turned off the water then raised his arms straight in the air and said a single word, bringing his arms straight out and summoning a powerful gust of warm air around him to dry his skin and hair. He twisted his upper body, popping his spine and stretching his back muscles. He wondered if there was some kind of masseuse on campus that could fix his weary body. Galahad stopped himself before his mind could wander too far. Although there was something at the back of his mind, Miss Manus– not that he was imagining her giving him a massage, but what if he could change his limbs like she could? Could he extend his arms like she could? Could she even do that? He wasn’t sure. Maybe change them into something stronger? 
He shook his head and chuckled before getting dressed and bringing out his books, notebooks, magical materials, and textbooks. It was Thursday, a day of study and practice for him before a hopefully relaxing weekend, if he did manage to finish all his homework today, anyways. He laid them out on his desk and bed, giving him space to pour over everything as he practiced and studied magical formulae. He was to make an attempt at the scrivener’s casting style, where the caster would draw magical runes on a special piece of paper with special, magically infused ink. The chalice of water sat on a circle he had drawn which was surrounded by symbols for water. Circular waves that wound in on themselves. He was supposed to use this style to transmute water into another liquid once more. It was simple, draw a circle, some runes of power around it, tweak them until you get the desired liquid. He wanted lemonade and would not stop until he had it done. He stood over the softly glowing runes and frowned, what were the required sigils, again?

	Five glasses of water later, Galahad had made a palatable glass. Not too sour nor too sweet for him. He sighed, feeling how weary his body was. He wasn't tired, per say, not physically at least, though his tongue ached from the sour drinks. It wasn't mental or emotional either, it was something that only casters would feel, a pain in the soul as mana deprivation took its toll. There were a few ways to alleviate this feeling: the best was alcohol of any kind– wine more so– would jumpstart the body’s natural production of it, food and other liquids less so. Water did next to nothing. A major exception was liquor made from transmutation. The mana used would be much more than what would be regained. Alternatively, it wouldn’t do much of anything, a complete loss of mana. Even if you were giving another caster mana by making it, it was much less time consuming and more efficient to simply siphon mana to them, a technique most wizards could do and one that Galahad himself was very familiar with. The wizard stood and looked at the clock. It was nearly time for lunch. He would have liked to keep studying, but he knew he needed the mana. With a sigh, he threw a coat over his shoulders before stepping out of his dorm and out of the Seeker’s tower. It was mid day so Shanessa was already gone, probably to her own classes on necromancy healing. As Galahad left, he spotted two students sitting on a bench just outside the tower. One of them nudged the other and pointed toward Galahad before the two started to snicker. The wizard frowned but kept walking. Did he embarrass himself recently? He wasn’t sure. He couldn’t remember doing anything dumb in his short time at the academy. Sure, he had cooped himself in his room except for when Shanessa and Fredrik came to check up on him during the week leading up to the beginning of classes. 
	“Yo! Lox!” 
Galahad could recognize that nasally voice anywhere, “Hey, Blud,” He smirked at the fact that he kept getting called out to wherever he went, “What’s up?” He hollered back as he noticed the goblin and his sister. The two were walking down the path beside him, heading toward the road, “Sheesh, Blud. You get in a fight?” He asked as he saw the slowly healing red and purple wound contrasting the goblin’s green skin.
	“Oh yeah, got in a fight with Syrus Rockshaper, but that’s not where I got this. I was sitting in a bush–,” He stopped before nervously looking at his sister who was shooting him a glare, “I mean,” He pulled his hat down over the wound, “I just fell and hit my head. Really.”
	“I see,” Galahad gave a confused look but didn’t ask questions, “Hi, Rald,” He changed topics quickly.
	“Good afternoon, mister popular,” The green woman giggled as she played with her hair.
	“Excuse me?”
	“You heard me. You’ve been the talk of the campus a—all morning!” She started walking again and pointed a finger at Galahad, “Come on, come clean. How’d you manage to score her?”
	“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Galahad’s deadpan voice and blank expression made Rald back down. As the wizard looked around, he saw numerous nearby individuals looking his way, trying to eavesdrop not so subtly, “What the hell is going on?”
	Rald rubbed her face, “How?! How do you NOT read the inquirer?” 
“The what?”
	“He really doesn’t know sis,” Blud said, amused and almost impressed judging by his tone, “Peep this, my man,” He pulled a newspaper out of his cloak and handed it over.
	Galahad unfolded it and stared at the front page, “Multifold Manus of Alderia… spotted with new student in a one-on-one…” Galahad read aloud as he saw the photos of Miss Manus and himself, “What, they think we’re dating?!” He belly laughed and threw his head back, “Seriously? I got tutored once and now everyone thinks I’m going steady with her?” 
	“They’re hungry for rumors and mysteries,” Blud sighed, “It's all a spew of garbage in that paper there.”
	“It is not!” Rald protested, “This is why you don’t have any friends, Blud.”
	“I’m his friend, right?” Galahad countered, making Rald roll her eyes at him.
	The lady goblin smirked, “I guess you boys just can’t understand real culture. The Inquirer prints what people want to read. They wanna read about the real goings on here at the academy. That Fairgarland Newspaper is so boring in comparison. Carly is a real genius.”
	“Yeah, yeah, whatever. That paper is for the sad-sacks who never leave campus,” Blud groaned, “Hey, speaking of– we’re headed home, Lox. You wanna come with and get some lunch? We are friends, right?”
	“Oh, that’s a great idea! Mom loves having guests over!” Rald replied, “C’mon, Lox! You gotta! We can show you around town, too!”
	Galahad looked at the two. He found himself unable to say no as they looked up at him with big, hope filled eyes, “Sure. I’m down. I don’t need to be anywhere until four. Do you two have a car or…?”
“Nah, we take the bus,” Blud chuckled, “You think we’re rich?” Rald quickly pulled out her phone and checked something, only pushing a few buttons before she put it away.
“Well–” Galahad gave them an embarrassed look as the three got to the street that cut the campus grounds in half, “I didn’t want to assume you were poor.”
	“That’s mighty kind of ya,” Rald teased, “We’re just frugal. Some of our siblings have cars, but not us. We’re not the youngest of our family nor the oldest. Kinda somewhere in the middle.”
	“Yup,” Blud confirmed as he checked the bus schedule, “Hopefully this isn’t really thirty minutes away…”
	“Here. Hey! Cabbie!” Galahad shouted at a nearby horse drawn carriage. He pulled up to the three, “Where’s your address, guys?” Blud apprehensively stated the place and Galahad threw the cab driver some silver coins to pay for it.
	“Are you sure…?” Rald asked. She was eager to ride in the carriage, but she felt bad that their guest was paying for it.
	Galahad nodded, “Don’t worry about it. Come on,” He opened the door on the side of the black and yellow carriage. Blud climbed in on his own and Galahad helped Rald in before getting in himself.
	“Oh, such a gentleman!” Rald swooned as she was helped onto the tall first step by gripping onto Galahad’s hand, “Blud should keep hanging out with you, Lox. He could learn a lot.”
	“Yeah, whatever,” Blud rolled his eyes as his sister sat next to him, “I can’t believe you want me to take after a human.”
	 Rald giggled, “He ain’t that bad for a human, y’know? He’d look a hell of a lot better if he was green, though. Want another quick palm reading to pass the time?”

	The carriage rolled into town just before Rald finished the reading. She didn’t read anything differently than last time. The ride had taken them past the train station between the academy grounds and to the town of Lindiburg, a large town mostly known for being the closest town to Fairgarland Academy. There was another, much lesser known town to the north called Farixburg, its sister city. Blud and Rald stared out the windows, “Oh,” Rald pointed to the left, “There’s Pizza-Mountain. Dwarf-ran pizza joint, it’s alright. Their wings are pretty great, too and they deliver to the academy, mister money bags.”
	“Yeah, if you dump Manus or get dumped by her or whatever and you want my sister, get her the very hot brew battered wings,” Blud smirked, “She’ll be ALL over you.”
	“C’mon don’t say that,” Rald punched her brother’s arm, “I don’t think Lox would go for a demi-human,” She paused for a moment, “At least not ones like us.”
	“Don’t insinuate that I hate goblins,” Galahad firmly told her, “If I did, would I be here right now?”
	She shrugged, but her expression betrayed her joy upon hearing so, “Alright, fine. You win. What else do we have,” She looked back out the windows, “There’s a whole lot of bars around here, some bar-cades or whatever, arcades… Blud, what's that one you like?”
	“Games, Guts, and Grub. Run by a cool orc dude. I can’t get enough of the offal sweetbread he makes. And the cow heart burgers? That’s the good stuff,” Blud looked hungry as he stared out the window, “Oh, crap, what’s mom making? We REALLY don’t want to try and feed Lox crap like that.” 
	“I told her we had a friend, and I specified it was a human too,” She turned to Galahad, “Mom will take any opportunity she gets to make something dad would consider fancy for a goblin!”
	“Oh, she’s making spaghetti or something then,” Blud deduced, “I hope the meatballs are made of cow hearts.”
	“You sure love cow hearts, huh, Blud?” Galahad laughed as he looked at the candy stores, convenience stores, hobby shops, little grocery stores, and different kinds of restaurants of various prices. There was an antique shop that peddled with old magic and mundane wares, some clothing stores most of which catered to casters, and a hair salon among many others. The carriage stopped in front of a tall, peculiar building with a lit up glass front that had many advertisements for magical paraphernalia in the windows. Galahad got out first and helped Rald down the steps before Blud jumped down on his own. The man followed the two green skins into the building, past a sign in the window that said ‘Mr. Raxpedalia’s Wondrous Bazaar.’ 
	As the glass door was pushed open, a bell jingled, alerting the clerk to their arrival, “Welcome in!” A nasally voice called as a goblin took his position behind the checkout counter, “Ah! My good for nothing kids are here,” The old, bald goblin in a button up shirt and red tie folded his arms disapprovingly.
	“Dad!” Rald shouted.
	The goblin laughed at his embarrassed kids, “Ah, I’m just messing around. Good to see ya made it home. Record time too. That your friend?”
	Blud nodded, “Yeah, this is Lox, dad." 
“We got home so quickly since Lox treated us to a most luxurious carriage ride,” The other goblin said as she presented the human to her father.
	“I-it wasn’t that luxurious…” He looked at his feet, embarrassed.
	“Ah, modest too. I can see why you like him, Rald,” Their father laughed as Rald’s face turned red, “The name’s Crud, Lox. Nice to meet ya. Ya seem a lot nicer than the humans my elder kids ride with.”
	“Crud?” Galahad repeated.
	“Yeah. Crud,” The goblin dad smirked, “S'what my ol' Pa said when I was born, goblins are named after whatever their dads first say to 'em, accidentally or not. So that's my name. Blud, Rald, your mom’s working on lunch right now, why not show Lox around the shop?”
	“S-sure, dad,” Rald mewled before trudging away.
	“I’ll show ‘em around. Go check on mom,” Blud ordered his little sister, “C’mon, Lox,” He waved as he started to wander the aisles, “Ma and Pa keep the business stocked with all kinds of magical things. We got wands, some cloaks,” Galahad grabbed a forest green cloak. It was made of a magic resistant wool and was rough to the touch. He brought it with him as he followed the goblin around, “Picked one out already?”	
	“Yeah, I need more,” Galahad shrugged as he glanced at the mass produced wands. Good for beginners, but once you got further into your studies a wand, staff, magic orb, or even a chunk of crystal fit to you was required. Potion ingredients for simple things such as minor healing, some poisons, and perhaps a few elemental resistant potions. Glass cylinders full of blue salt sat on another which Galahad grabbed two of.
“Anything else ya need?” Blud asked.
“I need…” He glanced around the shelves at the individually packaged magical components. He grabbed a phoenix feather, a small mirror, and a clump of electrified wool, “These look good. It's like a convenience store for magic.”
 	“That’s exactly what it is!” Crud hollered, “Ya find anything good, Lox?”
	“Cloak, some salt, materials,” Galahad told him as the father goblin rang everything up, “Nice little shop. How’s business been?”
	“Thank ya, we make it by with enough extra money to send the kids off to school. Lotsa wizards in this town and a lot of ‘em shop here, thankfully,” He finished ringing in the items, “And the ten percent friends and family discount,” He muttered to himself as he punched it in on the register’s display.
	“What was that?” Galahad asked.
	“Nothin.’ Blud, get your friend some mana salt taffy too.”
	“Sure thing, dad,” The goblin replied, “On the house?”
	“Yup!”
	“Oh, you don’t need to do that,” Galahad awkwardly said as he paid for his purchases. 
	“Nonsense. You’d be surprised how many friends my kids bring home. It’s not a whole lot. Both Blud and Rald talked about you when we saw you in the newspaper today.”
	“Ah, the inquirer?” Galahad sighed as he slid everything he bought into his bottomless bag along with the multicolored mana salt taffy, “I’m sick of hearing about that newspaper,” The wizard sighed.
	“Yeah, it wasn’t much better when my wife was going there,” Crud wiped his hands off on a cloth under the counter, “You two head upstairs. I’m sure Blud’s mom is done cooking.”
	“Thanks again,” Galahad gave a little smile before the other goblin led him through a short door and into the back room. Boxes of stock for the store as well as a couch and an ancient CRT TV sat in the corner. Both looked very dusty.
	“I used to take naps down here to get away from my siblings,” Blud explained as the two started up the stairs. 
	“How… how many siblings do you have?” Galahad asked as he started to hear numerous voices from the floor above them and little feet scampering across the wooden paneling. 
	“There’s… a dozen of us?” Blud guessed, scratching his chin before he took off his cloak and hat. 
	“You don’t even know?”
	“We’re goblins. This house is really chaotic all the time. Plus it's a store that each of us have worked in. I swear I count eleven and thirteen, sometimes up to fifteen, at gatherings.”
	“Jeez, that bad, huh?”
	As if to emphasize the point, Blud opened the door into the home, showing Galahad all the goblins shouting at one another and running around. The wizard counted five goblins that looked younger than Blud and Rald. A few of them stopped as they ran past the entry and hid around the corner when they saw their brother bringing a stranger into their home. Blud hung his cloak and hat on a low hanging hook on the wall. There were fourteen hooks with a little cubby underneath each on both walls of the entry hallway. Some held a mundane coat, a few had wizard’s cloaks and each of the cubbies had a few pairs of shoes in each, “You look perplexed, Lox.”
	Galahad rubbed his face, “Not really, I’m amazed how organized this is,” He said quietly as he removed his own shoes and placed them atop an unoccupied cubby, “I assume these are your older siblings and they’re out of the house?”
	“Yup. Mom leaves ‘em up for when they come home. C’mon,” As the two headed to the end of the entryway, the younger goblins dashed away.
	“KIDS! STOP RUNNING AROUND AND COME SIT DOWN FOR LUNCH!” A woman shouted, nearly shaking the entire building with her imposing voice. Galahad was led by Blud, with the smaller, younger goblins behind them. A long and short table surrounded by a mismatched mass of chairs filled a big dining room and some of the kitchen. In the kitchen, Galahad saw the mother goblin. Her face was wrinkled and tired, but still turned into a grin when she spotted her son and his friend, “Oh! Hi Lox!”
	“H-hey,” He gave a weak smile before being shepherded into a seat between Blud and Rald. Rald had stripped off her cloak and wore a yellow shirt with denim shorts. Blud was in a blue polo and khaki slacks. The other goblins of their age wore roughly the same thing and the children wore t-shirts of various colors and shorts. 
	“Are you a wizard?!” One of the children cried.
	“Could you beat up Blud?”
	“Are you dating Rald?”
	“Do you like this cat I drew?”
	“Children,” The elder goblin said firmly to quiet them down while she started sliding plates of spaghetti down the table. She flicked her wrist, weilding a chunk of rough crystal in her hand that made the plates stop right when they were supposed to, “Everyone, why not introduce yourself to Lox? You can ask about him later.”
	Galahad listened intently, doing his best to remember all of their names as every goblin stated them and one thing about themselves. Scald, Plod, Yolt, Gholk, and Glamk were the younger ones. Torln and Wend were older, “And you may call me Root,” Their mother said with a smile as Galahad was given a big plate of normal looking and meaty smelling spaghetti. He glanced over at Blud’s, seeing how much darker his meatballs were. He guessed they were made out of the beef hearts he loved so much.
	“Lots of short names,” Glahad noted as he took mental notes, “Hopefully I can remember everything.”
	“Well, when you have a dozen kids, you make it all as easy to remember as possible!” Root laughed.
“Is it a dozen? Blud wasn’t sure when I asked,” Galahad chuckled as he adjusted himself in the short seat as the entire table erupted into chatter.
“You were in the Inquirer today, right, Lox?” Torln asked.
	“Don’t bother him about that,” Blud groaned, “That whole story is garbage.”
	“Yeah, Miss Manus is just tutoring me,” Galahad quickly explained and tried to shift topics immediately, “Is everyone here a caster?”
Root shook her head, “I’m a thaumaturge as are Blud and Rald as well as my first born. He’s since moved away, unfortunately. Crud is a bard, he was taught in a bard college over in Maine. I think my second and third both became bards too… maybe one turned to becoming a warlock? It's hard to keep track," She chuckled, a little embarrassed, "Only Scald is showing promise in becoming a thaumaturge out of those five.”
	“And that doesn’t cause any conflicts?”
	Wend scoffed and shook her head, “Do I look like I want all that work and expectation on me? I’m more than fine becoming an office worker or something.”
	“Fair enough,” Galahad turned to his food. The meatballs tasted… normal, maybe a bit too seasoned but still good. The sauce was store bought, but quite tasty. Lastly, the noodles were perfect, quite easy to slurp down.
	“Are you a thaumaturge too?” One of the child goblins asked.
	“No, I’m studying transmutation. I’ve given up illusion and divination,” He explained, “I can’t be a thaumaturge like your brother and sister at this point.” 
	“Why do you have to give those up?” Another wondered.
	“Well, you can only work on so much and learn so much. Mastering one and dabbling in five others is already a lot.”
	“Why’d you pick those ones?” Rald asked, wiping the sauce off her face with the back of her hand.
	“With divination, the future can always change. My grandma is a divination master, and from what she told me the future is usually obfuscated - hidden," He quickly explained to the younger ones, "Or it changes. Mine has changed numerous times from what she’s seen. She can really only change small details and luck consistently. With illusion, I can either trick you into believing that I’m making a fireball, or with evocation I can actually make one. Once you’ve seen through one of my illusions, you can see through all of them,” He explained, wreathing his hand in flames to prove the point before dispelling it, “I’m also too lazy to constantly change up the illusion formula to keep whoever I’m using it on guessing.”
	“I see,” Blud rubbed his chin as he looked his friend over, “You look so uncomfortable, Lox.”
	“He probably isn’t used to being around so many demi-humans,” Rald teased.
	“Well…” Galahad shifted nervously, “My mom and sisters are demi-humans. That’s not what it is. I’ve just… never been over to a friend’s house for a meal. Or at all, really. I didn’t have a lot of friends growing up…”
	“WHAT?!” Root shouted as she stood up from the table, her chair almost clattering to the floor, “You never had friends?!” 
	“Not– not many. None very close,” Galahad embarrassedly explained.
	“Galahad,” Root looked terribly sad, “If you need somewhere to go, or someone to talk to, you can always come here. I’ll always have a plate of hot food and a place at my table for you. Okay?”
	The wizard nodded, “Thank you,” He sighed, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset everyone with that.”
	“You’re family here, Lox,” She added before sitting back down, “From what Blud and Rald have told me, you’re a lot nicer than most humans are to goblins.”
	“Like I said, demi-human family,” He gave a small smile before going back to his food.
	“You… just don’t have friends?” One of the kids whimpered, “None at all?”
	“Well, I had–” He paused, “Let me show you. A good friend of mine since I was seven years old,”  He moved his hands in a circle in the middle of the table. Conjuration runes appeared in an orange color before a small flash and a puff of smoke. A rotund rodent, or a fat rat as most would call it had appeared on the table. His fur was brown and his claws and tail were pink and long. He sniffed around the table as the children stared in wonder, “My familiar, Randy Rat.”
	“You were seven when you summoned a familiar?” Root was astonished. The kids all started feeding the rat spaghetti and he happily ate it all.
	Blud smirked, “Told ya. Lox here is pretty knowledgeable.”
	“You were an apprentice, right?” Rald added.
	He nodded, “Yeah. Learned since I was pretty young. Uh, mostly mana control, simple spells, that kind of thing.” 
	“I see,” Root was obviously skeptical of a childing being able to bind a familiar to themselves only learning simple spells, “Well, you might need to teach my kids how to summon a familiar, they’re not going to want to let yours go.”
	Galahad smirked as he watched the children take turns picking up Randy Rat and holding him. He repressed a sigh, they were reminding him of his youth.

. . . . .

