The next morning, Astrid wakes up, her eyes widen as she feels fur covering her and a loud snoring noise coming from right beside her head. She slowly rotates her head to see Shortclaw’s muzzle right beside her head. She then looks down to see his arm wrapped around her. “Shit.” Astrid thinks to herself. She tries to slip out from under his arm, as she finally gets Shortclaw’s arm off her Shortclaw starts to stir.

Shortclaw stretches and yawns. “Good morning.” Shortclaw sits up, watching Astrid. “Did you sleep good?”

“Yes.” Astrid says, as she turns red. “Umm… Shortclaw… I have a question.”

“Yes?” Shortclaw asks as he stands up.

“I… errrr… kind of need a bath, before we go to class.” Astrid says as she turns red in embarrassment.

“Oh? Well I guess I need one too.” Shortclaw then grins at Astrid. “The only bath in the area that students can use is the communal baths, they are separated by sex though, so I can’t be joining you.”

Astrid starts turning redder. “You… you are sleeping on the floor tonight!” Astrid then grabs some spare clothes from her travel bag and storms out of the room. After about two minutes Astrid comes sulking back into the room. “I… I don’t know where the baths are.”

Shortclaw grabs his side as he laughs. “Let’s go you silly elf, we need to hurry though so we aren’t late for our classes.”

Shortclaw and Astrid both go to the communal baths, after paying five copper each, they both separate to their own sides. The first one to finish bathing and get to the entrance is Shortclaw. He goes to the front where a group of benches are located, expecting to see Astrid already done, but instead he sees Viele sitting there with a frown on his face.

“Where is Astrid at?” Shortclaw asks the grumpy looking ent.

“SSStill… cleaning...” Viele says as he stares at the entrance to the female side of the bath.

“Why aren’t you in there with her?” Shortclaw asks with a grin on his face, his feline like eyes moving up and down the tree ent.

“Humanssssss…. Ssssay… Viele… not… allowed…. Female… only…” Viele says angrily.

Shortclaw starts to let out a barely audible giggle as he sees Viele getting angry. “Did you try turning into your dryad form?”

“Yessssss… then the… human hit me… with broom… told me sssssssstill no…” Viele says as he throws his hands up in the air. “Then… I tried to… bite her… then… masssster… yelled at me.” Viele droops down in his seat, an air of depression surrounds him as he says he got yelled at.

“It’s okay Viele, you still got me here.” Shortclaw pats Viele’s back as Viele turns and gives Shortclaw what he can only guess is a death glare.

“Ahem.”

Shortclaw and Viele turn to see Astrid walking through the door to the female baths, she is wearing a green dress that goes down to her knees, her face red in embarrassment. “How do I look?” She asks as she does a twirl, revealing she has her hair braided, the braided hair going all the way down to the middle of her back.

“Beautiful…” Shortclaw says as he stares at Astrid. “And wait… who braided your hair?”

“That would be me!” A familiar voice says, coming out of the doorway behind Astrid.

“Yeah… Brittany… err… really wanted to braid my hair… it was hard to refuse…” Astrid says, turning red to the point that she looked like she was going to pass out as she remembered what happened.

“Yep! Astrid really has beautiful hair so I just had to braid it.” She then looks over and eyes Shortclaw. “So… Shortclaw was it?” Brittany asks. “I was informed that you and Astrid are currently staying in the dorms together.”

Shortclaw raises an eyebrow. “Yes, for now.”

Brittany flashes a smile for a moment, she flashes it so quickly that no one noticed it. Her eyes then grow wide in surprise as she looks around. “Oh no, I think it’s about time for the first class to start! I got to go!” Brittany then goes into a dead sprint towards a large building made from a red stone.

“Shit!” Shortclaw yells. “Do you know what building you need to go to?” He asks as he looks at Astrid.

Astrid just nods and starts to run as fast as she can towards wide black building with a bunch of windows. Looking over she sees Shortclaw running with her. “You should be running to your building, not following me.” Astrid starts to shoo Shortclaw but he just laughs.

“Hey, that is the building I need to go to, wait what class are you supposed to be going to?” Shortclaw asks as he tries to keep up with Astrid’s quick pace.

