"Wake up, sleepyhead! Or I'm going to smash this in!"
Three loud bangs rattled the frame to Elwin's door.
"Huh, wha – wait, I'm coming!"
Elwin, bewildered by the command, tumbled out of his bedsheets still in pajamas and eyes half closed. If he hadn't been shocked out of his senses, it would've been a monumental task to escape the gravity of his soft, heavenly bed.
He swung the door open at once and found Katherine standing there, already dressed in her uniform and ready to seize the day. Elwin's hair, frizzled with static, puffed out like clouds that made it look like something terrible had happened to him in his sleep, and she momentarily drew back at his appearance.
"Are you... are you alright? What's happened to you?" asked Katherine, with a timbre of genuine concern.
"Oh? Huh... ACK!" Elwin felt for his hair and, terribly embarrassed by what must have been his presentation, closed the door far faster than he'd opened it.
"Give me a second!"
He drew some water out of the air and lightly splashed his hair with it, running his hands through to get the puffs out and tying it into a short spiky ponytail he always did since he was eleven; with a sigh, he adjusted his eyewrap, trying to conceal the scars that ran underneath it. He wondered whether Katherine was able to see that minutely exposed part of his face, which must have unraveled slightly while he slept; he was glad that Isaac and Mirai weren't there to witness it, had his thoughts been true.
Hidden to satisfaction, Elwin opened the door once more. Katherine stood there, tapping her foot, arms crossed.
"Thought of sleeping in, weren't you? Come on, it's time for breakfast."
"What? No – I set an alarm. I guess it didn't ring... huh? Hold on –" Elwin yawned deeply, glancing at the clock by the bed, "It's only six! Six-thirty!"
"Six-thirty, yes. Perfect time for breakfast." She smiled with an energetic grin.
"But the orientation isn't until ten in the morning!"
"Ah-ah. Think of this. It's our first day, and I bet the professors are already in the dining hall. It's the perfect opportunity to show our dedication to the new school year."
Elwin was still so groggy and exhausted from the feast of the previous day that Katherine's voice arrived as muffled echoes in his head, as if from a dream. He pinched himself, and let out a small 'ow!', for the pain was very real. He was indeed awake and at Aeternitas. As for the question of sleep, however...
"Where's Isaac and Mirai?"
"I'm going to wake Isaac up, but I need your help. Mirai is already downstairs."
"She's already awake too?"
"I figure she's used to the time back home. It must be, what, eight o'clock already in Heian when it's six-thirty here? Anyway, let's save the musings for later. Come on out."
He cautiously craned his neck out the door frame and peered around the soft gardened terrace; no footsteps stirred elsewhere, although the light of the morning sun quietly crept in through the alus-glass dome from above.
"Alright, spare me a minute."
With a rush he donned his regular uniform – thank goodness these didn't take as much effort in clasps and buttons as it was with his ceremonial robes yesterday – and grabbed his small knapsack with stencils and scholarly instruments, splashing his face with water and puffing it into vapors again when he was done.
"Okay, I am ready!"
"Then out we go!" she said, marching as if a grand quest was about to begin, then simply strolling to Isaac's room just a few yards down. Elwin let out a hoarse giggle.
"Oh! You guys are ready," whispered Mirai, climbing the stairs with a small book in her hand. "Where's Isaac?"
"Therein lies our first challenge of the day," replied Katherine. "Remember how yesterday evening was the first time in his life he was able to... eat as much as he liked? I think the food kind of got to him. He won't wake up, no matter how hard I knock."
"Wouldn't hurt to try again, right?"
"Sure."
Katherine knocked on Isaac's door once more, but there was no reply. No growling or threatening to smash the door down got a solid acknowledgement other than an indistinct 'urgh'. Elwin laughed.
"All right, you try, since you find it funny."
Elwin cautiously stooped down to the gap below the door, and knocking once, he whispered:
"Um... Isaac – we're going to have breakfast. I think you might want to –"
The door swung open at once, and Isaac was there, eyes shining with otherworldly enthusiasm, his hair even more puffy than Elwin's.
"BREAKFAST!? WHERE?!"
All of them ducked to the floor in surprise.
"I mean, Yes! Um – yes, let's go. Right now. Sorry for waiting."