	Contrasting Wednesday’s dreary rain, Miss Manus found herself walking across campus as the afternoon sun beat down– at least when it wasn’t obfuscated by the clouds that moved rapidly overhead due to the brisk wind. Puddles still littered the concrete and stone paths while the grassy areas were covered in mud. Many students were out at this time, four in the afternoon was a busy time for the campus and was when most students were finished with the day’s lectures. Manus paused for a moment underneath a dripping oak to retrieve a small scroll from beneath her cloak and glanced it over. She had taken care of most of her presidential duties yesterday leaving her Thursday evening open for her tutoring session. All she had left to do was put in Fredrik as their house’s duelist for the upcoming tournament. She got a few glances as she walked by a group of students talking about their classes and professors. Most had high praise for them, but each necromancy student whined about how difficult the teachers were. A few mused about pretty teachers, funny old men, and one complained about fainting again in a potion brewing class. 
	The Multifold Manus continued her stroll by them, paying them no mind as they paid her none as well. She had a mission on her mind. She made it to the library and stopped at the cafe to get some tea and a cup of water before finding a seat. She was sitting at a corner table and began sipping on her tea, eyeing a few students who passed by, one or two of them nervously looking back. She disregarded them as she brought out her books and a journal, preparing to take notes on what Galahad needed further tutelage on. As the man had instructed, she sent a simple text message to him. All it had in the message was ‘R,’ her shorthand for ready. She began to jot down Galahad’s performance on the small test she had assigned. He had turned the water into cranberry juice and had drank it shortly after citing that it ‘could have been more tart.’ She drew magical sigils, runes, and diagrams as she took notes and muttered to herself. She had four pages covered with notes and symbols when a form appeared across from her at the table.
	“Ah, Multifold Manus, my sweet,” The pompous voice made Miss Manus’s skin crawl, “I hope you are well today.”
The witch didn’t even need to look up to know who had appeared before her, “What can I do for you, Harold?” She gave him the courtesy of looking him in the eye as she flatly replied to him.
The wizard held a folded newspaper in his hand. There was a look on his face that Manus had never really seen from him before; he looked upset, perhaps angry even. Manus felt the hair stand up on her neck as she quickly got cagey and cautious, “President Manus, I understand you are playing hard to get, but do you not think this is a little far?” He asked, folding his arms and tapping his foot.
	“What on earth are you talking about?” Miss Manus slowly asked.
	“Honestly, I thought a woman like you would read the Inquirer. Presidents need to keep their ears on the ground when it comes to the goings on at this academy!” He scolded. 
	“I skipped today’s edition. Tuesday’s paper was so dreadful I simply disposed of it. Did something come up in it?”
	Harold shook his head and slid the paper he carried across the table, “See for yourself what has been printed today.”
	Miss Manus gingerly took the paper in her hands and unfolded it to reveal the front page. A picture of herself and Galahad covered most of it. She sighed as she silently read the title of the article, “Carly…” She folded the paper and passed it back, “He is my student. I am tutoring him. We exchanged numbers so that we may plan further tutoring sessions.”
	“Why would you waste your time with a low born wizard?” Harold sighed, “You deserve only a powerful high born, President Manus.”
	“I just told you,” Manus growled, “I am simply teaching him. I will teach any student, low or high born, human or demi-human, strong or weak. If a student trusts me as their teacher or professor, I will do everything I can to aid them. Galahad came to me for help, and I intend to give it.”
	“You are wasting your time becoming a professor,” Harold scoffed, “You and I could do great things together. You need only say yes to my advances.”
	“I have no interest in you, Harold.”
	“I cannot fathom why you must spurn me, my sweet. You and I are both nobility, we were meant to be!” Harold insisted.
	“She said she’s not interested, pal,” Both Miss Manus and Harold turned to see Galahad strutting up to the table, arms concealed under his cloak, “For a high born, you seem to struggle with your manners.”
	“E-excuse me?” Harold looked shocked, a nerve had obviously been struck.
	“Galahad,” Miss Manus eyed him, “Harold. Both of you–”
	“What would you know about manners and how to deal with maidens, whelp?” Harold hissed, “Especially after spending so much time with goblins and other lesser demi-humans.”
	Galahad glared, the smugness on his face was completely gone in an instant, “Oh, I see, snobbish and prejudiced. Well let me tell you something, they’re a whole lot better than a stuck up ‘prince’ like you. I’d rather spend time with hundreds of them than put up with you for a minute more."
	“You would DARE put me beneath such filth?!” Harold’s voice rose, “I am a prince and you will treat me as such! Such insolence needs to be punished! Your blood being spilt shall be the payment for this slight!” Harold drew his gold engraved wand, and Galahad’s staff burst out from beneath his cloak in response. Both casters glared at one another, wand and staff held at the ready, neither wanting to be the first to move. Miss Manus stared at both, sweat pouring down her face as her body froze, unable to act to stop the two.
“Both of you! Cease this foolishness!” A voice hollered. Both wizards froze as the commanding voice boomed, their casting implements being wrenched from their hands and flying into the grasp of a wizard wearing a stylish suit-like set of robes with a white undershirt and blue tie. He glared at both Galahad and Harold as he approached, “Dueling outside of the campus arena is strictly forbidden, does the library look like the arena to you two?!" He scolded before giving back both casting implements.
	“Sean, thank you for stopping them,” Miss Manus finally felt herself breathe, her chest heaving slowly. 
	“President Manus,” Sean Reagal simply greeted before looking at the two wizards, “I heard everything between you and Harold as well as the exchange between these two,” He gave Galahad a look, “I do not believe we have met. For now, Harold, I expect much better of you. You are a president, I care not that you are a prince as well, but many students look up to you in and out of your house. I may not be able to control how you conduct yourself, but I can petition for your removal and have you expelled should this happen again." Sean's warning clearly had the effect he wanted, the prince shrinking back at the thought of expulsion. 
The prince opened his mouth to protest, a finger pointed at Galahad, only for Sean to shoot him down immediately, "I don't care what he did or said, you are a Fairgarland House President, you are held to a higher standard! I am almost ashamed to have you as my peer. And you–”
	“Sean,” Miss Manus jumped to her feet, “please do not punish Galahad. He merely came to my defense when he overheard my conversation with Harold,” The prince’s face oozed with jealousy and anger.
	The president of the abjuration house folded his arms, “I understand that. Harold was the first to draw so I will not punish him. Consider this a warning, Galahad, was it? As I do not know you, I will assume you are new. Keep fighting to the arena and we will have no further issues.”
“Understood,” Galahad replied, nervousness spread across his face as he put away his staff.
	“Ah, the arena…" Harold mused in an attempt to regain his composure, "The yearly tournament will be in only a week and a half! I will win and dedicate the victory to President Manus! Does that not sound wonderful?”
	“Harold…” Manus sighed, knowing she could not change his mind. 
	“You know what?” Galahad smirked, “I’m going to enter. I’ll wipe that smug look right off your face.”
	Sean and Miss Manus both looked at him in shock as Harold laughed, “There are many problems with that, curr. You are of the Seeker’s house. They do not let people in it enter the tournament!”
	“Incorrect,” Sean quickly interjected, “If he has sufficient evidence to be let in, the dean shall let him.”
	“Galahad, you do not need to do this,” Miss Manus pleaded.
	“You best listen to her. A first year has no chance,” Harold chuckled smugly with a big smile on his face, “Especially some baseborn fool from who-knows-where.”
	“You don’t know me,” Galahad hissed, his teeth were grit.
	“Oh? Then why not make this interesting? If I win, you and Manus will cease this tomfoolery under the guise of tutoring and you will cease all contact with her.”
	“And if I win?”
	“What is it you want?”
	Galahad looked at Manus who was still silently pleading for him to back down, “Miss Manus, Fredrik told me your house has terrible time slots for lab and recreation. Does Harold’s house have better times?”
	She nodded, “Y-yes it does, but–”
	“Then you’ll trade times with them if I win,” He proposed, eliciting a laugh from his rival.
	“So be it. I have no fear of you winning so I will agree. Sean, be a dear and draft a contract for this as our witness. I, Harold Garnalga Babarry of House Fritz’eleo issue a challenge to Galahad Loxley of the Seeker’s House. The duel will take place during Fairgaland Academy’s yearly dueling tournament. Should he fail to enter, lose before facing me, or lose to me, he will forfeit any time he would be spending with President Manus. But I will be nice and not include time he spends as her student outside of tutoring. Should I by some miracle lose, to Galahad or otherwise, House Fritz’eleo will trade House Karak-Albrac our lab and recreation time. Do you agree, Galahad?”
	“Agreed,” He grunted.
	Sean nodded, and with the wave of his wand he produced a paper from thin air, the writing of the challenge written eloquently in a magic ink, “I have drafted a contract. Galahad, this is the last chance to back out,” He warned as the paper floated over to the wizard.
	Galahad eyed Harold for a moment before bringing a pen out from underneath his cloak, “I have to.”
	“So be it,” Sean sighed, “Harold.”
	The prince signed it without a word, “Done. I look forward to our confrontation, should it come about in the first place. Goodbye, all,” He gave a little wave before turning on heel and strutting away, confidence oozing from every step.
	Sean folded his arms and looked at Galahad, “I hope, for your sake, that you have the ability to back up your words. Goodbye Manus. Despite the circumstances it was nice meeting you, Galahad.”
	“Yeah. Likewise,” Galahad sighed wearily and sat down, rubbing his face as Miss Manus stared at him.
	“Galahad?” Miss Manus’s expression was covered in worry, “You needn’t get into this fight for my sake.”
	“The victory might be in your house’s name, Miss Manus,” Galahad stared at the table for a moment before looking into her icey blue eyes, “But this isn’t just for you.”
	“I-I do not understand,” She frowned and cocked her head to one side, “How are you even going to get into the tournament?”
	“Like Sean said, I need to talk to the dean. I should go, I need to take care of that. I wasn't planning on doing this for a while, but I’ll have to make some calls. I’m sorry for wasting your time,” Galahad gave her a tiny bow.
“Let us reschedule this, perhaps?”
	“Thank you. I would really appreciate that. Have a good evening, Manus. Give me a call tomorrow, will you?” Galahad gave her a little smile before quickly leaving the library.
	Manus was left alone to stew in what had just happened, “Galahad…” She sighed and rubbed her eyes.
	“President Manus!” A shrill voice squawked. Not a moment later she had a microphone shoved in her face, “Carly Halestorm, Fairgarland Inquirer, do you have any comments on this development on your relationship love triangle with Galahad and Harold?!” 
	“Carly,” Miss Manus said firmly, “I am not in the mood for this. This duel should not be happening. No comment,” She quickly added to the end to shut herself up.
	“I see, I see,” Carly looked disappointed but didn’t dare push for more. The campus reporter quickly rushed after Harold as she could see through the window that he was heading back to House Fritz'eleo. 
	Miss Manus collected her things and swiftly left. She needed another cup of tea and her fuzzy slippers to calm down.

	The hooting of owls gently rang out on the campus as moonlight was cast over the trees, buildings, and stones around campus. Miss Manus walked across the lonely and quiet grounds as she made her way to the Grand Hall. She held a wound up scroll in one of her hands that contained Fredrik’s petition to be house Karak-Albrac’s duelist. She shook her head as she entered the hall and walked past the busts and paintings of famous wizards. The witch felt like each one she walked by was judging her for not trying harder to stop Galahad earlier. It was her duty to keep this from happening. She felt responsible for his safety now, Harold would not hold back and Galahad could be gravely wounded if something went wrong. She took the stairs up to the third floor and glanced both ways down the hall. A single light was on, the door was cracked and light spilled into the hallway. It was the dean’s office, Zacharius Zucarius was one of the few faculty members who would stay at the academy this late. He lived and breathed Fairgarland. Some jokingly said that he was sustained by managing the goings on at the school.
	Manus silently walked up to the door and froze as she saw a figure standing at the end of Dean Zucarius’s desk. Manus hid herself and listened in. Zucarius was slowly shuffling papers, flipping one over and setting it down on his desk as he read each one. He sighed as he set the last one down, “I must say, Galahad, I am impressed and intrigued. I have had some wizards and witches apply for a duelist slot with reference letters from well known casters, but never have I had someone bring me eight. I can see they are authentic, as well. Even if two of these are not casters, their acknowledgement of your talents is more than enough. However, I must ask… why?”
	Galahad stood with his hands behind his back as Zucarius folded up the papers, “I want to beat Harold.”
	“President Harold?”
	“Yes. In all honesty, he’s a…” He bit his tongue, “Never mind. I got really irked by some things he’s said and some things others have told me about him.”
	“I have heard he has been courting President Manus for some time. From what the Inquirer–”
	“The Inquirer is full of… it, sir,” Galahad growled, “Miss Manus is just tutoring me.”
	Zucarius chuckled, “I see. I assumed that is what has spurred this. Well, I will not pry into your social life,” He hastily scribbled something down and filed the paper, “You have been inducted as the Seeker’s duelist. It has been at least eight years since they last had one.”
	“Thank you, sir,” Galahad sighed with relief.
	“One last thing, Galahad…” Zucarius looked him up and down, “Just how adept are you that you feel confident going up against the man considered this academy’s best duelist?” There was a silence, Galahad said nothing as he stared back at the dean, “I can tell by that look on your face that something else is amiss, young man. Makes you almost look like–” The dean paused, “You may not be who you say you are, hm?” He chuckled again before Galahad could protest, “Run along now. But I must say, I am quite looking forward to your performance in the duels.”
	“Th-thank you, sir…” 
	Miss Manus heard Galahad approaching the door. Thinking quickly, she cast a spell to conceal herself in the dim light and pressed herself against the wall before sliding behind a bust of Zucarius to hide herself further. She held her breath with a hand over her mouth as Galahad walked by, none the wiser to her eavesdropping. Manus let herself breathe again as soon as Galahad was starting down the stairs. She stared after him, listening to his further fading footsteps before finally feeling a sense of ease, “President Manus, you may enter,” Zucarius called from within his office.
	“Coming,” She replied, letting the concealing illusion spell fall off of herself, “Good evening, Professor Zucarius.”
	“Yes, a fine evening. President Sean told me what happened at the library today when he turned in his form for his duelist,” The dean explained, “Quite surprising to see President Harold lose his nerve,” He chuckled.
	“Did you allow Galahad Loxley to enter the duel?” She quickly changed subjects as she placed Fredrik’s application on the dean’s desk.
	“I did, I did…” He looked Manus up and down, “You seem uncharacteristically worried over him.”
	“I… He is one of my students. I merely am worried he is going to get very hurt in the upcoming tournament,” She explained with a frown.
“President Manus, if you wish, I can start putting forth a motion to rescind his duel application. I can take the fall for it as well and tell him I changed my mind.” 
	She paused for a long time, genuinely considering telling him to go ahead with it. Finally Miss Manus shook her head, “If he cannot compete, it will be considered a loss for him. If he loses, I will be unable to tutor him further. If he fails my class I will be responsible for it,” She explained quickly, “He must be allowed to compete. I only wish to see him succeed.”
	“I understand. Galahad may yet surprise us, President Manus. From the letters of recommendation he presented, he will be fine.”
	“May I ask who they were from?”
	There was a twinkle of mischief in Zucarius’s eye, “It is not my place to say, speak with him yourself on that. The lad had me fooled for a few days - not an easy task, I'll remind you. Admittedly, I am enjoying the mystique behind him at this point.”
	“I see…” Miss Manus wrung her hands together beneath her cloak, not at all comforted by the dean's words, “Well. Moving on from Galahad, here is Fredrik’s application for the duel.”
	“Ah, the golden pride of house Karak-Albrac himself. Thank you. I believe that is the last entrant. I will pass the list of entered students to President Sean so that the bracket can be formed next week,” Zucarius put away the application after glancing over the scroll, “Is there anything else I can help you with?”
	“Thank you, but no. I need to return to my house.”
“Have a good night, President Manus,” Zucarius returned to some papers he had strewn about his desk.
“Please try not to stay up too late,” Miss Manus replied with a little smirk before leaving the dean’s office.
Things were about to get strange, she thought as she wondered what Tuesday’s papers would say about the joining of Galahad in the tournament. Until then, she would try to stay calm and collected over the weekend. 

				
     “You are golden, you are opulent, you are regal and lavish,” Fredrik exhaled, a smile on his face as he readied himself for his daily duties. Tuesday was a special day for him, as it was the only day of the week he was able to work at the academy’s mailroom, his favorite duty second to studying metallurgy, which was his first and only class today. He adjusted his wizardly uniform, today’s robes black with golden trim embroidered like thunderclouds and lightning in a greco-roman style. His mask, today’s an ever golden and ever polished, curly-bearded helmet mirrored his jubilant expression and looked like that of an ancient learned Greek philosopher crowned with a golden wreath like Zues himself. He tilted his head in the mirror, looking at his mask from every angle. To his satisfaction his own face was hidden on all sides, not for any real reason beyond the mystique. He loved when people talked about him, or better still his golden masks of his own making. They were his greatest works of art, so be it if rumors of a scarred face followed him - the golden masks were his true face. 
     After he was done, Fredrik quickly gathered everything he needed for the day, books for classes, polish for his mask and his official mailman work lanyard, gaudy though it be. He turned the crystal to his dorm and exited into the labyrinthian halls of House Karak-Albrac.
     “Another wonderful, golden day!” He cheered as he walked down the halls into the common room. “I can tell today is going to be sunny all day!”
     “Then we’d better take our umbrellas,” Suzie teased him from across the room.
Fredrik smiled wider at his gnomish friend, “Oh, Miss Suzie, how are you today?”
     “Better than yesterday, gosh, I’m still embarrassed…” She grumbled.
     “Lunch with Galahad?” He deduced, the gnomish woman groaning at the mention of it. The two made their way outside and walked together towards the transmutation building. 
     “As far as first impressions go, Holmit blew it. I’d be surprised if Galahad would even want to join our stupid house as long as he’s around. He completely wrecked any chance of that.”
     “Oh come now, it couldn’t have been that bad. Besides, you and I are still factors, I think he likes us,” Fredrik gently pat Suzie’s shoulder before leaning down to her ear, “Not to mention Miss President seems to have caught his attention.” 
     Suzie shot him a look of surprise, “Really?” 
     Fredrik merely nodded, “Though in what capacity I cannot be sure. He asked me for her schedule yesterday, he may have just had a few questions. He is in one of her classes after all. I presume he went to meet her before her first class.” 
“At the crack of dawn? Hooey, I feel bad for him if he did. Well, whatever it is I hope the three of us are enough to tip the scales in his favor,” Suzie said before letting out a big yawn. 
“I have no doubt that he will join House Karak-Albrac, Miss Suzie. His interest in transmutation will outweigh our dwarven friend’s brusque behavior.” 
“I hope you’re right. Say, did you hear? Two new students already got locked out of Mr. Corvelli’s Necromancy one-oh-one class,” The gnome giggled, “They’re gonna have a hard semester if they’re tardy again.”
“Mr. Corvelli might fail them if they’re not careful. He takes necromancy very seriously." Fredrik pointed out.
"And with good reason," Suzie added, "It's not magic to be taken lightly.
"I do hope the seniors of House Hemlock offer to help them,” Fredrik sighed, “Well, here we are. Another wonderful year under Professor Sargwyn. I tell you, Suzie, you and I will be masters in no time.” He quickly opened the door and held it for the gnome, following her in as the two made their way to their classroom upstairs.
“Oh, I hope so.” The gnome grunted as she took each step, “I hate going up these stairs. Why can’t we just install a televator?”
“You know the academy can’t afford that. Teleportation for just one flight of stairs is an exorbitant expense, let alone for every building on campus.” Explained Fredrik as he allowed the Gnome to grab his arm for support.
“Well what about levitation? The lifts can’t be that expensive.” Suzie pointed out, finally reaching the top of the steps, nearly out of breath, “Can’t you be a gold plated gentleman and carry me next time?”
“And miss the show? I dare not think of it,” Fredrik chuckled, “As for levitation lifts, well… maybe we could convince our dear Miss President to petition for your sake, however I fear many of our witches would need to make permanent changes in their attire.”
Suzie sighed, “No more skirts?”
“No more skirts.” He affirmed.
“Can’t I just wear shorts under them?” The gnome complained, reaching for the door handle to their classroom. Fredrik grabbed it and held it ajar for the gnome as she stepped inside.
	“I wish you good luck convincing the other girls to do the same in the summer.” He said before closing the door.
	“Ha, ha, very funny Fredrik, but think about this: it won’t just be the girls benefiting from it, and it won’t just be the shortfolk either. Even you wouldn’t have to use the stairs ever again! Huh? Whacha think of that?”
	“I quite like the exercise.” He smiled, taking his seat beside his gnomish friend. Suzie stuck her tongue out at him before taking her seat.
	“Suzie complaining about stairs again?” Holmit grunted as he walked through the door. “You know your 'airbrained schemes will never be put into practice, right?” 
	“Oh, please. Even you couldn’t turn your nose up at a levitation lift,” Suzie leered at the dwarf.
	“Oh, yes I could! A dwarf needs sturdy legs for work, no better way to keep ‘em ‘ealthy than climbing those stairs on the daily.” Holmit slapped his thighs proudly. 
	Fredrik turned to Suzie who furrowed her brow, “See?”
“Shut up, Holmit. I’m still mad at you.” The Gnome scowled at him, which only made the dwarf laugh. Soon after Holmit took his seat the rest of the students began filing into the room, followed by Professor Sargwyn, a tall half-dragon with copper scales forming a beard on his chin.
“Good morning, good morning everyone.” Professor Sargwyn greeted them, taking his place at the front of the classroom. “Welcome back, new semester, one step closer to mastery. I won’t bother writing my name, we all know each other here so let’s get started right away.” 

. . . . .
	
	Carly idly picked twigs out of her hair, tossing them aside as she followed the metallurgy obsessed wizard, Fredrik. He had just come out of his class at the transmutation building and after saying his goodbyes to both Suzie Bottomhill and Holmit Drak-hide, he was now on his way to the Grand Hall. 
	“The golden mask, what could be behind it?” Carly recorded herself asking no one in particular. “I have followed Fredrik Alistair Jeoffrey today to finally reveal what he’s hiding. Who is the man behind the mask?  Does he really have some kind of horrible scar? A spell gone wrong, perhaps? Is he an interdimensional, alien android sent here to enslave humanity and suck up all the mana on Earth? ‘Probably not,’ you say, but it’s happened before!” Quickly she hid behind a tree as the person of interest stopped to greet another student.
	“Fredrik’s cheerful demeanor may fool the other students of Fairgarland, but not Carly Halestorm, oh no. I see his mind, no man that wears that much gold can spell good for anyone. I’ve asked everyone on campus if they’ve ever seen him without his mask and not a single soul can confirm or deny that he is in fact… a subterranean moleman. Why else would he need to cover his face and block out the sun? Carly Halestorm will shine the light on this gaudy villain - oh crap,” She hissed, ducking into the bushes around the Great Oak as Fredrik turned her way for a moment. He shrugged and quickly entered the Grand Hall, leaving Carly spitting leaves from her mouth. 
	“Almost got caught - oh, what am I doing, I should just go up to him and rip that mask off already! I've tailed him enough!” She told herself, standing up from the bushes and dusting off her dark blazer and skirt before heading for the Grand Hall’s door. As she entered she scanned the room for any sign of the golden masked man, finding Wanda the head of security and a few of her colleagues chatting in the lobby.
	“Wanda Alstaff… Head of security… Her existence proves that lizard people are in fact real.” Carly half-jokingly spoke into her recorder.
	“Carly?” Wanda called out to her, “What are you doing here?”
	“Oh, nothing Miss Alstaff, just looking for the next big scoop. Say, have you seen Fredrik? I saw him come in here.” She replied cheerfully.
	“Golden boy? How could I miss him? It’s Tuesday, so he probably went back to the mailroom.” Answered the lizard woman as she pointed a thumb over her shoulder and down the hall. “If you’re gonna badger him, try not to get in his way, he’s got work to do.”
	“Thank you, Miss Alstaff.” Carly smiled before trotting down the hall, “Could Miss Alstaff be in league with the golden mask? The thought had crossed my mind, but she seems to be the only one on this campus who sees him as a credible threat to society. But she could just be putting on an act. What if this is a trap? Is Carly Halestorm doomed?”
	Soon enough the campus reporter found herself entering the mailroom in the back of the Grand Hall. Inside was a counter with several bound up letters on shelves behind it to and from everyone at Fairgarland. All were to be diligently sorted out by the mailmen and student volunteers on duty and sent into the enchanted tubes that would magically shoot them off to their destination. Today it sounded like it was Fredrik’s turn to sort, though Carly did not see the wizard anywhere. Instead she only saw one of the campus mailmen leaning against the counter.
	“Excuse me,” She asked him, “Has Fredrik been here?”
“You rang?” Fredrik’s voice came from behind her, causing Carly to scramble over the counter and hide.
“Fredrik– DON’T. DO. THAT!” She yelped from behind the counter, much to the amusement of both Fredrik and his coworker. “How’d you sneak up on me like that?!”
“You were following me, so I merely cast an invisibility spell on myself and waited,” Fredrik explained, walking around the counter while he placed his volunteer lanyard around his neck. He quickly got started sorting the letters and stamping them with magic ink before tossing them effortlessly into each of the enchanted tubes. A gust of wind carried each letter off and gave a satisfying ding every time.
"Note to self, Fredrik knows illusion magic," Carly quickly recorded.
	“So why are you here?” He asked, “Did you finally come to your senses and wish to spread the word of my gloriously golden art?”
	Carly furrowed her brow and scoffed, “More like garishly golden. Your infatuation with gold would make even the greediest dwarf blush.”
	“Oh, please, tell me more, sweet Carly.” Fredrik swooned, throwing several more letters in their slots followed by more dinging, “What about my masks, would you write about them?”
	“Actually, much as I hate to admit it, that is partly why I am here.” Carly bit her lip, she had come this far, she may as well ask him the question, “Why do you wear the masks?”
	“Why? I want the world to behold their beauty, obviously.” He answered with a snort, “Why do you write articles and opinion pieces, my dear Carly?”
	“Well…” The witch bit her tongue, not wanting to give him the answer he wanted. 
	Fredrik turned around to her, his mask smiling knowingly, “Obviously you want people to see what you have to say, is that not so? You and I are the same in that respect; I want people to see what I have to say, as well.”
	“We’re not the same,” Carly pouted, “You hide behind those masks! If you wanted people to really know what you have to say, you’d take that ridiculous thing off and face me!”
	Fredrik laughed behind his mask, flinging more letters across the room on the opposite side this time. “Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong, Carly. As soon as I take off this mask, you’d never write about me again. I very much like reading your articles about me.” 
	"So you won't tell me what secrets you're hiding behind those masks?" She pressed him. "Are you afraid of the truth getting out?" 
	"I predict that you are afraid of the truth being boring, Carly. Think of it, what would become of your weekly articles about the myth of my golden masks if I was just another plain-faced student?"
 	Frustrated, Carly slammed a fist on the counter and pointed at the wizard, “I will unmask you one of these days, Fredrik! I’ll show the world who you really are!”
	“I look forward to it,” Fredrik chuckled as the reporter stormed out of the mailroom.
	Carly was beside herself, grumbling and cursing under her breath as she retreated back across campus. As usual, Fredrik was a bust - in several ways. He may have been right, that mask of his was probably the most interesting part about him, and even though people were amused by the articles she wrote about him, Carly felt defeated. She needed something big if she was going to start her own news station after she graduated from Fairgarland. Sure, she had joined House Fritz’Eleo to further her studies in evocation, but her priorities changed when she joined the Fairgarland Inquirer and rose up to be their head reporter. But lately the gossip had dried up - sure there were new students to report to, sometimes report on, but she needed some excitement to print, something that would draw the attention of the whole academy. As soon as she reached the house for evocation the campus clocktower’s bell tolled twelve. Maybe some lunch will clear my thoughts, Carly told herself, turning swiftly down the road towards the campus cafeteria.
	
	As usual the cafeteria was crowded. To even get to the restaurant she wanted Carly had to duck and weave her way through the crowd, something she had gotten good at over the years. Some traditional halfling cuisine was sure to cheer her up, she mused as she got to the line. Salted pork and roasted potatoes was all she could think about now, and soon enough she found herself at the front of the line ordering just that. The halfling cooks prided themselves on their quick and excellent service, not to mention their divine cooking skills and magical culinary prowess. Her food was out to her in less than a few minutes, the reporter's nose was filled with the savory scent of the roasted beast. As she began to dig in she caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye. The Multifold Manus was sitting in the food court, and sitting across from her was none other than that new student, Galahad she believed his name was. Acting quickly, Carly drew out her recorder and her cellphone, expertly operating both with one hand each.
"The Multifold Manus has ever been the reclusive type, not engaging with anyone beyond common pleasantries. However, today Carly Halestorm has witnessed her having lunch together with a new student, a one-on-one luncheon with Galahad Loxley. Could this be a budding relationship, will there be romance? Heartbreak? Will someone in Fairgarland finally learn what her real name is? I will watch from a distance and see if Galahad strikes out, and who knows, maybe I can finally get Harold to forget about Manus and finally notice me…" she sighed, quickly rewinding her tape by a few seconds to record over it. She watched the two talking with one another for some time, snapping photos with her phone every now and then. She even managed to snap a photo of the new guy splashing himself with water over a botched spell, which Carly found herself smiling over. Maybe not a big scoop but someone was sure to get a laugh. It felt like an hour had gone by when the fey witch finally left, but not before exchanging numbers with Galahad and leaving him sitting alone to practice. This was huge! Carly snapped a photo of the event, quickly checking if she had gotten it. Perfect! That was a front page photo, she thought. When Manus did finally leave, Carly noticed something about the new guy: his attention had stayed on his tutor until she left. Did he actually like her? With another photo snapped, Carly picked up her things, deposited her tray and made for the clubroom for the Fairgarland Inquirer. Who cares if he liked her or not, everyone would eat this up! A new, unknown student finally melting the heart of the ice princess Manus, this was sure to get eyes on her paper! 
"Carly, you genius, this is it!"
Once she made it to her clubroom, Carly let out a sigh of relief, "Carly, back so soon?" Dora, her dwarvish editor asked. "What's with that look, did you find something?"
"Oh yeah, Dora, I found it!" She exclaimed, throwing her bag beside her desk and hanging her blazer on her chair.
"It?" The dwarvish woman repeated.
"It!" Carly grinned. "You're gonna love this, Dora."
"We gonna pull an all-nighter again?" Asked Dora with a grin to match her partner in crime. 
"Oh yeah, you know it. Maybe even two, I got some juicy things to say about this one," Carly said, cracking her fingers before getting to work on her keyboard.

. . . . .

