Alex left the housing office in a great mood. He was given the keys to his new house. Carl even went so far as to promise that Alex would, in his own words, "be in that until you graduation from the academy." Alex made a mental note to repay this kindness one day in the near future.
Alex had never been a person that was interested in intrigue, or social maneuverings. Half because he felt that it was simply better to be straight forward. The other half was because, if he was completely honest, he was no good at it. Tom had told him over and again that he needed to learn about these things.
Tom was probably right. After all, how could you defend yourself from a weapon if you did not understand how it was used.
It took Alex nearly an hour to find his house. This was partly due to the fact that Alex was new to the academy. Even if Alex was accustomed to the campus it still would have taken at least half that time. His house was actually pretty far away from most of the other highly trafficked buildings. He did notice one semi-large building nearby. That seemed to be the area where mana and enchanting classes were held.
Alex thought this was quite lucky. He was very interested in both of these courses. He had always wanted to learn enchanting. His mother had been an enchanter before she died. Alex's father used to talk about her when he was little. She had died in childbirth.
Alex's mother was named Annette. His father used to say that she had the most beautiful green eyes he had ever seen. His father talked less and less about her as he grew up. Now, it had been years since he mentioned her.
Alex was following a path around a large greenhouse when he saw an old mud brick wall. Carl had said it was a style called Adobe. This house had apparently been made for a visiting expert years ago. It had not been lived in since then. Alex could not believe his luck. Not only did he get his own house, but the house it's self was built in a style that was unique to the culture of that expert.
Carl had said that the main body of the house was situated on the north side of this piece of land. Two walls extended from the eastern and western most edges of the house and ran parallel toward the south. These two walls were connected together by a third wall that had a large gate in it.
In essence, not only did Alex have his own house, but it had an attached courtyard! To top it all off it was in a unique style called adobe.
The smooth tan walls that made up the structure was very pleasing to Alex. He made his way to the front gate and brought out the key. Alex couldn't wait to open the gate and take a look inside. Before he could open the gate two things caught his attention at almost the same time.
First was the smell. Alex felt that he should recognize it. It smelled acidic. At the same time it was earthy and smelled like plants. At first he thought it might be from the green house, but the wind was blowing the wrong way for that to be true.
The second was the conversation that two students seemed to be having in front of the green house. Alex had not seen them as he walked to his new home because they were on the south side, and he had approach from the north. Alex did not hear much of the conversation, just one aggravated shout was carried to him on the wind. "Great! Now where do we put it!" One of the students said this in anger as he saw Alex approach the gate to his new house.
This confused Alex for a moment, but slowly he began putting it all together. With a sense of dread he opened the gate.
What greeted Alex was the pungent smell of decaying plants. "Shit!" The word came unbidden to his lips as he looked at a large pile discarded plant clippings, soil, and what seemed like all of the unwanted product and fertilizer from the nearby greenhouse.
The pile was so large there was no way it could have been made in only a year or two. It made no sense, even Alex knew that it was far too wasteful for the greenhouse to simply throw away all of this.
What Alex didn't know was that it was ordered to be thrown away. Not because it could not be used as compost or to feed the soil, but because the greenhouse simply had no need for compost.
This greenhouse was not meant to turn a profit. It was used as an experimental site for experiments involving plants that had high levels of mana and harsh growing requirements. Each experiment was housed in a separate area of the green house with it's own temperature controls and barrier enchantments. This was the reason why it was positioned so close to the mana and enchanting building.
As such everything from the soil to the left over plant material needed to be cleared away after each experiment and new soil laid down each time. In this way one experiment would not effect another.
As bad as this was, Alex still had to admit that this was a small issue for being allowed to have his own house, with a courtyard no less. Trying not to become too negative Alex walked to the north side of the courtyard. He wanted to see what his new home looked like.
As he opened the door his face fell. Now, he finally understood what the nagging feeling he had in the housing office was trying to tell him. There was a large difference between 'housing that is appropriate for a student' and 'the minimum requirements of safety and functionality'.
It was bad enough that Alex had signed away his right to a properly furnished dorm room, but immediately after that he signed another document saying he would take anything that had a roof and walls.
Alex looked through the doorway and into a large empty house. There was nothing. Not even a simple rug on the floor. Not only that, but from the smell Alex guessed that no one had opened these doors in years.
Alex took a deep breath to steady himself. 'It's okay. At least we have a house. Sure, it has been used as a compost heap for years, and there is not one furnishing inside it. But so what?' As he thought this a strange smile began to spread across his face. 'Okay so this house needs some work. But I have dealt with worse. It can't be worse than the time I got lost in the woods and spent two days wandering the woods. At least there was a roof and walls.'
If Tom were here he would know what that smile means. He had seen it before. It was the look Alex gets when he is truly angry. Alex was not easy to anger, but those that accomplished it never met with a good ending.
At this time a knock came from his front gate. Alex took another deep breath, then made his way to the gate. As he opened the door he saw a familiar face.
It was professor Keller.
"Hello again." Keller said with a slight sneer. "I see you are my new neighbor. I do hope we can get along." As he said this Keller chuckled slightly.
Surprised, Alex responded, "you live near by professor?"
"Yes. I live in the mana and enchanting building. In fact, each teaching building also houses the professors." His tone made it clear that this should be common knowledge.
"Oh, thank you for letting me know professor." Alex said with a half-hearted smile. The wind shifted slightly and began pushing the smell from the compost heap towards professor Keller.
Keller sniffed, his face crinkled for a fraction of a second before it blossomed into a hateful grin. "It looks as though I may have to ask your forgiveness." His tone made it clear, even to Alex, that he was not serious. "You see years ago I told some students they could throw waste from the greenhouse here. I had completely forgotten to let the housing office know."
"I see." Alex said. Once again that strange smile found it's way onto his face. "Thank you for coming over to let me know. Otherwise, I might have misunderstood." With that Alex closed and locked the gate. Leaving the smiling Keller outside.