Katherine laughed. "You wouldn't wake up for all my imploring outside, but you wake up at the mention of breakfast, hmm?" She rose, punching his shoulder in jest.
***
The aroma of cool mist and fresh pine blessed the four kismets on their little sojourn to the Grand Dining Hall. The last evening, they had traversed this same path across the south quadrangle and then up the maze of the campus quartier, led by the Apprentice of Ceremonies; but there was still so much of the Academy grounds they hadn't seen. Perhaps today they could!
Out of a corner of their eyes, they sensed a figure draped in flaming crimson approaching from the east.
"Awake early, I see."
Professor Helen strode past them without the slightest hint of further acknowledgement, trailing with her footsteps small tendrils of fire that sprung from the ground. To their bewilderment, the flames disappeared as quickly as they rose, leaving the grass unsinged. She struck open the great gates of the Dining Hall with a blow of flames from her hand, and disappeared from view.
The four stood in silence.
"Do you think she knows who we are?" Katherine asked, rather eagerly.
"I don't know. It looked like she didn't really care about who we were at all," replied Isaac. "Isn't it customary to say –"
"Good morning~!" sang a cheery voice from behind them. There stood a professor in turquoise robes and fading cerulean hair from yesterday.
"Oh! Good morning, professor," the four replied in unison. Isaac and Elwin gave each other a brief glance.
"It is always nice to see Artens up early. I am Professor Irina, by the way."
Katherine beamed a radiant smile. "It's only fitting!"
"Do enjoy the marvelous sky – it's quite rare," sang the professor, pointing up.
They all looked up to the great heavens, painted a sea of blue without a speck of cloud nor dust, parted only by SERA's bridge.
When they looked down again, Professor Irina had disappeared.
Elwin shook his head in puzzlement. "Did you see where she went?"
"No idea," said Isaac.
Mirai, however, watched silently as the side gates to the Dining Hall closed quietly behind the professor in green. They were now halfway across the lawn when –
"Hullo, gentlemehn and gentlefrhei!" rumbled a voice from their backs again, only this time a pair of arms embraced all four of them in a bearlike hug and lifted them seven feet from the ground, then down again.
"Professor William, at your service." He flipped his beige cravat to one side, giving a surprisingly impeccable gentleman's bow. It was easy for those who witnessed him the first time to assume that his brawny, wrestler-esque physique was incompatible with delicate movement, so when they saw otherwise, they intuitively understood that there was far more to the man.
"Whew, you gave us quite a fright!" said Katherine, almost clutching her heart.
"Ha, but it did wake you up, didn't it? I remember your faces from last evening – you are the first four Fradihta who led the line. Am I right?"
"You are!" said Mirai, dusting off her uniform.
"Well, it's a pleasure. The first four yesterday, the first four today! I hope to witness your continued enthusiasm for the Arts."
He gave a salute, but without waiting for the four to return it, marched past them into the Dining Hall, the earth beneath the lawn shaking in his stride.
The four, dazed a little at the flurry of interactions, followed in suit.
***
"May I have the... scrambled eggs with bacon please?" requested Elwin to the chef behind the kitchen galley.
"Aye, young gentleman," replied the chef, busy ordering the line of cooks next to him. "And the same for you, good sir?"
A calm but robust voice familiar to Elwin replied in earnest.
"No thank you. I'd prefer your shakshuka from yesterday with a cup of your strongest black tea, Chef Rosso."
"Right away."
Elwin, rather shocked, looked to his right, and saw Professor Thales standing very tall next to him, a single saucer floating beside his Quan. He didn't yet read in the guidebook that professors dined in the company of Artens very often, so it frightened him out of his bones to see Professor Thales himself be in line with him.
"Fine morning, Elwin."
"Um, g-good morning, sir."
It was clear that Professor Thales remembered him from back at Ascension. An oasis of silence hung over the two.
"Scrambled eggs are perfectly good for breakfast, but one may find they do get pedestrian in the company of more interesting delicacies."
It was not the line that Elwin expected. Was this another test? Elwin must've been trembling a little, because Professor Thales quickly caught on.
"Be not frightened. This is not the exam of two months ago."
"Yes, sir."
He looked to Elwin with piercing eyes of blue, and they were as unfathomable as he'd remembered. For a fleeting second he imagined what Professor Thales must have seen in the world for those eyes to feature such depth.