	“Wednesday,” Wanda grumbled to herself as she entered the security office that was on the north end of campus with a bit of rain dripping off her enchanted poncho. Her coworker, Catherine, a tall gargoyle with smooth, stone skin but for the cracks that had formed due to years of peacekeeping, was preparing to leave, “Morning, Catherine,” Wanda grunted as she clocked herself in.
	Catherine clocked herself out, “Morning, chief,” She stretched the stoney wings on her back. Her skin was very slowly turning from a bright-gray to a dark-gray in a few spots. Though she was an enchanted gargoyle and her granite-like flesh was flexible and springy, she was rapidly stiffening as her body turned to a robust stone with the rising of the sun, “Nothin’ to report.”
	“Good. That’s what I like to hear. Get home before you turn into a statue, friend. You should have left before now, there ain’t much time left for ya,” Wanda dismissed her underling with the wave of her hand.
	A few others slowly rolled in as Wanda prepared her anti-magic tools. A sword that could cast counterspell and anti-magic zones a few times a day. Armor that would cast a magic shield on her as a reaction if a wayward spell was coming at her. A wand that could cast sleep without her needing to know the spell herself. Lastly was a mundane first aid kit and some health potions and ointment.
	“Morning, boss,” Her dwarven underling grunted as he armored up.
	“G’morning, Bandan,” Wanda replied. Unlike Wanda, Bandan knew magic, as did Catherine. Two others arrived, a human woman and a gnomish man who were both quickly assigned their posts for the day. The woman was sent to the boarding school to check for contraband and the gnome was to make sure things were going smoothly at each of the class buildings on the west side of campus. Wanda and Bandan were on patrol. Wanda loved patrol. Though patrol in the autumn and winter forced her to bundle up more than Bandan and the others, she didn't miss a day if it could be helped.
"So, where’re we starting today?" Bandan asked as he adjusted his belt and sighed. He was a good coworker, but the dwarf was getting on in his years and his knees creaked with age. Wanda smiled and pointed towards the cafeteria. Several students had gathered around a statue standing with its arms on its hips, wings folded behind itself, "Oh, Catherine… not again." Bandan groaned, following his superior over to the petrified gargoyle.
"I gotta hand it to her, she's a hard worker. Alright everyone, what happened?"
"We just asked her for directions and she had just pointed us across the street to the class buildings when she suddenly turned to stone!" One exasperated student hastily explained.
"Okay, clear out, head to your classes, we'll take care of this," Wanda announced to the small crowd of mystified newcomers, "Bandan, go get the cart, we'll take her back to the apartment." Said the lizard woman. 
The old dwarf nodded, "On it. Be back in a jiffy," He said, his short legs carrying him surprisingly fast as he headed north to the campus security building. 
"You know, Catherine, there is such a thing as working too hard," the lizard woman snickered. All she could hear in response was the gargoyle's snoring from inside her hard, stoney shell as rain streamed down the various cracks in the stone. Wanda shook her head and laughed, poor thing, must be hard being restricted to nights.
	Soon enough Bandan showed up with the long golf cart, the back end open like a truck. With his help the two of them easily lifted the gargoyle and placed her in the back end of the cart, Bandan groaning and rubbing his back as he hopped back in the driver’s seat, “Thank the Hammer we don’t have to go far,” He grumbled, waiting for Wanda to take her seat. 
The lizard woman nodded, “Yeah, we’ll just drop her off at the apartments. Get her inside the lobby and go,” Fairgarland Academy allowed for staff and teachers to stay in their apartments a little way north up the road in the middle of campus, if they chose to do so. It was a nice way to save money and all the amenities were there at a reasonable price, not to mention the nearest town wasn’t too far for those who wanted non-magical entertainment. Wanda had been at Fairgarland for at least a decade, Catherine half that and Bandan twice as much. The three were the most senior of the security staff, though with Bandan’s age, Wanda had been picked for Head of Security. Thankfully the old dwarf was understanding, in fact given his age it was a wonder he hadn’t retired yet.
	“Alright, let’s get her situated,” Bandan said before parking in front of the door and climbing out of the cart.
Wanda grabbed the gargoyle’s shoulders and hoisted her out of the cart with the dwarf’s help. Together the two managed to get her inside with little effort, putting her just inside the lobby and out of the way.
	“Catherine stay out too late again?” A familiar voice asked. When Wanda turned to look she saw it was one of the other security guards, off duty and lounging on one of the lobby’s couches.
	“Hey, Chris,” She replied, “Can’t wait for the sun to start rising later in the morning…”
“That might save us the trouble a few times, but this is still Catherine we’re talking about,” Chris chuckled, “I’ll keep an eye on her, boss, make sure she doesn’t fall over and crack her head again.”
“Thanks. Alright Bandan, back to work,” The lizard woman said before exiting  the lobby.
“Work? What was all that we just did? Ha,” The old dwarf followed after her. 
	“Ha ha, very funny. We still gotta do the rounds,” She reminded him not-so-gently before climbing into the driver’s seat. 
The dwarf was quick to follow and get into the passenger seat, “Even if I wasn’t so old, I think they would've picked ya to be head of security anyway.”
	“Why’s that?” 
	“Ya take this job so seriously.”
	“I don’t follow,” Without another word, Wanda stopped as she saw a student who was having bicycle troubles. She hopped out of the golf cart and grabbed her tools from the trunk. Within a moment she had the bike’s chain back on and the student was off, headed down the road toward the library.
	“Above and beyond the call of duty,” Bandan chuckled.
	The lizard woman rolled her eyes, “I am just doing my job, Bandan.”
	The dwarf laughed, “I don’t remember reading ‘bike mechanic’ in our job description.”
	Wanda slowed down as they neared the library, watching as students crossed the road through the rain. She remained there for a moment to be sure they all made it across safely before she started to drive toward the Great Oak in the center of the campus, “To you, the job might just be ‘keep students and faculty safe,’ but that’s exactly what I was doing. What if that kid would be going home at night? Or if he had to walk through all this rain and catch a cold? I didn’t see a rain repellant spell on him. He’d have to walk his bike back to town like that. Just making sure he stays safe in the long term.”
The dwarf nodded, “And that’s why you’re Head of Security, Wanda,” He nodded toward a congregation of students under the oak. They were shouting and cheering as a few spells flew wildly overhead, “Looks like it's time to keep some other kids safe.”
Wanda pulled the cart over, parking it and hopping out with one hand on her sword. “Move aside,” She stiff-armed her way through the crowd, forcing her way toward the center. As soon as she had vision on the duo, two smaller casters, she drew the sword and pointed it. The air in the area was yanked away from the center, ripping all mana and aether from it into her blade. Both spells about to be slung were fizzled, leaving both magi staring and glaring at one another. From outside the field, Bandan pointed his wand at each student, summoning a pair of ethereal shackles that bound both of their hands and forced them behind their backs.
	“Hey! C’mon I was just about to win!” The first combatant, a goblin in a black cloak and a red, brimless hat whined. 
“Win? I was about to clean your clock!” His opponent, a dwarf in armored robes spat.
“Syrus Rockshaper?” Bandan scolded with just the mention of the young dwarf’s name, “Young man, how many times have I broken up fights you were in?! Your mother and father would be disappointed to hear their son was acting like a beardling! The grudge between green skins and stout folk died in the old world!” 
	“B-but–” The dwarf was starting to protest. He shut his mouth tight when Bandan’s already unhappy face contorted into a death glare that would singe every hair off the face of lesser dwarves.
	“And you,” The elder dwarf turned his stubby finger to the smug goblin, “Blud. I know ya get all defensive when insults at goblins are hurled, but you’re better than the wild goblins that used to roam the old world. Are ya about to throw away an opportunity your ancestors never had? To learn from the greats? Ya gonna go back to readin’ dung and crumpled up leaves after a rainfall?!” He spat on the ground, the saliva mixing with the rain in the mud as disappointment crossed his face. Blud’s face reddened, but he bit his tongue, knowing better than to antagonize campus security.
 	“Both of ya are coming with me. Marchin’ ya straight to the dean. I know that man’ll go easy on ya, but at least I can embarrass ya!” 
	The dwarf’s booming voice alone shook both young casters. They said nothing as their heads hung low. The power of his words was akin to a dragon’s flaming breath in effect, completely burning them with shame. The students who had gathered around to watch the fight all looked uneasy as Wanda and Bandan gave them all the stink eye, “Reminder, all fighting is to be done under supervision in the arena!” Wanda hollered as she sheathed her sword with a satisfying and weighty noise, “Rules are here to keep you safe and alive! Need I remind you of the story of poor Paula Button?”
 With the mention of her name, the entire crowd of students dispersed. Bandan grabbed Blud and Syrus by the shoulders before the two could escape with the rest, “I’ll take these two to the office, meet back up with ya on the west side.”
	“Copy. See you there,” Wanda nodded as she returned to the golf cart and headed off to the south end of campus with the woods bordering it. Benches, each one enchanted to repel the elements, sat beneath trees with leaves that were now yellow. Most sat unoccupied, but a few had students who were relaxing or meeting classmates. At the far end in the corner before the path turned north and went up to the arena and gym, nestled in a large corner bench was a young man and woman cuddling up to one another. Wanda’s brow furrowed as she drew near, when the two were just about to do something terrible: a kiss! Her golf cart screeched to a stop as she parked parallel to the benched lovebirds, “Hey!”  They stared at the lizard woman with wide eyes, “Do that in private,” Was all she said before peeling out and moving on, adjusting her rainproof poncho as she went.
	
. . . . . 

	Rain pitter pattered against the windows of the library. Outside the cozy library thunder boomed and lightning struck in the woods around the campus. Blud’s foot tapped the floor in rhythm with the music that quietly played out the earbuds that were clipped to his long, green ears. It was Wednesday night after his four classes and now he was waiting for his sister to finish her time working at the infirmary on the eastern side of the campus. He grunted to himself, turning up the music to drown out the brain goblins in his head that kept whispering words of doubt and negativity. He returned to his alchemy studies. Galahad had been right, he had been over grinding the ingredients. He found his thoughts beating himself up over being wrong, but even worse Galahad, a human, was right. Good as a guy he might be, it still didn’t sit well with the goblin. He needed to continue studying. At this point, he believed he was getting the hang of it, having made several minor healing potions and testing them on himself despite his sister’s warnings. Those papercuts and shaving knicks wouldn’t be for nothing!
	Another intrusive thought crossed his mind, letting that dwarf, Syrus, get under his skin earlier in the day. Galahad’s lecturing he could deal with, but people acting like he was no more than a monster, a bloodthirsty creature and a freak was something he could not abide by. With that stout dickhead’s anti demi-human spiel he kept regurgitating, how else was he supposed to react? I bet Bandan wouldn’t’ve reacted any better if it was a goblin insulting his entire race, the thought bounced around in his head. Blud struggled to keep his cool when that guy started acting like that. Neither had really gotten into trouble, but the dean and that gray-beard Bandan had chewed him and Syrus out. Neither got preferential treatment. A stern talking to with words that hurt more than any spell could and a warning that parents, or siblings in Blud’s case, would be notified if either of them caused any more problems. 
	His phone buzzed, his timer letting him know that his sister’s work was just about over. Blud let out a sigh and shoved everything into his messenger bag before using a quiet spell to send the books he had taken off the shelves back to their homes. A meticulously crafted system by the Academy’s crazy old librarian. With a stretch, the goblin picked up his cap off the table and pulled it over his bald scalp. He jumped down from the chair and shouldered his bags before stomping down the stairs and out into the pouring rain. With the brandishing of his wand, Blud enchanted his hat to repel the water before starting his trek through the rain with his cap now silently blowing away all the rain that would otherwise be soaking him. He yawned as he walked across the desolate, dark academy grounds that held naught but a howling on the winds and the rolling of thunder that rang out after the flashes of lightning. They casted only seconds of light giving him brief glimpses of the school grounds around him, almost like a flash photo. It made him shiver, it was anxiety inducing, yet exciting as the storm started to pick up, getting close to raging. Blud would have to get his sister to leave immediately to avoid the worst of the storm. 
	Rald would definitely want to stay to continue practicing but the two were already late for dinner at home and Blud’s stomach was rumbling. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the funds to buy food on campus this close to the beginning of the semester, his monetary assistance wouldn’t arrive for another week or two and his job prospects have turned up empty for now. His siblings’ home cooking would have to do. Another flash of lightning illuminated the grounds as a scent hit Blud’s nose. Something he was wholly familiar with… To his goblin nose it smelled pretty good, though to others it probably would have been nauseating. It was the scent of viscera and gore being carried north by the powerful winds from the forests on the south end of campus. The campus was already dark, but the forest was even more so. Blud felt nothing but anxiety and unease– even the brain goblins had shut up for once but for the danger they warned him of. He ducked into a bush before undoing the enchantment on his hat and quickly prepared a lightning bolt spell in his right hand. He made a finger gun, his thumb was straight up and his middle and pointer finger were rigid, pointed straight forward as he searched the darkness for where the scent of blood was coming from. As the spell took form he quickly covered it with his sleeve, doing his best to remain hidden. His fingers twitched with electrical energies, spell slinger style was uncommon but he found it useful for situations like this and all he had to do was lower his thumb like the hammer of one of those pre-Cracking revolvers or pistols. The scent was getting stronger, they were getting closer. Blud’s heart pounded with fear. His body shook and his eyes darted back and forth. As a goblin, he had vision in the dark up to a point, but the rain made it a little hard to see even for him. But at the very edge of his vision, he saw a cloaked figure, making his heart pound even harder. The figure was shrouded in darkness as they lightly stepped through the muddy grass, almost gliding across it as they made their way north toward the dorms. With a flash of lightning, the figure was illuminated momentarily revealing the gore and blood staining the front of their black robes and their skull shaped mask. 
Blud froze. His spell fizzled as his heart, mind and body stopped dead. He could only watch as the figure walked by him, unknowing that the minute goblin hid in a bush next to their path. Even as the person left his vision, the little goblin’s body wouldn’t stop shivering with fear. He was getting light headed but couldn’t get himself to start breathing normally. Within minutes, his world went dark as he fell out of the bush toward the pavement.

. . . . .

	Rald made a face, one of confusion as she waited for her brother to come get her so the two could go home together. He was a good brother, but kind of an idiot, at least in Rald’s opinion. Despite all that he was never late, except for tonight. Usually he would show up and whine and moan until she was ready to go. There wasn’t a chance he had forgotten, had he? Blud’s not that much of a dummy, is he? Rald sighed as these thoughts crossed her mind. Even if it would make Blud angry, she decided she would head over to the library to look for him. 
	She bid farewell to the next volunteer, a necromancy student that had come to cover the infirmary overnight and left the building. It was to the east of the arena, just behind it and saw a few students every day. Usually they only treated people who hurt their hands in magical mishaps and the odd bone breaking if the mishap was very bad and it was good practice for simple healing magicks. Rald took a path along the east edge of campus and then along the south side, staying near the forest as she used a spell on her cloak to keep water off of herself. She looked around when she took the turn onto the southern end of the campus. There was a lingering scent. Blood? She frowned, getting a tiny bit worried as she started to look around. 
	Rald shivered as she nervously eyed the bushes that sparsely lined the path. A form further up the path came into view, something small was slumped over on the path. Throwing caution to the wind she ran to it to find her brother collapsed on the ground with a line of blood streaming down his face, “BLUD! BLUD?!” She screamed her brother’s name as she tried to pick him up. She wasn’t too far from the boarding school buildings but she struggled to drag the bigger goblin across the ground as she grabbed his rain soaked cloak. She put him down and pointed her gnarled stick of a wand toward the air and shot off a simple light illusion of a blood red color. Next, she enchanted her cloak to glow brightly and continued to try and drag her brother to the nearest building.
	The earth shook around her as something landed nearby. In the darkness, Rald could see a tall imposing form that hurried to her side. In the glow from her cloak, Rald saw the night watch of campus security, Catherine the gargoyle, “What happened?” She asked as she gingerly picked up the unconscious goblin. 
	“I-I don’t know! I found him like this! Bring him to the boarding school so I can patch him up there!” The goblin’s shaky and terrified voice made the gargoyle hurry as she followed Rald.
	Blud was laid down on a plush couch in a dim, empty hallway as Rald prepared a healing spell. Catherine grabbed her tiny spell book and thumbed through it before finding a drying spell which she used on the three of them. Rald’s magic reached out as green tendrils that stitched the wounds on her brother’s forehead. The oozing of blood stopped, allowing Catherine to clean up the scuffs on his face before applying some healing ointment to the lesser scratches.
	“Thank you…” Rald sighed as her brother started to stirr, “Thank you so much, Catherine. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t shown up.”
	“Any time,” The gargoyle breathed out, relieved that Blud’s eyes were opening slowly.
	“Rald?” The goblin grumbled as he gingerly sat up, “Ugh, my head…”
	“Try not to move too fast, Blud. You’ll just hurt yourself,” Rald scolded.
	Catherine knelt down, “Did something happen, Blud? Did you slip in the rain?”
	“I…” The goblin wracked his brain, “Crap! I remember!” Both girls jumped as the panic crossed his face, his green complexion turning a ghastly white, “There was some guy in a cloak, that guy had a bunch of guts and blood on him! I-I saw it! I could smell it!” He panted and tried to jump up.
	“No way, you probably just slipped and knocked yourself out!” Rald retorted, prodding a finger on her brother’s forehead.
	Blud shook his head, refusing to back down, “I’m tellin’ ya, there’s some dangerous guy lurkin’ out there! There was SO MUCH BLOOD! And–”
	Rald reared back and slapped him across the cheek. The meaty whack shocked Catherine, “BLUD!” The goblin shouted, completely silencing her big brother, “Stop trying to make up stories to look cool after taking a spill,” She groaned, “I’ll take him home, Catherine. He just needs to sleep and calm down.”
	“I see… I’ll walk you two over to the bus stop and keep an eye out for… blood covered cloaks,” The gargoyle nodded.
	“I-I’m not lying…” Blud whimpered, rubbing his now red cheek. He kept his mouth shut as the vivid images continued flashing in his mind. 

	. . . . .

	Morning sunlight streamed in through the portal viewer on Prince Harold’s wall. It was a view of the ocean with the noises of seagulls and waves pleasantly filling his ears. It brought images of the tales his grandsire would tell him of their kingdom in the old world. In the corner of his massive extra dimensional room, he had a kitchen which was all but disused except for his personal espresso maker. Sure, he could go buy it at the cafe in the library or even the food court, but who knew how dirty their machines were? Plus his genius needed a long, relaxing morning to get fully ready for his studies. It was Thursday, a day with only one late class. Currently he was lounging in his silk bathrobes after taking a long and relaxing bath. His dorm had its own wide screen TV, a leather couch, a dining table, and two other rooms. In the second room was his bedroom, lavishly decorated with horses and ships, those befitting for a son of Babarry. The third was a large bathroom with a wide tub where he could relax for hours if need be. 
	The scent of coffee filled the room as Prince Harold heard a knock on his door. With the wave of his hand, the door opened revealing one of his assistants who was carrying a bag of food, “Good morning, Harold,” She was a tall half-elf with beautiful golden hair.
	“Ah, good morning. I assume that is the breakfast I ordered?” He guessed as he stood and stretched his legs.
	“Y-yes sir,” The half-breed replied as she set down the bag and brought out the containers of food. Fluffy potato pancakes, crispy bacon strips, and a cut of chicken fried steak. Nothing fancy, but those halfling chefs always did a wonderful job. 
“Wonderful, wonderful,” He nodded before putting a small leather pouch of silver coins into his assistant’s hand, “I am sure you have studying to do.”
“Yes I do. Thank you for the generous tip, Harold,” She dashed off, still flustered in the prince’s presence. 
	“What a nice girl,” He mused before closing his door and settling down at his table. With the flick of his wrist, he brought his freshly brewed coffee to himself along with the day’s newspapers and magazines. He set the magazines aside, ‘Wizard Living,’ a monthly magazine on new spells and trinkets being produced to help magical casters live comfortably. He felt a little bad for people born without the gift of magic, he could hardly fathom living without it. The lowborns he was surrounded by had magic at least. But being low born and without magic must have been quite horrible, Harold pitied them. The other magazine was a men’s health magazine and the last was about technology that was up and coming. Even if he was a wizard, he understood the uses and importance of technology in the modern age. Harold knew he needed to be in the know of modern tech so he could get in early on investing. It was how he made his own money, afterall. 
	The newspapers were next. A few global papers to keep up on events, but the most important to him were the two campus papers. Firstly was the Fairgarland Newspaper. The main news he wanted to check was who was being entered into the tournament that was going on in two weeks. He needed to check who his competition would be and to prepare accordingly. Most houses still had not put a person forward. No doubt they were still in the deliberation phase of deciding who their champion would be. He chuckled, it didn’t really matter. He was sure to win again. He set this paper with the magazines and picked up the Fairgarland Inquirer.
	Harold’s smug expression vanished as he read the front page headline. ‘MULTIFOLD MANUS OF ALDERIA, PRESIDENT OF KARAK-ALBRAC SPOTTED WITH NEW STUDENT IN A ONE-ON-ONE?’ The black and white picture on the paper was a clear photo of President Manus, Harold’s beloved, exchanging phone numbers with the new student. It took Harold a moment to recognize him, “Galahad Loxley…” He growled as he continued reading. ‘The ice cold witch has been spotted with a new flame, the young Galahad Loxely, a new student of the Seeker’s House. The two were spotted on a lunch date filled with casting and hushed chatter that ended with the two swapping numbers! Could they now be going steady despite Prince Harold’s desire to marry the fair President Manus? More to come…’
Harold furiously crumpled up the newspaper, “Manus, my sweet. How could you do this to me?” He asked the now wrinkled pictures of her. His mind paused for a moment as he quickly decided what he should do, “I cannot wait for Carly to print another article, I must talk to Manus,” He decided, “To get to the bottom of this myself.” He got up, ignoring the rest of his breakfast as he went to summon all unoccupied members of his house. He needed some extra eyes to quickly find out where President Manus might be.

