Melody of Mana

I sat on my bed. Today was the day, the day that I left The Sky, left Lucien and Lude. I would even miss Eleanor, just a bit. I had packed most of my things, not that there were many. I'd made it to the bottom of my trunk. There I found an old spindle, the same one I'd had with me all these years. I nearly broke down at that but with some effort managed to keep myself together. I rolled the little tool in my hand as I thought about it for awhile, smiling at all the memories, all the places I'd been. I packed it away again, knowing that I'd have to keep it.

Dras showed up to help me get my few things up to the school. I knew that he wasn't allowed in the girl's dorms, and that Emma would meet me there to put it all away. I didn't have much to take in truth, only a handful of clothes and personal items. It all fit in a few small bags.

There was a bit of light chatting as we made our way to the gates, but not too much of that. I was feeling more contemplative today than I had in awhile. Eleanor walked alongside, reading my mood and letting me to myself, I appreciated that. Eventually we did make it though and she would leave me here. I turned to her as I came up and we took a moment to look at each other.

"This is it then." I decided to open.

"It is, assuming you don't find your way back to The Shield's care. Know that we are there Alana, if you need it."

I nodded. "I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for dealing with me."

She smiled, patted my head, and left.

"Well, no use standing out here, let's head in." Dras smiled as he hauled up my bags.

As we approached the gate there was a group of maids waiting, from which one broke off.

"Greetings Miss Alana, may I get your bags?" Emma spoke, giving a smile as she approached the two of us.

"Certainly Emma. This is my friend Dras, he's also a student here."

She gave a bright smile as she moved to get the bags, which the young man handed over without complaint. If I had to guess Emma was only eighteen or so, and even with a bit of age, she still had to look up at Dras to see his face.

The school was laid out in a sort of plus shape. The first building you entered was mostly offices for professors and the like. By going through it you could reach the school proper, a large round building where the different classrooms were located. I was taking the average number, but unlike my wizard friend didn't end up in some of the weirder esoteric magical ones. Opposite the offices was a small library with laboratories for research and projects in the back. My practical class on magical item creation was there as well, which seemed sensible. The other parts of the plus were made by the dorms, girls on the right, boys on the left.

We made our way slowly to the door to the dorms. It was a massive oaken thing, easily ten feet tall and quite wide. There was a line on the floor over which men were not allowed, excluding professors and some special cases. As we came to the line Dras stopped, keeping well back.

"Well, this is where I leave you two. I'm not sure exactly what will happen if I try to cross into the girl's area, but some of the others have told me it's 'painful and funny to watch' so I'll be off."

I wondered what exactly it did do now. I'd have to ask, or wait until some blowhard boy decided to find out personally. I imagined that there was some equally unpleasant fate awaiting any girls who tried to enter the boys dorms. Not that I had any intention of ever trying to go there.

"Well, let's head on in then." I turned to look at Emma and give her a smile as we passed the door.

Our dorms were an enormous complex. I knew there were only around two hundred students here, and this was absolutely insane. This building could have easily fit four or five times the number. On the ground floor was the communal baths and a few other public facilities, study rooms and the like. Above that there were four floors, one for each year. First years were of course on the top, and had the longest walk to get to anything else.

Once we got all the way up I looked about. There was a central opening on all the floors to let in light from above, with our rooms circling around it. The first thing that struck me as odd was the room placement, some of the rooms were much further from the others.

"Are the rooms different? Do you know Emma?"

"Of course they are Miss. Their size is based on social rank, and to an extent family wealth."

"I don't suppose you know where mine is?"

"Naturally. I arrived early this morning to get everything in order for you."

"If you would then."

Emma led me to the far side of the roundabout. I was about as far as one could get from the stairs. Over here all of the rooms were spaced evenly. My guess was that these were from those not of noble birth. Something that seeing Kala coming out a few doors down seemed to confirm.

"Hey there!" She nearly skipped over to join me, slowing only to smile at Emma.

"Hi, how's it going?" I said as I opened the door. My maid's hands were full, and there was no point in making her wait out here while we talked, so I led the way in.

Then I did a double-take. This room was huge. It had a desk to one side, tucked under a small window. Along the wall near it was a fireplace, with all it's associated fixtures. The opposite wall had a curtained bed in a pale periwinkle, and a setup for dressing and hair. I could see doors off to the sides too, that led to some other rooms. This place had to be as big as a good sized apartment would be back on Earth, and it was for me.

"Yeah, I kinda felt the same way when I saw mine." Kala had gotten annoyingly good at reading me as of late. "Yina is getting all my stuff put away now. Not that I have nearly enough to fill it out."

"Yina?"

