I awake to the feeling of warm sunlight upon me. I had the curtains drawn closed but the light and warmth still made its way into my room. It was quite an effective way to be slowly woken up.
I stretch out my body and work out my nerves. Oh goodness me, I seem to be a teensy bit anxious about beginning classes today. I had never been in such large groups to learn before, and I do not know what to expect. I do believe that I am a bit more excited that nervous. Oh I do so hope I make a good impression.
I look over at the tub and decide against it. I took a nice hot bath last night. I mustn't be overindulgent as it spoils ones character, and I believe that some of my other personality traits I am developing might very well do that all on their own.
I do however splash water on my face and rinse the taste of sleep from my mouth. There, that was much better. Now then, clothes. I go through my clothing and decide to hang up and organize my clothes as I go. I enjoyed the slow pace of my morning, and had intentionally woken up early to make sure I would have the time for it.
I need to wear something that was easy to move in. While I do so believe that some of my classes will focus on theory, I am quite well prepared to have to utilize my body quite a bit in my other classes, such as Obstacle Courses Galore! which just so happens to be my first class I believe?
I finish organizing my items rather quicker than I was expecting and wear something similar to yesterday. I wore form fitting rather short black shorts and a black and white top wrap. A top wrap goes around your neck and chest and a bit on your ribs. It was rather revealing clothing but I was going to be wearing my cloak the entire day so I thought dressing in such a manner would serve me well. I also toss on my black boots and drape my cloak around me with the hood currently down. Also, after giving it some thought, I strap my knives to my upper thigh.
As I open the door I see Kay poised outside as if about to knock. He was already ready, ears and everything.
"I was so excited last night that I couldn't really sleep! Except that I did fall asleep and my neck is almost a bit sore because I kind of plopped over into an unconscious mess after worrying and having high anticipation for the day. I hope that the sleep was enough to survive today, but I might have to manage off my exuberance. We take our first significant step towards becoming adventurers today! Woop. I am so excited that I could dance."
"That is good as I am certain we will be expected to dance tonight. And Kay, how do we know where to go for classes and at what hour to be there?"
"That is where these come in." Kay says and hands me over a scroll and a watch.
"A watch?"
"Yes." Kay replies. "They give all adventuring students a watch that is calibrated to the exact moment as all others. It is the best way that they are able to assure that every pupil knows when classes are to be attended. I can also assure you that they function quite well as most of my night was spent staring at them, watching my sleep tick away."
"I see, are you sure you are going to be quite well today. I must confess I am beginning to worry a tad” I say and strap the watch onto my right wrist.
"Haha look at us with our adventuring watches and class schedules. Can we compare again?”
"I suppose that we should. We also need to make sure that we know what times we will be able to be here working. Also, are classes the same time every day?"
"Why wouldn't they be?"
"I see. Well, one of the individuals who taught me back home would get bored of having the same classes the same time every day so they would mix up the times and where to be."
"That seems confusing. Why do it that way. That doesn't make sense, and I like things that make sense." Kay says.
"There were enough adults around to guide us to where class was that day. It was like a fun adventure and the adults made it seem as such at times. Now then let us look over our scrolls."
I check the time before looking at our scrolls. It was 5:25. Very well and good I do not believe we are late for anything.
6: Swimming (Kay), Obstacle Courses Galore! (Amaya)
7:15 Understanding Monster (Kay & Amaya)
8:30 Party Tactics and Dynamics (Kay & Amaya)
9:45: Spell Craft (Kay), Small Sharp Weapons (Amaya)
11: Survival 101
"Is this how everyone's classes are? All in the morning?" I ask while comparing the scrolls.
"Nope! But Crestin knew that we work here at the Inn and wanted to make sure that we weren't running between the Inn and classes. Some people like breaks between their classes, but not us, nope, haha who would want that."
"Goodness, I did not realize it is so early."
"I bet you were also too excited to stay asleep for very long as well. Right? I mean, I know that you are a lot more reserved so you aren't going to be all like, Kay my goodness I cannot believe that I will be learning to wield tiny sharp things that I will be stabbing into people and then bathing in the blood of my enemies. See, you wouldn't say such things but for some reason it almost seems like you think those things. Am I right?" He turns his head inquisitively as his voice continuously pitched higher.
"That is... Personal?" I ask him, entirely uncertain as to how to respond.
'I don't even know what to say. Why do you all think that I am some blood thirsty killer?'
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'Damsel huh?'
'I'm not. Damsel just didn't seem fitting. Not that anything really seemed fitting so I suppose we shall have to go with that term.'
'How are you so cohesive this morning.'