“Basic economy.” Astrid says to Shortclaw as he starts to fall back.

“I got the same class.” Shortclaw says as he tries to pick up his pace and catch back up with the fast elf.

“Wait, I thought every group was supposed to be taking different classes.” Astrid asks, confused.

They both reach the front door, several warrior looking humans arrive at the door at the same time. Everyone rushes threw the door to see a large class room full of benches and tables, most of the seating is full except one in the back. Astrid and Shortclaw sit down at the table beside each other, exhausted by the sprinting.

“I’m going to be sweaty and I just got my first bath in days!” Astrid complains. “And wait… where is Viele?”

Viele watches as the Astrid and Shortclaw run into the building. He stops running and starts to move at a slow walk. “I…. need…. Guardian…. Can’t… run... ent… body…” After arriving and slipping into the classroom, he finds his master and flops down beside her, exhausted.

Steven Slate watches as the door opens, expecting to see a student. He nearly opens his mouth to reprimand the student for cutting it so close but catches himself when he sees that instead of a student it’s an ent. He then raises an eyebrow as he watches it shamble over and crumple down beside a girl with a green dress and long blond braided hair. “Ent, you aren’t a student but that doesn’t mean you can be late to class.”

At those words, there are random bursts of laughter across the classroom.

“Well I’m not sure but I think this should be everyone. Welcome to your first day in Basic economy, and to answer everyone’s question, yes there are mages and warriors in one class. Due to unforeseen circumstances, we are a teacher short, so we decided to merge our smallest class, the control mages, with a random other group. Not sure why Blazefist decided to choose the heavy warrior class but that is what he decided. The only classes that will be affected are your start of day classes like economy, government, and history. Afternoon combat classes are unaffected.” Steven starts walking around as several people in the crowd start to talk amongst themselves. “If anyone decides they want to talk amongst themselves while I am trying to teach I can always get one of the warrior instructors in here, they love to talk.” Steven grins as all the students quiet down immediately. “Good, now, my name is Steven Slate, I am an assistant teacher under Amy White. I mostly handle teaching Economics classes due to my past in accounting. In this class, you will mostly learn how to handle money from the city states and from the surrounding countries. This is an important class due to if you are out adventuring, unless you have the backing of rich families, you will need to be able to handle your own money.” Steven stops back at his podium. “So everyone ready to learn money?”

After a few moments of shuffling papers Slate seems to finally get ready. “Okay now, does everyone know the basic coin and conversion rate for the middle, southern, and eastern city states?”

A dwarf that Astrid recognizes from her group raises her hand, it’s a dwarf named Sherry Stonestomper. “Yes, Ms. Stonestomper?”

“The middle, southern, and eastern city states all use coins minted at the city states. They are bronze, silver, and gold coins.” Sherry says proudly.

“Good start Ms. Stonestomper.” Clark smiles at the dwarf. “And what are the conversion rate for each coin?”

“One hundred bronze is one silver, and one hundred silver is one gold.” Sherry shifts in her seat as she sees several people staring at her, one is a dwarf warrior whose stares are quickly going to the creepy side.

“You’re on a roll Ms. Stonestomper! You missed one coin though, it’s a mana coin. The value of this mana coin is one thousand gold coins. Most of you here won’t ever see one in person, it’s mostly used by noblemen or large shops. That and there are only a few thousand in circulation. There are a few things that make these coins special. The first thing is that they are coins infused with a special mana. The second thing is that they are recognized by all nations and known continents. The last bit is it is bonded to its’ owner till it is traded to another, this bond will allow someone to locate the coin in any part of the world, no matter how far away.” Steven gets a big grin on his face as the entire class starts paying full attention to him once he said the value of the coin.

“How is that possible?” A random warrior looking human asks.

“That is something no one knows, they have been around far before the city states were founded, some of the older races may know. But as far as I know, the origin of the coins was lost long ago.

