At first, Harmoni sat back down on her bed. Alone. The room and quiet and still. She didn’t have any objections to that, really. She’d been surrounded by people since . . . well the last time she was alone was when she’d been locked in the closet. Or maybe in her bedroom, before Ferren showed up? Fleck had been there, but he didn’t count. So a bit of time to herself was not only fine, but welcome.

But it didn’t last very long. Rasha had a point. She was hungry.

She got up and headed down the tower. Slowly. The sun had dropped low enough it was dark inside, and the last thing she needed was to miss a step, and go tumbling down.

But it was fine when they reached the bottom. She remembered where the cafeteria was, and Fleck’s sense of smell could also guide her.

She entered, and wandered the dinner options. There was an area where you could make yourself a salad or sandwich. (Baring any meat items, obviously.) There was a soup that seemed like tomato. There was some sort of vegetable pasta, and garlic bread.

Harmoni scooped up some soup, put some regular bread next to it, and sat at an empty table.

Fleck sat in the chair next to her. He tilted his head.

‘You can join Asplenium now if you want. You should get some dinner too,’ Harmoni thought. Wasn't like the cafeteria would cater to him.

‘Not yet. Are you alright? You’ve been very quiet.’ And she kept making that blank look.

Harmoni frowned. ‘Both were true on Xentron.’

‘Yeah but not as much. You haven’t even talked to me much. And! I can see in your mind, remember?’ He knew something was wrong.

It wasn’t that something was wrong, necessarily. . .

