Waiting in line sucked. It was made worse because she was a Goblin and that meant that she came up to chest height on most of the other races. Zuri could barely see around the clusters of students waiting to register for classes. She had hoped that she would have been early enough to escape the crowds. They made her nervous. Apparently, everyone else had the same idea.
Zuri took a deep breath and focused her magic on grounding. It would help to ease the nerves and also connect her to the magic of the school. Aquilla Academy of Arcane Arts was an Elite School that resided in its own Pocket Realm, which meant that it was interconnected with the Core Realms to stabilize as its own Realm. The magic behind it was a bit more complex than Zuri knew, but she was familiar with one thing: the magic of the realm was powerful and old. The moment that her magic touched the school, it was like being brought back down to reality after daydreaming. It was great for her nervousness, though, as her magic was still getting used to the new influx.
Zuri had turned twenty-five not a week prior, which happened to be five days before the final entrance exams. Goblins lived longer than some of the other races, which meant that they matured at a slower rate. Their magic came in between the early twenties and as late as the early thirties. This meant that most of her race was older when they were accepted into Aquilla. But, as a legacy student, she passed the exams with flying colors. A fact that her parental Sundry had been thrilled over.
They were the reason that she decided to pursue the same Mastery that they had. Her mother and father were Summoners, as well as a few of the other Serenaliths and Tethers. She was surrounded with magic and Summoning since she was born. Now, she wanted to become a Summoner so that she could also work with the Infernals. Zuri had fallen in love with her parents' Summons every time they worked with them. Now, it was her turn to learn and build those connections of her own. She wanted to have her own set of Summoning Cards.
When the news came that she had passed the entrance exams for Summoning, her Parental Sundry had come together to celebrate. Everyone was there, and they presented her with gifts. They had all been related to Summoning in some form.
Zuri smiled and opened her bag, revealing the beautiful leather portfolio within. Next to it was a smaller one, which was her traveler portfolio. They still had that really nice smell of new leather, and she caught herself holding one to her nose every now and then.
The line had moved further, and a polite cough behind her brought her out of her musing. She gave them a light smile in embarrassment and stepped forward. It may be best not to get so deep into her thoughts. She wondered if she should grab a book to read or if she should take in her surroundings. The smarter one would be to not delve into her latest read. She’d lose track of time and not pay attention. It was best to leave the book for later, even if she was dying to know if the two enemies had fallen in love with one another yet.
“What are you here to study?” A quiet voice from behind her asked. She turned to find the same person who had coughed to get her attention. He was a Dasag’nir, one of the races that had more animal-like features. He had large triangular furred ears that were poking through his long navy blue hair, and his long tail with a fanned-out feathered appearance twitched on occasion. Zuri smiled at him, knowing that they were as nervous as she was and conversation was the outlet to relieve that.
“I’m here for Summoning. What about you?” She could see his eyebrows raise in shock a little bit. He then rubbed the back of his neck, jostling the many decorative beads threaded into a few braids.
“I’m here for Foci Magic.”
Zuri perked up at that, curious to meet someone who worked with many mediums to create a magical focus for others.
“That’s incredible. I’ve heard of people using it and have seen Foci. Are you excited to learn more, or is there a specific you want to take with it?”
The look on his face was one of pleased surprise before he launched into an enthusiastic explanation of feather and metal magic. Zuri smiled and listened, feeling her anxiousness ease at someone’s joy at sharing information on their favorite topic. They moved up a few places before he stopped for a moment, his face flushing.
“Sorry about that. I get excited and then chatter on and on about it,” he rubbed the back of his neck with an awkward laugh. “I haven’t even introduced myself yet. I’m Zimnes Honess, but you can call me Zim.”
He held out a hand, which she took happily. His eyes flickered down to her wrist, and she sighed, knowing that it was a common courtesy, but it could still be annoying when she didn’t want to be acknowledged. The white bracelet was all anyone ever needed to see to know that she was an Unbonded Anissive. Zim leaned down a bit to kiss the back of her hand in greeting, which was the societal nicety for Anissives that were Unbonded.
“Hello Zim, it was nice to meet you. I’m Zuri Jikiniris.”
He smiled at her, and she winced; it was a bit more strained than she had hoped. Unbonded Anissives were ultimately treated much differently than the other designations. It drove her insane when it had been revealed that she was an Anissive. Everyone around her changed. She was more fragile in their eyes, even though it was more that she had too much magic and was definitely not delicate in any sense of the word. Her mother had been happy to finally have a child that was the same designation as her. All of her siblings were Tethers, though some had shown Serenalith leanings the last time they had been checked.
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“Sorry, I didn’t mean to make it awkward. I’m just nervous at meeting others in general.” Zim tried to explain. He wrung his hands on the bottom of his shirt. “It has nothing to do with your status. I get really nervous around crowds.”
Zuri let him have the excuse, knowing that he was trying to cover up and make her feel better. “I understand. I'm not too fond of crowds too. I wish this were a bit faster.”
Zim’s shoulders sagged in relief, and Zuri felt a tad bad for the guy. It was hard being in a new place and then trying to cover up a social blunder.