The entire class starts making noises, reacting to the news of the coin. When they start to settle down Steven speaks back up. “Like I said though, except for a few of the children of noblemen here, most of you will never even get to see this coin. Now next I will like to speak about the other type of money used on this continent.” He then pulls out a thin sheet of paper from his robe. “This is a money note, it is the type of money used in the northern desert. They use it due to in the desert carrying a lot of heavy coins around with you is more problematic than helpful. Each one of these notes are made on a special paper made from desert plants under strict watch of the desert governments.” Steven holds it up until the entire class can see the intricate markings on the paper. “Each of these papers have a different value assigned to them depending on the markings, the numerical values in circulation are ones, tens, hundreds, and thousands. Now does anyone here know how much these are worth in our monetary system?”

At this everyone is quiet, till Shortclaw raises his paw. “The value of twenty notes is the same as one silver coin.”

At this Steven raises an eyebrow. “Ooooo, good job Mr. Shortclaw was it? Good job!” Steven again starts to walk around. “Yes, as Mr. Shortclaw says, twenty notes is the same value as one silver coin. That is the assigned value all governments on this continent have decided upon.”

Another human warrior raises his hand. “You said that the east, south and central governments each use metal coins, and the north uses these paper notes, but what do the people in the west use?”

Steven pauses for a moment like he was thinking. “Well not much is known about the elves who live in the western forest, but we do have some understanding of their currency. They use these crystals that are assigned to each one at birth, and the elves use some special method to detect the amount on the crystal, and they can somehow trade whatever is inside the crystal between them. Usually, when we do trade with elves, they don’t use the crystals with humans, they just barter stuff like rare plants, skins, and other stuff like that.”

Steven continues talking about the different conversion rates and how different products are different prices depending on the region of the continent for several hours causing many warriors and bored mages to doze off. When it seemed like even Astrid was going to nod off from the boring lecture suddenly the door opens and a very tanned skin human male comes in wearing a large white robe, he quickly runs up to Steven, to his displeasure. You can hear the two men having an argument in whispers. “But my class isn’t over yet!” Steven nearly hollers. Two seconds later there is a loud buzzing noise coming from Steven’s robe. He then pulls out a crystal and holds it, the buzzing noise suddenly stops. “Now my class is over.” Steven then turns to the class and says. “Okay class is over, you all have two hours for lunch, make sure you get to your assigned classes before the class starts, remember, two hours. This is, except for a Ms. Astrid Thorn, and a Mr. Shortclaw. I was just informed that they need to see you both at the Headmaster’s office. Please go there immediately, it is a small building made from obsidian near the front gate.”

“Why?” Shortclaw asks, confused.

“How am I supposed to know?” Steven huffs and storms out of the classroom before most of the students can.

Astrid just shrugs, confused as to why they were being called. “Well, might as well go, hopefully it is nothing bad.”

Shortclaw lets out a sigh and starts walking with Astrid and Viele to the Headmaster’s office. When they enter the building, they enter into a small room with several chairs and a desk, behind the desk is an annoyed looking dwarf female.

“May I help you?” She asks as she clanks her finger nails against her desk.

“Ummm, we were called here by the headmaster?” Shortclaw says nervously.

“Names?” The dwarf says as she rolls her eyes and pulls out some parchment.

“My name is Shortclaw, and this is Astrid.” Shortclaw says, trying to fake a believable smile.

The female dwarf just rolls her eyes again and part of the obsidian wall slides back to reveal another room. “Da… Blaze is expecting you.” The dwarf scoffs as Shortclaw, Astrid, and Viele all walk in, the stone making a hissing noise as it closes behind them.

Both Astrid and Shortclaw both stare slack jawed as they look around the room. The entire room is surrounded by pitch black obsidian walls and the room is lit up by a large glowing orb in the center on the ceiling. The floor is covered with what looks like expensive rugs made from various creatures. On one wall, there is a large shelf covered in books, beside that is another shelf covered in various glowing magical stones of different shapes and sizes. On another wall are many exotic weapons, some glowing from powerful enchantments. Then both look over towards the back wall to see a large wooden desk with several luxurious chairs, and behind it is Blaze Earthfist, grinning from ear to ear. “Do you both like my special room?” Both Astrid and Shortclaw can just nod. “Then go ahead and sit down, we have some stuff to discuss.” Both then quickly sit down in the two leather chairs in front of Blaze’s desk, both unable to speak due to even the chairs they are sitting on seem to be made of exotic materials. “Do you two happen to know why I called you both?” Blaze asks, grinning mischievously.