"Open yourself to new cuisines here. It's rare that you get a chance, unless your calling is to trade on the open sea."
"I will. Thank you."
"Scrambled eggs and bacon for the young gentleman in navy, coming right up!" exclaimed Chef Rosso.
By now it was half-past seven, and a small congregation of Artens, mostly upperclassmen, were beginning to trickle into the hall.
"What took you so long?" asked Katherine, her full-course breakfast already halfway done.
"I got to meet Professor Thales."
"The Master of the Waters?"
"Yeah."
"What'd you chat about?"
"Less of a chat, more of an, uhm, advice."
"Advice! Not even a day in and you've already got personal advice from Professor Thales! Good-going, Elwin!"
"Oh, it's not sort of the advice you're thinking about... it was about trying new foods and stuff like that. He recommended me to experience new things, not things I've always had."
"I'm envious, still. You've already been recognized!"
"Say, Katherine, do you know who he is? As in what he did before he became a professor?"
Her eyes furrowed in puzzlement. "What he did? His career, you mean?"
"Yeah."
"No idea. Isaac?"
"Not a clue, sorry. Truth be told, I don't really know anything outside of the hospital and medicinal stuff. I reckon I'll have to learn from you guys, urmph –" he trailed off, taking a huge bite from his sandwich. Numerous chunks of lettuce fell out of its rump.
"Mirai?"
"Hmm?" She looked up from her bowl of rice and grilled mackerel, and replied all the same. "Sorry, I don't have any knowledge. Maybe we could check in the library?"
"Why the library? We can just ask him," commented Katherine, crossing her arms.
"Maybe Elwin doesn't want to seem like he's prying into his past." Mirai glanced briefly at Elwin, and Elwin became flustered, because she read exactly what he'd thought. He wasn't keen on asking Professor Thales directly, but at the same time, he didn't want to come off as cowardly to his friends.
"It was just a passing curiosity. Wouldn't want you to go out of your way for it," replied Elwin, trying to nod coolly. He wasn't sure it worked, because Katherine's arms were still crossed, unconvinced.
From a distance away, Elwin caught eye of Headmaster Abraxas and Professor Aionia striding into the Dining Hall. Upperclassmen saluted them as they passed by, whose salutes they returned, and among them Leonardo and Hina –
"By the good MAHA, Elwin? You've made it in!" exclaimed Sandora from behind, smacking Elwin's shoulder with a slap so fiery that he nearly fell out of his bench.
"San - Sandora!" Elwin stammered, massaging his shoulder. "You were the first to choose your House yesterday! You won the tournament in your Franen, right? You won just as you promised you would!"
"Damn right we did! All of us – hey! Leo, Hina, Maximus, c'mere!"
"Oh, dear MAHA, wha – wait, is that who I –" wheeled Leonardo, quickening his steps. "Didn't we get you out of a pickle last winter, and you invited us to your inn?"
"Yeah!"
"Elwin, wasn't it?"
"That's right, in the flesh!" Elwin beamed, recalling the hundreds of dishes Leonardo hauled in and out without complaint.
"Boy, am I happy to see a familiar face. Now I can do my best to induct you into my House come next year, remembering how admirably you kept your cool at the inn," he chuckled. "Still can't forget that night. That was quite the night, huh?"
"A wild night indeed!" remarked Hina, gliding into the reunion. "How were the exams? Affordable? Strenuous?"
"It was –"
"Wait – wait – wait," interjected Katherine. "Hold on a moment. You know all of the Vianen consuls already?!"
Sandora chuckled. "It's a long story from last winter. I'm Sandora Hamilton, consul for the Viatira at the House of SUNNA. Pleasure to make your acquaintance," she said, extending her hand to Katherine.
"Oh, the – the pleasure is mine!" stuttered Katherine, standing up at once to take Sandora's hand in admiration. Sandora was the first upperclassman she wanted to befriend, and thanks to Elwin, she was taking her first step on the very first day. Isaac and Mirai both stood up, as did Elwin. "I'm Katherine, Katherine Heriz."
"Oh," remarked the Vianen consul of House MANASURA, making his way with his staff and a cup of tea floating beside him, "are we having a reunion?"