On the first day of the Fall Festival, everyone woke up bright and early. Eager with anticipation, the resident hall soon became an empty shell as the students left for campus. The official opening ceremony was still a few hours away, but there some events, performances and games before that.
Aayla slept in until her normal time. She was not very keen to go see the festival. With her situation, Aayla wouldn't be able to enjoy it much. Mana still made her feel sick in large doses, like when she's in a large crowd of excited wizards. The same was true with attention. Any attention on her made Aayla feel nauseous. Keeping her true home world for so long made her very jumpy. Everything that she heard about the nobility and wizards in this world really didn't help.
She still had some work to do anyways. The office would be much quieter after the students had left. Working helped to calm her mind and gave her an excuse to avoid people. Just after breakfast, someone stepped into the office much to Aayla's surprise.
"What are you still doing here, Miss Glowery?"
"Eh, Nurse Rouse? Oh, I just have some work to do before my classes later."
Nurse Rouse frowned and looked around the empty room.
"All by yourself? The tournaments are starting today. You should you take a break from working for a bit to go have some fun. Papers don't just fly away. They'll still be here when you get back."
"It's fine. With my condition, I don't do so well in crowds. Besides, I've been taking breaks visiting Ramona the past couple of weeks."
Aayla continued to look through the papers on the desk when she suddenly felt a tug on the collar of her shirt. She found her self being dragged towards the front doors. The other on duty nurse peeked out from behind the door of the medical ward and silently giggled.
"I swear both you and Ramona are stubborn workaholics. I've been watching your condition a while now, and you've been getting much better aside from working for twenty-four hours a day. And no, taking magic lessons from Ramona does not count as rest. You need to go outside and be social. Gremlins, artifact spirits and coworkers don't really count as friends. No offense, Dormi."
The nearby bookcases seemed to nod in understanding. A carpet even helped Nurse Rouse by pushing Aayla out of the room. Aayla was promptly kicked out of the residence hall.
"Now, go out and socialize for a few hours. You should be fine if you avoid the third- and fourth-year tournament areas. Be a teenager! Make some actual friends! Go! Shoo!"
Then the front doors slammed shut. Aayla was at a loss. How did this happen? While she was distracted, a window opened on the floor above. Her purse was tossed out and landed on her head. Aayla rubbed her head in pain.
"You could have at least given me a heads up you know!"
Branches from the trees began gently pushing her towards the gate.
"Fine, fine! I'm going. Stop pushing!"
The gate firmly shut behind her. Aayla could have sworn that she heard several locks closing. She scratched her head then turned to walk towards the main campus.
Alicia Rouse stared out the window watching Aayla until the girl was out of view. She gave an exasperated sigh and patted a nearby curtain. If Dormi didn't tell her, then Alicia wouldn't have known about how much work Aayla was putting in keeping the dormitory together. The gremlins nearly drove the previous residents insane before Headmaster Marin intervened. Unlike most other teenagers that Alicia knew, Aayla was a serious homebody. Even novice wizards would go out to discuss magic and buy ingredients. She didn't even want to go to class, go shopping or even find better food than what's in the dining hall. Hmm, Alicia had a lot of work ahead of her.
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After she was kicked out, Aayla slowly meandered down the road towards the main campus. Sections of it were stone while other portions were still dirt. The upgrades should be finished by next week. Aayla happily thought about all of the better carriages that will be able to come. They can get better ingredients and arrange for a carriage service for transport to the main campus. Then Aayla could spend even less time outside of the residence hall grounds!
If Nurse Rouse and Dormi will let her, that is.
When she finally arrived, the campus was bursting with activity. Booths lined the streets for festival goers to play games or shop. Many faculty and staff members had joined in on the festivities. Several of them were accompanied by their families. Cheerful groups of young wizards in training made their way along the streets. They would occasionally stop at stalls or look at one of the giant boards set up in the plazas around campus.
These giant boards displayed maps and listed timetables for various events and activities. Several were still empty, and they were propped up next to giant boxes which looked like speakers. A couple of security guards and staff members stood next to the boards. Aayla carefully read the timetable to find something interesting. She had plenty of time to kill. Nothing really stood out, so Aayla decided to walk around and see if anything sparks her interest.
Vendors sold all sorts of items from the typical clothes and food to magic books and supplies to celebrity brands and products. When it comes to celebrities, famous wizards are by far the most popular in the Chinebar Republic. As Aayla scanned the rows and rows of stalls she noticed that most of the goods were either named for, endorsed by or somehow related to a specific celebrity.
Some fans took their celebrity worship way too seriously. They went far beyond stocking up on all the latest products and news. Security was constantly breaking up or defusing fights between rival groups. The fans of those competing in the tournaments were especially vicious to the fans of rival competitors.
Eventually, Aayla ended up in front of the practice fields, where three giant stadiums had been set up. Each stadium was for a different tournament, and each had different banners and sizes. The second-year tournament stadium was the smallest and could only seat a couple hundred people. The largest was for the fourth-year tournament and could hold several thousand. Staff blocked off each of the stadiums, and only allowed uniformed students inside.
Soon after Aayla arrived, loud music started emanating from the plazas. People quickly stopped what they were doing and packed as closely as possible to the giant boards. The music was emanating from the giant speakers. Aayla found a plaza next to the stadiums and stood at the back of the crowd to see what was happening.
The music stopped and a voice came from the speakers which Aayla had never heard before.
"Good morning faculty, staff and fellow students. Welcome to the Fall Festival and Year Ranking Tournaments. I am Eileen Bennett, the current president of the Nafriton Student Council. As the president of the Council, I would like to extend a warm welcome to our few guests able to attend this year's festival. I would also like to congratulate all of our participants for being selected to compete for the highest honors among their class years.
This year is a bit different due to the violence plaguing our country. Violence that the university, the Student Council and myself deeply condemn. Though the state of our nation is regrettable, we must rise to the occasion to defend her and all that we hold dear. As such, this year's tournament will also be different.
To encourage the development of practical skills, the general regulations for the third- and fourth-year tournaments have been loosened to encourage more creative dueling. In addition, more referees have been added to ensure audience and participant safety. Even with the safety equipment, serious injuries and deaths may occur. However, please rest assured that these changes in regulations have been personally designed and approved by the headmaster and deputy headmasters.
Finally, the rewards for all tournaments have been increased. All scholarship amounts have been doubled. The top 100 students in each tournament will be eligible to live in the best on campus rooms next semester. The top 50 will receive novice ranked storage artifacts. The top ten students will receive additional adept ranked artifacts. Those who place in the top three will receive additional custom expert ranked artifacts. Any who participates in the tournament no matter their final rank may receive opportunities for the direct tutelage of the deputy headmasters or the headmaster himself."
The crowd went into an uproar. Those rewards were simply insane for college students and low ranked wizards. Even expert wizards would be tempted.
"What you can achieve is all up to your talents, skills and determination. Good luck to all of the participants and referees. May the Celestials bless you all. By the power granted to me by the University as the President of the Student Council, let the Fall Festival and Year Ranking Tournaments begin!"