Astrid and Shortclaw look at each other nervously. “Was it due to the fight that you got involved in during the festival?” Shortclaw asks nervously.

“Oh, no that isn’t it, that debacle was all taken care of… This is something that seemed to have just recently transpired. I have received word from a certain… little birdy… that we have a female currently living in the male’s dorm.” Blaze stands up and walks around to the other side of the table. “Now a certain female may not know the dorm rules but I know a certain male does.”

Shortclaw and Astrid’s eyes both go wide in surprise. “I… I’m sorry” Shortclaw stammers out. “I didn’t want her sleeping outside the city gate.”

Blaze continues to grin. “Don’t worry, that is commendable, but we still have rules in place for a reason.”

“So I guess I am going to be staying outside the gate again?” Astrid asks as she starts to sulk.

Blaze just shakes his head. “No little elf, luckily for you, the answer to your problem appeared shortly after the problem itself appeared.” Blaze then walks back to his side of the desk and sits back down.

Both Shortclaw and Astrid look at the dwarf questioningly.

“Don’t be suspicious you two, she says she is a close friend to you Astrid. Her name is… Brittany Stallings if I remember correctly. She somehow heard that you needed a room so she said she will gladly add a second bed to her room and let you stay with her for this semester.” Blaze says, grinning at Astrid.

Shortclaw stands up angrily. “Was she the one who told you about this?”

Blaze’s gaze shifts to Shortclaw, his face changes into one of annoyance and anger. “I have eyes and ears everywhere on this campus, I do not need a child to tell me what is happening, you may sit down now Mr. Shortclaw, and control your bursts of anger from now on.”

Shortclaw quickly sits back down in the chair obediently.

“Good, now like I said, she offered her room. I have already sent the request to move the extra bed in there for you Astrid. It may not be your favorite option but it is the best option for you now. I would usually just offer a room at a reduced price, so that you could afford it, but the dorms are already full, forcing people to bunk together even if they could afford a room.” Blaze pulls out a parchment and hands it over to Astrid. “Sign this and the room will officially be shared with both you and Brittany.”

Astrid looks over the parchment, it mostly stated that Brittany and her are going to share a room over in the female dorms, mentioned some rules and what to do if they ever decided to no longer share a room. Brittany’s signature is already on the bottom of the page. Astrid then looks over at Shortclaw, a frown on his face.

“Well, I was hoping we could have spent more time in the room together, it was fun.” Shortclaw says, downtrodden.

Astrid smiles. “Well, the good news is we still have morning classes together, and we will still be spending plenty of time together. That and Brittany may be strange but she didn’t seem like a bad person.”

Shortclaw sighs. “If you want, go ahead and sign it. Like Blaze said, it’s the best choice for n…” Shortclaw then turns to Blaze. “Ummm… headmaster Blaze, do you ha…”

Blaze cuts off Shortclaw with a raised hand. “No, we do not have mixed dorms, tried that one year.” Blaze then mumbles something about the most annoying year of paperwork and apologies ever.

“I will do it!” Astrid says.

“Are you sure?” Shortclaw says reluctantly.

“Yep, and besides if anything does happen I always have you as backup to help me.” Astrid says, smiling at Shortclaw as she signs the paperwork and pushes it over to Blaze.

Blaze quickly looks the paperwork up and down and then writes something on it. “Good, looks like everything is in order, I knew a charming elf like yourself would see reason. Oh, and before I forget.” Blaze then rummages through his desk and pulls out two small purple crystals. He then hands one to Astrid and one to Shortclaw. “These are what we call tardy crystals.” Blaze then starts to chuckle to himself, after about a minute he stops. “Their purpose is to tell you the time classes are about to start. The school ended up making them due to well, the town has no clock so everyone must guess what time it is unless they have some sort of time telling device. This is sort of a time telling device, what it does is when it turns a new hour it vibrates several times in correlation to the hour. It also makes an annoying buzzing noise when it is time for class to start or end. To stop the buzz, you have to squeeze the crystal in your palm.”

