Olivia watched the door click closed behind Yunsha, and then she turned back to the group of people at the far end of the room. She slowly started walking toward them, doing her best to plaster a smile on her face. She was about halfway there, in the middle of the long burgundy rug, when a small figure charged toward her from the couch. Olivia could see that it wasn’t a child but rather another person of Yunsha’s race. “Hello, Olivia! I’m Veena!” Exclaimed the girl, or woman - Olivia wasn’t sure how to tell her age, as she also wore a smooth white stain of makeup over her exposed flesh. Her eye sockets and lips were dyed deep green, and she had straight, white-blonde hair hanging down to her hips.

“Pleased to meet you, Veena.” Olivia held out a hand, and Veena took it in her gloved hand. Then Veena turned and gestured to the other four individuals still lounging at the far end of the room.

“Come, and I’ll introduce the others.” She turned and pulled Olivia by the hand toward the bright window. They stopped a few feet in front of the couches, and Veena pointed to the man lounging on the rug. He was a big, red-skinned man like Gan-dak. “This is Rald.” The man smiled, revealing his fangs, and turned his dark, cobalt eyes on Olivia, rubbing his hands sheepishly through his spikey, black hair.

“Hey, sorry if I don’t get up; I’m lazy.” Before Olivia could respond, Veena continued her introductions.

“That little Bogoli is my baby brother, Hanwol.”

“Baby? We’re twins!” The diminutive man was slightly smaller than Veena, and his smooth-shaven head was stained a deep blue, like the rest of his face. Three silver stripes were painted from his forehead to his jawline, and his deep red eyes stared menacingly at his sister.

“Nice to meet you, Hanwol,” Olivia said, trying to head off the fraternal conflict.

“Hmmph.” Hanwol flopped back onto the couch, staring at the ceiling.

“On the other couch is Adaida, sister of Shani - the one soaking in the sun, there, under the windows.” Olivia smiled at the two Ghelli sisters, noting their differences; while their faces were very similar, their colorings were quite a contrast. They were both beautiful, tall, willowy women, but Shani had silvery blonde hair, and Adaida had deep chestnut curls.

“It’s nice that some of you have siblings here at the academy,” Olivia said, trying to break the ice a little.

“Oh, it’s nice for those Ghelli girls, but I’d much rather not be here in Veena’s shadow,” Hanwol muttered from the couch.

“Oh, hush! He’s such a moody boy.” Veena laughed and sat down at the end of the couch, pushing her brother’s feet off the edge. “Don’t put your shoes on the furniture! Olivia, sit down; tell us about yourself. Forgive me if this is insulting, but what are your people called? I’ve never met anyone quite like you.” The others perked up and stared at her, waiting for the answer. Olivia cleared her throat and sat down on the other couch next to Adaida.

“I’m a human. My people come from another world. We were traveling through space to find new homes for our kind when the System found us and sort of kidnapped us, placing us on this world.” She shrugged.

“Well, that’s interesting!” Rald said, sitting up and scooting his back against the couch opposite Olivia. “Your people can travel between stars?”

“Yes, we had a lot of advanced technology. Well, advanced in our opinion, I guess. We didn’t know anything about Energy or the System, though.” This caused a bit of a stir in the conversation, and Shani sat up and leaned forward from the window seat.

“So you don’t know much about Energy? Oh, dear. I’m afraid our shot at the induction prizes just went down significantly. No offense.”

“Induction prizes?” Olivia looked around blankly.

“Ugh, you don’t even know what we’re talking about?” Adaida sat up, her four gossamer wings twitching with agitation. “We need to prepare her.”

“What level are you, Olivia?” Asked Veena.

“Um, I’m level eight. Can you explain what this is about?”

“Oh, thank Nature, she’s at least got some levels,” Shani said, leaning further forward toward Olivia. “Do you know any spells? I’m assuming you have a fully developed Core and pathways?” Olivia was starting to get irritated by the grilling and the lack of information coming her way.

“How about you all slow down with the questions and give me a little information? Then, maybe I’ll spill my guts?” Olivia sat up, pulling her shoulders back and staring around the group, her mouth set in a firm line.

“Hey, she’s tough. I like it!” Rald said, chuckling.

“Alright, hush, everyone,” Veena said. “Olivia, the reason you aren’t allowed to take a class before you come here is that each year the new students are put into a competition for various prize packages. For some rewards, we’re scored as a cohort, so we all win, or we all lose. The competition runs for the first month of school, and we’re scored on some criteria individually and on how we perform in a few competitions with other cohorts. Our overall score will determine our placement after the first month.”

“Thank you,” Olivia smiled at Veena. “How many cohorts are there?”

“So far, there are nine this year.” Hanwol sat up next to his sister, and Olivia struggled to keep a straight face seeing them sitting next to each other. He was definitely smaller than she, and his blue head with red eyes looked perpetually angry.

“There won’t be any more,” Rald said definitively. “Not this late - classes start in two days.”

“He’s right,” Adaida nodded, glancing at her sister, who also nodded. “So, Olivia, what can you tell us about yourself? Do you know any spells at all? Can you channel? I mean, they put you into Copper, so I assume you had some talent with something, right?”

“Sure. I have a Core and four elemental affinities, and I seem to be talented when it comes to channeling more than one affinity at a time. And, yes, I know a few simple spells.” Olivia sat back, feeling more relaxed because everyone seemed to have breathed a sigh of relief at her words.

