Guppy was knocked out of her drifting thoughts when the carriage slowed to a halt. She heard the carriage driver hop off the driving bench up front and walk round to the back to retrieve her luggage.

Scant though her luggage may seem for a noble with only a single suitcase, it contained several sets of the academy's uniform, the royal colors of scarlet and gold dominating the tailored outfit's design.

She heard the crunch of gravel as the silent driver deposited the suitcase outside the carriage door, then smoothly swung it open for her.

Guppy ducked through the carriage doorway and got her first view of the academy that she would attend for the next few years.

Even in the dusky twilight air it was impressive, especially so as lights twinkled on from rooms across the buildings in response to the approaching darkness, shedding a halo of light that pushed against the dying light.

Although the encircling walls blocked sight of what must be extensive gardens, they could not hide the massive dodecagramal structure from which twelve colored spires rose. Each tower connected by gossamer walkways that stretched between them in symmetrical bridges.

This, this was where the best mages, artificers, and enchanters came to learn their crafts from the ages of eighteen until- well, until they left to ply their crafts. This was a place she never once thought she would see the inside of, a place so far out of her previous reach that-

Guppy remembered to breathe when she heard the carriage depart behind her.

She grabbed her bag, took a fortifying breath, and marched up to the gates.

She was about to pass through the open archway when she heard a grinding of metal and parting air. Her instincts threw her backwards with a quick bound as two brass spears swung downwards where she had been a moment ago.

Guppy straightened, and did not press forward, the alternative was skewering herself on two pointy bits of metal that had tracked her movement.

Two metal men- no golems, wielding archaic arms and armour had emerged from recessed positioned within the gateway's arch and taken a swing at her!

“ALPHA WAVE DETECTED. INTRUSION BLOCKED. INITIATING TERMINATION OF THREAT.” boomed the two golems, their voices hollow and deep.

Guppy felt something rise within her then, a terrible desire to crush and rend. To trample down the obstacles before her. A thrilling rage enveloped her from one bling to the next as adrenaline coursed through her veins.

Her breath steamed in the chill evening air as her heart accelerated and pupils dilated. She bared her teeth and prepared to fight.

Yet her fight never came.

"Wait! Zarak's Teeth! Stop you stupid gold cans! What's the command word again- right! Heralds I bid thee Hold!"

“STANDBY COMMAND RECEIVED FROM AUTHORISED PERSONNEL.”

The two giant golems retreated half a step and swung their spears skyward, thumping the shafts to the ground in unison.

A flustered and rather fat man in stained livery staggered into view as he rounded the corner and exited the gate. He took a moment to rest against one of the now still statues, catching his breath before he turned to Guppy.

Guppy relaxed, the man registered as zero threat to her instincts. Realising her current appearance she grabbed her dropped suitcase and straightened from her previous crouch, quickly smoothing her clothes and stilling the faint tremor in her limbs before the man looked up at her.

"Gatekeeper Klip at your service miss. Don't you know there's no entry after dark? Good thing I was awake and ready or these here magic guys would have poked some holes in ya. Now what can I do for ya?"

Guppy raised a hand to her mouth to hide her grin at the flustered man's words. He looked like he'd almost had a heart attack seeing the statues move, which judging by his manner was most definitely not an everyday occurrence.

Guppy pulled off a serviceable curtsey and replied, "Good master Klip, my name is Henrietta Cooper, I am a new student of this Academy, though I fear I have arrived late due to my long journey. Please get your guards to stand down and allow me entry."

The words felt a bit awkward and stiff to Guppy, but Emily and been- intense when tutoring her on her new cover, including basic manners of speech. Thankfully, Guppy had always been a quick study and had picked up the basics in a few days.

Emily had remarked that she wouldn't pass for true nobility, but as her cover was a provincial noble, not much would be expected of her either.

"Right, right. A moment milady." called out Klip, as he then muttered to the statues before pulling out a wand and poking them a few times, the golems responded by grudgingly moving back into their shadowed alcoves.

Klip looked visibly pleased with himself, drawing in his gut before he turned to Guppy once more.

"Now then Miss, please present your noble crest for verification!"

Guppy retrieved the badge Emily had given her. The oval plaque bore the Cooper family crest, showing a pidby bird carrying a stalk of wheat in its beak.

The thing was supposedly enchanted and unduplicatable outside the official noble registrar office. However, Guppy rather suspected that's exactly where Emily had gotten it made.

Klip accepted it from Guppy and tapped it to a block he had retrieved from his belt, which then hummed and turned red.