"My maid, it's tradition to bring one."

"I'm surprised the temple was willing to spend on that." I knew how much I was paying Emma. It wasn't that much to me, but it was more than a great many made.

"She works for the temple Alana. She has a Minor Talent for healing, so if she grows into a proper caster, she'll probably become a priestess of The Lovers."

"Ah, I see." They were putting Yina here in the hopes that she would grow. Everyone won from that scenario. "Aren't healers really needed though?"

Kala shook her head. "They are, but Minor Talents aren't all that potent. She can heal only minor injuries, it's useful, but not something in high demand. I do hope she gets stronger. What about your maid?"

"Ah... I don't really know Emma well yet. Professor Rooke's wife helped me find her. She seems quite reliable." I responded in a rather low voice. It was kinda weird to talk about someone I knew was just on the other side of the room.

"Well, you have time. Anyway, I'm off to explore the baths. Word is they're wonderful."

Kala rampaged off to find herself the washrooms. She did seem to love a good bath. While she was busy I began to look about my own room. I was still unsure on how to speak to Emma, so I just started looking around.

First I found a lavatory. It was smallish, but well appointed. It even had something akin to a toilet, which I had to check out. They'd figured out how to run a pipe down to catch waste, and how to install a stopper and water-tank, but not a u-bend quite yet. This led to an absolutely foul odor every time you tried to flush. That said, an actual toilet was probably one of the best things I'd seen in years. Beside it there was even a small apparatus that worked like a bidet. It also drew from the water tank, which I supposed Emma was filling, so I didn't mess with it too much.

The other door led off to another bedroom, this one much smaller and plainer. It looked rather like my own room back at The Sky and I quickly closed the door. As I did my maid looked up at me.

"My apologies, I didn't realize they'd put you a room beside mine."

"Miss Alana, these are your rooms, and you are my employer. You have every right to go in there if you so desire."

I cringed at that thought. The idea of someone I worked for just barging into my living space rankled on a visceral level.

"That's... I don't think I would want anyone to do that to me, so I won't to you."

She smiled as she hung up the last of my clothes. My uniforms were already in the room and I really wanted to try one on, but I would hold off until classes tomorrow.

"Thank you. By the way, are these all of your clothes?" She seemed a bit concerned.

"I've got some more coming soon. They should be in in a few days. Until then I have classes though, so it shouldn't be a problem, should it?"

"Not at all."

"So... we don't really know each other do we?" I awkwardly tried to break the ice.

"No, but we know some things Miss. You've read my resume, and I've been told a bit about you from Lady Amelia."

"True, but... um... do you have any hobbies?"

"Well, I like embroidery. I do that when I've exhausted all my mana on practice." She showed me the edge of her apron. On it I could see in the same color as the cloth were lovely designs that I'd missed before, small flowers and vines moving along the very edge.

"Wow, that's pretty good! What kind of magic do you do?"

"Oh... I only have a Minor Talent for water... it's nothing much, but... it's good for cooking and stuff. Water isn't considered all that interesting." She went over to one of the buckets by the fireplace and put forth a small stream from her hand, rather like a faucet. "I can only do a few gallons at once, but it's something."

"Don't knock water. It's one of the first things I learned to do. My first teacher was a water specialist wizard, and he was crazy cool. It's useful too!"

She blushed and after a bit more light conversation we got back to setting everything up. It was an all day affair learning the campus, and I wound up walking far more than I hoped I'd have to most days. When I finally got back to my rooms (nearly saying some rather unladylike words after the third flight of stairs) I was exhausted, and basically fell into my bed.

Emma gently woke me the next morning. There was much I had to do before class. First was getting dressed. While the uniforms looked good, they were also rather complex, and I was nowhere near used to having someone help me get dressed, so the whole affair was rather more difficult than I would have hoped.

For my hair I was told, in no uncertain terms, that leaving it loose simply wouldn't do. After a bit of discussion we settled on a simple waterfall braid. It looked fancy enough that I wouldn't irritate the noble girls, but didn't take so long that I would have to wake up before dawn just to get ready.

Breakfast was simple and served in a small communal hall on the first floor. I was so rushed that I hardly had time to enjoy it. The toast and fruit did serve as a good pickup for the morning though. Sadly before I even made it through my plate fully people started leaving, With a sigh I joined Kala and the other girls in my year. Our first class would be all together, and we were all looking forward to Professor Rooke's first lecture.

Shortly after we found our seats. As expected mine was rather near the back of the large hall, its massive blackboard covering easily half the room. Kala was right beside me though, so I had that going right. We exchanged a few hushed whispers before the man himself marched into the room and looked out at us.

"Good morning class. Let us begin with the basics."