	A soft ringing made Miss Manus’s eyes spring open. She sat up in her bed, the fluffy blankets and soft sheets falling off her lithe form as she stopped the analogue alarm clock with the flick of her wrist. The blue fey woman stretched, putting her three right arms in the air first before doing the same with her left arms. Another flick of her wrist started a small fire underneath the kettle she kept on her antique stove top. It was mostly for show as she did all of her cooking with magic, but she liked the way it looked. She next conjured up some water for the kettle, making sure it had enough in it for her to make her usual cup of morning tea. She slid to the edge of the bed and stepped into her fluffy blue slippers as she straightened out her fuzzy nightgown. 
The walls of her large extra dimensional room were a light, sky blue making the dim light of the room seem brighter along with the help of her magical fey eyes. As the walls climbed they gradually shifted from a daylight to deep midnight blue with the constellations mapped out across her ceiling. It was so intricate that some might even be fooled that it was a magician’s living map-- though truth be told even she couldn’t tell sometimes. After admiring the workmanship for a moment Miss Manus returned to her daily routine.  She waved a hand at a container by the door, exerting a bit of telekinesis to bring two newspapers to herself, both student-led. These were deposited into that magical container every Tuesday and Thursday, the same as everyone else on campus who subscribed to them. One was the sensationalist Fairgarland Inquirer which mostly dealt in rumors and gossip while the other was the much more respected Fairgarland Newspaper, which was mostly news and upcoming events. Another one of her hands adjusted the crystal by the magical window, shifting her portal to the view of a busy street viewed from above in the dim morning light as the sunshine was just cresting over the top of the buildings that made up the skyline. She took a seat at the window side table as the kettle started to wail, signifying that the water was boiling. With another telekinesis spell she brought it to her along with a packaged pastry from a nearby pantry and a bag of her favorite tea. 
	She opened up the newspaper first, seeing what events would be coming up in the next few days. The yearly tournament was on its way and each house president was invited to present their duelist whether that be themselves or another student in their house. A famous guest would be arriving in the coming weeks, a master of artifice who had helped pioneer the mostly new field as well as assisted in saving the world many years ago. A fundraiser for a geology class’s trip would be happening soon. A bake sale from the culinary side of the academy; Miss Manus made a mental note to buy something there to do her part in giving back to Fairgarland's community. 
	She sipped on her tea and begrudgingly moved on to the Inquirer. Rumors of a few blooming relationships, some strange goings on that all seemed to be fraudulent; they were made up of half-truths or simply fabricated events. The main article was a big fluff piece on Harold Babarry and how ‘galant’ he looks and ‘princely’ his demeanor is, no doubt the author’s personal crush bleeding through the words on the paper. It spoke of how he’s going to win the upcoming tournament and what he’s going to do once he does. Miss Manus rolled her eyes as she saw her name mentioned in the paper before turning the Inquirer into a roll of paper towels using a transmutation spell, something much more useful that she could donate to a local animal shelter along with a batch of other transmuted papers, “What rubbish,” She sighed, wondering why she even bothered to look. She only got the newspaper due to needing to keep an ear on the goings on in the academy.
	Miss Manus stood up before bringing a small container to herself full of orange peels, mint leaves, cinnamon, and various flowers. She rubbed her chin and grabbed the mint before grinding it up in her hand. She cast a spell to clean off her body and clothes, infusing her with a slight scent of mint before moving on to brushing her teeth using telekinesis and a few hair brushes to get the knots out of her curly, blue, and fluffy hair. As she did this, she was still sipping on her tea using one pair of hands while another pair held her food. Once the tea cup was empty and her hair was brushed, she ate the cherry filled pastry. 
	She wished she was able to wear her fuzzy slippers all day, but she needed to put forth a professional front. She began to get dressed, starting with removing the night gown. With the waving of her hands, the witch brought her usual clothes to herself which she magically slipped on each piece one at a time. First was her dark purple body stocking, sleeveless and slightly sheer. Then her gown, a brilliant blue garment that snugly fell over her hips and chest. In the right light the gown reminded her of the northern lights. A black choker was placed around her neck, its swirling platinum runes amplified some of her magic if needed. Then a sash she wore around her waist of a bright purple color that was pulled tight and tied up in the back magically, followed by her buckling the brass buckle on her dark brown belt over it that her small bags and thick, heavy tome hung off of. Second to last was her thick, fluffy cloak that concealed her body and arms. It was the perfect time of year to wear such a warm and cozy cloak, one that she could easily fall asleep in if she was so inclined. Lastly was her fuzzy hat which in her wardrobe she had a few, each was the same blue but was distinct in what was used to decorate it. She picked out one that had a dark purple and black striped scarf, a warming magical charm placed on it that should her cloak - by some miracle - fail to keep her snug it would be sure to protect her from the chilly air. 
	Miss Manus grabbed the brim of the hat and pulled it over her fluffy head of hair before nodding at herself in the mirror in satisfaction. Though she did not care too much for the world of fashion, Miss Manus did enjoy dressing up at least a little. It was one of the few things she could call a hobby. Though she had a sizable amount of time before her class, she decided to make her way there early after grabbing a small selection of potions from a cabinet and attaching them to her belt. Healing, mana, healing ointment, and a tiny bottle of magic glue as you never know when that will be handy. She grabbed the textbooks she would need and headed out her door, magically locking it behind her with the wave of one hand as she stepped into her polished black shoes. With the help of her magic it was easy for her to slip them on and tighten the simple straps of brown leather into their brass buckles. 
Unlike the Seeker’s House’s pocket dimension which always pulled the desired room to the front, the Karak-Albrac house’s pocket-dorm-dimension was made up of a maze of hallways with doors along the walls of either side. Miss Manus’s room was at the end of a long hallway to deter unwanted visitors. With another spell, Miss Manus was able to traverse the length of the hall in a single step. She continued her jaunt as she left the pocket realm and stepped into the upper floor of the Karak-Albrac House tower. Only two students were up and in the common area which was as much of a library as the first floor, but Miss Manus had given the approval for a TV that was set on one of the shelves they were watching. It was now playing an old game show hosted by a centaur that had to do with spinning a wheel and buying letters. Miss Manus quickly moved on, not paying the TV any mind as she usually did.
	The first floor was rather empty as well, as three students spread out amongst the tables worked on their studies. Miss Manus left the tower without a word, stepping across the stone path leading to the great oak in the middle of the towers. She paused for a moment, looking up at the tree as a chilly wind blew across the grounds and listening to the gentle rustling of leaves. The sun was out, contrasting with the previous day’s rainy morning weather. It was the second day of the term, a Tuesday and the first day of a history class Miss Manus was teaching, the Greater Advanced Teaching course she was in where she was given further instructions on being a teacher, and her Transmutation Mastery 2 course. She was on the final stretch of her mastery, soon she would need to go through the mastery exam and become a teacher in her own right. Few would reach mastery and even fewer would become a professor in the field afterward. She wondered what was to come then, but pushed the thoughts from her mind. That would be something for her future self to worry about. 
	Miss Manus turned from the great, magical oak and stuck to the path as she headed to the classrooms. Across the sparsely used road that cut the campus into two unevenly sized parts, she stepped into the evocation building, the biggest classroom building on the campus, and made her way to the third floor. As always, almost every student who was up this early, besides those who did not need to sleep, looked groggy and unhappy to have to roll out of bed so early in the morning. Miss Manus felt awake and alert just like she always did after a nice, hot cup of tea. As she approached the class room, she heard a dialogue going on in the common area next to her destination. 
	Miss Manus quickly recognized the first voice, “W-we haven’t thought much about it yet…” It was Veruka Goldmoon
	“You haven’t?!” The second voice was also easy to place the name to, Carly Halestorm, “You haven’t put ANY thought into it?”
	“A-a little bit, but nothing serious yet,” The witch explained.
	“Come on, I need a scoop! I can’t JUST talk about Harold in my paper!” Carly groaned. Carly was a tall human woman with long, meticulously curled, blonde hair that she always flaunted and refused to wear a hat or hood over. She held a tape recorder up to Veruka’s mouth, begging for a scoop for the Fairgarland Inquirer that she ran, “What about news about a boyfriend? Anyone in your house break the rules? Maybe someone is designing a new spell?!”
	“I-I don’t have much to say. W-we keep those under wraps,” Veruka was the president of house Hamilton, the abjuration focused school, and was a harpy of the owl variety. Her eyes were big and yellow and her head was covered in brown and gray, feathery hair. Her wings were the same color and were very soft and puffy. She wore brown robes that went down to her ankles showing her yellow, talon-like feet. The owl harpy was trying to use her large wings to shield herself from the reporter.
	Carly groaned and turned around, quickly spotting Miss Manus, “Ah! Excuse me, Manus. Carly Halestorm, I run the Inquirer here on campus. Could I ask you a few questions?”
	Miss Manus held her annoyance back, but she was glad to take the heat off of Veruka for a few minutes, “Might as well. Go ahead.”
	“Wonderful. How does it feel to be the apple of Harold Babarry’s eye?” Jealousy oozed from Carly’s voice.
	Miss Manus wearily sighed, “His fascination is misplaced. No further comment.”
	“Is that all? Hmph, fine. Next, as you know, the yearly tournament is coming up, do you know who you are putting forth for this?” Carly asked.
	With a nod Miss Manus took a slow breath, “Fredrik, as always.”
	“Him? The Golden Wonder? Hasn’t he lost every time he has entered the tournament?” Carly pointed out, “He even lost to Harold last year!”
	“He has no one challenging him to enter. It is a show to him, not a competition. I have no further comment,” She replied.
	“Well, I’ll be sure to write that Harold is sure to win this year,” Carly scoffed.
	“I wouldn’t say that,” Veruka piped up, “I heard that there’s a wild card this year.”
	“Huh?! Who?!” Carly demanded, glaring at the harpy.
	“I-I wouldn’t know… Mira Minsley brought it up a few days ago. She could hardly divine who it was. Y-you should go ask her,” The harpy explained.
	With an enraged expression Carly stormed away, “What a drama queen,” A voice cackled before revealing the owner. It was the imp Rita MacKenzie.
	“Thanks for helping me get rid of her, Rita,” The harpy sighed with relief as the imp took a seat on the couch nearby.
	“Yeah, no worries. How’s it going, Manus?” She asked as she stretched out.
	“Fine,” She simply replied.
	Veruka started to idly preen her feathers, “Do you really think Harold might lose this year?”
	“Don’t know. Don’t care,” The imp grunted, “Honestly, I’d LOVE for him to lose just to see him knocked down a few dozen pegs, but most of the houses don’t have people who are good at dueling, unfortunately.”
	All three of the presidents were silent for a few moments, each wondering what they could do. None of them were trained for combat at all, “Do we know anyone at all?” Veruka mumbled.
	“I don’t. None of the new students coming in really seem up to it, to be honest," Rita's hand waved dismissively, "Let his head grow with his ego until it pops. Who cares? Right, Manus?”
	“Perhaps. But I wish he would cease his obsessing over me,” She sighed, “I must push this from my mind for now. I have better topics to worry about,” The blue witch hastily decided, “Win or lose, he will not stop acting like this.”
	“If it was big enough of a loss, maybe he would,” Rita’s wings fluttered gently as some of the other classmates began to arrive. They were all senior members of each house, though Rita, Manus, and Veruka were the only presidents and very few were on the council of any house.
	“Sorry I’m late,” The professor arrived. He was an older man who wore a striped button up and brown slacks with a salt and pepper colored goatee and combed back hair, “That teleportation stone put me at the far side of the campus,” He grumbled.
	“Good morning, Professor Charles,” Miss Manus greeted.
	“Good morning, good morning, everyone,” He quickly moved to unlock the door.
	“See ya later, Manus and Veruka,” Rita stretched her wings and lifted herself into the air before lazily flying down the hall to her class at the other end. 
	Miss Manus followed Veruka into the classroom and the two sat at the front of the room. Professor Charles leaned against the whiteboard at the front of the room, he was one of the very few non-magically inclined professors that worked on the campus, “Welcome back, students. I know you all, and you know me. I am Professor Charles, and this is…” He sighed and started to speak in an annoyed tone, “Greater Advanced Teaching of Magical and Mundane Courses,” He pinched the bridge of his nose and looked at his class, “Why can’t we call this… Teaching six-hundred? Why is it always these ridiculous titles?”
	“It’s tradition, sir, only the beginner and intermediate classes have the 'oh-one' titles since Fairgarland only recently started teaching those kinds of courses,” Veruka cheerily replied, eager to share her knowledge of the academy’s past.
	Professor Charles rubbed his face, “Very well. We will start with questions. Each of you has taught at least one class at this point, what has come up that you need some help with?”
	A student in the back put his hand up, “I’m struggling to keep some students on task. I don’t want to punish them this early on. Any ideas?”
	The professor nodded, “You are teaching a younger class, yes? About ten or so? I have a few ways for you. Soon after class starts, greet them, and then have them stand and stretch. Maybe during this ask them a few questions about the assigned reading? This will start the day with most of your students engaged and alert. Group projects can help as well. Ask them questions, rather than letting them raise their hands to answer, call on them. If they are not paying attention they will get embarrassed when they get it wrong. Let me know if these work. Check chapter twenty-five of the text book for more if you need it. I have admittedly not worked with children in a while. Anyone else?”
	“I have one,” The Multifold Manus raised a hand that she had idly turned into a clawed, scaled forearm, “I have an incredibly nervous student who is overthinking in my class. Do you have a suggestion to help me calm him down?”
	“His nervousness is most likely brought on by how little he knows on the subject. If he is struggling, you could try to get him some tutoring or speak with him after your classes to make sure he understands the curriculum. Anyone else?” Professor Charles looked around the room.
	Miss Manus tuned out the next few questions as she wondered about tutoring Galahad if needed. She wouldn’t mind, but would he allow her to? She would ask him about it later. For now, she focused on the class, praying she could graduate this year.
	
	With her mind wandering and her feet stepping across the tiled floor, Miss Manus walked through the classroom building of the boarding school at the southern part of the campus. She was teaching a mundane class here, a Modern History class that covered the rise of magic and demi-humans in this world. Her students, all of highschool age, sat at their desks, chatting with one another or showing off simple spells they had learned or taught themselves, “Good morning, class,” Miss Manus greeted as she took her spot at the lectern of the large classroom. The rows of seats were descending toward the front so those in the back could see over their peer’s heads. The class slowly quieted down as a few called back with their own drowsy ‘good morning.' As her eyes gazed slowly around the room, Miss Manus brought out her teacher’s copy of the textbook, silently signaling for the others to do the same. Those that had been in her classes before did as she had nonverbally asked, “Welcome to Modern History. In this class we will discuss where the history of the old world and this world meet. You may call me…” She paused for a moment, “Miss Manus. I also go by The Multifold Manus. For those of you that do understand what that means, yes,” She pushed her cloak aside, “I do have multiple arms. If you do not have your textbook out, please do so. We shall begin with an overview. Without looking, who knows what event brought magic back into the world and what year it took place?”
	“The Great Cracking, right?” A boy shouted out.
	“No, it was The Scarring,” A girl corrected.
	“Both of you are right,” Miss Manus assured them, “It has many names depending on where you are from. Who has a guess on the year?”
	“Uh… it was during the Great War, right? Nineteen-hundred…” A mono-eye guessed as he scratched his head.
	“And the war stopped because of it,” A young lamia girl added.
	“Nineteen-sixteen?” A cat witch called out.
	“Correct. You all seem to know about the event. But just to make sure, in the early nineteen-hundreds, humans of this world began to fight in a massive war pulling in almost every country on Earth called The Great War. The war stopped in nineteen-sixteen when The Great Cracking occurred. Does anyone want to tell the rest of the class what the consequences of this event were and why it happened?” Miss Manus did her best to keep the class engaged like Professor Charles had suggested.
	The young lamia scratched her head, “Didn’t something happen to the old world? That’s why demi-humans and the others made the portal?”
	“Like a mass extinction of everything, right?” A dwarven boy guessed as he stroked his already forming beard.
	“Correct,” Miss Manus nodded, “The portal was created as a last-ditch effort to save as many lives as they could. Many had already died, but numerous powerful wizards managed to create a portal to bring as many as they could across the world to one single massive portal. This portal caused a massive scar on this world that stretches from France to Algeria. This massive burst of mana and magical energies caused issues on this world's metaphysical laws. While it brought magic with it, one of the biggest issues the portal caused was that combustion engines and gunpowder ceased function. This is why The Great War ended immediately along with talks from some very charismatic people from the old world. We will speak of specific names when we delve deeper into this subject, but for now just know that peace was brokered between the new and old worlds as our kind promised to help undo some of the damage The Cracking caused as well as share our knowledge of magic with them. Any questions?”
	“I have one, why did making a portal make that big crack anyway?” Asked a half-scaled dragon girl.
	“The spells to bring the old world’s dwellers to the new world required immense amounts of mana from both sides. As you all know, this world hardly had any mana to begin with, so when a spell draws on too much mana the world does not have it scores the earth. Drawing enough mana needed for a spell such as that portal had the unfortunate result of The Great Scar cutting deep into this world. It is theorized that this is also the reason why simple combustion of the old world was made inert due to what little mana left in the old world was dried out completely. Anything else?”
	“What was the extinction event?” A halfling boy nervously asked with several of his classmates affirming the question.
	Miss Manus took a deep breath and sighed, “The extinction event from the old world came about due to a great and terrible demon we call The Sol Eater. Long before any of you were born, this demon and his armies blotted out the sun of the old world and many lost their lives in the escape.”
	“W-won’t he come here?” One student asked, his voice cracking with fear.
	“Worry not, The Sol Eater has been dealt with,” Miss Manus had a tiny smile on her face, “That was thirty or so years ago at this point. He was destroyed before his armies could amass by a team of heroes, or adventurers as we would have called them in the old world.”
	“Miss Manus,” A gnomish boy raised her hand, “How… old are you? You look really young but you sound like you lived in the old world.”
	“You’re not supposed to ask that!” The gnomish girl next to him scolded.
	“Worry not. I will not give you a specific age as being a fey it is hard to keep track of that due to how time flows in the fey world. I was alive for some time when The Crack happened over a hundred years ago.”
A boy in the back raised his hand, “Uh, this is kinda related, but was there some event that made most demi-humans female? Like did the magic in the air change something? I’ve heard it used to be different.”
	“A wonderful question,” Miss Manus put her tome under her cloak, “You are correct, there was a change at one point. And that change did in fact happen once we came to this world. The Demi-human gender split used to be roughly fifty-fifty like most species. But as you most likely learned in your health classes, when a man and woman of two different species breed the child’s species is mostly determined by the female. Take for example; a human man and a goblin woman get married and have children, let us say they have three girls and a boy, ninety-nine percent of the time they will have three goblin daughters and a human son.”
	“Why is that?” One of the students asked.
	“We still don’t know.” Miss Manus replied, “It is theorized that it has to do with the difference in X and Y chromosomes, but let us return to the topic at hand.”
“I heard it was because demi-women like human men more.” A goblin girl pointed out as she eyed a boy only a few seats away from her.
“I’m sure it has something to do with the magic from The Cracking.” A dwarven boy pointed out.
“What about you, Kevin? Isn’t your mom a demi-woman?” A lamia girl asked a boy at the back of the class.
	“Uh… yeah…” He swallowed nervously as the lamia looked back at him with a sultry smile.
	Miss Manus cleared her throat, sending a chilling wave of air throughout the room as she telekinetically flipped the lightswitch on and off. Every student shivered and turned their attention to the front of the classroom.
“Thank you,” Said Miss Manus, “Now, please turn to page ten where chapter one begins.”
	
	As the last of her students filed out into the hallway, Miss Manus took a deep breath, “Children are such a handful, no matter the age,” She told herself with a sigh. She packed up her things, papers and textbooks, then took a sip of water from a crystalline bottle she kept under her cloak. Miss Manus checked a little pocket watch she had in her bag and nodded; it was just after noon and she was feeling somewhat peckish now. With the wave of her hand, she opened the door with some magic and stepped into the hall, pausing as she found a man by his lonesome. He was pacing up and down the hall in front of her, muttering something to himself and was clearly troubled. He was in a dark blue sleeveless cloak, face down in a book– a Transmutation 101 textbook. He stopped and looked up at Miss Manus before lowering his hood with one hand revealing his face, “Ah, Miss Manus!” It was Galahad, “Uh, funny meeting you here, huh?”
	The tiniest of smirks spread across the blue witch’s lips, “Galahad. You and I both know it is not unusual for me to be in this location at this time. Pray tell, why have you seeked me out and through what channels did you learn my schedule?”
	“Well… Ah, Fredrik told me when I asked. I needed to ask you about the assignment. I know it's supposed to be easy, but…” He sheepishly trailed off, “I can buy you lunch, but I think I need some help.”
	Miss Manus gazed for a moment, directly into his eyes as she attempted to discern his intent. He looked and sounded most earnest to her, but she sensed there might be a bit more to his desire for tutelage. Professor Charles had suggested she do something like this and found she had no qualms in it, “I will not demand you buy lunch for me, but I am willing to tutor you." She answered him. 
Galahad smiled, "Really? You will?"
"Of course, I am your teacher after all." The witch replied before turning and making her way down the hall, "Come along now, Galahad, we do not have all day for lunch so we will do both at the same time."

The food court was busy with students of every field having lunch, coming in groups, some leaving in a hurry, some eating while they studied alone - it was all so familiar to Miss Manus, the mark of the new semester, "So tell me, Galahad, what are you having trouble with?" Miss Manus asked before she stuck a piece of grilled chicken with a fork and ate it. Galahad shifted uncomfortably as he ate some of his french fries. The two had come to the academy's food court to talk, though Galahad seemed nervous as usual.
"Well, I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I've tried concentrating all my effort into changing the water into - well anything really. I tried changing it into sand, lead, copper and nothing seems to work." He grumbled, "I must be doing something wrong."
"Demonstrate for me," Miss Manus said, placing her cup of water in front of him with one hand while the others continued to feed her. Galahad stared at the cup for a moment before glancing up at her, her icy blue eyes ever staring back at him, waiting to see what he would do, "Well?" She prompted him, snapping him out of their staring contest.
"Oh, right uh, sorry… I'll just…" The young man took the cup and held it in one hand, holding the other over it as he began his concentration. Miss Manus could see him drawing out mana, his fingertips practically glowing with magic as he waved them over the cup. The water began to bubble before splashing out onto the table and on his clothes. With a sigh, Galahad magically dried himself and the table. "See what I mean?"
Miss Manus took a moment to finish chewing her food. She quickly swallowed and wiped her mouth before looking at Galahad again,  "Show me again." She said, waving her hand over the cup. Before his eyes Galahad watched as the cup was filled with water again. He eyed the witch once more before shrugging and giving it another shot. Soon after the results were the same, and he slumped back in his chair, "That confirms it. You are trying too hard." Said Miss Manus.
Galahad sat upright, "What?"
"I said you are trying too hard. You are using too much mana for such a low level spell that it is overwhelming your catalyst, in this case: the water. That is why you are soaking wet now, the spell was miscast."
"So I'm using too much mana…?"
"Tell me Galahad, when you use too little mana what happens?"
"The spell fizzles out and fails." He answered quickly, as though he had experienced it many times.
"And what do you suppose happens when you use too much? You know the answer now, but put it into words for me."
"A magical explosion… a miscast."
"A miscast, precisely. There are some spells you can brute force within reason: summoning, shields, healing, and things like this, but when it comes to transmutation you must be precise in your spellcasting. You must know the formulae for every element you wish to produce and what mana it takes to achieve those changes. Brute force will only land you in failure, and if you're not careful it will only be a matter of time before it hurts you."
Galahad stared back into Miss Manus' eyes with a fierce determination. He seemed to take the words to heart as he looked down at the empty glass.
"Could you…?" He gestured at the glass.
"Of course." She allowed a smile to cross her face as she filled the glass once more. With a little encouragement Galahad seemed to have calmed his nerves and began to concentrate once more. The glow of magic was less intense this time, the water only rumbling at an even pace. After a moment Galahad took a deep breath and stopped for a moment.
"Breathe, but don't stop." Miss Manus instructed, "Keep your breath flowing, concentrate on the water, keep the flow steady."
Soon enough the water gradually shifted, the glass filling bottom up with sand.
"I-I did it?" Galahad said, stopping his spell.
"You almost did it, look." Miss Manus pointed at the top of the glass, a small puddle of water in the sand staring up at him, "For my assignment you will simply need to change all of the water into another liquid. This sand transmutation will come soon enough. Keep practicing."
"Thank you, Miss Manus, I will!" He smiled back at her as he took his own cup of water and focused on it, “What to turn it into…”
	“You should focus on eating first, Galahad. You will run yourself dry on mana if you forget to eat,” Miss Manus reminded him as she continued to eat her chicken as two of her other hands continued browsing through one of her textbooks.
	“Right, right,” He chuckled, “I was always forgetting to eat when I was younger.”
	Miss Manus’s eyes twinkled for the briefest moment, “What was your childhood like?”
	“Well…” He swallowed his mouthful of food and paused for a moment, like he was trying to decide what he wanted to say, “Ever since I could hold a wand, I was learning magic,” He said, his eyes pointing down to his food, “Dad taught me, that’s where the apprenticeship came in. But that wasn’t until I was ten or so. I really didn’t get much done before ten years old. I knew how to control mana, but that was all really.”
	“You started very young, it seems,” The witch commented.
	“What about you? Surely an expert like you has been working toward this for a very long time,” The wizard quickly surmised.
	“Your intuition is correct. I have been at this very academy for ‘a very long time.’ As you very well know, it doubles as a boarding school for magically inclined children. My journey to mastery started there. I must say I am a little jealous, I always wanted to be an apprentice. I believed it would make me stronger, but all things considered, I have turned out more than fine. I am nearing my mastery exam, Galahad.”
	“And then what?” 
	“I will teach here. Headmaster Jasper Crixx has been quite happy with my performance so far in my teaching,” Miss Manus had a tiny smile on her lips as she took back her cup of water and transmuted it into sweet tea and lemonade. It was a wonderful drink when cold and a little treat for herself as she worked through her own studies and aided in Galahad’s, “Do you have plans for the future?” She moved one of her fingers in a circle, idly stirring a spoon in her drink.
	“Prove myself, mostly,” He softly mused, taking hold of his own glass with both hands and frowning.
	While Miss Manus’s curiosity begged her to squeeze more out of him, she understood from his downtrodden tone it may not be the best time to push him, “I see. You have a long way to go, Galahad, but I believe you have the potential to go above and beyond what you now believe to be possible.”
	“Thank you, Miss Manus. Your praise means the world to me, in all honesty,” He gave a sheepish smile and scratched his head.
	His words made Miss Manus feel strange. She had never had a student of hers say something like that, but it felt good. She cleared her throat, “I see. Well you must work hard if you desire more. If you require more tutoring, I am more than willing to assist your studies.”
	Galahad bit his tongue, keeping himself from teasing her, “I would be very happy to have you tutor me. I can’t think of a better teacher on this campus.”
	“I could name a few, but I will graciously take your compliment,” Miss Manus finished her drink, “I must take my leave. I have my transmutation class soon.”
	“Oh, Miss Manus,” Galahad paused, suddenly getting red in the face and sweaty, “S-should we swap numbers? T-to figure out a time to do these tutoring sessions? I-I-I don’t want to take up your lunch time every day.”
	The fey witch nodded, thinking nothing of his request before reaching into her little bag and retrieving her old flip phone. Galahad balked at the ancient tech on display in front of him, “Galahad? The Number?”
	“Huh?” He recovered from his dazed state, “Oh, right. Sorry. Here,” Galahad whipped out a large touch screen phone and read off his number before Miss Manus read off hers, “Just give me a call on Thursday. Maybe we can figure something out. I’m free all day.”
	“Understood. Farewell for now, Galahad. We will soon speak again, I am sure,” With that, the fey witch stepped away and made her way out of the dining hall. As she glanced over her shoulder, right before she left the building, she spotted Galahad staring at her. He quickly grabbed his book and started to study as soon as their eyes met. Miss Manus blew air out of her nose before waving her hand to open the door in front of her.

	It was as if she had a lot more spring in her step than usual as Miss Manus made her way to the transmutation building. At least Professor Crixx thought so as she saw Miss Manus approach the building through the window on the second floor. The blue fey had made it into the classroom in no time at all, the first to class as always, “Good afternoon, Headmaster Crixx.”
	“Good afternoon to you too, Manus. Might I say, you are looking uncharacteristically jubilant today!” The old construct laughed, her body being made up of a bright white stone.
	“Jubilant? I could say the same about you,” Miss Manus folded all three sets of arms under her cloak.
	“I got a message from this secret admirer today. It always puts me in high spirits,” Crixx explained as her joints creaked, “Do not get so defensive, Manus. I will not pry into what has you at a slight glow.”
	“Glow? What do you mean?” Miss Manus replied, still feeling defensive.
	Crixx smiled, “You forget, I was built to learn and retain information in the old world. I can pull any data I have retained very easily, and as I recall you quite literally glow when happy.” The words caused Miss Manus to touch her own face instinctively and look at her own hands. Looking closer she found that the old headmaster was right, “I have handed you many A plus results on tests and accolades myself throughout the years, so trust me on this,” Crixx added.
	“I see. I was not aware of this fact before now,” Miss Manus rubbed her chin and shook her head, “I will need to keep this in mind moving forward.”
	“Have no fear, those with untrained eyes will struggle to notice. I can hear your classmates approaching, I suggest you find a seat,” 
	“Yes, ma’am,” Miss Manus nodded and took her usual desk at the front of the room, eager to start her last class of the day. She was looking forward to a quiet evening of studying and hot tea away from other distractions no matter how much they made her glow.