It was just a lot. Harmoni had ended up in the deep end again, with everything changing around her, and no certain allies except Fleck. Of course, she had chosen to come here. She wasn’t going to complain. She wasn't in any obvious danger like when she'd been captured. But she also wasn’t going to assume everything was happy and fine.

~~~

The next two days before classes were pretty uneventful. Harmoni signed up for the class about magic language, on top of her required classes. Then she spent a lot of time wandering the halls, finding where everything was. It seemed beginner classes were held on the first floor, and the odds of going to the second or third floor were slim. (The third floor was actually smaller than the first two.)

She saw a few other students around, mostly the ones that were staying in the dorms like her. There was Eddie and Rasha on her floor, of course. There was a gnome named Weslessinal, and a zenny named Ziq on the floor below.

There were also a fair number of adults who were here as students. From what Harmoni had picked up, they were taking the advanced classes.

Harmoni was assigned duties she’d do, seeing as she didn’t have money for the school. The one she’d do regularly would be helping with the stables. There were also two towns nearby. She was supposed to chose one, and help out there. Apparently, aside from the students from other planets, most of the students came from those two towns.

She’d also found a small church room in the back corner, with seats and an altar at the front. The window was stained glass instead of clear like the rest of the school’s windows, but otherwise the room was mostly a plain wood. They apparently had a cleric on hand, to do services here. (And maybe recruit students to be clerics, but that was the quiet part.)

Fleck had enjoyed his two days. He spent a lot of time at Harmoni’s side. But Asplenium had offered to give him flying lessons. The first attempt had involved taking Fleck to the top of the cliff, and whacking him off the edge with his tail.

It had been pretty funny, once he landed. He’d laughed at the bottom of the cliff.

Harmoni still thought he was a little crazy for that.

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‘What? I caught myself before I hit the ground all on my own.’ If nothing else, he could glide now. ‘And Asplenium said he would’ve caught me if it looked like I was going to fail.’

Harmoni knew, she’d heard it through their bond. She still thought it seemed a bit . . . extreme.

‘You’re just being overprotective.’ Fleck jumped off the bed and walked to the door. ‘Now come on. Isn’t your first class starting soon?’

That much was true. It was now her first day of classes. The days felt like they'd passed quickly.

They literally did. There were 26 hours in a day on Xentron, and only 20 on Iva. Asplenium had told him. He had also told him the elves didn't exactly mind the shorter days. What were fewer hours in a day, when you lived forever?

The school didn’t have much in terms of technology, but it did have clocks. There was one in just about every room from what Harmoni had seen. Clocks didn’t really require technology. At least, not electricity. So some were just made normally, but there was one or two Harmoni was pretty sure ran on magic.

The clock in the dorm room told her she had about ten minutes to get to class. That was plenty of time, but it might be good to get there early.

She went to the bathroom attached to the dorm room. Given the size and shape, this room was probably magically attached to the building, like her room in Udo’s house. And thankfully, there was running water.

She checked the mirror. Compared to the elves, or even Rasha, she looked rather plain, no striking features. But her clothes were clean and unwrinkled. Her brown hair was combed, falling at her shoulders and hiding her ears. The necklace blocking her horrible dark magic lay on her chest, like any normal necklace.

And it was still working, and she smelled fine, and etcetera, etcetera. “Let’s go,” Fleck urged, out loud for emphasis.

Harmoni smiled. He seemed more excited for this than her.

But he was right. She took the lead, Fleck struggled with the dorm room's twist knob, and headed to class.

Harmoni wasn’t an expert on what classrooms were supposed to look like, but this one seemed normal. A long window ran along the wall, giving them a view of the courtyard, and light to see by. There was a second door that seemed to take you outside, unless there were more magical surprises behind it. The room had several white desks, with a larger one at the front.

She took a seat near the front, but along the edge of the room.

Other students slowly trickled in. She recognized some. Others must’ve been people from those towns.

“Um, excuse me?”

Harmoni looked up. Lona was standing beside her, hands behind her back. Her expression was vaguely uncomfortable, like she had to use the bathroom.

“Oh. Uh. Yes?”

“Uh, I couldn’t help but notice, did you bring anything to take notes with?”

Harmoni’s gaze slowly fell to her empty desk. She didn’t have anything like notebooks or pencils while living with Udo. Why would she? So she certainly hadn’t brought supplies like that.

“No.”

Lona nodded. “Uh, you can take this paper and one of my pens. Uh, just for today. You should get some of your own. After classes.”

Harmoni bowed her head, hair falling in her eyes, but took both from Lona. “Thanks,” she mumbled.

Lona didn’t answer, shuffling off to a desk somewhere behind her.

A moment later, the teacher entered through the courtyard. She was an elf, unsurprisingly. She was a woman who was tall even by elf standards, with light skin, wavy light brown hair, and equally light brown eyes. She wore a hair band of willow leaves, but it didn’t actually seem to keep hair out of her face. It certainly still covered her ears.

“Welcome everyone,” the teacher said. Her voice was sort of dreamy, like if a voice could float. It had an odd effect on Harmoni, like her head got a bit more dazed. “I’m Ava. And this is Magic Theory. Where you learn to feel the power of the universe.”

Harmoni frowned. Ava? Was that a first name or last? They must have both, but if any elf here had used their last name, they hadn’t specified.

“Now. Does anyone already know about that power?”

Lona quickly raised her hand. “The power of the universe is what lets us use magic.”

“Yes, but what is the power, specifically?”

Lona’s eager expression fell. “Uh, I didn’t think anyone knew what that power was. If, uh, if they did, it wouldn’t be called magic.”

Ava’s smile dimmed just a touch, eyes getting duller. “It’s true this power is not something you can understand, in the same way science can be understood. But there are something things we know about it.” She turned to the board at the front, pointed her blue wand at it, and words started appearing. “The power of the universe is also called magical energy.”

Well, seemed like it was time to start writing notes. This was probably basic information. She was pretty sure she’d heard Rial use the two terms interchangeably? But she was new at this.

She started writing, and the pen blew up before she’d finished the first word. Blue ink flew everywhere, breaking the tip of the pen and splattering onto the paper. Also onto the desk and her sleeves.

“It flows through the whole universe, especially-” Ava stopped, gaze falling on Harmoni. “If we could behave, and avoid any disruptions.”

Harmoni could see Daphon smirk, though he managed to avoid audibly snorting. When Harmoni looked back at Lona, she was staring at her paper. But she’d had time to school her expression, if she needed.

Meanwhile, the teacher was blaming Harmoni. Because covering yourself in ink was something people did on purpose? He wanted to get out from the under the desk and growl at her, or worse, but he knew it wasn't socially acceptable. Not how rider species handled things. And Harmoni shot him down as soon as the thought crossed their minds. She didn’t want to get in more trouble.

She couldn’t take notes now, obviously. So she sat and listened, and did her best to remember what Ava was saying.