Aida and Sue headed down to the dining hall together, Sue cheerful and Aida with her stomach clenched. The notice board had said that the dining hall would serve a New Sun meal for brunch, and afterwards, any third years who were interested in meeting with some early-arrival Affiliates could do so in the courtyard.
Having learned her lesson from the Old Moon Festival, she had spoken with Levi about any potential triggers she should avoid during the New Sun Festival - but he had assured her the only dangers of being found out were if she couldn’t pass for a Wyndian native - not reassuring at all. Fortunately, he had advised her on how she could best avoid any gaffes.
“Avoid everybody from the Sanitation industry. The Lorehs are a small family, so they’re likely to expect some sort of deference from you - and even if they don’t know who you are, there’s no way they won’t find out once you get noticed by them.”
Fortunately, she wasn’t interested at all in Sanitation - and he had told her that the Affiliates were usually stationed at their own separate areas, so that interested students could walk up and talk to whichever Affiliates they were interested in. That was nominally to give the students the advantage: they could choose which employer to engage, and not feel the pressure of being overlooked as employers all swarmed to their top picks. But Aida knew better than to take that reasoning at face value; the students were ultimately still the supplicants, approaching the employer for a work opportunity.
The New Sun Festival meal was marvelous. It was another colorful spread of food, but Aida wasn’t in the mood to indulge herself. She picked at safe options, while Sue loaded her plate up. Several other third-year students had returned for lunch as well; allegedly, the rest of the students would return the next day, since they had no incentive to return to school early.
Lunch was quiet, with none of the joking and antagonizing Levi was wont to do. It seemed like the top five were pensive about what would happen after the meal as well.
Through the glass window, Aida could already see several tables with banners and small signs set up in the courtyard, though none of the Affiliates were manning the desks. The scene reminded Aida of the job fairs she used to attend at community college, making dread fill her stomach.
“It looks like the Gullbeaks are here,” Levi informed Sue. She jumped, a multitude of expressions crossing her face.
“Oh, I don’t know if I should talk to them,” she squeaked out. She kept her eyes on her food.
Aida glanced inquisitively at Sue. It was odd to have her be so demure and timid. “Are they an Adventuring group?”
“Yes! Do you remember—“ Sue started, her eyes sparkling as she looked up before Levi smoothly interrupted her.
“Remember Tyda Auyn? Sue’s childhood hero?” Levi rolled his eyes good-naturedly. “Sue wants to see if she can get into their group and be the firepower they need.”
“Oh, right,” Aida nodded vigorously as if she knew what he was talking about. “I’m so surprised they’re here.”
“No, they probably aren’t looking to sign with another Fire,” Sue said quickly, blushing. “They only signed Lula Glimm a few years ago, and their group roster is too imbalanced for them to take on another Fire…”
From Levi’s demeanor, Aida knew this was something she was supposed to know - possibly some sort of obvious shared history between Aida and Sue. Ducking her head down, she focused on stuffing her mouth, so that nobody could expect her to engage in reminiscing.
Shortly before the lunch hour ended, Professor Gemma entered the dining hall with a large group of adult practitioners behind her, the crowd’s powerful mana presence easily drawing the attention of the students.
Gemma waited a beat for everyone to settle before gesturing at the group behind her. “Hello third years, in a few moments the Affiliates that arrived early will take their places at their tables outside. We’ll be having the three classes meet with them separately, so as soon as you’re done eating please group up with your class, and we can all go meet the Affiliates together. Please remember to be on your best behavior, be courteous, and don’t feel pressured to compete with each other. This is just the first meeting; you all will have plenty of time to meet and get to know the Affiliates as the school year goes on.” Gemma’s unspoken words were clear: don’t be awkward.
Aida vowed to do her best.
Sue, Levi, Caleb, and Ezra departed, all of them bidding Aida a quick farewell. She waved at them before looking at the rest of her food with resignation. Deciding there was nothing to do but go for it, she followed after Class 1 to dump her food, and made her own way to where Class 2 was clustering.
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“Hi Aida, any Affiliate you’re looking forward to meeting?” Natalie asked. She was combing her fingers through her fiery hair, trying to create some semblance of discipline among her locks.
“Just going to keep an open mind,” Aida responded with what she hoped was a nonchalant attitude. Fortunately, everyone else was nervous enough to ignore her state of nerves.
“I just don’t want to work for my parents,” Tera muttered to herself, eyeing the Affiliates who weren’t fortunate enough to be approached by one of the top five. Sue was already deep in conversation with a young, cheerful blonde woman with blue eyes wearing a black armband that had a blue wing emblazoned on it, the two of them matching each other’s energy with their dynamic body language. Based on Sue’s starry eyes, Aida assumed the Affiliate was a Gullbeak adventurer.
