Orn and his roommates joined the throng of students in the hall. Around them, he noticed a handful of older standing around watching the group. I wonder what that is all about?

He did not need to wait long to find out. Orn was a few steps from the doors when two boys bumped into each other. Rather than recognizing it as an accident, the two started pushing each other. The older boys by the doors immediately descended on the pair and pulled them aside.

The area in front of Orn opened as the older boys began to lecture the pair off to the side of the door. Orn rushed through the now empty space and out door to avoid the awkwardness of the two boys being lectured.

“Well that was awkward,” Bloom commented, as he fell into step beside Orn.

“Those two are dumb,” Travers added, as Jake nodded beside them. “Accidents happen. There was no need for that.”

Orn looked past Bloom to Travers, “I cannot imagine why neither of them just apologized and kept going.”

“That is because you are a good boy,” Kao said, from his left. “Whose a good boy? You are!”

“Are you alright Orn?” Travers asked. “You look like you just bit into something spoiled.”

Orn focused on making his expression neutral and did his best to ignore the laughing goddess. “It is nothing important.”

…

The older students led the group down the gravel path Orn had walked earlier. From time to time the older boy leading the group would point to a building such as the library, or a lecture hall the new students needed to know about.

Along the way they were joined by two other groups of uniformed students. The student leading Orn’s group said they were from the other two barracks at the academy, north and south.

“Want to guess the direction their barracks are in?” Bloom asked with a grin, causing Travers to groan.

Orn rolled his eyes and looked away, in no small part, to see where the suspiciously quite Kao was. He looked around, but did not see her. Instead he noticed several of the nearby first years whispering and pointing at his swords. However, the presence of his roommates talking seemed to dissuade them from approaching him.

This did not stop them form inching closer to him as they moved toward the center of the campus. As they walked, Orn noticed an increasing number of students who seemed to be wearing anything but the uniform he had. Orn recognized the clothes as similar to those worn by the mannequins in the duke’s city.

“Old bloods,” Bloom whispered, as he sifted toward the center of the path and away from where the fancifully dressed students at the edge of the path.

As the number of “old blood” students grew, Orn felt a change in the air. The uniformed students stopped whispering and seemed to shrink in on themselves. Orn watched as even the boisterous Bloom shrank, looking down to avoid eye contact.

At this point the buildings were no longer loudly announced, but passed in silence. It seemed the mood was affecting the older students as well. The apprehension in the older student leading the group caused several students to slow down afraid to be in the front of the group. This quickly put Orn and his roommates near the lead, since Orn refused to slow down and his roommates kept pace with him.

“The main courtyard is just past the two west side noble dormitories,” Orn heard an older student say, and wondered if he had just been too far back to hear. Orn pushed the thought away as the group came to a halt.

An older boy in garishly colored clothes walked in to the center of the space between the dormitories, his sword drawn.

“Look even the peasants came out to watch!” the boy yelled, and earned a laugh from the other similarly dressed students. “Come closer. There is plenty of space to watch without having to rub shoulder with the rabble.”

The student who had lead the tour stepped forward, “Why are you waving your sword around? I thought that wsa against a school rule.”

“I do not answer to you mud stacker,” The noble boy said, mockingly. “How about you do everyone a favor and lead your low blood rabble out the gate. There is no place for your kind here beyond servants. We have enough of those already.”

Orn watched the knight student’s fists clench then slowly relax. “We are checking the class rooms for the first years. You are interfering with the academy…”

“Interfering,” the other boy spat back, “you filthy creatures interfere with the academy by your smell alone. Now shut your mouth, and crawl back to your hovel. Unless of course you want to cross blades with a sword dancer.”

His words brought scattered laughter and jeers from the old noble students standing behind him.

The large uniformed boy’s jaw clenched and his eye’s narrowed, but he did not move. The noble boy put his arms behind his back and pranced forward, with his sword looking like a strange tail. “Well mud stacker, that all you had to say?”

While the noble boy continued trying to pick a fight with the uniformed student Orn looked at Travers, “He is a lot larger than the other boy. Why is he just letting the old blood walk all over him like that?”

“Shhh,” Travers hissed softly, “not so loud. The other boy is a sword dancer.”

“So, he can dance what a sword?” Orn asked, causing Kao to laugh from somewhere in the crowd.

Travers looked at him as if he was mad. “No. Sword dancer is the highest type of dueling skill. They are untouchable with a sword.”

While Travers explained, Orn saw the noble boy dancing away from the knight student and along the front of the uniformed students. The first years rushed to keep away from the noble boy who periodically jumped toward them waving his sword. “Look at your brave knights mud stacker. They know to step aside before their betters. Why not learn from their example?”

“Easy to wave your sword at a group of unarmed children.” The large boy scoffed. “Here is the great sword dancer, bully of children.”

The noble stopped and glared at the other boy. “Are you challenging me, mud stacker? Why not make it formal. Show me what the best of the peasants can do?”

The other boy laughed, and raised his hands in a helpless gesture, “Sadly I did not need to wave a sword around to be noticed. Must be a difference in size.” The larger student made a gesture with his empty hand a little lower then the noble boy’s actual height.

Grinning broadly the knight student added, “By the way, did you pick a rapier because anything with weight felt strange in you hand?”

The older knight students howled with laughter, as the noble boy stopped dancing and glared at the larger boy. It took Orn a moment to realize what the older boy had meant, but when he did he laughed as well.

The noble boy spun to glare at Orn, before his expression turned gleeful. “Look at this one. A ram in with the sheep. It looks as if he even has a sword with him.”

“Leave him alone.” the larger boy said moving for the first time.

“Oh look at that! You can move after all. And here I heard that you were too slow to walk and talk the same time.” The noble boy flicked his sword in Orn’s direction.

Around Orn the other boy’s jumped back. “Get back.” Travers whispered, when Orn did not move.

“Look mud man, he is so scared he cannot even move.” The noble boy gestured at Orn with his sword. “He must be afraid that he will jump in the way of my sword and ruin his clothes.”

The larger boy interposed himself between Orn and the noble. “I said leave him alone. Swords or not, he would have to accept a duel. You cannot just attack him.”

“I would never attack him.” The noble boy replied with mock hurt, and bent to peer around the larger student. “Look at that new uniform. His parents must have scraped a lot for it. I wonder how much his father broke his back for it. Or how long his mother spent on hers.”

Orn’s eyes went wide as he picked up the implication, and his mind raced back to the hurt look on his mother's face when she learned what the duchess in Sapphire said. He felt suddenly hot and pulled away from Travers. Without thinking he stepped around the uniformed boy, his hunting knife in his hand.

“Shut your mouth,” Orn growled.