When it was time to wrap up our training, I found myself near the water barrel. I had worked up a nice sweat, so I took a drink and then washed myself off.

Unsurprisingly, the other children were unsure of what to do with me, and the few that had tried to talk to me I had pushed away. Because of this I was alone by the barrel as the children there shied away from me. I hoped it would stay that way all year. That way I wouldn't have to wait in line to get to the barrel.

When the maids with the bells came, signalling it was time to go to lessons, I headed straight for my destination. Since it was the third day of the week, I would go to the Temple of Knowledge and my class with Vanilla. I didn't really want to go to her lessons, but if I wanted to stay at this school, I would have to. I wished that I didn't have to wait for my magic class tomorrow.

It did not take me long to find Vanilla's room. Inside I found that a few other children had made it there before I had and a single, graying woman. The room itself was much like the room I had been in yesterday, with the stadium seating on one side and a raised platform on the other where a woman was standing. When the woman, probably Vanilla, saw me she noticeably took an interest in me but did not approach.

I also saw nine people sitting on chairs next to the far wall. One was wearing a robe like the priests in Sorris' temple. I also noticed one had taken a much greater interest in me than the others. He looked as if he had not bathed in ages and his dirty, mismatched clothes looked as if they were an afterthought.

I ignored the people for now and hurried over the wooden benches where the other children were sitting. I had wanted the seat closest to the door, but it was already taken so I sat two rows behind that. Not only did I want an easier path to the exit, sitting on the end meant no one could sit on that side of me.

A few minutes passed and the room steadily filled with children. A few of the children had approached me and asked me some questions about the way I looked, but I ignored them. Sadly, my unfriendly attitude did not prevent a child, a boy, from sitting next to me. He stared at me curiously and even tried touching me a few times. When I kept pushing his hands away, he stopped.

"Settle down children," The woman said loudly. When the children quieted, she continued, "I am Nila Candrar Fis and I will teach all of you in the knowledge given to us by the Deity, our forefathers, and those hailing from Terra." She glanced at me, "I expect you all to do your best in learning what I have to teach. I will not tolerate poor behavior." She glanced at me again, which made me think she must have heard about my deeds.

"For the next few days we will start with something we teach all those born in Calorin from birth, the Deity and how our world came to be. So, I have invited these esteemed guests from the local Temples so we can hear first hand from those who know their Deity best, but before I introduce them, I would like to quickly go over the time before Deity, when our world was created."

As I looked around the room, I saw that many of the children were getting bored or distracted. When it got too bad, I imagined that Vanilla would keep the children in line by using fear and punishment rather than teaching in a way children would enjoy. I would be surprised if they use teaching methods meant to engage children and let them have fun or whatever. Unfortunately for children all around this world we were probably stuck with boring lessons.

Vanilla spoke about Ellosier. Ellosier was the god of creation and was in fact the only god in Calorin mythology. In the time I had been on Calorin I had found out that not much is known about him. They say he created all the stars in the sky, the realms of the Deity, and Calorin. He is also said to have been the one to create all the people on Calorin and all the other living things.

Then one day Ellosier became troubled and entered a great depression. It was in this depression that he shed his powers and placed them on the ten eldest of the ancient Calorin to take care of his creations before vanishing.

Vanilla finished her explanation about Ellosier and then began introducing the priests in the order they were sitting, in the order that they appeared on the Calorin calendar, aside from Ellosier, which was the first month. They were from Vellis, Attish, Usui, Candrar, Dugin, Kel, Torrel, Sorris, and Melche. There was no one there representing Lolorai, who represented the last month.

When Vanilla finished introducing each priest, she motioned for the priest of Vellis to stand. The priest representing Vellis was a thin wiry man and smiled brightly at the students when he took his place in front of us. If he hadn't been sitting with the other priests, I wouldn't have thought him to be one as he wore everyday clothes that one would see the average citizen wearing. This was typical of the priests of the Deity of Dreams. In fact, Vellis does not have any temples, and those considered priests are travelling entertainers that move from city to city, living off of what people give them.

