"There we go," said Mairey with a slight Scottish accent as she placed her sweater into the drawer, "That's the last one." She closed the drawer. She had been unpacking her luggage for a couple hours now after arriving at her new dorm. Her smooth, soft skin was a dark honey color which contrasted her bright pink hair and abnormally large, lilac purple eyes. Her pointy ears, only a couple inches long, were fairly small for an elf. She opened her closet and searched for some appropriate clothing for the orientation in the auditorium tonight.
I need something that looks pretty formal, she thought, This should do the trick! Mairey then pulled out a ruby red dress with long sleeves, puffy shoulders, ruffles on the bottom of the skirt, and a white bowtie on the high collar. She slipped out of her long, pink dress and put her red dress on. Since the new dress was short and only reached down to her knees, Mairey also threw on a pair of white stockings. She then slipped into her black, high heel slippers. Once she was dressed, she brushed her hair and styled it into a neat, high, braided ponytail. She turned to the side and placed her hand on her hip as she looked at herself in the mirror. Is this too fancy? She wondered, Maybe I should tie my hair up into a bun instead?
DING DONG DING! The clock tower in the center of the campus rang. Mairey looked at the clock on her wall. I'm gonna be late! She grabbed her school pin and ran out of her dorm room. The tapping of her heeled shoes could be heard throughout the corridors as she rushed to the auditorium. While she was running, Mairey quickly attached the pin to her dress and almost pricked herself in the process. The pin was an orange and gold colored flame with a red swirl in the middle.
When she finally came to the auditorium, a staff member led Mairey to her seat. After being seated, the girl looked around and noticed that everyone was wearing their grey school uniform which consisted of a grey blazer, white button down shirt, grey pants, shiny, black shoes, and a dark red tie. She was the only one wearing a dress. Once everyone was seated in the large auditorium, the lights dimmed and the curtains on stage opened, revealing a podium and a second set of red curtains. Those curtains had a large, brown tapestry hanging on it that had the school's symbol on it. A tall, pale elvish woman with long black hair, tied up into a bun, walked up to the podium. She was wearing a dark blue suit with a dark red tie and a silky, dark green robe that wasn't closed all the way.
"Good evening, students!" Said the woman, "I'm headmistress Laria Biyagi. Congratulations on getting accepted into our fine academy. Not only are we one of the top schools for female mages in all of Mervoc, we are also one of the most elite wizardry schools on the European continent."
She paused for a moment as the crowd began to clap and cheer.
Once the cheering died down, the woman spoke again. "For centuries, vile men have forbidden us women from practicing magic. Those of our gender who did partake in the study were called witches and shunned by society. Those men even went as far as blaming female mages for their failures, hunting our kind down, and burning them at the stake. 'What was their reasoning for this?' You might ask. Apparently, they believed that any woman who was a mage got her powers from some evil deity. According to them, women can't be wizards, doctors, or even smart because they believe their deity reserved those things for men only."
The crowd began booing in anger. Headmistress Biyagi raised her hand, palm open and facing the audience, before she quickly closed her fingers which made the audience silent. "A few centuries ago, I was told this exact same thing. When I was your age, I was a very talented mage. Before I came to Heishter, however, every wizardry school I applied to rejected me because of my gender and my race. At one place I applied to, the man there encouraged me to become a spinstress. 'No school will ever teach you,' he said, 'You should just give up and have sewing be your career instead.'"
The crowd gasped and just stared at her in shock. They could not believe what they were hearing.
The woman took a deep breath, "I've been told that the world has changed. Nowadays, more and more wizardry schools are opening their doors to female students. That now, there are less places that will refuse service to non humans. So many privileged, human men believe that because witch hunts are not as frequent as they used to be, that women are now viewed as equals to men in every way. They are wrong!" She slammed her fist onto the podium. "Those who have always been sheltered from the storm do not understand how harsh the storm can really get. The people who believe that everything is fine have been blinded by their own privilege, therefore, they cannot see our struggles. Here at Heishter, our mission statement is to make sure that every mage gets a higher education, regardless of race, sexual orientation, and background, as well as improving the lives of women for a brighter future."
Everyone in the crowd began to clap and cheer again. Mairey clapped joyously, Regardless of background, eh? I hope that includes my past.
After the orientation had ended, all the students left for the dining hall. Tonight's menu consisted of roasted ham with gooseberry sauce, sweet potato fries, steamed peas, and cheese custard for dessert. As Mairey was walking around the hall with her tray full of food, other students kept on giving her weird looks. Maybe the white stockings were a bad idea. She thought as she glanced down at her attire for a moment. The girl then approached a table full of (mostly) human girls. Mairey looked at the empty seat and then at the girl sitting next to it. The girl was a human with light beige skin and short, black hair that had crooked bangs.
