White Hall (The High King: A Tale of Alus Book 10) (22 page)

Ylena placed her hand on the little blonde’s shoulder and said, “Well, Katya, dinner will be soon, but Neira can show you where it is. I will meet you in the dining hall tomorrow morning after second bell to help you get your new clothes.”

Dropping the pack she was carrying, the wizard handed her a smaller book saying, “This book covers the rules and other things that you will need to know here. I can go over more of it tomorrow morning, since I am going to be your mentor for awhile.

“New novices have an orientation class at the third bell, so try to be up on time. I don’t like having to hunt down my novices,” the woman stated with a stern look. With a brief wave, Katya was left with Neira.

Giving the girl a smile in turn, she said, “Well, this should be interesting. I’ve shared my room with the girls on the trip here and with my sister at home. Is it just the two of us?” she asked noticing bunk beds meaning that there could be four.

Neira sat down and picked up her book once more as she answered, “For now anyway, when I got here there were two girls; but they were either sent to the wall for a training mission or promoted to apprentice, so she got to go downstairs.

“The second floor is considered the place to be, since I am told that most of the rooms are singles. You’ll also be closer to the classrooms, so there will be less walking.”

“How long have you been here?”

“Five months, so I am just a novice too, but they decided that I might be good at diplomat magic and assigned me here,” Neira said as her eyes started to look at the book in her hands. “The lower bed on my left is mine, but the rest are open.

“The others didn’t leave any clothes behind to hold their places. Of course, I don’t think any of us came with as much as you have,” the girl finished as if she was surprised at the pair of packs in Katya’s possession.

“My brother was the one who found me and decided that I had better go to the school. He was on the way to Hala for the tournament, so I took a few extra clothes and he bought me more for the banquets and stuff,” the younger girl said looking at the limited amount of space to put her clothing. There were just two wardrobes set against the base of the beds. A pair of dressers would serve as desks apparently and had a total of four drawers each. If all four beds were occupied, she wondered how much of a fight there would be to use the limited space.

“Once you’re here,” Neira said, “it’s pretty much just white robes or dresses, a pants or two, maybe a couple shirts or tunics, plus your boots and shoes. Most of the clothing you took with you might as well be tossed. You never get time to wear it.”

“They don’t dress up for dinner or dancing afterwards?” Katya asked in surprise.

Shaking her head, the novice answered, “You usually just see a few dressed in something other than our uniforms when they first get here, but after awhile classes and studying get in the way and next thing you know it, you’re just wearing your novice clothing to every meal.”

Before she could ask which dresser and wardrobe to use, the door opened again surprising both girls. It was rare to receive visitors, but even more unusual to have a second novice assigned to the same room the same day. Diplomat wizards were fairly rare after all, so it was unlikely; but to Katya’s surprise she saw a familiar face.

“Cheleya, what are you doing here? I didn’t know you had diplomat magic too,” the younger girl responded seeing her friend and giving her a big smile.

Cheleya came carrying two packs as well, one rounder like Katya’s bag and another long skinny one about four feet long. Neira spied the bags and shook her head figuring if the two girls knew each other it wasn’t surprising that they had come similarly packed.

“I am sort of a foreign exchange student, so I was able to ask to room with you,” the dragoness replied with a grin. “So where do we put our clothes?”

Neira simply sighed.

Chapter 12- The Game Changer

The dining hall of White Hall was a large building with more room for tables than any of the inns Katya had ever been in, though it was still smaller than the king’s banquet room in Hala. That had been a special time for the girl as she had been in a room full of wizards, lords and ladies all the way up to King Alain and his beautiful queen, Alyanna.

By comparison to that beautifully decorated hall made up in silver, white and blue; the school’s hall was rather plain not that she had expected the extravagance of the king’s banquets for the tournament to be displayed here. This was a school, even if it was for those gifted in magic for the most part. In its own way, Katya thought that it had its own flair for decoration; but not because of the room itself, instead it was the odd groupings of colors worn by the students that created a strange theme.

“Well, this is the dining hall,” Neira stated and pointed to the far side of the room. “The kitchen is on that side, and they use a line going past trays of food that they switch out as they are emptied. The good news is you can eat as much as you want. The bad news is that it isn’t nearly as good as homemade.

“You can also choose anywhere to sit, though soldiers and mage cadets tend to group on the same side as the kitchen. Maybe they work up more of an appetite since they work with weapons and such all day? Then there tends to be a novice area, but after awhile people build friendships and branch out from there.”

The girl seemed to spy someone she knew and waved, “Well, go get some food. I’m sure you’re hungry after traveling all day.”

Neira proceeded to hurry over to a table with other novices by the looks of their clothing. As she had warned, most of those eating or getting their food were easily recognized as the type of students they were. Gray shirts of battle mage cadets clumped on the far side near the kitchen as Neira had said.

Young men dressed in blue with red trim held several tables off to the side of the cadets for those studying to be soldiers. They were most likely from among the rich or noble classes. Many would train to be soldiers and many would simply take that training and return home to work for their families. Others would go on to become officers in the army or join garrisons in the cities of their birth.

The remainder of the room, which was roughly half of the remainder of the hall, was split between novices with their gray bands on their necks and sleeves and apprentices. Some had marks of a certain color on their shoulders branding them with the magic that they showed the most promise in based off their revealed talents. Then there were the other teenage wizards in white, but the subtle difference was their stripes encircling necks and lining sleeves with a single color.