Since ancient times when children are born they are examined by a priest from any Deity who "divines" which Deity they are linked to. People born under Vellis are generally the loud, fun seeking, musical, artistic, etc. type of people. My opinion is that they are all annoying. Ferra fit in very well here.

Vellis is the only Deity that does not have a color representing him.

When the priest of Vellis finished, the priest of Attish, a stout woman wearing yellow robes, spoke. Attish is the Deity of Justice. As expected, people born under him are typically good and upstanding. From what I have heard, the Calorin justice system is practically run by these people. There are also many that delve into politics.

My opinion is that, while potentially good people, they also can get fairly annoying with how strictly they often follow the rules and make those around them do the same. This strictness is so strong that when followers believe that their country has strayed so far from justice, many will abandon that country if possible. According to the book on history Pali gave me this happened in Toa Mirr long before the uprising took place and to this day there are no temples dedicated to Attish there.

Attish's color is yellow as shown by the woman's robe.

The dirty and probably very smelly man was the next to speak. Unsurprisingly, he was Usui's representative. He had been staring at me the whole time. He even smiled at me whenever I looked at him. To be honest, I wasn't surprised at his behavior. Usui, the Deity of Nature, prizes natural beauty and other unique things.

Those born under him are often aloof, sometimes wild and unpredictable, but can be helpful and caring. They also had a weird sense of beauty just like Usui himself. This was probably why I was being stared at, but since those born under Usui had left me alone they were not among my least favorite people.

What bothered me was that there were plenty of rumors of Usui and his followers kidnapping women, and children of notable beauty, though they only seemed to go after those with no family. As a Terran I was definitely unique, but I didn't know if they would consider me beautiful as I had not seen myself in a mirror in a while. Ferret seemed to think I was cute, so I would have to get me some Usui repellent just to be safe.

As for what Usui does as a Deity… His followers claim that he was responsible for the planting of all the great forests and many of the natural wonders. Pretty much everyone else believe that Ellosier was the one responsible, and that Usui is only a caretaker and indeed he is a caretaker. His followers have claimed most of the major forests as his temples and often kill those that enter. This was why wood is not widely used for construction in many parts of Calorin. In fact, there was one of these forests a few hundred kilometers to the south, called Usui's Playground by his followers for some reason. Everyone else calls it the Howling Forest because of the many wolves that call it home.

Usui's color is brown.

The next priest to speak, an average looking man wearing grey clothes, was representing Candrar. I had seen this man the day before and was sure he was a teacher here. Considering this school was run by followers of Candrar and Melche, it was not surprising that Vanilla grabbed one of her colleagues.

As for Candrar, it is said that she is responsible for giving the people's of Calorin much of the knowledge that they have today, aside from what the Terrans brought over that is. Aside from this, she stays out of the affairs of those on Calorin.

Those born under Candrar are what we call nerds on Earth. They love learning, are extremely curious, calm, and wise. I would bet my left kidney that the boy sitting next to me was a Candrar. I should also mention that one the first king Flaern had, after its liberation from Toa Mirr was a Candrar. This was why Flaern put more effort into education than many other countries did.

Candrar's color is grey.

The next priest, a shifty-looking man wearing a dark blue cloak, was from Dugin, Ferret's favorite Deity. Despite her being the Deity of the Heavens, her reputation isn't known to be kind or “heavenly.” This was because Dugin claimed that if she was responsible for the heavens, then she should be in charge of all of it.

From what I have heard, when Ellosier fell each Deity claimed a “star.” I didn't know exactly what Dugin's responsibilities were in the heavens, but it was enough for her to claim everything up there. Because of this she is rumored to be fighting the other Deities.

Those born to Dugin aren't actually that violent, though they are often greedy and like to control things. Most like to get into politics or at least argue about politics. They usually get annoying about it too, which is why I don't like being around them.

Dugin's color is blue.

When a gloomy-looking man in a dark green robe stepped forward, I knew that everyone's "favorite" Deity had finally come up. I say this because most people were afraid of Kel and his followers, him being the Deity of Death and all.