Shortclaw eyes Blaze. “I seen a few of these being used by some of the students with extra money laying around, and they all said that these crystals are expensive. Are you just giving this to us?”

“I can see that you are concerned Mr. Shortclaw, but do not worry, it’s not a trap or anything. Think of it as a very early marriage gift, or an apology gift for having to split you two up from your room.” Blaze then smiles at Shortclaw again. “Since we now have all this resolved, I do believe you two should head out and get something to eat before the next class starts.”

Astrid and Shortclaw leave the office, as they enter town the crystals start to vibrate in unison. “Hmmm, it seems that an hour just passed. That means we have one more till it is time for class to start.” Astrid says as she plays with the crystal.

“That means we should hurry up and eat.” Shortclaw says, nudging Astrid. “So, would you like to eat at a food stall today?”

Astrid’s eyes light up. “I know just the one!” Astrid then grabs Shortclaw’s paw and she drags him through the streets, heading to a stall serving bread and sandwiches.

When Astrid arrives at the stall the human recognizes her immediately.

“Why, if it isn’t the starving elf, here to buy something this time?” The human female asks jokingly.

“Actually, I am, I want three sandwiches, I do not care what kind, whatever is cheap and has meat in it.” Astrid says, looking at the prices of sandwiches then throwing down nine copper.

“Ooooo! big spender today eh?” The human woman laughs. “Here since I like you I will throw some cheese on them for free.” The woman quickly makes the sandwiches, giving them to Astrid, Shortclaw, and reluctantly to Viele.

After all the sandwiches are devoured they make their way back to the school, hand in hand, Viele and several humans passing by giving Shortclaw death stares as they watch them walk together. When they get partway into the school they separate from each other, each going to their separate classrooms.

Astrid arrives at her classroom, she is one of the first to arrive, the three students to get to class before her is Sherry Stonestomper, Richard Stallings, and a human she doesn’t know. Astrid picks a chair close to Sherry and giggles as she watches Viele sit down beside her and attempt to mimic her. Astrid then turns her head as she hears some footsteps behind her.

“Hey… Astrid…” Richard says nervously. “I… I just want to say sorry about my sister, she is harmless but… she can be a hassle at times. She just really loves elves.”

Astrid just shakes her head. “It’s okay, hopefully she makes a good roommate.”

Richard raises an eyebrow but before he could open his mouth the door opens, and their teacher Clark Sven walks in.

“Shouldn’t you be in your seat? The rest of the class is going to be here shortly and I wish to have class start as soon as possible, I have a lot to teach in the first day.” Clark says in a huff. He pulls out a stack of papers and puts it on his podium, as he does this, five more students show up. After a few minutes the crystal in Astrid’s pocket starts to make a buzzing noise in unison with several other students and the teacher’s crystals. “Glad to see everyone is on time for the first day, good, because the first day is very important when it comes to this class.” Clark then grips his crystal and shuts off the buzzing noise. “Today’s class is Basic Spell Theory. Without this class you cannot properly use magic due to you will have zero understanding of magic.”

The entire class just nods in agreement to the delight of Clark.

“Now class, what do you think magic is?” Clark asks.

Stonestomper raises her small hand in the air. “It is the utilization of mana to create a spell.”

“You are correct, well mostly. But we will get back to that shortly” Clark grins. “Now, where do you think mana comes from and what do you think it is?”

The entire class looks around, seeing if anyone is going to answer.

After no one answers for a few minutes Clark speaks up. “Since apparently, no one knows, I will tell you. There are several theories on where mana comes from, each one sort of became a religion as of late. Some religions believe mana comes from the core of the world itself, some believe that mana comes from the death of creatures and that it’s power from souls, some think it’s from the ancient gods, and the final one is they believe it comes from the remains of Yggdrasil, the world tree. “

Clark pauses for a moment to make sure they are still paying attention. “Now what is it? Well… I like to call it living essence, it is in all living organisms, and even in some stones and crystals. Living creatures absorb it into their bodies like they are breathing.”