"Is this seat taken?" Asked Mairey.
The human looked up at her with her pale green eyes and shook her head, "No, you can sit here." She smiled with a few freckles on her cheeks. Mairey smiled back as she sat down next to the girl.
"I'm Mairey, by the way." Said the elvish girl.
"Nice to meet you, Mairey," said the human girl, "I'm Tilda."
"Nice to meet you too, Tilda," she smiled, "Is that short for Matilda?"
The girl chuckled and shook her head, "No, it's not. A lot of people ask me that and I can understand why they'd think that."
Mairey chuckled, "Oh yeah?"
"Yeah. So what about you?" Asked Tilda, "Is your name short for anything?"
"Not really. I used to have a boy's name when I was younger and later I decided to change it."
"A boy's name?" Tilda lifted an eyebrow, "How come?"
The girl paused for a split second. Oh, shite! She thought once she realized what she had just said.
"Well," Mairey began carefully, "My parents thought that I was going to be a boy so they had already decided to name me after my grandfather before I was even born. Since I had a male name and was a tomboy for most of my childhood, people always assumed that I'm a boy. When I got older, my parents finally let me change my name to something more feminine."
"Oh that's really interesting," said Tilda before she put a piece of ham into her mouth, "My parents told me that my name means strength in German."
"That's pretty cool. Is your family German?" Asked Mairey as she spooned some peas into her mouth.
Tilda swallowed and shook her head, "No, we're from Cardiff, here in Wales."
"Oh," Mairey swallowed the food in her mouth, "My family and I are all Indian but we're also from Scotland."
Tilda raised her eyebrows, "That's really cool! So is your name Scottish or Indian?"
"Neither," said the elf girl, "When I was picking a new name for myself, I learned that Mairey means 'young spirit' in Old Elvish."
"Old Elvish? Why were you looking for names in Elvish?" Asked Tilda before she took a sip of water from her cup.
"I wasn't looking for names in just that language," said Mairey, "I was looking for names in all different languages. I just happened to want that name in particular because I liked the meaning behind it and it helped me embrace my heritage."
"Your heritage? Aren't you Indian?"
"Yes but I'm also half elf," Mairey turned her head to the side and pointed to her ear, "See?"
"Oh!" Tilda was surprised, "Sorry I assumed you were human. We didn't have any elves at my old school."
"It's alright," said Mairey in a very understanding tone, "It happens."
The next day, the elf girl was woken up by the clock tower. What time is it? She wondered as she yawned and rubbed her eyes before slowly sitting up to check the clock on her nightstand. "Oh shite!" The girl exclaimed when she found out it was eight in the morning. She then hoped out of bed and threw on her uniform. "Class starts at eight thirty. Why didn't my alarm clock wake me up at seven?" Mairey wondered aloud as she began brushing her teeth. Afterwards, she quickly packed her bag and put on her shoes before running out of her room. While she was running down the corridors, she bumped into a few other students.
"Oi!" Said one girl who almost fell over and had to grab the wall in order to regain her balance.
"Watch it, bint!" Yelled an upperclassmen as she shook her fist in the air.
"Sorry! Sorry!" Said Mairey as she ran past them. She finally arrived at the classroom door. She slowed down and took a few deep breaths before entering.
The room consisted of almost thirty students, who were all chattering before class began, and they all seemed to be of different races. Most of them were human, lots of gnomes, some elves, a few teufels, and a couple of goblins. There was only one available seat and it was at the first table. Mairey sat down and looked at her schedule. The professor for her alchemy class was Dr. Terry Leyo. She looked at the desk in front of the class and noticed that it was empty. She then looked at her watch, Where could she be? Thought the girl, It's eight thirty two. This reminded Mairey of the time she got in trouble for coming to class two minutes late. Her literature teacher in secondary school was a bitter, old man who would constantly complain about his wife and how much he despised the younger generations rather than teaching the class. He once ridiculed a student for liking 'Pride and Prejudice' and believed that books written by women were not real literature. Mairey ended up despising literature because of him.
After another minute had passed, an elvish man wearing a long, black coat walked into the room. He had light beige skin and black hair that reached his shoulders. He approached the front desk and removed his coat before placing it on the back of the chair. He was wearing black pants with a black button down shirt and a gray vest with a dark red tie. All the students went silent and stared at him in confusion. A few of the students began to murmur to each other.
"Is he our professor?" Asked one human girl.
"Of course not!" Said one elf girl.
"I thought all the professors here were women." Said another human girl.
"What's he doing here?" Asked one teufel girl.
"He must be lost." Said one gnome girl.