	With the chillier winds and rains of fall came the start of the school year. The residents of each house groggily left their dorms with umbrellas, magical tools, or some kind of spell springing from their wands or staffs to keep the rain off their robes. They either bee-lined it for the cafe or the cafeteria to get something to wake themselves up like coffee, tea, or some form of energy drink. 
	Shanessa had prepared some coffee for those in their house that needed it and was handing them out as people headed out the door. Most left with a disposable cup in one hand and an umbrella in the other, “Need a drink, dear?” The lamia asked as Galahad moved toward the door dressed in jeans, boots, and a thick coat.
	“Nah, I’ve got something already,” He shook his water bottle before rubbing his face, removing the last of the sand from his eyes. In the bottle was a powdered energy drink, the kind he had to mix with water. It tasted like citrus, which he much preferred to the taste of coffee.
	“Most professors will think you aren’t taking your classes seriously dressed like that,” The lamia scolded as she reached out instinctually and adjusted the collar of his coat.
	Galahad sighed and thought nothing of her grabbing his clothes gently, “I had to leave my robes behind when I left home,” He sheepishly explained.
	“Oh, you poor thing. Do not worry, I shall source something for you,” She grinned as she handed a cup of coffee to another student who strode past the two.
	“You really don’t need to do that for me…”
	“Nonsense. It will not be fancy, but it will keep you warm and protect you from some lower level mishaps that seem to happen every year,” She smiled again and pushed him out the door, “Better hurry! You might be late!” 
	“Thanks, Shanessa!” He called back as he hurried through the rain to the transmutation building. The load in his bottomless bag had been lightened after he had removed all of his clothes and other non magical components from it but it had gotten heavier due to the books that now sat snugly inside its vast space. Although he didn’t feel the full weight of the books due to the magic, he still felt a fraction of it and the strap on his shoulder tugged down against his collar. 
	 He watched as other students filed into their respective buildings, eager to get to their classes and get out of the rain. Galahad stomped across the puddle filled parking lot across the street from the dorm towers and pulled his hood up, doing his best to keep the water off his face, “Galahad! Hey!” A voice cried before they sped up to his side, “I knew it was you! Not many around here wear plainclothes like you do,” It was the gnome, Suzie, who was on the council of house Karak-Albrac, “Ready for your first day of classes?” 
	“Ready as I can be,” Galahad wiped his face off, wishing he had a wide umbrella like the witch did, “Real anxious about it.”
	The purple cloaked gnome giggled, “Ah, you’ll get over it! If Fredrik wasn’t pulling my leg, ya seem more than competent!”
	Galahad grimaced, unsure if them talking about him was a good thing or not, “So now you know too? I assume everyone does.”
	“Well, not everyone,” The two stepped into the building, shaking the water off themselves before starting down the hallway, “I just went out of my way to get Fredrik to tell me about you. It was really nice of you to heal Rita like that.”
	“Eh, I would have done it for anyone,” Galahad meekly replied, “My class is over here, I’ll see you around, Suzie.”
	“Yeah, bye, Galahad,” The gnome gave an impish smile and a wave before heading to the stairs.
	Galahad stepped into his Transmutation 101 classroom, closing the door behind him. When he gazed around the small classroom, he saw only a few other students. He was unfortunately the oldest, but what caught his eyes were the two women at the front of the room. The first was Miss Manus in her usual fluffy fur cloak and fuzzy hat. The other woman had a body made of a white, shining stone. When she turned to glance at Galahad, he realized she was one of the headmasters but she had been made of a dull gray stone when he last saw her. She smiled at him, “Is this the promising student you mentioned, Manus?” She was wearing black robes with golden, flowery designs at the hem of the sleeves and the midsection on her hips; it drew Galahad’s eyes to both of these areas. Her face looked like it was chiseled out of stone, and her hair did too, though it was much darker and came down to her shoulders. Her eyes were made of precious, semi transparent, blue stones with no iris, making it difficult to tell where exactly she was looking.
	“Yes. That is Galahad,” Miss Manus’s stoney face didn’t let on how she felt at all.
	“U-uh, good morning, Miss Manus,” He approached the front desk nervously. 
	“This is Headmaster Jasper Crixx,” The witch gestured with one arm at the construct, “Her primary role is to teach transmutation but has delegated a few of those classes to me and other, more experienced teachers. She was here to check on me before I begin teaching.”
	“What a pleasure to meet you, Galahad,” Miss Crixx put out her hand, “As Manus just said, I am Professor Crixx. I have been teaching at this academy ever since it was rebuilt in this world. I look forward to seeing your progress in the coming year.”
	“Uh, t-thank you,” Galahad’s handshake was a little loose as he shook her rocky hand. It was strangely soft and warm, unlike anything he had ever experienced in a construct, almost making him forget to break off the handshake.
	“Are you planning on becoming a master of transmutation?” Professor Crixx asked, “You dress like someone who is not planning on spending much time here.”
	“W-well,” He scratched his head nervously, “I’ve got some robes on the way. I hope,” He quickly added, not wanting to deal in absolutes, especially with a figure who had authority over him.
	“You did not bring any with you?” 
Galahad watched as the construct’s body changed from bright stone to multicolored quartz that jutted out wildly in every direction. The sight stunned him for a moment before he realized he needed to respond, “I-I could only pack so much. It seemed the least important to me.”
	“Ah,” The old construct creaked as her form changed to a gray, smooth stone, “I understand. It is nothing to be embarrassed about,” She pulled a silver pocket watch from her robes and her body turned into a semi transparent, frosted glass as surprise crossed her face, “Ah! I am going to be late! Goodbye everyone, Manus and Galahad!” She hurried out of the room.
	Galahad turned back to Miss Manus, “You told her about me?”
	“She simply inquired about students that I considered promising. I mentioned you and two others that I met on the few orientation nights up until this point. I admittedly have the most information on you so I was able to talk about you the most,” Miss Manus coldly explained before pulling two books from a bag, “You may sit down, Galahad. I intend to start when the bell tolls. If you wish to speak to me about the class we can do so afterward.”
	“Ah, right. Sorry,” Galahad found a seat and plopped himself down. The class had fifteen places to sit in three rows of five each. The front of the room had a blackboard that was surprisingly spotless. To the left side of the room– from the student’s perspective– was a set of windows that went from about halfway up the wall to the ceiling. The right side of the room had blank walls and the door leading in and out of the room. 
	Miss Manus stared up at the wall where an analogue clock ticked quietly, barely audible above the few conversations that echoed around the room and the rain that pitter pattered on the thick windows. She glanced at Galahad who nervously tapped on his wooden desk. He had the correct text book in front of him for the class along with a notebook to write in. He looked unfathomably uncomfortable and nervous. The tiniest of frowns spread across her lips as she wondered if she was placing too much pressure on him. He was easily a knowledgeable wizard, but would he really struggle in her class? She shook her head. He could handle it. He would need to be able to if he was to join her house. This was merely a beginner’s course for transmutation, if he had trouble with that there was no hope for him. 
	The belfry donged, once, twice, and more to a total of eight times, “Welcome one and all,” Miss Manus greeted, snapping the ten person class to attention. She gazed over all of them with her black and blue eyes as if coldly examining every student one by one, “I am quite glad to see students of all ages in my care. Grade school, high school, college, adults, all of your teaching is in my hands,” As if to prove how capable her hands were, Miss Manus pushed her fluffy cloak open to reveal them, all six arms fanned out in a small circle in front of her. Most of the younger students and some of the older, including Galahad, were shocked by her reveal. Underneath the cloak she had a teal dress, dark blue leggings and black shoes with silver buckles. She interlocked the fingers on each pair of hands so she had three locking sets of fingers resting against her torso, “Welcome to Transmutation one-oh-one. I am The Multifold Manus of Alderia,” She said, placing one hand on her breast while its partner picked up a piece of chalk and began writing her title upon the blackboard. “In this class I will be teaching you the basics of transmutation, alteration and metallurgy, all of which follow the same rudimentary principles.”
	Miss Manus pulled a small block of lead from under her cloak and sat it on the palm of one hand: her left, middle hand. Her right, middle hand was grabbed by the two above it and soon after the skin started to crack as it turned a deeper blue than before. After a few seconds it broke apart into a beautiful crystalline pattern that glistened in the lights overhead. It glowed with magical powers, “Wow…” Galahad gasped in awe.
	“Take a look at this block of lead,” Her four unoccupied hands gestured to the cube, “It has certain properties. It melts at three-hundred and twenty-seven degrees celsius, or six-hundred and twenty-one degrees fahrenheit. It conducts electricity, and can be poisonous in large quantities. From the dawn of time, in this world and the old world, alchemists and transmutationists have both striven to change lead into a precious metal. Who can tell me which one? Galahad?” Miss Manus didn’t give anyone else a chance to even raise their hands.
	“Uh,” He blinked, hand already scribbling furiously as he took notes, “Gold, right? Gold and silver?”
	“Gold primarily, yes. When I mentioned this material's properties earlier, I left out something important: its magical properties. Lead works quite well as an antimagic material, but it is transmutable still,” She explained, “With the right spells, materials, and mana, you can change it into a more desirable material,” To prove her point, she brought out a handful of magical herbs mixed with blue mana salts. She mumbled her incantation and the little block of lead turned to gold, consuming the salt and herbs in her hand, putting the scent of ozone in the air.
	An older student about Galahd's age, a dwarf lady with meticulously braided orange hair, raised a hand, “How da hell does this kinda magic not crash da gold market?”
	“In the old world it may have,” Miss Manus set the gold down, “But with modern science they are able to very closely scrutinize the gold and tell with the help of a specialized lead test whether the gold is genuine or not. The term transmuted gold is used to describe the gold we can make. Another factor limiting its production is just how difficult it can be to turn materials into gold. Usually only those on the path to mastery can do it.”
	A highschool aged student raised his hand, “Is changing your arm like that transmutation?”
	“Yes. Bodily modifications, on yourself or otherwise, is another school of transmutation. She grabbed her cloak and pulled it around the front of her body before pushing it away to reveal that she had changed four of her arms. Her bottom two arms, now that of a blue scaled lizard or dragon claw and the other a blue furred and fuzzy paw-hand. Her top two arms were an icey blue feathered wing and the other was a tentacle, “This is what I specialize in. Transmutation is all about changing the properties of objects. The mass, the color, the speed, the shape, the very composition of the object is what we strive to control.”
	“Can I turn someone into a frog!?” A much younger student excitedly inquired.
	Miss Manus nodded, “Of course. Polymorph is the other well known spell in this school. Just like every other school of magic, you will need to figure out your own style for how you will cast spells. To make this harder, transmutation spells are much more formulaic than other schools. You need precise spells, targets, mana quantities, and specific words.”
	She gazed around the class for a moment. Most students looked nervous, yet determined. Galahad looked mostly nervous, but he furiously wrote everything down. Miss Manus quickly realized he was already theorizing how his spells would be formatted, what physical materials he would use, what words he would utter, and was guessing how much mana he would need. All of his numbers were quite high. He has been studying already, Miss Manus silently noted to herself, but the mana calculations were way off.
	“Now,” She continued, picking up the Transmutation 101 book, “Flip to page thirty-two. We will begin with transmuting water into other liquids. Read through the next ten pages on the necessary components and then theorize a spell in your own style that will allow you to cast this simple transmutation.”

	Galahad’s hands moved slowly as he packed up his things, watching Miss Manus as she talked to some of the younger students. They were asking her a few questions about the homework she had handed out at the very end. All they needed to do was transmute a cup of water into another liquid in the next class. He had all day Tuesday to figure it out as the next class was on Wednesday. 
	With a sigh, Galahad decided against waiting around to make idle chat with Miss Manus. She was occupied anyways, so he decided it would be best if he’d ask her any of his questions later. He reshouldered his bag and gave Miss Manus a smile and a nod before exiting the classroom. Just under two hours had passed since the start of his Transmutation class and next was his Beginner's Alchemy course. His head was spinning with all the research he had done as well as what he had learned in class. He shook his head, rubbing his eyes, wishing he had more of his caffeinated beverage before his second class.
	Room 116 was the alchemy classroom, one of the bigger rooms in the building due to being set up to do labs in class. The tables had all sorts of alchemical equipment placed on them. Beakers, bunsen burners, mortars and pestles, and numerous other things that Galahad could not remember the names of. A woman in heavy looking robes and thick gloves of a beige color held a clipboard in her hands. Her witch’s cap was covered in old scorch marks and had a flip down welder’s mask attached to the brim. She looked up at Galahad, letting him see her long, pointed ears and short blonde hair. She was definitely an elf, a rare sight for them to teach at a non-elf run magical academy, or so Galahad had heard, “Name?” She barked at him.
	“Uh, Galahad,” He quickly replied, trying to maintain his composure.
	“Galahad, Galahad,” She ran her pen down the page and pointed back, “You’re at table six. Go now.”
	He left without a word, taking the seat on the left as he found the table labeled with a big red six. There were a total of twenty tables, five rows of four. Number one was on the right side of the room by the door, going to the left up to four before restarting on the right side one row back at five. This continued all the way up to twenty. Number six put him in the second row on the middle right. He took a deep breath and grabbed his books from the depths of his bag. He downed the last small swig of his drink before switching to water. In front of him was his Alchemy textbook, the water bottle, and a small leather bound journal.
	Galahad looked up as the professor continued assigning seating seemingly at random. He tried to listen in and see who would be his partner, “Hm, you are at table six, right next to that man in the plainclothes.”
	The wait for his partner felt a little long and he didn’t end up seeing them coming at all as they climbed up onto the stool next to him, “How’s it goin’?” His partner asked. They smirked at him with a green face. A goblin. An average sized goblin, a little under four feet tall wearing a black sleeveless cloak with a hood that was up. With a high, nasally, and gravelly voice, he looked at Galahad and grinned, “What? You never see a gobbie?”
	Galahad shook himself, realizing he was just staring, “Sorry. Just kinda exhausted. I’m not used to this yet.”
	“The whole magic thing?” 
	“Being in an academy,” He corrected quickly, “Looks like we’re partners.”
	“Yeah, but for how long?” The goblin looked Galahad up and down, “Sheesh, human fashion is pretty drab.”
	“Fashion?” Galahad scoffed, “It’s just functionable clothes. I don’t care for modern fashion.”
	“Money laundering scheme for the mermaid mafia is all it is,” The goblin concurred and both of them chuckled, “What’s your name, slick?”
	“Galahad.”
	“Gala–” The goblin shook his head, “Now how in the Hells am I supposed to shorten that to something with a single syllable? Humans and their long, dumb names.”
	“Then what’s your name? Guk?” Galahad countered.
	The goblin sneered, “No, it's Blud, you idiot."
The two glowered at one another before a smile spread across their faces, "You can call me Lox, then, short for Loxley." Galahad offered.
"Lox, huh? That does sound better, not bad for a human name." 
	“Yeah, well Blud isn’t too bad either,” Galahad smirked, “What are you studying?”
	“General magic stuff,” Blud replied, lifting up his hood and scratching his bald head, “I come from a long line of goblin thaumaturges.”
	Galahad nodded. Thaumaturge was the name given to well rounded practitioners of magic, those that did not strive for mastery but still spent years in every school of magic, “I see. Shamans too?” 
	“Eh, they’re one and the same, really. Though they used to learn from nature and dung and bones, now it's illustrious academies and apprenticeships. What about you, Lox?” 
	“Studying transmutation right now,” He explained, “It's my first day studying at an academy.”
	“So you’re a complete newbie at this?” 
	“I wouldn’t say that. I can sling a spell or a dozen or so,” Galahad gave a little smirk.
	“Alright, class!” The elven professor hollered and stared everyone down until they stopped their conversations, “I am Professor Sh’Lak. Yes, yes, that Sh’Lak. The great disgraced elven prodigy for alchemy. We needn’t dwell on that right now when there are potions to brew and explosive mishaps to be had!” She cackled, her spine arching back as she belly laughed. The sudden motion jostled her blast visor, making it come down on her face and slam against her nose. She shuddered and pushed it back up, blood oozing from her nose. The dazed look in her eyes slowly faded as the class started to chatter with one another, “Quiet!” She suddenly hollered as she shook her head, blood still dripping down her upper lip, “All part of the plan, I assure you,” She declared as she pushed her robes aside and grabbed a half full bottle of a manilla cream and dumped some of the thick liquid out her fingertips and jammed it up her nose with the sound of cracking bones making half the class shudder and gag. 
	Galahad and Blud both stared in awe as the potent potion’s power took effect, mending the broken bones and stopping the bleeding and bruising, “Nice,” Blud nodded as he wrote down what happened, “That looks useful, don’t it Lox?”
	“Yeah, it does,” The man nodded in agreement.
	Professor Sh’Lak grabbed her nose and yanked it into place as if she had done this a million times without even flinching. She wiped her forehead with a rag and her bloody nose with the sleeve of her robes. Afterward she put her hands out, palms toward the class as everyone stared in total awe and abject horror. Blud just grinned and nodded. The elf took a deep breath before tightening the screws on her metal visor’s hinge. She cleared her throat, “Okay, from the top. My name is Professor Sh’Lak. Welcome to Beginner's Alchemy. Yes, I am THAT infamous Sh’Lak, the one that blew the roof off of Castle Drung’rla. Or as I call it, Dung-Ruler. Anywho, that is neither here nor there. As we are sure to have at least one person who is unaware, let me explain alchemy to you all. Alchemy is the process of using raw magical reagents and refining them to suit a specific purpose, usually to mimic a spell or another magical effect. Healing is the most popular, but poison, ironskin, and many others are all within the realm of alchemy. It has many overlaps with transmutation, so if you are familiar with that, you will feel right at home here. Any questions?”
	The entire class was still too stunned to reply from the nose break. Galahad raised his hand, “Are there any schools of magic that are never used in alchemy?”
	“Good question!” The elf snapped her fingers, grabbed her visor as it nearly fell down, and started to speak in a very high pitched tone, “Most have some use in the alchemy process, but you wouldn’t really be making abjuration, divination, or illusion potions. Enchantment has the ever sought after love potion, and conjuration has teleportation potions. Still, if you don’t like the idea of falling in love with a shrub or rock, teleporting to the bottom of the ocean or a thousand feet in the air, I suggest not bothering with those. I’ve seen it so many times and it’s always good for a bit of a laugh!” She began to cackle again as she seemingly thought about someone who had done this before.
	“I think the teach’ is nuts,” Blud mused aloud in a hushed tone.
	Galahad nodded, “Thank you, Professor,” He quickly turned and matched Blud’s volume level, “And keep your mouth shut. Last thing I want is for her to lob an explosive potion at us.”
	“Alright, enough dawdling, we are already down a bit of time and we need to get going. I am going to hand out a form, please read it over and sign it if you are comfortable. It just says that me and the academy are not at fault if you lose some fingers, limbs, or your life.”
	“M-My fingers!?” A younger student went pale as they looked at their ten splayed out digits on their two hands. 
	“Oh, calm down! I will PERSONALLY brew you a regeneration potion so you can grow some new ones or I shall call upon your choice of magical medicine man to magic it back on with whatever brand of mumboujmbo they subscribe to!” Professor Sh’Lak was unflinching as a student went down, completely out cold as they collapsed on their lab partner. A bit of a panic started to spread through the room, “Heavens above and hells below! What a bunch of sissies. Alathorne, give me strength to deal with this round of students. I am handing out the papers now. Just lay that kid on the ground, she should be fine.”
	“I think I’m gonna love this class!” Blud decided, signing the papers without even thinking about it. 
	“Once you’ve signed your papers! Bring out your textbooks and we can get started. Our first project will be a minor healing potion. Take a moment to read your book and then go to the cabinet to get your reagents! Everything else you need is on your desk!”
	
	Another class down. Galahad’s lab partner, Blud, rubbed his face, “Well, we didn’t die,” The goblin grumbled, “But I never expected using a mortar and pestle to hurt so bad.”
	“You were over grinding the herb leaves. Plus you shouldn’t have been grinding up the mana salt that much, it lets the mana out,” Galahad explained, “We’ve got until Wednesday to get it down.”
	“Gimmie your number, Lox,” Blud demanded, “We’ll tryta get this done before that class, aight? You live on campus?”
	“I do.”
	“I live in town south of here. I can take a bus to campus to meet up with ya or hitch a ride with someone,” The goblin explained before whipping out his phone. Galahad handed his phone number over and put Blud’s in his phone, “Alright, we can get this done in the lab. I’m part of the Seeker’s House too so we should be able to go use the labs whenever.”
	“Alright, good,” Galahad nodded, following the goblin out of the room.
	“Hey, Blud,” Another goblin approached the pair, “Make yourself a friend?” 
	“I dunno, Lox here is pretty cool for a human. Lox, this is my sister, Rald,” Blud gestured to the wide-hipped goblin who wore a matching outfit to him with the addition of a full head of wild, raven-black hair.
	“Lox, huh?” Rald walked in a circle around him, “I like your jeans. They look a lot more comfy than what guys usually wear.”
	“Uh, thanks,” Galahad gave a little, awkward smile, “My actual name is Galahad, if you prefer that.”
	“Nah,” Rald smirked, “Human names are pretty dumb. Want a future reading? I need some practice.”
	“Sure, I’ve got some time, I think,” Galahad nodded and followed the two to a small common area in the transmutation building with some vending machines, tables, and a drinking fountain. Blud went over to a vending machine while Galahad took a seat with Rald. She was admittedly a bit cute, her green skin was lime green and without blemishes, the blacks of her eyes glistened in the overhead lights and she stared at him with a row of sharp, grinning teeth and red irises, “So what do we do?”
	“Gimme your hand first, Lox, I’m not very good at palm reading but maybe I can see something,” She put out her hands and Galahad slid his left hand across the table. The goblin gripped his fingers, pulling them taught before running her fingers over the folds and wrinkles of his hand, “Huh…?” 
	“What is it?” Blud grunted as he returned with a Kit-Kat bar for him and a Butterfinger for his sister.
	“Your hands have seen some use.”
	“Well, duh, he’s like, twenty five or something. That’s twenty five or whatever years of use on his hands?” Blud looked at his sister like she was an idiot.
	Rald looked daggers back at him, if looks could kill her brother would have burnt up instantly, “Shut up. He’s been casting for a very long time! Look at this, you can see crystalline build up under his skin here and here,” She jerked his hand over to show her brother, “Or at least he’s used a lot of mana salt.”
	“How the hell does that work?” Blud scratched his head.
	Galahad sighed, “Salt naturally sucks up mana in the air, once it has its fill, it turns blue. It's a physical form of mana like aether crystals and can be used in casting. You can absorb bits of it for mana or use it in your casting but if you do this you can get little grains of salt under the skin that can absorb more mana and get bigger.”
	“Hells! Does that hurt?” Blud poked at Galahad’s pink flesh. It wasn’t really something he could see, but the salt particles underneath the skin moved around when poked, thankfully not cutting the skin they sat under.
	“Not really. You can get it removed pretty easily, but it’ll just happen again. Once it's painful to close my hand then I’ll get that procedure done,” Galahad chuckled, “Does my palm say anything else?”
	“Oh, right, um,” She put one hand next to her head, pressing two fingers to her temple before casting a divination spell, running her fingers over the folds in his palm again, “I see… a fight. Maybe a few of them. I can’t really see who, but he’s… a rival? Big adversary? But why are you fighting…? I–I–” Her eyes flew open and she made a pained expression, “Jeez. I don’t know why, but everything is a lot cloudier than usual.”
	“What does that mean?” Blud wondered, “Look, I might be a thaumaturge but I haven’t looked into divination yet.”
	“Well, Headmaster Lysteria has said–that’s the divination house’s head Professor,” Rald explained quickly, “She says that the future you see can always change. That could be why it's so obfuscated. Maybe you won’t be fighting? Or some kind of magic could be keeping it hidden? Who knows, I’m not good at this stuff despite how much time I spend on it,” She sighed in a disappointed fashion as she pulled away, opening up the candy her brother had bought for her.
	“Hey, you did fine,” Galahad assured her, “Better than what I could do.”
	“Thanks, Lox,” The goblin gave a little smile, still looking sad, “But unless you gave up divination on your path to mastery, I doubt it.”
	“Oh I did. That and illusion,” Galahad smirked, “I gotta get to my next class. I’ll see you around, Blud and Rald,” He gave a little wave and left after the goblins returned it. 
	“Stop looking at him like that,” Blud chastised his sister.
	“Hey, you’re the one that introduced me to him. Like you said, he ain’t bad, for a human at least,” Rald grinned, “Most humans wouldn’t let me do a palm reading like that or be so nice about it.”
	“Yeah, well, don’t come cryin’ to me when he turns you down.”
	“I dunno if I’ll try. I saw ‘love’ when I read his palm with a lot of pain close to it. Pain for him or them? I can’t really say,” Rald sighed and shook her head. "What a shame…"
Her brother gave an incredulous look, “So what, you’re gonna swoop in if he gets hurt by her and ask him out?”
	“Oh, shut up. That’s not a good look for anyone involved. Not that my idiot brother would understand romance.”
	“Do you understand it? Those goblin woman and human or dwarf man dramas you watch aren’t exactly accurate, are they?” He scoffed.
	“Well, I’ve got more of a grasp on it than YOU due to that, so shut it!” She grumbled, turning away and eating the Butterfinger slowly as she watched Galahad walk to his next class.