“Did Gemma say how long we get to talk to Affiliates?” Aida asked no one in particular.
“She said about fifteen minutes, just to introduce ourselves. Not enough time to get too deep,” Bella responded as she pulled her long, platinum hair out of its ponytail after deciding she didn’t want her hair up. She huffed in frustration. “I thought it would be a good idea to come back early to meet them, but now I regret it…”
The other girls murmured sullenly in agreement, shifting uncomfortably.
Aida gazed at all the other Affiliates, trying to decide which one she should approach with her precious fifteen minutes. Levi had managed to engage in conversation with all the adjacent Affiliates at once and, just as expected, they were all charmed. Ezra was the unwilling captive of a Construction Affiliate - as denoted by a gray band - who just so happened to have snagged his attention. Caleb himself was earnestly speaking to an Adventurer. Aside from Levi, Lara seemed the most relaxed in speaking to the Affiliates. She had perfectly controlled smiles and laughs, and had the social etiquette to encourage a smooth back-and-forth with the Affiliate she was talking to.
Aida shook her head at Lara’s blatant two-faced personality. Knowing what she knew of the girl and her background, she was probably like Levi - raised to be comfortable and confident in that upper echelon of industry, where knowing how to converse and talk business was merely a matter of learning manners. But why can’t she be like Levi and treat everybody else the same way?
“Girls, it’s time for you to come out now,” Gemma called to them. As Class 2 clustered around Gemma, she handed out small ceramic teacups to each student. The cup’s base fit easily in Aida’s palm, the texture smooth. Aida watched as her classmates all automatically adjusted their grips on their own cups, holding it in their traditional receiving grip. Aida surreptitiously matched her grip to theirs.
Taking a deep breath, Aida worked to calm the flutter of her pulse. I probably don’t even have to talk to anyone. In fact, it might be safer not to talk to anybody. There’s ten of us, chances are I can just fade away more easily than Class 1.
Comforted by the thought of her escape plan, Aida stepped through the door, focusing on Bella’s pale hair waving as the air blew through her tresses. One step at a time, don’t fall behind.
Sue waved the Gullbeak Affiliate goodbye, before prancing over to Aida. “I just met Kuri, and she’s amazing - I think I might have a chance to get into the Gullbeaks,” she whispered excitedly, her eyes shining.
Sue looked so happy that even Aida’s worries lightened.“That’s incredible!” Aida whispered back, beaming. “You were worried for nothing!”
“The match hasn’t been struck yet or anything - but she promised we’ll do a lot of sponsored assignments together, and she said she’s really looking forward to mentoring me - if I wanted her to,” Sue added. Sue was on cloud nine, a dreamy expression on her face. She snapped back to reality. “Anyway, good luck! Maybe you should talk to Kuri too - they don’t have a dedicated Healer yet, so they might have a spot for you, too!”
With that, Sue skipped away, trailing shimmers in her wake. Aida smiled after her, nodding at the boys as they all approached her. Levi leaned over as he passed.
“Avoid the ones with sky-colored bands,” he reminded her quietly. “Those are the ones in the Sanitation industry. Healers have white bands.”
“Got it,” Aida murmured back. She gripped the small teacup in her hand that Gemma had handed her.
The teacup was part of the New Sun ceremony: similar to pouring people drinks in the real world for a toast, two people seeking to do business together in the new year would pour each other a drink. Of course, from what Levi said, the toasts between young people had less weight, so it wouldn’t be too surprising to see young people toasting others left, right, and center. However, the older the person pouring the toast, the more significant the meaning behind it - and the expectation. It was how the clans and conglomerates made their deals, climbing to the top of their respective industries. From watching Ezra, Levi, and Lara, it was obvious they were all familiar with receiving drinks.
Keeping her teacup in the traditional grip, Aida took only a few steps before noticing Affiliates wearing sky-blue bands eyeing her beadily. Avoiding their gazes, she scanned the rest of the Affiliates - but nobody seemed to be wearing a white band. Her brow furrowing, she swept her gaze over the crowd again, and noticed a blue-banded Affiliate approaching her. All of her other classmates were already involved with an Affiliate, so there was no doubt the Affiliate was coming for her.
Making a split decision, Aida decided to head for Kuri, who was currently unoccupied and was whistling casually to herself as she observed the clouds. She seems friendly enough.
Before she made it even two steps, she was seized around the elbow by an Affiliate wearing a blindingly white band with a gold leaf and aura swirling around it.
“Hello! Are you Aida Loreh? It said in your file that you’re looking to be a Healer - is that true?”
Aida looked around at the young woman. She was smiling widely at Aida, all of her teeth on full display.