‘…’
'Zayne! Cease!' I felt that he was going to give me a headache with the long babble he just did in my head. I am glad that he wants to encourage me but he just terrified me with reality as well though. I have to be better than anyone else that has stepped foot in the dungeon. I have to be better than anyone else that has ever set foot in the dungeon! And so I shall be! With a surge of energy within my breast I grab Kay's hand and guide him down the stairs and to the kitchens. "I hate to be a bother but can we..." Before I am able to finish my words a bagel with spread is handed to both of us as well as small jugs of water. "I would have made them larger but I needed to make sure that you can carry them. I am also told your courses will be quite rigorous and if you eat too much, well, it would not be good." Emmelina says as she hands things over to us. "Oh I haven't met you yet. Thank you so much for the food and water. And wow, your hair is so pretty. It is mesmerizing. Is that your natural color. I could just stare at it and..." Kay in his sleep deprivation found a way to be even more talkative. "Kay, we have to go." I say and pull him out of there before he babbles away his morning. I can't believe I have only known him for a few days. Being with Kay is just so natural. "Meooooowwww!" I hear as something runs out of the building and leaps at me. He leaps onto the jug and then up onto my shoulder. "Don't you have better things to do Cat aside from following me around?" "No." he says and curls his tail around my neck. "Kay go to the swimming lakes and Ami I shall guide you to your location. Proceed” Cat says as he bites my hood and pulls it tightly over my head. Kay runs off to where Cat directed him and I follow his directions while eating my breakfast. I wonder how long Cat is going to be attached to me like this? I don't mind it though. He leads me through interesting areas and points things out as we pass such as, they have good food, or great ale and such. It seems Cat is very food focused, but I believe that is common for most cats. I feel like getting there is taking forever, but that could partially be because I am still having a bit of a hard time navigating around since everything is still so new for me. I think Cat is also taking me the long way to help show me what is around the area. What a caring guild leader. I finish my food and pat him on the head "Okay we are almost there. See that clearing between the trees? Go through there." Cat continues to direct me. "Okay." I say and take the path. I touch my leg where the knives are. I feel like this is a really great place to get jumped and I don't want to allow that to happen. I have my ears perked up and my eyes wide, all of me on alert. "Stop that, it is good to be vigilant but you might flip out on someone that accidentally touches you at this rate. Adventures are cautious not paranoid. If anybody tries to hurt you I will dismember them with my claws, okay?" "Well I suppose it is good that we have a plan but is there a way for it to be a little less on the maiming side of things?" "Not really. Welcome to being an adventurer." "Okay, but to be fair not all bar brawls end in maiming am I not correct." "That is a rule that doesn’t apply to dungeon towns. Oh, look, there is your class up ahead. Don't run you are right on time." I give him a nod of acknowledgement and take my place amongst my classmates. I stand awkwardly and have my head looking down. "Hey, aren't you Kay's friend?" I hear a voice ask and my stomach drops to my feet. Rex. Well, at least if Rex is here he won't be near Kay to bully him. I glance to his side, where are the other two? "Looking for Jestin and Fowley? They aren't here, they are in swimming. They aren't capable enough for this class. So I guess it will just be me and you little girl." Cat leaps off of my shoulder “I can only keep an eye on you to and from courses, only trainees allowed. Best of luck.” "Alright all of you, it's time for class to begin. Before I do any talking though I will be taking all of your times. There should be about eight of you here, correct?" he asks and looks around. "I plan on keeping my class size small so I am able to really help all of you find your weak areas and move through them. “Also! This class is both solo and cooperative. There WILL be team exercises and they ARE mandatory. Leave any outside disputes out of my class or you will not be allowed to continue. The more I kick out the less I have to teach, please make my job easier" he says and his eyes land on Rex. "In order to best assess your weaknesses, I will be having two of you running through the course at a time. We will be starting off with this. Hard to know how far you have come unless we see where you are starting. I have extra support staff here with me today to follow along and help you out if you get stuck. Now then, who to have start?" The teacher moves their eyes over us before pointing at me and Rex. "You two have issues with each other. So you make a perfect starting point. There are markers all along pointing out where you need to go and what you need to do. Come up to this line." We do so and wait for the signal. "Start!" I take off, running as fast and sure as I can across the uneven ground. I look down in front of me to see what the terrain looks like and when I do I see Rex speed past me. "When I beat you, I am taking your cloak as a victor’s trophy." he shouts. Oh no he will NOT be taking MY cloak. I ignore Rex and Zayne. He was trying to get into my head and cause me to mess up. Not playing his game. No, I am not. I race through the trees and listen to everything around me. I use my sharp eyesight to see the next sign ahead of me. It says to climb. I can do that. I take three wide steps then lunge forward, grabbing the rope and scaling up it. Once up the rope I see a narrow path that I have to walk. Easy. It seems that there are two next to each other and I see Rex shakily walking along his. Well, here is my chance to get ahead. I have rather good balance so I quickly make my way across and continue along. I hear Rex let out an inappropriate snarl behind me. “Oh my, I did not realized Elves were the growling type, how improper.” I quickly scamper across and the next obstacle is to jump down and land in the water. Ugh, my poor cloak. I leap down and hit the water. It is freezing cold, and I know that if I stay in there too long I shall surely catch ill. This though compels me to swim fast, though it is more difficult with my cloak on. The next challenge is to crawl through mud, then scale a wall while dirty, then walk only on specific tiles. It was a very long course, and all throughout it Rex and I were competing against each other. Him to be able to be ahead of me and catch me unaware and me to get away from him and to safety. I end up finishing first and collapsing onto the ground, a dirty mess. I feel afraid as I see a shadow coming over me. "Beginners luck, don’t expect to ever win again." he says coldly. "And your time is." I hear a helper say as he steps towards me. “28 minutes and 43 seconds. A fine time but by no means a new record, but a great time none the less. You may want to go for a swim to get clean."