	Galahad’s third and final class of the day was Conjuration 101. While he knew some stuff about summoning small, non living things, he knew nothing about the teleportation half of conjuration nor the portion of summoning that brought living creatures from other existences into this world. The rain had let up and had given way to a blue sky with white fluffy clouds heavily breaking it up. The short trek across the parking lot to the conjuration building was simple, only needing to dodge a single horse drawn carriage that was being pulled to the far end of the lot to pick up a very posh looking white haired cat witch. 
	He climbed the small set of steps and went in the main entrance to the conjuration building and easily navigated to room 105, walking past witches and wizards milling about in the halls as they waited for their classes to start. He walked past a few wizards thumbing through their spell books, witches showing off their familiars and a griffonite, a hobgoblin, a wolfman, and a dwarf playing a trading card game in the common area. Galahad didn’t recognize it at all, but their cards all looked well played. Maybe the game was from the nineties with a very niche audience? Galahad looked at the griffonite, a demi-human with features like that of the mythical creature; wings, talon-like hands and legs like that of a lion. He had even styled his hair to look like a lion’s mane. If it weren’t for his human-like face, Galahad might have mistaken him for a monster. The griffonite’s long, furred ears tilted back and forth in irritation as he considered playing a newer looking card. Galahad got even more confused at the group’s reactions when they all nearly flipped the table after the griffonite slapped the card down. He swiftly moved on before spells could be slung, he didn’t have time to gawk at old card games or mage fights. 
	He ducked into room 105 to dodge a lightning bolt, sighing as he prepared to locate somewhere to sit, “Take a seat,” A deep voice ordered. An older, gray and well trimmed, bearded wizard impatiently tapped his fingers on his desk with one hand while stroking the chin of one of four cats lounging on his desk with the other. Galahad simply nodded and found a spot to sit in the middle of the room before grabbing his bag and starting to pick out the books he needed. 
“Meow,” A muffled voice cried from inside the desk. Galahad stared for just a moment before lifting the top of the desk. There was indeed a cat inside, it seemed like it had climbed in through a decently sized hole in the back of the desk. The cat yawned and stretched before hopping onto Galahad’s lap and rubbing its face against his chest while purring loudly. A quick glance around the room revealed there were cats everywhere. Under chairs, on desks, on the windowsills and even on the shelves on the right side of the room. The classroom had twenty or so desks, most being filled by students young and old. Most were trying to ignore the cats that batted at their hats and robes, some pet the cats or held them like babies as they waited for class to start. Galahad patted the cat that was being affectionate toward him and tried to get his books out. As soon as the books were on his desk, the cat climbed up and started to doze off on his Conjuration 101 tome. He sighed as the bell tower chimed, it was noon now and Galahad was starting to get hungry. The professor at the front of the room looked like he was silently counting each dong of the belfry. 
	“And twelve,” The professor grunted as the last of the dongs rang, “Good afternoon. Welcome to our Conjuration one-hundred and one course,” He sounded almost annoyed as he spoke. With the wave of his wand, he blew all the cat hair off his robes before adjusting his brimless wizard cap, “I am Professor Qualintry, a master of conjuration specializing in summoning magicks,” The wizard waved his wand and said a single word under his breath. Every cat in the room hopped up and hurried to his side, each of them sitting in a neat and tidy row beneath the chalkboard at the front of the room. A few younger students giggled as each cat in unison started to bat at the tail of the cat next to them, “Are they not the most precious things you have ever seen?” 
	“They’re just purr-fect,” Someone giggled.
	“Yes, yes…” Professor Qualintry cleared his throat and wiped the smile from his own face, “Ahem. In this class, we will focus on the summoning and control of earthly summons. In the two hundred level classes we will start to summon non living things from other existences and finally in three hundred level courses you will learn to summon low level other worldly creatures like imps, elementals, and the odd cherub. Push those visions of grandeur from your mind for now.”
	“When do we learn about teleportation?” Another academy-goer asked.
	“Teleportation magic is in its own class due to being so different from the rest of conjuration. Conjuration one-hundred and one will aid you in learning the teleportation magic as you learn the fundamentals of it all,” The professor explained dismissively, releasing his grip on the cats and letting them wander around the room again, “Conjuration one-hundred and four will delve into it. One-hundred and three delves into making a creature your familiar and two is an extension of this class. Does anyone have experience in this school of magic? Raise your hand,” A few hands went up. Professor Qualintry nodded and folded his arms, “Those of you that just put your hands up please keep them down now. Who here has experience with magic at all?” Galahad and many others put hands into the air, “Those of you who do not wish to try their hand at a spell they are unfamiliar with, put those hands down,” Galahad kept his hand up while nearly everyone else put theirs down, leaving only him and two others with theirs up, “My. We usually have no volunteers for this portion. You, in the back. Come to the front,” He pointed to a half-elf, as signified by their long and somewhat rounded ears. She had brown skin, all black eyes, and small goat horns coming out of her scalp. A half-breed wild elf, a rare sight to behold but there was very little confidence in how she carried herself as she made her way up and waded through the cats, “Name?” Professor Qualintry demanded.
	“Um, Penelope,” She whimpered.
	“Last name.”
	Oh, uh, Wolf. Penelope Wolf,” She quickly and timidly added. 
	“Miss Wolf, I assume you have done the studying I requested otherwise you are going to make a fool of yourself in front of the class,” He grumbled, eyeing her down.
	“O-Of course I have. What do you want me to do?” The wild elf nodded and produced her wand and spell book. The thick tome was bound in dark brown leather wreathed in green leaves and brown roots.
	The professor nodded and gave her a small leather pouch, “Conjure an animal,” He stepped back and gave her a bit of room. 
	The elf nodded and waved her wand, the roots on her spell book grew until they touched the floor, forming a natural looking lectern made of winding, gnarled roots and leaves, “Summon… squirrel,” She mumbled aloud as she thumbed through her book and found the spell she had already written down. She took a few deep breaths, bringing a semblance of calm over her being so as to not cause a miscast due to her anxiousness. Digging through the pouch she grabbed some nuts, berries, and a tuft of fur. She began by crunching up the ingredients in her hand and said some words of power in another language. It wasn’t the language of dragons like most wizards would use, it was something elven sounding, but seemingly almost just as ancient as she started to mumble and whisper the words. Professor Qualintry waved his wand and opened one of the windows. The books and tomes of everyone in the front row rattled as the elf began to suck in a bit of the aetheric winds around her. She waved her wand over her head and pointed it out the window as her spell came to a crescendo, a green glow emanating from her wand before shooting out the window and up a tree.
	The materials in the elf’s hand, minus the fur, were dropped gracefully to the floor in a ground up pile. Soon enough, a squirrel from the outside world climbed inside and dashed for the food that Miss Wolf had dropped for it. She knelt down and pet it before picking it up and placing it on her shoulder. The class clapped politely while the professor nodded in satisfaction, “Good. Good. Most don’t get that in one try. Are you sure I shouldn’t be moving you up to the two hundred level courses?” He joked as the now sweating elf sat back down, “What she just did, those of you who are unsure of your abilities will do by Wednesday,” He cast a spell to reel in the cats that were hungrily eyeing the squirrel before clearing his throat again, “Now, let us begin the lecture. Take notes if you need it but this class’s assigned text book has more than enough information for you to succeed in this class. Let us begin at chapter three, the first two chapters are about mana control, spell basics, and such. All of you should be familiar with such concepts at this point. Now, when attempting to summon a creature…”

	Galahad left his conjuration class with his head chock full of new information. Anything more and he would probably have a headache due to how much he had learned in just one day. As he understood it, most of his classes would be class time on Monday and then lab time on Wednesday to show you had been working on the homework. By Wednesday he needed to be able to summon an animal, turn water into another liquid, and create a minor healing potion. Easy enough, Galahad thought to himself. He left the conjuration building and started to trek across the campus ground. It had been a long day, even if it was only six hours total, trying to retain every little piece of information was difficult along with taking notes and following along with the Professors. Especially with how difficult it had been to take notes in the conjuration class with all the cats that were climbing on him during the class. But like Professor Qualintry had said, the textbook had more than enough content in it to guide him through the class. The summoning spell seemed easy enough, it was definitely shoved to the back of his mind for now. He would get the potion components down and then work on his transmutation homework. Perhaps the summoning would be winged during class, he wasn’t sure yet. 
	With the rumbling of his stomach, Galahad stopped and looked north up the road he was about to cross. The cafeteria loomed nearby, tempting him with the promise of food– at a cost. He had money, more than enough to feed himself, thankfully. With a sigh, he started to trudge toward the building. He stepped through a set of glass double doors and was face to face with a small collection of little restaurants and multiple rows and columns of tables. Galahad saw a pizza place, a sandwich shop, a fast food burger joint, a tiny smoothie place that also sold soft pretzels and a sushi restaurant. With a rumbling stomach, Galahad went to the fast food place and ordered two burgers and some fries. 
	“Galahad! Galahad!” A voice called. He spun around, glancing around the room trying to figure out who was calling him. Over in the corner, near the smoothie joint was a table with four familiar faces sitting around it, “Come on! Come sit!” It was Suzie shouting at him. 
	He made his way over as he saw Miss Manus was sitting with her along with Todd the mono-eye and Holmit the dwarf. The only one in the higher ups of house Karak-Albrac missing was Fredrik for whatever reason, “Hey,” Galahad casually greeted.
	“Sit, sit,” Suzie ordered and didn’t wait until he had taken a seat between Miss Manus and Holmit, “How’s your first day going?”
	“It's going well,” He replied as he rubbed his forehead, “It’s gonna take some time to get used to this, to be honest.” 
	Todd tapped his fingers together, “Is it really that tough?”
	“He wasn’t shipped off to a magic boarding school like we were,” Holmit grumbled as he wrote something down in a spiral notebook.
	Suzie shrugged, “We’ve seen a lot of people do poorly despite being in the boarding school. But it really does set you up for success there.”
	Miss Manus glanced at Galahad, “Are your professors competent?”
	“Uh,” He quickly recalled their names, “Professor Qualintry comes off a bit grumpy but he seems like a good teacher. I can’t really say for Sh’Lak, she’s a wild card at this point but the class seems fun, to be honest.”
	“I like Professor Sh’Lak!” Suzie announced as she closed her book, “If you need help with her class, come to me and I can petition for you.”
	“That’s all? You’re taking two classes only?” Holmit scoffed, taking more notes.
	“Miss Manus here is my third teacher. I have no qualms with her teaching so far,” With the folding of his arms, Galahad stared down Holmit, “Does it matter to you how many classes I’m taking?” 
	A creaking noise gave away that Todd was shifting nervously, “D-do we need to fight?”
	“Oh stop it, all of you,” Suzie interjected, standing on her chair so she could slap the table with both hands. Holmit stared at the gnomish woman and simply shook his head, “Don’t take it personally, Galahad, he’s not trying to be combative, he always talks that way,” Suzie explained before shooting the dwarf another glare, “Right, Holmit?”
Holmit grunted a non-answer.
“I… I’m sorry. Can we start over?” Galahad asked the dwarf. He thought about it for a moment before shrugging.
“Pay it no mind, my father and brothers’ve harsher tones than I,” Holmit replied with a handwave. “Let’s just ‘ope you’ve got as much fire behind your spellwork as you do your spirit.”
“Hopefully not too much fire…” Todd added hastily.
	A sigh left Galahad’s lips, “Sorry, Todd,” The table was quiet, making Galahad wonder how much longer his food would be. He turned to Miss Manus, “Uh, how are you, Miss Manus?”
	“Fine,” She replied curtly.
	Now it was Galahad’s turn to shift awkwardly, “How do you manage teaching and taking classes? At least I assume you’re taking classes alongside teaching.”
	“I spread it out across the week,” She didn’t even look up at him when she replied.
	“I see. Uh–”
	“There’s no point in it, boy,” Holmit grunted beside him, “The President is ‘opeless when it comes to talking to people. I’d be surprised if even ‘er mother could get a word out of ‘er.”
	The table went silent as Suzie glared at him again. Miss Manus calmly closed her books and pulled them under her fluffy cloak, “Excuse me,” She said in a hushed tone before stepping away from the table and leaving her tray at one of the trash cans.
	“You’ve done it now, Holmit,” Suzie growled and folded her arms.
	“What? Our president’s ice covered ‘eart is not so easily cracked. She’s not that fragile. Maybe Galahad annoyed her,” The dwarf grumbled back.
	“HOLMIT!” Suzie roared. Galahad could almost swear he saw fire coming from her eyes, “I will not let you throw Galahad under the bus here!”
	“Alright, alright. I will procure some mana salt and wine for our president to make it up to her. For me or Galahad, whoever made her leave,” He dismissively said. 
	Todd looked uncomfortable as he shuddered and glanced between everyone with his one big eye. Suzie’s jaw hung open in disbelief, “I can't believe you. Come on, Galahad. I think they’re calling you for your food.”
	“Uh, yeah, right,” He got up and followed the gnome over to the burger place and grabbed his bag of food before following Suzie outside. 
	“That guy is such a–” She stifled her swearing by kicking a trash can, “Every single dwarf I know is a pain in my rear!”
	“Suzie, calm down,” said Galahad, “There’s no point in raging at him.”
	“I’m gonna transmute that dumb beard of his into– into spiders or somthing,” She threatened, “Cover his room in glitter. Cover HIM in glitter! And maybe I’ll put it in his beer too! And then–”
	“Suzie,” The man repeated her name in a firm tone, finally quieting her down, “Just go check on Miss Manus for me, will you? I don’t care if she’s annoyed with me, or mad at him, I just hope she’s not too upset.”
	She folded her arms and sighed, “Alright. I’m sure Manus is fine. But that doesn’t give him the right to talk like that.”
	“Even then, we’re gonna get nowhere raging at him.”
	“Right, right…” She rubbed her eyes, “Go get some studying done, Galahad. And don’t forget to eat.”
	“I will. Take care of yourself now,” Galahad shoved his free hand in his pocket and headed to the Seeker’s House. His eyes were feeling heavy and his stomach was even emptier than it felt before. 
	His shoes felt like they were filled with lead as Galahad opened the door to the Seeker’s tower and stepped into the main room. A lot of other students looked tired too, after only one day, “Welcome home, Galahad,” Shanessa approached him, “I see you have already found a meal for yourself. I would have offered you some sandwiches if you had needed it.”
	“Thank you,” Galahad gave a tired smile, “Hey, can I ask you something?”
	“Anything you need,” She gave him her full attention, “Is something the matter? You seem… off.”
	“Well… how should I try to reach out to someone if I’m struggling to talk with them?” He asked. He had no one else to ask. Who else was there? Fredrik, or Blud? They probably weren’t going to be helpful at all. Fredrik would probably also tell him to give up on even talking to Miss Manus and Blud, well, he’d probably just make fun of him for worrying over something like that in the first place. Or maybe that was just his worries talking to him, but even so Shanessa seemed the best choice.
	“Find something that they enjoy or at least is a large part of their life and make that the focal point of your chatter. Classes, a specific field of study, or maybe a movie they enjoy? Does that help?” She smiled after giving her honest response. She looked like she was searching Galahad’s face for a change in emotions.
	He slowly nodded, “Yeah… yeah I think that does really help. Thanks.”
	“Anytime. Go rest, feel free to ask the other students for help with your studies if you need it,” She smiled before Galahad sauntered off, still looking deep in thought as he headed up the stairs.
	He went to the portal door and grabbed the crystal, “Galahad Loxley,” He commanded, trying to ignore the sickening noises of that orcish cooking show that always seemed to be on. He wanted to keep his appetite a bit longer as he stepped into his minute room before closing and locking the door behind him. He sat at his desk and pulled out his textbooks, “What to talk to her about…” He wondered as he grabbed one of the burgers, “She talked a lot when teaching… maybe…” He looked at his Transmutation 101 textbook before going for his phone and dialing a number. 
It rang a few times before the person on the other end picked it up, “Galahad! My friend! What can I do for you? Do you require the illustrious Fredrik’s help?”
	“Well, I do. I need a favor or a solid or whatever you want to call it,” Galahad continued.
	“Between you and I there are no favors. Just friends helping friends. What is it?”
	“It's about Miss Manus…”

	With his nerves steeled, Galahad  walked toward The Seeker’s House cautiously. Although he knew the dragon on the banner was just an illusion, he really didn’t like how it stared at him, even if it was a lot kinder looking than before. It almost looked happy to welcome him into its clutch along with the people who were now his house mates. Galahad grabbed the knocker on the wooden door and slammed it once. The door quickly opened and Galahad found himself face-to-face with a kind-looking, older woman maybe ten years his senior. Her smile was gentle and her yellow eyes blinked at him for only a moment. She glanced quickly at the band on the man’s arm and opened the door wide for him, “That band lets you open the door yourself, you know,” She chuckled, gesturing for him to enter.
	“Sorry, I was a bit intimidated by that dragon on the banner,” He admitted, stepping inside and closing the door behind him.
	The woman laughed, coiling a long, orange, scaled body underneath herself. A lamia, one of the half-snake demi-humans, her scaly underside starting at her waist and weaving down into a tail several feet long. There were also a few sparse scales along the woman’s chin and ears. She wore a white gown and a smaller white cone hat with a thin brim folded up towards the tip. Her ears were long and pointed with gold chains hanging from the tips and looping down to the earlobes, “Well, good afternoon. Welcome to your new home. I am Shanessa, The Seeker’s house… 'mother.' An unofficial title, but I am proud to bear it,” She smiled a bright, toothy smile at Galahad, making him blush. All of her S’s were drawn out as she spoke with a thin, forked tongue that occasionally flicked out at him when she spoke. 
As he got a better look, Galahad realized her pupils were slits, “Mother?”
	“Well, I am the oldest of House Seeker and the younger students come to me for guidance. I have felt that this is my calling. For that reason I have purposefully stayed in this house despite going for a mastery in necromancy,” She chuckled, “Healing magic specifically. I am not a fan of raising corpses unless I am resuscitating the very recently deceased. Thankfully that is not needed very often.”
	“I see. I'm in good hands then,” Galahad replied, to which Shanessa nodded and simply smiled. Galahad took a moment to glance around the ground floor of the Seeker’s House. Without any windows, all the light being cast around the room was from a chandelier that burned softly with a set of orange flames. Around the room there were two tables with four chairs each. Two seats at each table were taken by young adults who had put down their books to see the new arrival. They gave polite smiles while Galahad gave a little wave, then they returned to their studies quietly. Along the walls of the room were shelves, most of them being free standing ones fastened to the stone walls containing thick tomes, rolled up scrolls, a few potions and even unrefined reagents for casting and potion brewing. Galahad wondered if some of the materials were leftovers from student experiments that had been finished or long since misplaced ingredients. Tucked against the walls opposite from one another were leather recliners that currently sat empty. They certainly looked comfortable, and had end tables with books stacked on them. On the far wall was a wooden staircase leading to the second floor. Galahad nodded before turning back to Shanessa, “Where are the dorm rooms? I spent two near sleepless nights on a train and I just need some rest, even if it is only eight.”
	“Upstairs, please follow me,” The lamia brought the man up the stairs, slowly slithering up them on her long snake body. As he moved to the second floor, Galahad heard the noises of someone watching TV. A goblin, a halfling, and a human all sat on a big, heavily used couch watching the ever popular ‘Big Orc's Big Cook Off’ where two orcs went head-to-head cooking up the best meals they could. Each challenge usually involved either orc being given the entire carcass of a recently hunted animal, a pair of crocodiles in this case, then they have to skin, butcher, and prepare the meat in a dish, gaining points for how much of the slain reptile they use. It was always a spectacle with the two orcs screaming slurs and insults at one another across the kitchen, sometimes even throwing bones, butcher knives or even the whole carcass at the other contestant. Whatever episode it was, a fight was sure to always break out between the contestants. In fact it seemed to be encouraged. Both Galahad and Shanessa were transfixed by the show, it was easily something anyone could enjoy.
	“Oh, Salt-Guts has got this in the bag!” The goblin on the couch decreed with his nasally voice as it showed this Salt-Guts orc slam his meat tenderizer so hard on the croc’s belly it exploded all over him, resulting in a big grin on his face. Quickly, he scooped the innards into a bucket and slammed it on the stovetop to cook.
	The human scoffed, “His technique is so shoddy! Like, who the hell wants to eat anything out of a ‘gut bucket’!?”
	“Ah, humans,” The halfling shook her head, “Ya just can’t wrap your heads around other cultures.”
	“What’s that supposed to mean!? You’d eat that crap!?”
	“Nah, I’m just messing with ya, I’m ready to barf!” She visibly gagged before giggling.
	“I would.” The Goblin admitted, “It’s making me hungry jus’ thinkin’ about it. Think I'll order some takeout from Grizzghul's.”
	As a commercial break came on for Grizzghul's Grillhouse, Galahad was finally able to tear himself away from the screen. Shanessa did the same, “I do not understand this show, but all the students seem to really enjoy it,” She grumbled, rubbing her temples, “Up that ladder is our personal alchemy set,” She gestured to a ladder behind the couch which led to a third floor, “Feel free to grab any books here and downstairs if you need some reading materials. The dorm rooms are through this door,” She gestured to a wooden door in the stonework, “What is your name, dear?”
	“Galahad Loxley,” He replied, watching as she made her way to the door.
	Shanessa cleared her throat and put her hand on a softly glowing gem next to the door, “Galahad Loxley,” She commanded. The door shuddered and clicked before she tried the handle, opening it inward to an extra dimensional space containing a simple twin size bed, a dresser, a desk, a chair, and a tiny vanity. Galahad stepped into the room with the snake woman, making it feel very cramped as he did his best not to step on her tail, “And here you are. I know it's not the biggest, but it should be cozy, right? You can rotate that crystal to change that window to a different scene. That crystal there controls temperature and humidity, just fiddle around with it, you will get it quickly. When you want to leave, just unlock your door and that should move it to the front of the pocket dimension.”
	As she explained each of the small crystals attached to the cream walls, Galahad tried them each, watching the outdoor scene switch from a forest, to a field, to a serene ocean where the sun was slowly moving toward the horizon, “I could get used to this view, real or not.”
	“I know, right? Your keys are on the vanity. Come get me if you need anything, Galahad. My door is always unlocked,” She gave him a smile and left, closing the door on the way out. Galahad tested the keys, listening to them lock the door with a satisfying THUNK. He set his bag down, deciding to unpack later. After changing into his sleepwear, he climbed onto his bed and closed his eyes, trying to sleep. Classes and the people he had met, especially that mysterious woman, Miss Manus, were all he had on his mind. He needed to buy books and materials, but those could wait. For now, rest was what he needed.