While Kel is not known to be violent, his followers often are. Since Kel is in charge of “sorting” the spirits of the dead, some of his most “devoted” find sending spirits to Kel personally a great privilege, the founding king of Toa Mirr being one of them. Even those that don't are often hostile and aggressive. This being said, all of those belonging to Kel that I have met weren't horrible people, just prone to anger, duels, bar fights, etc… Often fun to watch them drunk.

Kel's color is green.

The next priest representing Turrel, a muscular man wearing sturdy gold color work clothes, came next. Since Turrel was the Deity of Seasons, most non-farming people associate Turrel with farming. While many of the temples of Turrel did have large farms the priests tended to, most farmers are of the underclass and therefore have an equal number of people born under the other Deities, however; since those born under Turrel are often the most hardworking, I have heard that they fill most labor-intensive jobs. I have also heard that women born under Turrel often run orphanages and such. I also find them the most boring people.

Turrel's color is gold.

A priest wearing a familiar red robe was representing Sorris, the Deity of Protection, came after Turrel.

Ah, the poor person's favorite Deity. If someone needs help or protection, a temple of Sorris was definitely the place to go as I had seen firsthand. While one would also expect a person born of Sorris to be more likely to enter the military than the others, it wasn't true. The people of Sorris believe that while the military protects a country, it can also inflict harm on other countries so Temples of Sorris end up becoming a sort of militia to protect where the military does not, in many places even providing a police force of sorts. This explains why their temple looks like a fortress.

Sorris' color is red.

The last priest came up. He was most likely a magic teacher from this school because he was representing Melche but I didn't recognize him.

As for Melche, the Deity of Magic, there wasn't much to say. In the early history of Calorin she gave the people magic and taught them how to use it. After this she disappeared from history much as Candrar had. The only other thing worth noting is that Melche and Candrar are closely related. Like the school I am in now, they build most of the temples near each other.

Those born under Melche, while much fewer than those born under the other Deity, are the most feared and respected because of their greater ability to learn and use magic. Because of this, they also tend to be proud and arrogant. Coming to this school was actually the first time I had been around anyone born under Melche since there had been none in Porra-Kel.

Melche's color is silver

With the last priest finished all that was left was Lolorai, the Unknown Deity. So little is known about Lolorai that no one even knows his/her gender. In fact, Lolorai's name is the only thing known. No children are ever born under Lolorai either as far as I know. There are also very few temples dedicated to him/her.

With all the Deity talk over, Vanilla excused the priests. When they left she began to talk about what we would cover for history over the next year which would be the history of Flaern and to a lesser extent the surrounding countries. Apparently the history of Calorin was being saved for those that delved into the higher level classes.

For about an hour Vanilla talked about history.

When she finished with history, Vanilla moved on to etiquette. While I had thought Flaern's history was boring, it was nothing compared to etiquette. Surprisingly, it was very similar to etiquette on Earth. We were told that we would learn how to speak properly and politely, how to have good posture, and good eating habits.

Mercifully after about an hour and a half I heard bells ringing, signaling time for the noon meal. With only having about a half-hour to eat, I hurried back to my room. I arrived to find a small meal placed on both my and Arty's desks. By the time Arty arrived I had eaten most of my meal. When the bells signalling to go back to class came, Arty had barely finished.

Back in class I found we would be working etiquette for another hour and I began to wonder if the reason they had placed me with Vanilla was because she spent a lot of time on it. The thing that annoyed me most was that apparently Vanilla had been told about my "butchering" of the Flaern language and had gone out of her way to hear it for herself. I avoided any more annoyances by dropping my use of contractions and spoke normally.

When we finished with etiquette, we moved on to science. In this hour I learned how little they knew. I don't know how many times I wanted to speak up and tell them something was wrong.

With science done she taught grammar and reading skills for an hour. Apparently spelling wasn't that big of a deal because all the words were spelled exactly how they sounded and didn't have any weird rules like silent e's or letters that acted weird.