Stonestomper raises her hand. “If everything absorbs it like you are saying how come not everyone can use it?”

Clark grins again. “Good question Stonestomper. Due to unknown reasons, different living creatures can manipulate and control the flow of mana better than others. The living creatures that have the strongest control over mana is magical creatures, especially familiars. Humanoid creatures like us can control mana too but due to various factors not all of us can, that and the amount of control we can use also depends on the race. The humanoid race that is thought to have the most and strongest people who can control mana are thought to be the Elves, followed by humans, then the earthen races like dwarves, and the races that have the lowest chance of being able to control mana are the power races like the beastkin and giants.”

“What about Demons?” A random human asks.

Clark frowns and thinks for a moment. “Demons, and various altered creatures like that are… special. Demons are various humanoid races that… through some unknown way have been corrupted by a magical creature. Some are born that way… some are created. But all known demons have shown destructive power and have manipulated mana in ways that most regular humanoids can only dream of. So, I would say depending on the type of demon it is, but I would say they are on the same level as high level magical creatures when it comes to manipulating and controlling mana. But we are now getting off track.” Clark then fumbles with his papers again. “Okay here we were. Now mana, it’s in all living things, it is also all around us. And what we call magic, it is the manipulation of the mana around us caused by the mana in us.” Clark holds out his hand and summons an orb made from water, it floats just above his hand. “What I am doing right now is causing my mana to excite the mana in the air causing different particles in the air to fuse forming this water. Now, not everyone can do something like this unless certain conditions are met. Like earth casters cannot make an earth spike appear midair, unless there is a lot of dust in the air at that moment. To explain this simply for you all. Magic is the manipulating of the world’s mana using mana you have inside yourself. Now that I have explained the basic theory behind magic and mana, I will now explain how you can use magic. Well there are three ways to utilize magic, the first way is to control your mana yourself to cause it to happen. But this is, well, hard, and has very limited uses, plus it takes forever to make even simple things happen. Now, the two most common ways to cast now a days both involve something called a mana crystal.” Clark pulls out a small frog from his robe that opens its’ mouth, revealing a small blue pearl. “This is my familiar, his name is Nippy. In his mouth is his mana crystal, it is part of his body, and he uses it like a second brain to manipulate mana quickly and efficiently. Now how do you use that to cast spells?” Clark grins. “Well when you all gained your familiar you all felt a strange bond form with them correct? And after it formed it seemed like you knew and could trust your familiar?”

The class thinks for a moment and one by one all the students start to nod, looking at their familiars.

“That is due to a special bond you formed with your familiar caused by the syncing of your souls when you met. The bond is unbreakable unless either of you die. And what that bond does is it makes a mana link between the master and the familiar. Then with that link the master can send mana to the familiar and the familiar casts the magic utilizing its’ mana crystal.”

“That doesn’t make sense.” Stonestomper says as she raises her hand. “Then why do mages use chants for spells if it is the familiar casting the spell?”

“Chants are more of… commands… the familiar utilizes those chants to help it form the spell. They are mostly used for more complicated spells like a long-distance flame strike. You know how silly it would be to feed your familiar mana and tell it to flame strike, it has no clue what you want to hit with it, with how much power, or anything like that. You can imagine in a giant war, just yelling FLAME STRIKE, the spell will just as likely hit your own side.”

“That makes sense, but what about stuff like staffs, wands, enchanted items, and stuff like that?” Stonestomper asks.

“Well, that is the third way to use magic.” Clark says with a twinkle in his eye. “Staffs and wands are both amazing inventions, using cores from magical creatures, high level mages are able to inscribe formations for mana to follow in them. Allowing the wielder to feed the crystal mana and cast a spell, wands usually have small and simple spells like a fireball or icespike. Staffs are bigger and allow for a multitude of spells to be used. Enchanted items are a lot like wands, except they are made to not cast spells, they usually use mana to reinforce, much like a buff. So, you can have stuff like self-mending armor and weapons, or clothes that will help regulate temperature.”

Clark continues to look around the room. “All in all each of the three ways to cast magic have their strengths and weaknesses, but the one most commonly, and powerful way to use magic is to do it using your familiar. To sum up everything I just said. Magic is the manipulation of mana around you using your own mana, and that there is three ways to do this, using your own mana without help, using an item, or using your bond with your familiar.”