	THUD! THUD! THUD!
	“Galahad! Are you in there?” A voice called, rousing Galahad from his slumber. Checking the clock, he saw it was around eight in the morning. 
	“Huh?” He drowsily called back, pushing the plush blanket and soft sheets off his chest. 
	Beyond his door Galahad heard some chatter,  “Fredrik, do you really need to wake him? Let him sleep! He just arrived yesterday after such a long journey!” It was Shanessa chastising him, her voice a bit groggy from it being quite early in the morning.
	“If he is to be my peer, he must be able to rise early and catch the worm!” Fredrik replied in his seemingly usual bombastic way, “Galahad! I will unlock this door with the wave of my wand and pull you out of bed if I need to!”
	“I’m awake!” Galahad called as he rubbed his face and climbed from the bed, “I’ll be out in a moment, Fredrik!”
“Wondrous, my friend! I shall wait for you here. But please, I would prefer to get this underway, so hasten your freshening up, my friend!” The golden-faced man called.
	Galahad didn’t reply. He had no idea why Fredrik wanted him, but if he was to join the transmutation house sometime down the line, he would need to do his best to be in their good graces. Even if he was the best transmutation wizard on campus, the council could just say ‘no’ and he would be out of luck and stuck in this Seeker’s house for his entire time at the academy. Worries of what would be worse plagued his mind. What if the entire house simply disregarded him and refused to help or teach him? He couldn't let that happen.
	After a quick shower and dressing up in black slacks and a blue-green button up along with his bag strapped over his shoulder. Galahad left his room to see Fredrik leaning against the couch. Behind him another three wizards from the Seeker’s house, all mostly new arrivals along with some others, sat in simple chairs around the room all watching the TV again. This time it was the Dwarven Golf League. No one seemed to be really enjoying it other than a single older dwarf who must have been in the room first. The dwarf was swearing and pumping his fists alongside the golfers as they took their shots– hollering at the TV whether it was good or not– and then taking a sip from his personal flask just like the golfers would do. One dwarf even had a second golf caddy following him around who only carried a medium sized barrel full of booze for him.
Before anything else could distract them, Fredrik beckoned Galahad to follow him, “Galahad,” Shanessa stopped him as she came up the stairs, “I assume you are going out with Fredrik here. Do you have a coat? It's quite brisk today. I can find one for you if you need.”
“Oh, no need to worry, Shanessa, I’ve got it,” Galahad assured her. He reached deep into his bag and produced a nice, collared, water resistant coat from its depths.
	“I see! You have a bottomless bag, no?” Fredrik nodded his approval, “I wonder what other secrets you carry in that bag.”
	“Heh… nothing really,” Galahad chuckled nervously, “Well, we better get going. See ya later, Shanessa,” He gave the lamia a little smile before heading down stairs and out into the crisp morning fall air, “So, why’d you come get me? Did…” He trailed off, not wanting to let on how much Miss Manus was on his mind. 
	“Galahad, classes start in a few days. As my junior, it is my task to make sure you succeed at our wonderful academy!” He stretched his arms wide as he backed toward the oak tree in the middle of the courtyard, “I am the unofficial president of metallurgy - a subclass of transmutation and a very important one, I assure you. As you said so yesterday, you have an interest in learning transmutation and metallurgy, and so I believe that an aptitude test should be in order, do you agree?” He was completely cocksure about everything he was saying. His confidence was a little contagious, though Galahad kept himself calm and collected.
	“I appreciate that, but I don’t need an aptitude test, Fredrik,” He explained, “I know my limits and abilities, but I was taught through apprenticeship. I don’t know how to study in an academy and I also know next to nothing about transmutation. The beginning will do.”
	Fredrik went rigid, “A-Are you sure? I would hate for you to be wasting time and money here! Though apprenticeship taught, surely you have some talent that would help you skip even the rudimentaries.”
	“Don’t worry about that, friend. Scholarships are paying for a lot of this,” Galahad smiled.
	Fredrik composed himself, pulling a golden comb from his pocket which he used to make two quick runs through his long platinum blonde hair, after which he adjusted his mask, which seemed to have no strap in the back to hold it in place, and brushed off his robes. His fluent movements made Galahad sure he did this many, many times, “The basics, of course!" He nodded, "Then how about a tour? I am sure knowledge of the campus shall be of some help to you. If you agree, perhaps an all paid for breakfast and lunch is in your future? Our campus cafeteria is second to none, I’ll have you know. Or maybe you would prefer some tea or coffee at the cafe?”
 Galahad held out his arms, almost mimicking Fredrik’s mannerisms, “How could I refuse such a generous offer? Lead on!”
Though behind a mask, Galahad could tell Fredrik was smiling as his cheeks rose around the golden brims. Quickly he turned and wrapped an arm over Galahad's shoulder, ushering him around the campus, “No doubt you have already seen the layout of Fairgarland's campus, but just to help jog your memory we have each house encircling the courtyard."
"All eight schools of magic, as well as sorcery and House Seeker, right?" Galahad asked, knowing the answer.
"Correct. I can show you around each of them. I know, I know, friend, you are interested in transmutation, however it is still a good idea to familiarize yourself with each house as you'll likely be seeing their occupants daily. Some of them you'll find are most helpful in your studies and… well, it is good to have friends in House Hemlock. Alchemical burns and the like, trust me, wear gloves in the labs at all times." Fredrik held up one of his golden gauntleted hands as if to emphasize his claim.
"I see," Was all Galahad could respond with as visions of boiling water and bursting beakers filled his mind's eye.
	"Anyway, over here on the east side of campus is the arena where each student may spar and fine-tune their magical arts in a friendly and safe environment. Come, let's go inside and have a look!"
As he was led inside Galahad took note of the wide open building built like a mock-up of the old Roman Colosseum, though thankfully it had a roof overhead and lights for the evening. The flooring for the arena was waxed like a basketball court and spanned the width of two whole courts and length of three. Even now many students were at practice for both abjuration and evocation magic, as well as healing magics for those who got hurt. The walls on either side of the court were lined with seats, much more comfy looking than the average bleachers at a ballgame, though currently only two or three other students sat in them watching the practice sparring,
"Some refer to this building as a gymnasium, however I disagree with such a label as with the help of our abjuration friends and academy staff this building can hold up to twelve duels at once! Impressive, yes? Our annual dueling tournament takes place here as well," Explained Fredrik, his hand waving across the court as though it were a luxurious tourist trap.
"Dueling tournament?" Galahad parroted the word.
"Oh yes, in fact this year's duel is coming up in the next few weeks or so." The golden man answered proudly, "It's always a nice break from the monotony of classes. Perhaps you could try your hand at it?" He suggested.
"I'm not so sure… I don't really like fighting." Said Galahad. 
"Really? But it is such a good way to vent frustrations, like when the labs are taken again for the third time in a week."
"Does that happen often?" Galahad asked, hoping to change subjects. 
Fredrik nodded and sighed, "Yes, wonderful though our academy may be we are still limited by reality in some aspects, but that is a discussion for another time, on with the tour! Just this way is the pool." The golden wizard guided Galahad toward the back door. As they exited the arena, there was another large building with an olympic sized swimming pool that was only a short walk away across a path, occupied by some even now in such cold weather, "I'll bet you're wondering how our students can swim at this time of year," Fredrik mused, pointing out several crystals, each set into the tile around the edge of the pool and smoothed over seamlessly. "Each of those crystals automatically heats and cleans the pool, making it perfect even during the winter."
"What about when you get out of the water?" Galahad pointed out, “I know we’re in doors but I don’t see any towels.” 
Fredrik tapped a finger to the side of his mask's nose, "What a good question! See those crystals there and there?" He pointed at the ladders in the pool, "Whenever you exit the pool you are magically dried, thus you stay warm long enough to make it to the locker room over in the next door building."
	Galahad nodded, “I see. That’s pretty handy,” He said as he got a bit closer to some of the warming crystals for the pool. He knelt down and ran his finger across its surface, feeling its magical energies in his fingers. 
	“Galahad! Come along! There is much yet to see!” Fredrik called as he held open the door to leave the indoor pool. From there it was a short jaunt to the indoor gym, there was even an overhead awning between them to keep swimmers dry in the rainy weather that was coming soon, “Here is the real gym,” Fredrik explained, “Weight room for student use,” He gestured to a glass door between windows into a smallish weight room. The only people in there was a barrel chested human who benched at about 150 pounds without breaking much of a sweat. A blue oni woman spotted for him and despite her more feminine physique she was just as huge. Galahad wondered if they were using enchantment or even alchemy to boost their gains or to just give themselves unnatural strength, “Over this way,” Fredrik snapped him out of the day dreaming with his voice and a wave. The two rounded a corner to another door leading into an indoor basketball court without much room for seating around it. Two teams of three played in a friendly yet competitive game, “There is also a locker room across here,” He pointed to the room labeled ‘Witches’ and the other being ‘Wizards.’
	Fredrik continued down the hall, “Over here is my personal favorite area here, two tennis courts. Much more skill based than basketball,”  He declared, “They can also be repurposed for badmitten should you be like Miss President and enjoy that more.”
	“I see…” Galahad trailed off as soon as Miss Manus was mentioned, “Did she say anything about me yesterday? After I met her?”
	“Hm? Miss President?” Fredrik stopped by the door leading outside, “Are you worried about what she has to say about you?”
	“A little.”
	The gold-faced man was obviously smiling again, “Are you sweet on her already? She gets more than enough of that from Harold!”
	“That’s not what I meant!” Galahad cried, his face turning bright red, “Just the way she was talking to me made me fear that I’d already ruined my chances of getting into your house!”
	Fredrik shook his head while snickering, “Galahad, you sweet summer child. You will quickly learn that she is cold and distant to everyone, even us council members who are the closest thing she has to friends. I will tell you we did discuss you, but none of us know your potential as of now without seeing you cast a single spell,” He explained, “Have no fear about your standing with us.”
	Galahad found himself sighing with relief, “Thanks for calming my nerves about it. Where to next?” 
	“The library. Actually, the Little Witch’s Cafe is first. I did promise you breakfast, afterall. Luckily it is attached to the library. Their pastries are second to none. You could say their taste is… bewitching,” Fredrik laughed at his own joke as they walked to the other side of the campus, “Ah, here is the auditorium, where we first met,” He gestured to the long, flat building that sat to the west of the gym and the south of the dorm towers, “That building south of the other dorms is the communal building. There are recreation areas and two labs in that building. Full sized labs, I mean, much better suited for experimenting than our measly house kits. The use times for which are set on a schedule,” The words left his mouth bitterly.
	“What times do you guys have?” Galahad asked as the two passed a small congregation of illusion wizards spraying bright, flashing colors into the air one at a time.
	“We… have the first and last blocks for the lab,” He unhappily grumbled, “We have an hour for the rec room at eight in the morning. You know, the busiest time every day for most students.”
	“Seriously? How does that happen?”
	“House politicking. We have little sway to get what we want, especially when wizard duels are common in use of settling disputes. Transmutation is not a very good offensive magic, unfortunately. We would need an expert in another field at our helm to get what we want. Having all of our lab time at midnight to three in the morning is quite detrimental, especially since we need the lab more than most other houses!” From his body language, it was obvious to Galahad that Fredrik was absolutely upset over this, “Miss President does not care for magical combat, Todd is, well he’s Todd, Suzie struggles to keep up due to her size, and, well, our dwarven friend is a little too thick headed to really put his back into it. I am the only one of us on the council who can do any combat, but even then the evocation house decimates me. I have failed my classmates again and again, but this year will be different. I have been concocting a new spell that I think will blow the tops off of House Fritz’Eleo - that’s the house for evocation by the by.”
	“I gathered that, Fredrik.” Galahad stifled a chuckle.
“Truth be told, I feel like even with my extensive research into this we may not stand a chance…” Fredrik sighed.
 “Nonsense. If you’ve put your mind to it, Fredrik, then I know you can make a difference!” Galahad smiled at his golden guide.
	“I admire that,” The gold-faced man chuckled, “How bright eyed you are about this.”
“Come on, we can go over your strategy over breakfast, at least,” replied Galahad.
“I will not stop you from trying, but truth be told I have no idea how much you know of combat. Perhaps you and I should hit the arena for some friendly sparring at least? I’ll still spare you the usual aptitude test, of course.” 
	Galahad smirked, “That might be a lot of fun.”
Fredrik turned his head at his junior, “Really? Even if we’re fighting?”
“It’s only sparring, right? I can do that much. I’ll be sure to go easy on you,” Galahad cuffed him on the shoulder.
	“You strike fear into me with your confidence,” Fredrik chuckled, “What do you plan on doing with your upcoming knowledge of transmutation and metallurgy? For example, with my knowledge of it and enchantment, I wish to join the military and use my knowledge of the arcane arts to strengthen my brothers in arms’ weapons and armor.”
	Galahad gave him a troubled look, “Maybe I’ll get into artificing. I’m not totally sure yet. Being able to shape and control all kinds of metals and precious materials is definitely useful, but who would want to hire me is the question.”
	“I understand. It can be a bit tricky to apply the theorems of this craft sometimes. But I am sure you will find a place for yourself amongst the greats,” Fredrik’s eyes turned back toward the way they were walking. Trees lined the pathway with leaves that were slowly turning yellow, orange, and brown. Students sat on a few benches placed under trees in the shade cast from the late morning sun. Clouds obscured a lot of the sky, but the sun still shined through. It must have been nine o’clock by now, Galahad figured. Suddenly, as if whisked away in a gust from the north, all sunlight went out from the world and darkness blurred his vision.
	“Fredrik?” Galahad suddenly stopped in his tracks. His mind began racing as the darkness closed in around him, but he kept a steady pace on his breathing. 
	“Hm? What is it?” Fredrik could see a dull look in the man’s orange eyes all of a sudden and a cackling from around them, “That damn imp… Galahad? Can you hear me?”
	“Fredrik?” Galahad looked around again and nearly jumped out of his skin as the gauntleted hand of his upperclassman gripped his upper arm, “There you are. I can’t see anything. It’s really dark,” He did his best to keep the panic in his voice under control, though he noticed it was muffled. Quickly he reached up with his other hand and snapped next to his ear and then the other one, “Can’t hear either… Blindness and deafness spell? A simple illusion,” He reached into his bag and retrieved a small bag of components which he quickly attached to his belt and then retrieved his staff. A six foot tall quarter staff of a black, charred wood with a crystal ball fastened to one end with a shining metal holder. He held the staff in his right hand and reached into the component pouch. He had a few metal scraps, roughly a teaspoon of blue mana salt, and some tree sap. He rubbed all the components together in his hand as he muttered to himself. It was almost ten seconds before he raised his staff in the air and the orb at the end of the staff lit up a bright, blue color. 
	“AGH!” A voice cried before a small purple form fell out of a nearby tree, rolling on the ground after landing in a shrub.
	Fredrik released Galahad and picked the small creature up off the ground, “It WAS you!” He huffed.
	Galahad wiped his eyes and his vision had returned and the first thing he saw was the demi-human that the gold-faced man had picked up. Cloaked in purple robes, a small woman fought against Fredrik’s hold on her. Her skin was like lavender, its purple hues highlighted by her dark, heather purple hair that she had tied back in a long and wild ponytail. Two horns jutted out of the sides of her head and her all black eyes with purple irises looked cloudy, “Who is that?” Galahad wondered aloud.
	“The president of house Zucarius. Rita MacKenzie,” Fredrik grumbled, “Always making trouble for everyone on campus.”
	“Here,” Galahad rubbed his palm across her face, dispelling the illusion magic with seemingly no prior preparation, “Are you alright?”
	The imp rubbed her face, “Landed on my arm,” She whined. 
Galahad said nothing and simply took the arm in question in his hand. He leaned his staff up against Fredrik and grabbed some herbs from his bag and rubbed them up against the injuries, “Looks like it's just sprained. You’re lucky not to have broken it,” The herbs dissipated as he muttered the magical words. 
“Hey, look at that! The new guy knows a few tricks!” She shoved Fredrik’s hands off her body and flew on her small, leathery bat wings, “What’s ya name, chief?”
	“Uh, Galahad. Galahad Loxley. Nice to meet you Rita,” He greeted politely as he could.
	“Ah, I suspect the gold plated stick in the mud here introduced me earlier. Neat trick reflecting my illusion back at me. That’s abjuration right? And you know some necromancy. But you’re hanging out with the golden wonder? You in the transmutation house?” She wondered as she idly flew around his head.
	“Well, the Seeker’s for now.” He answered sheepishly, “Just started at the academy, but I’ve been learning as an apprentice for a while.”
	“I see… well if you wanna learn some illusion, I’d teach ya since I guess I owe you and all for the arm thing, right?” She grinned an impish grin.
	Galahad awkwardly scratched his head, “Well, I swore off illusion, admittedly. But thank you for the offer.”
	“Really? Already?” The imp frowned, “Well I still owe you. Hold onto that at least,” She looked as a white golf cart sped down the pathway toward the three, “Oh boy, here comes the fun police. I’d dip but she’d come after me if I ran.”
	The golf cart came to a screeching halt. A woman with dark skin hopped out. She wore a blue button up tucked into black shorts. Her arms and legs were covered in red, glimmering scales. One of her hands was on the sword on her hip and the other was adjusting her pulled back crimson hair, “What’s going on here? I saw that one stumbling around and she fell out of a tree. I see two trouble makers and an unknown party,” She scanned Rita and Fredrik with a harsh stare, “Who’re you? One of the new arrivals?”
	“Y-yes. U-uh, I’m Galahad,” He stammered nervously, quickly feeling her aura of authority.
	“These two giving you trouble?”
	“N-no ma’am. Just a h-harmless prank by Rita,” He chuckled.
	“Quite wonderful to see you too Wanda Alstaff,” Fredrik gave her a courteous bow, “As hateful of my golden visage as ever. When will you let me turn those dull scales golden?” He joked, knowing how to rile her up.
	“Never. If you try, I’ll make sure your sorry behind gets expelled, chrome dome,” She growled.
	“C’mon lay off these guys, Wanda,” Rita fluttered behind Galahad’s head and put her elbows on his scalp, resting her head on her hands, “You’re making sweet, little baby boy Galahad here shake in his boots!”
	“Hmm…” The lizard woman’s long, red scaled tail tapped slowly on the ground, “Well. No one seems hurt. Are you hurt, Rita?”
	“Nope! Galahad here healed me right up!” She grinned, patting his head, “I think he might join the ranks of your ‘model student’ list. I pranked him and he still healed me!”
	“Hm. Well he won’t if he keeps hanging around bad apples like you two,” She huffed before climbing back into her golf cart, “Nice meeting you, Galahad. Stay out of trouble.” She pointed a clawed finger at him.
	“N-nice meeting you too, and I will do my best.” He gave a little wave as she hurried off in her cart. As she sped off, Galahad looked at his two upper class mates, “Who was that? She was pretty… well, intimidating.”
	“Wanda Alstaff. Head of security,” Fredrik explained, “A nice woman if you’re on her good side.”
	“Unfortunately neither of us ever will be,” Rita stuck her tongue out at the rapidly disappearing cart, “Anyways. I’ll see you boys around. Got more new arrivals to prank. And don’t you forget about that IOU, Galahad!” 
	“I’ll try not to. See ya,” He gave a little wave before the imp cast a spell on herself, shrouding her in shimmering lights before vanishing. Her cackling was heard all around, echoing off the trees as a purple colored piece of paper drifted on the wind right into Galahad’s hands. Turning it over, it read ‘IOU - Rita’ with a little heart next to her name. He stuffed it in his bag.
	“You seem… much more competent than most of the other new ones. Abjuration and necromancy. Interesting,” Fredrik rubbed his golden chin and nodded in approval, “I can see why you are adamant on knowing your own power.”
	“Like I said: apprenticeship taught,” He chuckled nervously and scratched his neck, “Uh, the cafe?”
	“Of course! My apologies for that interruption,” Fredrick motioned for him to follow. 

	The library itself was much larger than most of the buildings, with an old gothic design made of stone. Three tall spires capped the center of it, two smooth points flanking the tall spiraling one at the center, making it the tallest building on campus. Inside, past rows and rows of books, all of which the bookshelves needed ladders to climb to the top, was the cafe where Fredrik and Galahad sat eating their breakfast. Scrumptious, lightly toasted danishes with apple cinnamon butter and even some eggs that, according to the gnomish woman running the cafe, had been laid by her ‘chickies’ just this morning. Galahad’s gaze drifted back toward the library as he enjoyed his food. The shelves were full of tomes of magical lore on the first floor. It was divided into eighths, one for each school of magic and arranged in wedges which formed a circle at the center of the library. The second floor contained shorter shelves full of history books, math books, and many other subjects. The third floor was mostly shelves of fiction books along with a computer lab and a few meeting rooms, though it had obviously seen its use, it still looked clean and very organized. I would hate to be late returning any books here, Galahad thought to himself, picturing the kind of person who would go to such lengths to keep all these books in order.
	His eyes drifted to the walls that were covered in paintings made by students. There were even art pieces sitting atop small pillars, vases and bowls, busts and statues and even the occasional abstractions made from winding and twisting metals and porcelain - something you might find an old researcher spending years isolated in his wizarding tower over to find some hidden meaning. They had walked past one that Fredrik had proudly pointed out a gold sculpture of a female form with long ears, horns, and strange almost robotic joint lines and explained it was his work. He refused to elaborate on what it was supposed to be.
	Fredrik drank his coffee through a small hole in his mask, “Impressive, is it not?” 
	“Very. I’ve never seen a library this chock full of magical writing,” He mumbled as he drank a cup of orange juice.
	“Well, anything you need to research will be found here. Including fiction. Sometimes the house presidents will meet on the upper floors to discuss amongst each other,” He explained as he took another sip, “House politics and all that.”
	“I see,” Galahad put down the last bit of juice and glanced out the window. It was around ten thirty. 
	“Want me to show you how to find what you’re looking for?” Fredrik offered as he finished his coffee. Galahad nodded and followed him to the shelves, “This library uses the Dewey decimal system. You can see here that all the magical tomes use a letter. T for transmutation, I for illusion, E V for evocation, E N for enchantment, and so on. But only the most determined, and ancient,” He added under his breath, “of casters use that to locate their reading materials. I recommend simply using one of these computers to search for it.”
	“Oh, good. I can figure that part out.” Galahad said confidently, “I think I did that once or twice at the local library back home.”
	“Then I shall spare you any further explanation. Come, the trip to the classrooms shall be brief,” The two left the library from the south end and saw two decently sized brick buildings, “Those are the buildings for the boarding school. Younger students live in the bigger one and the other one has their classrooms.”
	“I assume most of the academy students have no reason to go in there?” Galahad inquired.
	“If you need to take a class on the basics of magic, you would take it there. But you seem like you do not need to take that, hm?” Fredrik said in a bemused tone, “Unless you feel like spending your time in there sitting in on history, math, or english classes!”
	“I don’t really see myself doing that,” Galahad smirked, “Are those the academy class rooms?” He guessed as he pointed across a paved road on the west side of the campus that stretched north and south, up and down the entire campus with a road going further west to a parking lot near the classrooms. A few of the buildings faced the road, but all eight of the buildings were in a ring around the parking lot.
	Each building had a sign out front labeling which school of magic it was focused on. Fredrik led Galahad to the transmutation building and the two stepped inside, “It is quite easy to find your classes. See here, T101 is the first room from the eastern entrance. T201 is right above it on the second floor. Not many classroom buildings have a third floor and those that do don’t see much use, I think the most they get is from extracurricular clubs.”
	“I see…” Galahad rubbed his forehead, “I hope I’m retaining all of this…”
	“You will do just fine. Anyone on campus will give you directions should you need them. Galahad, since I have yanked your ear all morning, I shall move your owed meal from lunch to dinner to give you a chance to rest. Perhaps some of my house will come along and you can meet some of your future classmates? Unless you would rather have a quiet dinner,” He tilted his head as the two walked through the classroom building.
	“Invite whoever you want,” Galahad shrugged, “But a rest would be nice. I might go read or study in advance. Where can I buy the books I need?”
	“There is a well stocked shop down the road,” Fredrik led him outside and back to the road, pointing north, “Next to the Italian restaurant I shall treat you to tonight. If you pass the Hellbound Burger you have gone too far. It is a book store and also sells ample snacks should you be hungry for some junk food. Candy, chips, even some ice cream should you have a bad sweet tooth!” He chuckled to himself, “I can accompany you if you need.”
“Nah, I should be able to make it myself. I’ve got a list of what I need for the classes I’ll be joining. Thanks for the tour, Fredrik. I really do appreciate it,” Galahad smiled before putting his staff back in his bottomless bag, “You know where to find me whenever we’re going to dinner.”
	“Of course my friend. I shall collect you around five-thirty. I will also see if your muse, Miss President, is willing to come with and she might even sit next to you!” Fredrik teased.
	Galahad’s face turned red, “I-I told you, I don’t have a crush on her I just want to make a good impression!”
	“I know, I know. She most likely will not join us. She is quite a busy bee. Anywho, farewell, friend,” Fredrik watched as Galahad shoved his hands in his coat pockets and strode down the sidewalk as horse drawn carriages and the odd car went by. With a nod, the gold faced man crossed the road and took a path to the courtyard where he stared at the students practicing enchantment under the massive oak tree. He knocked on the door to his house and pulled the door open. The bottom floor of the Karak-Albrac tower was lined by shelves full of books with even more books piled on top of them. Desks and tables dotted the walls where there were no shelves along with much of the center of the room with some comfortable desk chairs around them. There was only one thin path that went in a straight line to the stairs. Miss President sat at a table by herself with the sounds of their classmates coming down from the stairs to the second floor. Fredrik strode over to her, taking a seat across from her, “Good morning, Miss President.”
	“Did you give Galahad an aptitude test?” She coldly asked without looking up from her book.
	“No. He said he did not require one,” The gold faced man explained.
	Miss President looked up at him, her eyes hardly visible under the brim of her fluffy hat and hair. Her face was as stoney as ever as she stared back at Fredrik, “Pardon? You took him at his word?”
	Fredrik nodded, “He told me he was an apprentice at one point but did not divulge much specifics. He also claimed he knew he was going to struggle in a school setting when learning magic so he wanted to be in the low level classes for now. I was going to spar with him to really see what his power was, an unofficial aptitude test, you see. But I do not believe that will be necessary now,” He couldn’t tell if the fey witch’s interest was piqued at all but he continued anyway, “He was pranked by Rita, she used a blindness and deafness spell on him. He was very quickly able to determine what it was, then grabbed his staff and some material components and cast a reflection spell. Successfully, mind you.”
	“A reflection spell?” She rubbed her chin with a hand covered in scales before slipping it back beneath her cloak, “He used components so I assume he took his time casting it. This does show he is knowledgeable but does not show just how knowledgeable. Did he perform any other casting?” 
	“Yes. Rita fell out of a tree after being struck with her own magic. Without any components or seemingly any preparation, Galahad cast a dispel to remove the illusion. Right after that he used materials to cast a healing spell on Rita as her arm was hurt,” Fredrik concluded, “I believe that is all I have to report.”
	“You make it sound like I am asking you to spy on him,” Miss President leered at him.
	“You didn’t ask me, I know. But you did ask me to carry out an aptitude test and I felt the need to explain why I did not,” He shrugged, “What do you make of this?”
	Two human hands came out of the front of her cloak to close her book and set it aside, “Let the boy do as he pleases, I suppose. Give him time to rest for now, I will be teaching a few of his classes and I will test him then.”
	“I understand. I have promised to pay for his dinner tonight. You are welcome to join us if you wish,” Fredrik offered as he rose from the table, looking to retire to his room for study and practice. She looked at him for a moment, whether she was considering it or not was impossible to tell from her stoic expression, however she soon shook her head.
"That won't be necessary, Fredrik." She answered, before returning to her book, “But do keep me updated on his casting. He may be prepared to join our ranks sooner than we anticipated.”
“Oh? You wish to keep him close at hand?” Fredrik teased.
Unfortunately for him, Miss President did not squirm like Galahad did before, “I merely think it would be beneficial for him to be taught by his peers if he really was an apprentice before now. Do not make such outlandish claims.”
“You’re the boss,” He shrugged, disappointed by her humorless reply.
Miss President was left alone at her table. Thoughts of Galahad’s abilities stirred in her mind. Being able to dispel on touch wasn’t the most impressive thing in the world, but it did show his adeptness at the craft. Her mind started to wonder just how long his apprenticeship had been and why he was now at the academy for a magic he had seemingly never worked with before now. She pushed the thoughts from her mind, even if she was a smidge curious, he would need to prove himself to her through test scores and studying before she would consider him for her house. With one last thought of him, she returned to her studying, preparing for the teaching she would be doing when classes would start in less than a week.

This is my first chapter in what I’m hoping turns into a long form story! Please let me know what you think of this, feedback, comments, anything you can offer is much appreciated!