“We can work with that.” Shani nodded and once again lay back in the cushions on the window seat, soaking in the sunlight.

“Well, let me show you around, Olivia.” Veena turned and gestured to a plain wooden door on the wall just a few feet past the last bed. “There’s the door to the bathrooms. There’s a short hallway in there and then two bathrooms. The boys have been using the one on the left, and the ladies the one on the right.”

“Don’t you mean the men?” Hanwol asked, his voice strained at the obvious point of contention. Rald just chuckled, and Veena ignored him.

“Anyway, nothing’s stopping you from using either bathroom, but, trust me, they’re slobs.” She turned to the other wall of the long room and pointed to the bed closest to the entry door. “That’s your bed and your closet. Sorry, you get one of the ones furthest from the window, but first come, first serve, as they say.” She smiled. “That’s the whole tour! Let me know if you have any questions!”

“Can anyone tell me what classes we have? Do we all have the same schedule?” Olivia looked around at the group.

“Oh yes. Come, let’s go over to your bed and go over your classes and texts.” Veena beckoned her, and Olivia followed to the narrow bed. They sat down, facing each other, and Olivia pulled her books out of her ring one by one. The first book was titled Cultivation and Core Development. “That’s our fourth class of the day.” Olivia nodded and pulled out the next book, A Novice’s Guide to Enchantment. “We start the day with that class.”

“Oh, that’s exciting! I’ve been hoping to learn more about enchantment.” Olivia cracked the book and thumbed through the thick, illustrated pages noting the many diagrams and runes.

“Enchantment combined with spellcraft can become a potent combination!” Veena nodded. Olivia pulled out the next book and read the title.

“Applied Alchemy for the Adventurous Soul?”

“Yes, alchemy is an extensive subject area, and the academy teaches a focused subset of it that is considered useful for cultivators trying to improve their power. That’s our second class of the day.” Olivia opened the book to a random page and saw that it looked a lot like a cookbook recipe.

“Hmm,” she said, setting the book aside and pulling out the last one. She read the title, “Introduction to Spellcraft.”

“Our third class, and probably the most important, well, maybe tied with the cultivation class. You’ll learn about channeling Energy into specific patterns to create spells and improve existing spells. I’m pretty sure they’ll even let us learn spells from scrolls so that we can use them as building blocks for more advanced spells.”

“That sounds great!” Olivia was beaming as she thumbed through the first few pages - they were very densely covered in fine print. “I love books like this - full of information!”

“Oh, good! I was afraid you’d struggle with the texts. I’m sure some of the others will be put at ease that you’re actually excited by them! Anyway, those are our four classes, and then, at the end of the day, we have combat practice and physical education.”

Veena left Olivia alone for a while to read through the first few pages of each of her books. Olivia watched her walk over to the others and saw that she and her brother began playing some sort of a game. They sat cross-legged in front of each other, taking turns tossing some small objects onto the floor in front of them. The others were all napping or reading books. Olivia yawned, started reading through Introduction to Spellcraft, and found the first few pages very difficult and slow reading. She had to constantly backtrack to make sure she understood what she’d just read. Anyone watching her would have seen the smile on her face, though, because, if Olivia looked forward to anything, it was reading a challenging text.

That evening, the six members of Copper cohort walked through the hallways together to the cafeteria, and Olivia was introduced to academy food. The cafeteria wasn’t overly crowded - apparently, there wasn’t a set dinnertime but rather a dinner window. Olivia had donned her cottony pleated skirt, knee-length socks, thin, buttoned shirt, and snug outer robes, all a pale gray color. Her shiny black shoes reminded her of a pair she’d seen at a department store that had been priced way outside her comfort zone. They were very comfortable, despite their thick heels. Dressed as she was, she felt she fit in very well with the motley cohort, and it seemed she did - no one gave her a second glance in the cafeteria.

They were given plates and allowed to select from the buffet line of hot dishes. Olivia took a steaming green vegetable dish, copying Shani when she put a dollop of butter on top. Then she took a large piece of some sort of red meat and a flaky dinner roll. When they sat down to eat, she noticed that everyone had piled a lot of food on their plates, probably twice what she had. Rald’s plate was stacked with the most - several types of meat and three dinner rolls, all slathered in butter. He saw Olivia looking at his plate and smiled, “You should eat more. You’ll need the reserves when we start combat training in two days.”

“Really? It’s that intense?”

“Oh yes,” Adaida said. “You’re going to sleep like the dead once that starts.”

“How do you all know so much about how the academy works?”

“Our families and friends,” Veena said, nudging her brother, who scowled and took another bite of food.

“Anyway, you’ll get a chance to pack in some more food tomorrow after the welcome assembly.”

“Oh, I’m glad I came in time to see that! The mage guild representative who gave me the token only told me to be here by the first. I’m glad I came a little early.”

“We are too!” Veena said. Some of the others nodded; Rald just grunted and ate some more.

“Is anything else happening tomorrow?”

“Just the assembly, officially. Some of the cohorts are planning some sort of informal competition in the afternoon, though.” Hanwol offered.

“Hush, Han!” Veena nudged him.

“What?” Olivia asked.

“Well, we weren’t going to mess around with it. Some of those cohorts are very competitive and are aiming to cause trouble,” Shani replied for her.

“I don’t think we should shy away from the competition. Let’s see what they're made of. If we don’t win, we at least get a feel for what we’re up against in future competitions.” Olivia looked around the table, meeting their eyes.

“I knew I liked you,” Rald said, grinning with his teeth full of meat.