Arenya Azural, sleep-deprived student-to-be of the Adventuring Academy, found one particular issue she had not anticipated, at least not so soon. She was bored. She’d been here only for one evening, but after unpacking and setting up her things she felt more antsy than she could remember feeling in months. She’d done every exercise and stretch she knew, played a game of Chess against herself (a draw), and double- and triple-checked every item she packed, but still time only inched by. Part of that was nerves and excitement for her first classes, but that couldn’t explain all of it… could it?
Arenya had at least tried to take a nap, but the mattress felt hard as a rock compared to the bed she was used to. Arenya ended up doing her wing exercises a second time just to work out the soreness the bed gave her.
It was a comfortable enough room other than the mattress, she supposed, but it felt so alien and unfamiliar. The barren walls and empty shelves stared back at her. Perhaps I should have brought a picture or two from home after all, instead of just the mezuzah.
The clock moved forward at an agonizing pace, but at last the time for dinner arrived. The dining hall wasn’t far, so at least she had a place to meet some fellow students.
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I’ll never get used to such a large place, will I? The whole walk to the dining hall, Arenya’s eyes jumped from building to building, marveling at the sheer scale and scope of the towers, and the apartments far in the distance. How can the other students not be just as impressed? What else could they be looking a-
She spotted a group giving her a sideways glance when they thought she wasn’t looking. Oh. They’re looking at me again.
A small crowd had formed within and without the dining hall by the time Arenya arrived. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the few people pointing out her wings to their friends, and instead doubled down her focus on the architecture around her. Arenya found her excitement to explore the grounds rekindling inside her.
She stayed at the outskirts of the crowd, a bit too scared to enter the mass of students. Arenya couldn’t spot Cartalis anywhere, a fact she noted with no small amount of trepidation - a friendly face, new or not, still seemed superior to lonesomeness.
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Still, her growling stomach convinced her to enter the building eventually. Arenya crossed her fingers and uttered a brief prayer that something tasty would be available, before entering the line to the brown shelf where food was being given to each student in turn.
A stern-looking man wearing all black greeted her after a few moments waiting at the line. Arenya attempted to smile as she looked the food on offer…
Hrm. Her mouth closed at the strange food she saw before her. Perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that an unfamiliar place might serve unfamiliar food, but even so, she found herself caught off guard. “What is this?” she asked.
The man grunted. “It’s pork chops.”
Oh. Well, that would explain why she never saw this dish before, at least. “Do you, umm… Do you have any other options? Chicken, maybe? I can’t eat pork.”
The server looked at her with a gaze she couldn’t place. “What’s the difference between pork and chicken? The food is almost all created from ambient mana these days anyway. No animals are involved anymore. There’s no way you couldn’t know that.”
Arenya found herself at a loss, gesturing vaguely to her wings. “I mean, well… I can’t eat it. That’s the difference.”
The man gestured to a student behind her to take a serving of the food. “Take a step to the side, please, Miss, let’s not hold up the line.”
As a few students passed by to take the food, unaware of the one they passed by, the man’s stern expression softened just a bit. “You’re a Follower? We don’t get many of those around here, and the only ones I’ve ever served don’t have any problems with whatever food we have. I don’t decide the food we have each day, and it’s been planned out for the next month. We always have apples, though.” The man pointed to a table past him, one other students passed without a glance. “The pork is all I’ve got tonight. Tomorrow we’ll be having lobster, will that work?”
Arenya shrugged. “I think so,” she lied, as she walked off to The Apple Table. She grabbed one and sat at the nearest empty table.
The apple was a darker red than those from the farm. It didn’t have qute the right texture, either - a little less firm, a little smoother in her hand. At a glance it looked almost like wax. Still, if this was dinner…
It was a struggle not to spit it out. The apple was poorly washed, incredibly bland, and had a bitter aftertaste. Nothing at all like the ones her family grew, with the vibrant flavor and mouthwatering sweetness. No wonder the others avoided it.
Arenya forced herself to swallow. It felt mealy on her throat. She took another bite.
The rumors started the next day, of the strange new student with the wings and the blue hair. Nobody was sure of her name, though most agreed she was called Arvalya or something to that effect. She spent over an hour doing nothing but sitting at a table in the dining hall, all by herself, staring at nothing, refusing the food in favor of apple after bitter apple. In the end, so the rumors said, she just grabbed the cores, threw them in the trash, and left the room without a word.