	A blaring horn sounded off long and loud, the squealing brakes of metal wheels on metal rails slowing to a halt at a train station roughly half a mile away from the academy. The train blew its horn again, marking its arrival at the station. Almost all of the races of man, humans, dwarves, halflings, and gnomes along with even male and female demi-humans like trolls, goblins and even a griffonite; all of them took this train ride just to apply to the academy, famous as it was in both worlds. Several of these people were ushered to carriages pulled by horses or centaurs, each waiting to cart them up the long, winding path, great and tall oak trees dotting either side of the road up to the Grand Hall at the center of the campus, its courtyard wide enough to allow three carriages to stand side by side one another at a time. At the center of the courtyard was the greatest oak tree of them all, taller than some of the buildings nearby, and twice as wide as the road encircling it. 
The leaves of the tree and its younger, smaller brethren were turning from their usual dark greens to a vibrant array of yellows, oranges and reds. Autumn was finally here, though summer’s warmth clung to the air bitterly, not wanting to go just yet. Soon enough the cool air from the north would be frosting the windows of the Grand Hall, its tall, stone arches and buttresses and wide wooden doors would be colder, and soon in a month’s time, snowed over.
Inside the Grand Hall a small group of people stood in the lobby, it’s large and magnificent stone pillars lining each side of its polished marble floor. They led up into carved stone archways decorated with friezes of each of the ten houses of magic. The walls were adorned with painted portraits of past deans of the college; men with silvery beards and wide brimmed cone shaped hats and well fitting robes, women with crazy or reserved hair styles, and demi-humans of various races all posed with spell books, wands, staves, and any other magical trinkets they usually had on hand. Many of them had stoic and regal looks about them, refined people representing a refined academy, one of the best in the nation.
 Parents with their children, older teenagers, and even adults on their own all waited patiently. One of the teenagers fiddled with a stick– a wand of gnarled, curved wood, an heirloom from a long dead relative, the spark of mana ran through him. With all his concentration, he couldn’t make the stick do more than spit out a tiny shower of miniscule yellow sparks that dissipated before even making it halfway to the floor. 
	Even if the show was pathetic, a small child with just as many magical prospects as him stared wide eyed, hoping one day that she too could do that. Precisely at ten o’clock the great belfry rang its song from above and a large set of double doors on the far side of the lobby creaked as they opened. Most people in the room started to congregate toward the double doors, waiting to be welcomed to the academy. After a moment of waiting two forms stepped through it. The first was the dean, an older man depicted in one of the portraits and a young woman with long white hair and ears like those of a cat wearing a set of fancy black and gold robes and an orange armband with a blue symbol of a book spewing forth swirling magic. The old man cleared his throat and pushed his small circular glasses up on the bridge of his nose, “Good morning, one and all. Thank you for waiting so patiently, I am Zacharius Zucarius, and as some of you may have already guessed, I am the dean of Fairgarland Academy. Before we begin, can anyone tell me why we study magic?” His voice oozed with wisdom with only a slight rasp that showed his age. He adjusted his long gray-blue robes with green laurel designs as he put a small, warm smile on his face.
	A few of the people in the crowd looked at one another in confusion, “To keep our magic under control?” A young woman’s answer seemed more like a question.
	The old wizard chuckled, “Perhaps if you were a sorcerer, that would be more true. Untrained, your untapped abilities are just that, untapped. But, there are no wrong answers to this question. Everyone studies for their own purposes. Miss Sophia? What would you say?”
	“To follow in my mother’s footsteps,” The cat witch replied with a twinkle in her emerald eyes, “I am studying conjuration as the teleportation magic it provides is quite useful to many people.”
	The dean nodded, “Whether it be tradition as Miss Sophia said, the pursuit of control over your abilities, studying for a magic centric job, seeking mastery of a specific school, or any other reason; everyone has a reason to come to this school. Even those that simply wish to study for one or two years to be able to cast simple spells for everyday use. On the other hand, we have those who may study for decades to truly become masters of their fields, I can see that some here are prospective masters!” He chuckled with a little twinkle in his old eyes, “Anywho, forgive my rhetorical question. I must apologize that I am unable to give the tour myself today. Miss Sophia here will guide you today, she is on the council of house Hamilton and knows the college well. She is sure to be able to answer your questions. Right, Miss Sophia?”
	“Yes, Master Zucarius. They are in my capable hands,” She tapped her pale branch staff on the ground idly, itching to get the tour underway. The staff, the bark of which had been stripped and smoothed, was waxed and buffed so that it shone in the green light that idly emanated from a small crystal grafted to the top of the staff. She was about to step deeper into the Grand Hall and motioned for the group to follow her when she noticed something out of place. The book the dean carried on his belt was without any of the usual kinds of texture or design on its spine or cover. With a little mischievous grin, she used her other hand to adjust her brimmed cone hat with a little fold toward the top, folding the point over to the side. Her cat ears twitched and she used the butt of her staff to leg sweep the dean. As she guessed it would, the staff phased right through the very convincing illusion.
	“Ah. As keen eyed as ever, Sophia,” He sighed.
	“Very convincing, Master Zucarius, but you should know better than to use an illusion like this in front of the potential students!” She playfully rebuked him as she adjusted her hat again.
	He blushed, his legs dissipating into a mist, making a few of the onlookers gasp and ooh and ahh, “W-well you know I am quite busy in preparation for today’s early arrivals! I am unfortunately only able to spread myself so thin even with my illusions–”
	“You merely wished to show off your mastery, I understand, sir,” Sophia chuckled.
Zacharius quickly composed himself and pushed the glasses up on the bridge of his nose, “Yes. You have the right of it. Please forgive me and have a wonderful tour.”
	Sophia laughed haughtily as she watched the Dean eye her and fade away. The cat witch cleared her throat, “Now. After that little display, let us continue through the Grand Hall. Come along now, there is much to see!” With her white furred tail flicking to and fro, Sophia led the group of about twenty into the interior of the Grand Hall. Busts made of stone, marble, iron, bronze, and even a few of gold and silver sat on shelves and columns. Above those were more oil paintings, canvases expertly covered in paints and masterful brush strokes to bring each figure’s likeness to light, “Here in the Grand Hall, we have many portraits and busts of great witches, wizards, and any kind of spell caster you can think of throughout history - most of which were students once, even here at Fairgarland. There were even some clerics that some consider saints that had studied here!" She proudly proclaimed before pointing at a particular painting of a woman not unlike herself in her cat-like nature. 
Though similar, her hair was black with much shorter and messier hair, her black robes and cloak were simple, more function over fashion. In her hand she held a gnarled branch staff with a crystal not unlike Sophia's, "There, Maxine Hamilton– my mother and the current namesake of our conjuration house. A powerful witch who has made great strides within conjuration, specifically teleportation and locomotion magic. It's thanks to her that anyone could get around the world within an instant,” The group stared at each painting they passed, taking in as much as they could of each face. Humans, elves, gnomes, a few dwarves, demi-humans like goblins, orcs, a swamp troll, and a grinning mono-eye just to name a few. Every so often, the portraits were broken up by innocuous wooden doors, each labeled with a gold plaque with a name etched into them. "These are the professor’s offices. Most students only enter this building to see a teacher or two. Here comes one now.”
	Coming down the hallway after exiting a teacher’s office, was one of the older students. The student’s wizard robes looked more like a suit and tie, the robes were black with a white collared undershirt and a blue tie that he adjusted as he saw the crowd headed his way. He wore a blue arm band with a silver lined shield weaved into it, “Hello, Sophia,” He called as he quickly ran a finger through his curly, brown locks of hair.
	“Good afternoon, Sean. Sean Reagal here is the president of house Maximillion,” The witch explained, “Shouldn’t you be getting ready for the new arrivals?”
	“I am already prepared to receive them,” He proudly announced, “I was merely here petitioning for a retry on one of our younger student’s test. He claimed that Head Master Daldomel’s instructions were not clear on his recent evocation test,” He turned to the prospective students, “Daldomel is our master of evocation. He is a very skilled magi, but…” He trailed off and chuckled, “Well, I don’t want to keep you here and talk your ear off. I hope our campus proves pleasant during your short trip,” He gave the crowd a polite bow before taking his leave.
	“See you at the orientation, Sean!” Sophia gave a wave then turned back to the crowd, “Fall term starts shortly,” She explained, “Today the early arrivals are rolling in, they will attend an orientation before getting to do a meet and greet with the council members of each house and some of the professors. It's a smaller event than when the rest of the new arrivals come in where it is a lot less personal so usually only older students and prodigies are invited to the early orientation. These students are more likely to join one of the houses, thus making it important for the council students to meet them.”
	“How many houses are there?” A younger woman asked.
	Sophia smiled, “There are ten. One for each of the eight schools of magic, one for students who are not in a house, and a tenth for sorcerers.”
	“I don’t understand, why do sorcerers have their own house?” A man wondered.
	She stopped before a second set of doors leading outside, “As you may or may not know, sorcerers are fundamentally different from wizards despite being arcane casters as well. We wizards gain our magical abilities through our knowledge of the arcane arts. We all pick a mastery after four or so years of study and choose two schools of magic to cease any work on altogether as we can only retain so much knowledge. We learn, study and practice to be able to cast. Sorcery is different fundamentally, you learn to control and harness your emotions in tandem with your mana banks to cast. The magic comes from within you, you don’t pick and choose what magic you get, usually, but you are born with the gift of it. There is no learning beyond self control and managing your mana. It is usually only a two to four year course. Wizard mastery can take a dozen years or more! Some students do it in twenty years!”
	“Are you going for mastery?” A child asked, full of wonder.
	“As of now, I could not tell you. I am nearly at the point where I can take my knowledge and skill and land a nice, well paying job putting my conjuration magic to work. If I decide I want to be a teacher, I would absolutely go for mastery of my craft,” The cat witch explained.
	“How long do wizards usually study?” A mother asked, gripping the hand of her child.
	“Well, assuming you’re here for your gifted child, children go through usual schooling here, kindergarten through high school, learning history, math, physical and magical sciences, and any other topics a child usually would in school along with the basics of mana control. Each school of magic is taught through their development years as a form of aptitude testing, and basic casting is all taught. We try not to push children too hard in the boarding school. After high school, some leave content with their knowledge to pursue a more mundane degree. For a basic knowledge degree, attendees spend around two years. An intermediate is around four, after this everyone chooses a school to focus on and will apply to join a house. Think of it like a frat or sorority in a mundane college. You gain peers who are focused on the same house and will work with you to make sure you succeed. As we saw, Sean was talking to a teacher for the benefit of his lower classman. From here, a total of six or seven years will gain you an associates of magic in your school, eight or nine years is a bachellors, then a dozen or so years you can gain a mastery.”
	“Does anyone get more than one mastery or degree?”
	“Of course! It is incredibly time consuming, but some even go for more than one mastery. Usually this is done by elves in their own elven colleges, but a few humans, dwarves, demi-humans, and whoever else do this. Ah, listen to me ramble,” Sophia chuckled to herself, “Let us head outside and we can take a look at the other buildings. Come now,” She tapped the butt of her staff on the floor and made a symbol with her hands, the middle finger, ring finger, and pinky all curled up at the top of her palm with the index and thumb pointing at the door which clicked, the handle rotating, and being pushed open by magical forces. The tour group was led out into the main courtyard of the school. The massive oak tree was surrounded by a ring of buildings where students congregated both inside and out under awnings where they could take in the weather, practicing magic or reading through their books.
There were a dozen buildings arranged like the face of a clock. At twelve, the north most building was the Grand Hall flying the school's symbol on its long, draping burgundy banners, a wizard hat atop a crystal ball. The banners were enchanted so that the crystal balls constantly swirled with ever changing and glowing colors. Sophia let the crowd gaze upon the ten wizard towers before going over them, “The oak in the middle has been tended to by the entire school since the academy’s inception. It has grown quite well as it was enchanted to feed off the residual mana in the air. It’s a very common meeting ground for students of the various houses. Of course their rivalries, personal or house wide, are still at play.”
	“Are these all the dorms? My brother told me about the house he’s in!” A child hollered.
	Sophia nodded, “These ten towers are where our upperclassmen reside. Think of them like dorms or frat houses. There are communal areas only for the people in those houses and inside there are pocket dimensions that will shift and adjust depending on how many rooms are needed for each student. Each one, minus the ones to our left and right, hold about twenty to fifty students. Let me name each one for you,” She cleared her throat and gestured to the building to the right of the Grand Hall. It flew a white banner with the image of a red dragon protectively wrapping around its clutch of eggs. The magical depiction gazed lovingly at those that came and went from it’s doors and stared defensively at all others, “Here is The House of the Wanderer, also known as House Seeker where those who have not picked a school to focus on reside.”
	“Is that where children stay?” A mother wondered.
	“No. Usually our college aged students who are only going through two or so years will stay here. There have been exceptions on occasion, however to the south of here, in that large brick building,” She gestured past a building and a few towers, “is the dorm for the school aged children. Have no fear, they are very well taken care of there. Security is tight to make sure no ‘Lord of the Flies’ recreation takes place,” Sophia chuckled at her own joke, wondering if for a moment that her humor was a little too dark. She cleared her throat, “To the right of the House of the Wanderer, at two on the clock face, is the Ophelia house of divination with its silver banner,” She pointed as they walked by it. The banner had a black card on it which slowly rotated, showing the face of a different tarot card with every pass, “At three, is the Maxamillion house, abjuration,” The blue banner flew a shimmering, silver shield, “Next to it is Calmashorne. Enchantment,” The tower’s color was green with a brown tree silhouette with tangled roots that would untangle and retangle into new patterns.
	“That’s where my brother is!” The child from before cheered.
	“The people there are very nice. I’m sure he enjoys it,” Sophia smiled, “At five o'clock on this theoretical face, you have Hemlock, the school of necromancy’s dorm,” A purple banner with a golden, beating heart with a black skull on it, “Don’t worry, folks, we only raise the recently deceased there.” Sophia allowed another small chuckle to escape her lips, “And here at six we have a communal building for all the houses and school aged children. We have a large recreational area with ping pong tables, foosball, even a little movie theater! The houses have a schedule for when they can use this area as well as the underground labs for their studying,” The communal building was made of stone just like the rounded towers that sat before it, but the communal building was square and short rather than circular and tall with a cone shaped top. Coming up from the side of the conical roof was a crooked and well used stove pipe which even now smoke billowed out from the sides of its conical rain cover.  
	“Do they have video games too?” A boy asked.
	“Of course. I’ve never been one for them, but they are popular! Most of what they have is hand me downs from past students or donations so they are a little out of date. Classics, from what I am told. Ah, I missed a few houses. Let me go quickly,” She cleared her throat, “At seven on the clock face is Zucarius, named for our beloved dean, focuses on illusion,” The eye with a black iris on the yellow banner blinked and moved as it looked at passer bys, “Hamilton, named for my mother, is conjuration. I wish the color was green, not orange, but mother could not have everything she wanted,” Sophia chuckled as she glanced at the familiar banner with a depiction with a book endlessly spewing forth multicolored magical energies, “Fritz’Eleo. Evocation, the biggest house at the moment. A lot of fiery souls in there,” Their banner was red with a hand, palm up, creating a burning blue flame that licked and waved in motion, “Last but not least of the main houses is Karak-Albrac. Transmutators reside there. I’ve always loved their golden banner with that philosopher’s stone on it!” The golden banner in question had a gray stone with a constantly curling blue swirl on it. Her gaze turned to the last house to the left of the Grand Hall, “This is the Sorcery house. Named Faith, it houses sorcerers who have come to hone their craft,” The banner of this tower was pink with two fists crossed at the wrists and covered in moving energies of many colors on them. 
	Sophia took a moment to recompose herself and figure out where to go next, “How about we go look at the arena? It’s east of here. Ah here come some of the new students,” She watched as some young adults filed past the Grand Hall, luggage in hand. A few wore robes, cone shaped hats, and had staffs and wands in their hands, “Excuse me,” She approached one of the new students, a young man with black hair and a clean shaven face. He was one of the few wearing plain clothes jeans, a red t-shirt and an unzipped hoodie, “My name is Sophia and I’m currently giving a tour to these prospective students. Would you mind sharing with us why you chose Fairgarland Academy out of every other option?”
	The man smiled and nodded, “Well, out of the three options here in America, schools of this size and prestige, I mean. It has some of the most qualified teachers and the highest standing with potential jobs. A lot of hiring managers look for this school specifically on resumes. Mastery here is also a lot more streamlined than the other schools too!” 
	Sophie blinked, surprised by the actually competent answer, “I– Yes. Very good. Thank you very much for your excellent answer, Mister…”
	“Oh, Galahad. Galahad Loxley. I hope to see you around, Miss Sophia,” He gave the group a smile before reshouldering his messenger bag and started once more toward the meeting hall like he had been instructed when he arrived by horse drawn carriage. Galahad was a young man in his early twenties, his eyes were a fiery, orange color, contrasting his raven-black hair. Other than his unusual eyes, he had nothing to denote his magical prowess due to not dressing in traditional caster garb. The meeting building was easy to spot. It was a long, two floor building that numerous other recent arrivals were filing into. He joined the crowd of fifty or so as they stood in the gathering room where some of the security officers took bulky luggage and handed out white arm bands to all the new students. Galahad declined handing over his single bag but gladly took an arm band and slipped it up his sleeve before moving into the main area. 
	The crowd chattered amongst themselves, waiting for the orientation to start. Eight chairs and a podium were set up on a stage. The banner of each house was along the walls of the room with current students of each house idling near them, talking to any new students who approached and mingling with other house members. As the lights started to die, Galahad looked toward the transmutation house, seeing who his classmates were. Most of the five didn’t catch his eye. Three normal looking wizards, a dwarven man with a long beard wearing armored robes, a short female gnome in bright purple robes with dark orange interior and a brimless cone hat, and a blue skinned, male, humanoid mono-eye who towered above the others as he timidly tapped his fingers together before another man who did pique Galahad’s interest instructed the mono-eye to polish his own golden horn atop his bald head. This man had adorned himself in brass light armor attached to his gold, flowing robes. His face was covered completely by a golden mask of a chiseled, handsome face. Galahad could only wonder what kind of face was really under there, unobstructed by the mask of the man’s long, platinum blonde hair. ‘Eccentric,’ was the first word that popped into Galahad’s head, quickly followed by ‘Gaudy,’ and ‘Amusing.’ He was not something you’d see every day out in public, even if you were a wizard. However long the man had kept Galahad’s attention, the person sitting beside him held his gaze for far longer. Beside the golden man sat a woman much shorter than him, her body covered completely by a reddish-gray coat of fur. She wore a witch’s hat, though hers was twice as wide as anyone else’s sporting a purple and black striped scarf wrapped around its center, and unlike any of the others it looked soft, with warm tufts of fur sitting snugly on her feathery, shoulder-length, blue-gray hair. Though her skin was a pale blue, what was most immediately striking about her was her eyes; black as night all over but for the bright turquoise rings around her pupils. Her ears were long and pointed, suggesting she was an elf of some kind, though Galahad had never seen one like her before and besides, they had their own magic colleges and looked down upon all other casters. Was she one of the Deep Elves, the kind that reside underground? No, her skin was much fairer. Fey have the same kind of ears, and hers were definitely long enough. While he was deep in thought, he didn’t even notice that the woman’s piercing eyes had shifted to him, staring right back as he awkwardly turned away, focusing his gaze to the front of the room just in time to see the dean step onto the stage.
	The dean waited a time as the head teachers of each school of magic joined him on stage. There were eight of them, each was quite different from the others: an old, blue-haired gnomish woman with rosey cheeks who sat with crossed arms in a chair much too big for her, a gray-bearded dwarf in armor, a tail fairy woman with butterfly wings and green hair, a brooding young man in jet-black robes with the hood up hardly revealing his red eyes or ashen skin, a plump middle aged woman in a flowing set of robes, a treant with yellow leaves and a very kind face that didn’t even bother trying to sit in a chair, a very annoyed looking old human man with bright red robes and a very tall hat, and a woman made of smooth, tanned sandstone. Galahad couldn’t even begin to guess which one was the transmutation headmaster, “Welcome one and all,” The dean began as he interlocked his hands behind his back, “Thank you for being here for our early orientation. I know each of you here is eager to begin your higher education at our illustrious academy and itching to meet and greet with the council of each house. I will not take up too much of your time. My name is Zacharius Zucarius, master of illusion and dean of Fairgarland Academy. I am overjoyed to see each of you here, happy you have chosen our humble school to study at. Know well that I and my headmasters of each magic school will do our best to serve you and help you succeed. Not to mention the council men and women of each house that are eager to receive you!” There were a few cheers from the more energetic of the council members, “With that, I will pass off the stand to the student body president who has a few words to share.”
	The headmasters of each school of magic clapped along with most of the students. Galahad clapped slowly along with the others. A young man took the center stage. He wore a black set of short robes with a collared white undershirt and a blue tie, “Thank you, Master Zucarius. Hello friends, new and old,” He greeted everyone with a million dollar smile as he scanned the crowd, “My name is Sean Reagal, current standing student body president. It is with great honor that I, and every other upperclassman in this room, welcome you all here to our wonderful school. I pray that each of you will at least consider joining one of our great houses even if you are only planning on being here for two or so years. Each one of our eight wonderful houses is eager to have you apply. Now, we don’t have any formal requirements as to what you need to do, but we encourage you to chat with us council members for each house to get to know us and help decide where you should go with your studies, and get in touch with each of us. We will help gauge your skill level with an aptitude test to help place you in the correct classes. Our headmasters are here as well if you wish to speak to them as well. But, uh,” He smirked as he looked at the teachers behind him, “Don’t let their looks intimidate you. Each one loves their job teaching. Even if you are not majoring in their field, they will be more than happy to teach you.” Galahad couldn’t tell if he was serious or not, but most of the headmasters smirked or smiled at his little joke. The young man continued, “If any of you has any problems during your stay with us, please come and see me, I will do my best to help anyone I can,”  Sean then pulled a single note card from his pocket and glanced at it, “That covers anything important. We will now go to the all important meet and greet phase of this orientation. Stay a while and chat if you can, if you are exhausted from your travels, please feel free to retire to the Seeker’s house as your rooms have already been prepared there. Please, enjoy your time here at Fairgarland academy!”
	Galahad waited for a moment as his fellow new students started to chat with the house councils. He was about to turn and step out of the building to finally get some sleep but he found his hand being grabbed and forced into a firm handshake, “You look a lot more bright eyed than most of the new students here,” The man had a smile on his handsome, clean shaven face. 
	“You’re just saying that because they’re orange, hm?” Galahad retorted, “Galahad Loxley.”
	“Harold Garnalga Babarry,” He proudly introduced as he finally released Galahad’s hand, “Crown prince of the kingdom of Babarry and president of house Fritz’Eleo. You don’t seem to be high born but you have the confidence of one. From where do you hail, sir?”
“Ah… out west. In the mountains,” Galahad replied.
“Out west? That does not narrow it down much,” The prince folded his arms, “But I suppose you aren’t of royal blood if you have no pride in your home. What are you studying?”
“I’m thinking about transmutation. Metallurgy, specifically, I think,” Galahad explained as he folded his arms back, not looking to deal with a spoiled prince. 
	“What words just graced my ears!?” A man’s voice cried before a form pushed through the crowd.
	“You have done it now, Galahad,” The prince scoffed. 
	“Was it you?” The golden masked man demanded, nearly grabbing Galahad by the shoulders, “Are you the one interested in metallurgy?”
	The man glanced at the prince and nodded, “Yeah. I am interested in it.”
	“Oh, most joyous day!” The golden man put forward a golden gauntleted hand, “Fredrik Alistair Geoffrey, councilman in the house of Karak-Albrac, at your service my kindred scholar of the arts!”
	Galahad took his hand, “Galahad Loxley,” He shook the man’s metallic hand firmly.
	“Good, good. Come, you should meet our other council members, especially our president,” He instructed before leading him to the corner where the rest of the transmutation house sat. 
The mono-eye was the first to spot the pair, “Looks like Fredrik found a friend,” He noted and chuckled in a deep voice.
	“My fellow council members, allow me to introduce the illustrious Galahad Loxley,” He gestured to the man that had followed him.
	Galahad nervously scanned the rest of the transmutation house as each of the four eyed him up and down, sizing him up, “Aye, he’ll do,” The dwarf decided before relaxing in his chair. 
	“He looks a bit more capable than the other three we talked to,” The gnome giggled, “I’m Suzie Bottomhill. Nice to meet ya.”
	“Todd,” The mono-eye pointed to himself as his one big, black eye blinked slowly.
	“Holmit Drak-hide,” The dwarf grumbled.
	“You wish to learn our craft?” The last of the transmutation house asked with a serene and gentle voice. The fey woman with blue skin’s eyes were still transfixed on Galahad, “I am the president of house Karak-Albrac. If you are new to transmutation, you will be studying under me, most likely,” Her face stared with an almost bored expression. Galahad had no earthly idea if she was displeased with him, “Do you plan on applying to our house?”
	“I would like to eventually. If you’d have me, of course,” He meekly replied, “I intend to prove myself before you induct me.”
	“Good. I am glad we have the same expectations, Galahad,” The witch coldly remarked. One hand, also of a blue color, was extended from underneath her fluffy cloak.
“I’m not sure if I’m supposed to shake or kiss your hand,” Galahad joked as he reached to take her hand. The fey woman did not seem to be amused.
He got nudged out of the way as Harold took the woman’s hand and kissed the back of it, “My sweet, is this man bothering you?” The prince asked.
	The fey woman’s face was still blank, “I am not your sweet nor was he bothering me. You are the one currently bothering me.”
	“As hard to get as ever,” Harold sighed, “So be it. You only redouble my efforts with your playful coldness. I must be off to chat with the other new students,” He bowed and took his leave.
	As soon as he was out of earshot, Suzie whistled, “Sheesh, as bold as ever. What a creep.”
	“I don’t like him much,” Todd nodded slowly, “You should have transmuted his mouth shut.”
	“No. We cannot afford to attain his house’s ire. Galahad, it was a pleasure meeting you,” The woman blinked slowly at him. 
	“Pardon me for asking, but what’s your name? You never had the chance to tell me,” Galahad quickly reminded her.
	“You may refer to me by my title, ‘The Multifold Manus of Alderia.’ Make a nickname for me as you please. The others have,” She stated. Galahad quickly deduced she must be some kind of fey if she’s giving out titles rather than names.
	“I call her Manus,” Suzie offered.
	“Miss President is sufficient for me,” Fredrik added.
	“Miss Manus. If that is alright,” Galahad stated. The fey woman nodded and the man sighed with relief, “It was nice meeting all of you, but to be honest I’ve had a very long day. I think I'll retire early. I need to prepare for classes in a few short days.”
	“Would you like me to take you there?” Fredrik offered eagerly.
	Galahad shook his head, “No, it's okay. I’m sure you’re really busy.”
	“As you wish. I hope to see you again soon. I would love to speak to you more, my friend,” He gave a little nod, silently bidding Galahad farewell who then made his way to the exit, “He seems like a good lad.”
	“Better than some of the others we have to suffer,” Holmit glanced toward the evocation class.
	“Politeness alone will get him nowhere,” Suzie reminded them, “I expect the rest of you to not let personality alone sway your judgment when he does apply. If he applies. Think he has potential, Manus?”
	“I cannot say,” She coldly replied, “Without first seeing him cast a few spells, at least. He is in one of my classes I am teaching. I will judge him there. Go mingle, perhaps others have interest in our magic.”