Those also grouped together by color seeming to avoid the novices, but they also seemed to shun other apprentices with differing colors for the most part. Water apprentices remained together and seemed to shun those of fire. Fire might make room for old friends wearing light blue bands for air or even a few earth apprentices with their brown stripes, but most of those tended to band together in their own clicks.

Green bands for nature might have friends in earth or air as well, Katya’s eyes noticed, but didn’t seem inclined to join with those of fire tendencies. Healers were definitely a group unto themselves, though other guilds seemed friendly enough with them; which was probably a good thing for their future if they went on missions together.

Only those with the silver bands of the diplomacy magic seemed willing to join the others and could be accepted.

“Well we are definitely not dressed for this crowd,” Katya said to Cheleya.

“I could change that with my magic,” the other girl suggested.

“No, we’ll be fine. Let them know we’re new. The boys will probably be twice as interested to find out about us ensuring that we have dance partners tonight,” the younger girl said with a smile and took the dragoness by the hand.

Cheleya looked a little worried by the idea and asked, “I don’t know if that is a good idea, Katya. Maybe we would be better off blending in until we know more about these people.”

“What’s to know?” Katya asked turning to look at the other blond with a confident smile. “You’re beautiful so most boys will love you, while the more popular girls will hate you. Other girls may want to get to know you because of that.”

Looking very confused by that logic, the dragoness asked, “Why would they hate me? They don’t even know me and others will still want to know me because of that fact? That is strange.”

“No, that is just the way of human girls. We’re complicated,” Katya giggled navigating the path through the table to find the back of the serving line.

Before they could make it to the food, Piotr arrived with Job. The boys hurried over to meet up with the girls even as they glanced about looking for other familiar faces.

“Have you girls seen Briahnna or Niklaus yet?” the twin asked curiously.

“Not yet,” Katya answered and wondered what had happened to delay the other girl in particular. She thought that Niklaus seemed like the type of boy who would have less trouble fitting in, but Briahnna came off as a little shy and might need help getting started.

A few other kids looking out of place with regular clothes, which were obviously not uniforms, were there as well. Apparently their search team hadn’t been the only one to return with a few prospects.

“Do you want to sit together?” Job asked looking hopeful. Neither of the boys was particularly social, so Katya wasn’t surprised by the wish to stick together. They had arrived too late in the day to really meet anyone aside from those roommates who had been around before dinner, but not every student would return to their room between studies and their meal.

Shrugging in answer, the four filled their trays and found a long table with room enough for more than four on one end. Four boys with earth rings on their apprentice tunics glanced their way with some interest for the pretty girls. One of the boys’ suddenly showed surprise and leaned in drawing his friends’ attention.

Katya thought the attention was given to Cheleya, which wasn’t surprising given that she was a beautiful girl. Then the younger girl realized that others had been pointing or otherwise gesturing towards the dragoness from their entry for some odd reason.

“Did something unusual happen during your interview?” Katya asked returning her attention to her friends. The dragoness had been taken to see the battle mage leaders in the school and Cheleya had mentioned talking to them and the leader of the healing teachers. Though the girl hadn’t gone into it, Cheleya had said that she had needed to give a demonstration of some of what she had learned in Mar’kal to be accepted despite the letter of introduction.

Both boys looked surprised by the strange question. They had been asked some questions as to their background and even been tested for their kind of magic. Piotr’s mentor had even seemed pleased by what he had found, though he didn’t know how Job’s interview had been.

The dragoness shrugged and seemed oblivious to the interest around her, though Katya knew her well enough to know better. Being the center of attention wasn’t Cheleya’s preference, though some attention was fine. Apparently she had been through enough before reaching Hala to need a break from unwanted interest.

“The battle mages seem to think that Sebastian wasn’t so much formed by their teaching as he grew beyond that afterwards. I don’t understand why they believe that what they taught him didn’t help make him what he is. Even if he has a curiosity for magic that is unusual for them, I would think it was what he was first taught which has helped him become so unusual now.”

Neither boy seemed to understand what she was talking about. While she and Katya had been in the capitol to see the Winter’s Edge tournament, a wizards’ tournament; the boys had only heard a few things between the news sent out to the towns of Southwall as well as the stories the two girls had mentioned trying to make them understand. Neither had seen a wizards’ duel yet or truly knew enough about combat magic to know the differences between the magic of mages and wizards.

“How did you convince them then?” the younger blonde continued trying to ignore the conversations which seemed centered on Cheleya. She was a pretty girl, but this felt like more than just boys appreciating her looks. Male and female, the tables closest to them seemed to speak enthusiastically about the dragoness; though some also argued as if they didn’t believe what the others said.

Briahnna found the table, but looked a little wary of sitting beside Cheleya as that was one of the spots open. Sitting next to Job would have been more daring, but the young red haired novice chose to sit across from him. It was probably to look at him easier, Katya guessed with amusement.

She had barely sat when Niklaus came hurrying over with his tray to sit by Job. In a room of such division, a mage sitting with wizards would have been odder if they weren’t all obviously new to the school.

“Is it true?” Niklaus questioned looking directly at Cheleya.

“Is what true? You might want to be more precise,” Katya retorted, but couldn’t even draw the boy’s attention off of the dragoness.

“The entire battle mage wing was going on about how a little blonde haired girl flew above the training courtyard fighting with a gargoyle. A few reports even mentioned an amulet around the gargoyle’s neck and the clothes on the girl pretty much matches what Cheleya is wearing right now,” the boy said lowering his voice while trying to make sure he was still heard by the others.