Clark continues talking about various theories about mana and how to utilize it depending on what kind of mana you specialize in. After a while the crystals in the room all start making buzzing noises indicating that it’s time for the class to end. “Okay everyone, tomorrow is the beginning spell weaving class which means that you will be casting spells, or at least attempting to. So, I hope you all payed attention in class today or it will be really hard for you tomorrow.”

Astrid and Viele walk out of class together, as they exit the room they hear someone run behind them.

“Astrid, wait!” Richard yells, as he runs up to Astrid. “What were you talking about before class, about my sister?”

Astrid thinks for a moment. “Ohhh, that, yeah we are roommates now.”

Richard’s jaw drops for a moment. “Wait how did all that happen?”

Astrid just shakes her head. “It’s a long story.”

“Would you like me to talk to my sister about…” Richard says as he gets cut off by someone.

“Talk to me about what?” Brittany says as she appears from nowhere and wraps her arms around her brother.

“About how you left out the simple fact that the elf you have a crush on just became roommates with you.” Richard says as he turns around and stares at his sister.

“Not a crush, just a good friend.” Brittany says grinning happily.

“Brittany I have a question.” Astrid stares at Brittany as she releases her brother and hugs Astrid instead.

“Anything for you!”

“Were you the one who told Blaze about me staying in Shortclaw’s room?” Astrid asks, eyeing Brittany suspiciously.

Brittany jumps back, a look of shock on her face. “I would ne…. well I thought about it… but someone kind of beat me to it. My morning class got released early and a bunch of the girls in the class all went to Blaze’s office. When I went into his office he asked me if I wanted a roommate, and all I did was say yes to him when he said it was you.”

Astrid eyes Brittany some more. “You swear that you didn’t tell him?”

“I swear.” Brittany puts on a pitiful face, making Astrid feel bad.

Astrid lets out a sigh. “Okay, I believe you.”

“Yayyy!” Brittany hollers and nearly tackles Astrid when she hugs her.

“Thank Gaia.” Shortclaw says as he walks up to the two hugging women. “So I guess she wasn’t the one who told?”

Astrid shakes her head. “I believe her.”

“Then who would have told?” Shortclaw asks, perplexed.

“I guess we will find out.” Astrid says as she watches Brittany start to pout.

“Here, how about this, what if I take everyone out to eat, as a sign of our friendship.” Brittany asks as she looks at everyone.

“I….like…her…massssster…” Viele says from the back of the group.

Astrid lets out a laugh. “I guess I can’t say no to free food.”

Shortclaw lets out a grumble. “I guess…. I can go too.”

“I know the perfect place.” Brittany says with a smile.

The group goes to a restaurant near the school that serves various meats over beds of vegetables. Once everyone eats till they are full they make their way back to the school. When they reach the dorms, Astrid and Shortclaw give goodbye kisses and separate, Shortclaw and Richard go to the male dorm, as Astrid follows Brittany to their new room.

“Oh, you are just going to love this room!” Brittany says excitedly as she opens the door to the room.

Astrid’s eyes grow wide as she sees the large room, two large fluffy beds on each side of the room, both covered in black and purple blankets and pillows, at the foot of each bed is a mattress on the floor covered in brown pillows. In the middle is an orb like the one in Blaze’s office. Instead of shelves on the walls like in Shortclaw’s room there are large wooden dressers to put clothing in. “The furniture by your bed over there is all yours, you can put your clothes and possessions in it. At the foot of the bed, the mattress with the brown pillows is for Viele to sleep.”

Viele eyes the bed then shambles over to it, laying down in it in his tree ent form before turning into his normal form. “Comfortable.” The only words he says as he yawns and closes his eyes.

Brittany lets out a giggle. “Well, I guess that means he likes it.”

Astrid eyes Viele as she unpacks her pack she has been keeping all her stuff in, putting it in the wooden dressers. “I guess he does.” Astrid then lays down in the bed, the softness of the bedding lulling her into a much-needed slumber.