The next day the students started attending classes. They would meet with their individual grammarian in the morning for a lecture on philosophy. Cleo and Gaius, having studied the subject before with their private tutors, were slightly bored. But Maddie listened attentively, struggling to memorize concepts she had never heard about before. In her small town morality and philosophy were things you came to understand intuitively. You didn't give them names. Corentin talked about Plato, Epicureus, and other Greek and Roman philosophers. After class one day Maddie confided in Cleo that she wasn't sure she would remember it all. Cleo assured her that she and Gaius would help.

After Philosophy was Natural Sciences. Here Maddie had the advantage. She had at least a basic understanding of plants and animals. Her urban-born friends had seen very little in thev way of real nature and Gaius in particular struggled.

"I'm always going to live in a city," he complained, "why do I have to know about what plant does what? Half of these things don't even grow in Britain!"

"Nature is one of the basics of the Druidic school of magic," Cleo pointed out, "You'll never advance in your other classes if you don't do well in this one. If you wanted to learn only magic usable in cities, you should have gone to school in Rome!"

"As if you do any better," he scoffed.

"At least I apply myself!"

Their arguing always made Maddie a little anxious. "Don't worry, I'll help you. Just like you help me in Lore and Philosophy. And Poetry."

Cleo immediately softened, as she always did when Maddie spoke up. Gaius continued to huff and puff as Cleo put her arm around Maddie.

Astronomy fascinated them all. As did Elementary Magic.

Elementary Magic was taught as the last class of the day, except for Astronomy class, which frequently met at night. When asked why, Corentin replied, "Because you're all here to learn Magic. If you had it in the morning, well, why would you want to attend any other classes?"

Gaius emphatically agreed with this point.

Corentin taught them magic. Taught them how to understand the energies of the world. They began class frequently with an exercise Corentin called "meditation." It was a staple of the magic done in the South-Eastern kingdoms, the Mogul Kingdoms in particular. *** They used this technique to feel the energy of the world around them. 

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"Before you can manipulate reality, you must understand it. You must learn to reach deeply into the fabric of the world. You must be able to feel the energies that pervade the world."

Unfortunately, while the idea of meditation was interesting, it was, as they say, a lot harder than it looked. Sitting quietly for a quarter of an hour was beyond the abilities of most children. Corentin never scolded them. He simply told them to return to their meditation whenever the whispering or giggling started.

Spring turned into summer and most classes were being taught outside. The landscape of the school was very varied. A forest, seemingly ancient, surrounded the school. Closer to the buildings forest turned into lawns. This was where most classes were taught, excepting Natural Science, which frequently involved long walks through the woods. The amount of animals on the island was amazing. Almost anything that could be found in a Breton forest could be found on Ys. Their Natural Sciences instructor  taught the students the uses for each plant, moss, and fungus. Leaves and stems often had different functions. Gaius continued to complain,  but he did his best to memorize it all.

Animals were also an important part of the curriculum. They covered not only anatomy, but how to catch, clean, butcher, and cook the local fauna. Usually they cooked it alongside the local flora. This was nothing new to Maddie. She was quite at home in the kitchen and was an accomplished chef, despite her young age.

It was a few weeks into the school year and the comrades were lounging on one of the lawns behind the school. Elementary Magic had ended a while ago and the three were enjoying the afternoon sun. They chatted about many things, their favorite and least favorite classes, their lives before coming to the Academy, and made plans to study together later. Of course the sunny day made such plans precarious at best. It was then that Cleo told them her least favorite thing about life at the Academy. All knowledhe had to be memorized.

"What I wouldn't give for a few sheets of parchment and a charcoal," she sighed.

The Druids had a strict prohibition about writing things down. "They don't even have a library! What kind of institution of learning doesn't have a library?"

No one really kknew what the penalty  was for taking notes. But it had been drilled into them from the first day of class. Cleo had started writing in the air with her hand and Corentin -- sweet jovial Corentin -- had slapped her hand with a stick. "The sooner you break that habit the better," he snapped. Cleo confided secretly to her friends that she often imagined writing the words in her head because it helped her remember.

Even worse would be to write things down away from the school. The Druids had occasionally hunted people down for that, or so the stories said. They guarded their knowledge jealously, and they had a lot of it. On the subjects on which they centered they had more knowledge than any other place, even the great library at Alexandria. This hoarding of knowledge ran counter to what Cleo knew. Alexandria gave -- and took -- knowledge freely.

In the absence of a library, the students had to find areas in which to spend time. The central area of the main hall was off limits to students unless there was an event going on. The main hall corridors were for walking, or more often running, only. Teachers and students could be seen dashing to and fro. Usually it was upperclassmen, the Bards with their blue sashes