“Hopefully, not too long. I was too nervous to eat and would like to grab something soon.”
The line moved forward and Zuri was relieved to see that she could actually see the rest of the line and the registration area. Multiple tables and people were directing people to where they were to move to. She could see that there were tables registered for general admission and then there were lines for the specialty classes. Zuri frowned for a moment before turning to Zim.
“Do you think we should go to the Specialist line? It’s empty, and I can see the tables for those have fewer people. I know I got in specifically for Summoning.” Zuri trailed off. Zim had taken out his PMA, personal magical assistant, and was looking at something.
“It says in the email that students of General Admission are to report to the registration tables. Those that are Specialty classes are to report to the Specialist tables, where they can speak with the representatives from those departments.”
“Oh,” Zuri breathed. “I forgot to check my email this morning. We were rushing to leave. I guess I should be over there instead.”
Zim looked at her with a smile. “We can meet up later. I am in general studies until I declare. What’s your PMA address? I’d like to meet up after the orientation.”
Zuri took out her smaller PMA and held it out. Zim took his PMA and tapped it next to hers. Both devices pinged and their contact information showed up. Confirming the addition, Zuri put the device back into her pocket.
“I think this is my cue to head over to the other tables. Thank you for keeping me company.”
Zim waved as she took off. There were some frowns from the others standing in line as she passed, but Zuri ignored them. It was time to get her schedule and find the Summoning table. She was vibrating in excitement at meeting her peers who were studying the same magic.
“Name?” The light blue Drakithr in front of her asked. She was on the smaller side, which made Zuri feel slightly better at not being the only short person there. The dragon-like features were on full display and it was the first time that she had been close enough to see the individual scales. She’d always wondered if they were on the face or if it was skin. Now she had her answer. It was both. There were mostly colored scales, with the eyes, lips, nose, and mouth surrounded by lighter flesh, the same as her scales.
“Zuri Jikiniris, Summoning Mastery.”
There was an uptick in her eyebrows, but nothing else was said. She typed on a laptop and waited a moment before digging through a box sitting next to her. There was a low ‘ah-ha’ before she pulled out a package.
“Here you are, everything you need for orientation. There is a permanent key pass to Aquilla there, and you can choose to change the shape into a necklace or bracelet. You’ll need to attune it to your magic and your DNA, so make sure to use proper blood ritual procedures. Please don’t lose it or you will have to pay a fine to have it replaced. You also have a dedicated study space within the library that you can access on the days on your schedule. There is also access pass to a Mastery Lounge and the Summoning Department, these will be automatically linked to your Aquilla student ID bracelet. Are you remaining on campus or commuting?”
“Remaining, please.”
There was a nod as she typed on the computer and pulled out a much smaller file from the box.
“I went ahead and assigned you a room. We still have some available single rooms. It t has been attached to your student ID. This will be the only way to enter your room. They come with standard wards, which you are responsible for maintaining during your stay. You are also welcome to add to the wardstones that are within the safe in the wall, but you also must be able to remove them when you leave. Everything else is within this packet.”
Zuri took both packets, “Is there anything else I need to do or any suggestions?”
The girl thought for a moment before smiling at her, “I’d suggest getting everything set up over at one of the empty tables and then going to the Summoning Department’s tables. It’s one of the few times that all the Professors and current students will be together unless a Department event is occurring. It is the best time to make connections and contacts.”
Zuni’s mouth popped open slightly before she gave her a thankful smile. The girl wiggled her fingers in goodbye at her before turning to the student that had been waiting patiently behind her. She did just as the girl suggested and snagged a table nearby to get the process for her ID started. It wasn’t surprising to pull out a small rectangular shape that had her picture and information on it. There was a small box at the center of the card, where the instructions told her precisely what to do.
With a slight push of magic and a drop of blood later, Zuri held a beautiful bracelet in her hand. They were much easier to handle than a card or necklace. What had surprised her was the permanent transfiguration into a metal. She always preferred the particular blue metal, Karnat, named for the realm that it hailed from. It was a highly magical metal that was also very expensive. The bracelet was a combination of the metal and Technomagic. She could see the different runes and tech woven through the band. It was an odd but beautiful sight. She slipped it on and watched it size down to where it fit enough that it wouldn’t fall off.
With that done, Zuri sorted through the rest of the information packets, making sure that there was nothing immediate that needed to be read. She could do that later in the evening when she settled down in her new space. It had taken a lot of convincing from her family to let her stay. Even though she was an adult, they didn’t like the idea of her being on her own. Zuri told them that the traveling time between the realms would throw off her magic if she did it too much. It was the worst. The Nexus and Bridging Dyscs were a bit harsh to her more softer magic.
Zuri took the packets and placed them into her expanded messenger bag. It had been a gift from some of her Parental Tethers. They had gotten together to purchase one of the more expensive ones that had multiple storage pockets and spaces. It could hold half their library if she tried hard enough. She doubted that she would be using that much space in the entirety of her Mastery. Shouldering the bag, she wandered off through the different tables in search of the Summoning Department. If the registrar girl had asked her to make connections and mingle, that’s precisely what she would do.