"Perfect, a genuine crest, welcome to the Academy Miss Cooper! This way, please." Klip waved her through the gate with a bow.

Guppy complied, accepting her crest back she walked forward and crossed the gate's threshold, feeling a tingle up her spine as she did so. She could feel the sentries disapproving gaze upon her. What was up with that?

She passed them, and the architectural magnificence of the academy as it was fully displayed stole her attention and stray concerns with its beauty.

In a half daze Guppy began walking down the long paved path to the distant buildings, stopped only by a horrified Klip who rushed over from a flatbed cart to which he had turned upon his entry.

"No no miss, we'd not make you walk all the way there! It’s further than it looks. Take this horseless carriage, it's got a magitech engine built in and it's enchanted to take you right to the administration doors."

Guppy felt more conscious than ever of her poor upbringing as she sat down on velvet cushions and let the nervous gatekeeper switch the device on. He then waved cheerily to her as it smoothly clicked and moved down the stone-paved path.

Guppy shook her head, then sat back and relaxed. At least this way she got to admire the gardens as she traveled. True, she could not see far with dark descending, but lights set in intervals along the path illuminated flowerbeds full of neatly ordered plants.

They weren't in bloom due to the late season, and the encroaching of winter, but the variety displayed and obvious care they received promised a dizzying display come spring.

And the flowerbeds were the least of the decorations! Short hedges backed the flowerbeds, framing them and the path both, with gaps for only the occasional statue who's clothing grew more and more old-fashioned as the trip progressed.

Guppy had to suppress some very unladylike snorts at some of the ridiculous outfits the last few mages sported. Fashion had come a loooong way in the last few millennia.

But, as with all good things, the ride came to an end. All too soon Guppy faced two large doors of dark wood that towered over her as she timidly, and then with greater force, knocked upon them.

She waited a full minute before the doors silently swung open before her, revealing a tired-looking Calgaree. Guppy’s ears picked up the beastkin muttering about flaming mid semester transfers before the Calgaree coughed politely into one grey furred hand and spoke up.

"Miss Cooper? We've been expecting you. My name is Vicklash Calgaree. I am the matron, and head of housekeeping here at the Royal Academy. Please follow me as I lead you to the boarding house for the fairer sex."

Guppy demurely complied, following the elderly Calgaree down several long corridors that met and twisted at sharp angles and with little seeming reason, a few minutes later they exited a side door and then followed a covered walkway whose walls lay open to the grounds. They headed away from the grand building, and to another that located elsewhere would have been an extravagant mansion. After the marbled academy building it just looked like a boarding house.

"The east dormitories belong to the ladies, while the west belong to the young lords, you may mingle freely during class and after they end for the day, however it’s frowned upon to be outside your dormitory after dark. Especially after the eighth evening bell.” Vicklash explained.

Guppy had tried to pay attention at first but in all honesty she had soon lost focus to all the sights, scents and tingles while in the academy building, it was only once they left it she became cognizant of the instructions she was getting from the elderly Calgaree and tried to catch them once more.

“Should you be foolish enough to break curfew, or too many other rules we have, we have full permission from all parenting groups to discipline the offending student during their stay here. I advise for your sake you toe the line milady, I do so hate to clean up the mess a girl makes after a public lashing.”

Guppy's eyebrows rose as the diminutive Calgaree carried on. She did not laugh at the rules as they were briefly listed, although quite a few seemed rather strange and lacking context.

Before long they had entered the second dormitory level and swept past numerous doors. Then Vicklash stopped, turned towards Guppy, and gestured to a door at which they had arrived. It lay at the very end of the corridor on the third floor.

"Here is your room Miss Cooper and here is your key. Good night."

The Calgaree left as abruptly as she had stormed in, leaving Guppy clutching a delicate brass key in one hand and her suitcase in the other.

As quiet descended, Guppy heard a pitter pattering of feet and clicking of keys in locks as other doors were unlocked. She saw several heads poke out of doorways and felt a flush of embarrassment at the sudden attention.

Guppy whirled to her own door, quickly unlocked it, and bolted inside. She'd get to know her neighbour's tomorrow. Tonight, at least, she had to herself. She looked around at the sparse yet luxurious furniture. It wasn’t home, it might not even be safe, but for the next three years it would be hers.

Guppy dropped her bag and walked over to the four posted bed. She flopped down upon it and let out a sigh.

“Here’s to my new normal.”

She rolled over and had to admit; the bed was very comfortable.