@Heartfillia @Aerandir @Inertia @mantou @datadogie @Omni5876Amidst the coaches, one in particular stood out. A small open-top carriage, drawn by a horse-shaped wood golem, pulled up outside the building.
"Huh. They weren't kidding when they said this place was huge." Karya craned her neck as she climbed out. This was quite a change from the huts of the village. While she generally considered large, closed structures unnecessary, she wondered what kinds of mysteries this one held. She stretched out her back and limbs, easing the stiffness that had developed over the journey. Grateful as she was to the chauffeur, she'd been cooped up in that carriage for way too long, and relished the chance to explore.
"Thanks!"The coachman, Gwydion, gave a low chuckle.
"Just don't get yourself into trouble."Karya rolled her eyes. She knew Gwydion was joking, but a good portion of the village had initially opposed her enrolment. Her parents, most of her extended family, many close friends. It had taken a lot of convincing for them to relent, but they still feared losing her, like they'd lost Xan. That ache in her chest soured her excitement.
"Oh, don't worry," she replied, with a strained laugh back.
"I won't." Quite the opposite, she'd become the best student she could be, and track down her missing sister. She had to.
Shoulders back and head high, she joined the wave of students heading inside. As she entered the hall, her eyes widened at its standout feature. A massive spire of crystal, stretching up to the ceiling, and
talking. She'd seen plenty of stone magic before, but never anything like this. As she stepped into the booth, she shielded her eyes from the sudden burst of colours.
"Greeting's new student. I am Athena. Welcome to Hoseforn's Academy for Gifted Adventurers. Please present your acceptance scroll now."Blinking away afterimages, Karya dug through her leather backpack and pulled out the scroll.
"Hey Athena! Nice to meet ya, I'm Karya! And that's quite some rock magic." Was Athena some kind of stone spirit, she wondered, or was a staff member somehow talking through the crystal?
"Letter accepted. Welcome Karya of Brackenglade."The scroll's text shifted into a map, a line running towards one of the outer buildings.
"This is a map of the school grounds, your dorm number is 785. A fresh uniform and any supplies you require will be waiting for you. Please change...bathe... and return to the Main Hall within twenty minutes. for the welcoming feast. Attendance is mandatory."Karya's look of fascination turned into a grimace.
"Ehhh? Twenty minutes? Good thing there are ponds just outside.""There is no need to use a pond. You will find a bathtub in your room."A bathtub? Karya frowned. Obviously it must be a body of water, like an artificial lake, but why have them indoors? With no time for questions, she thanked Athena and rushed to the dorms. Thankfully it didn't take long to find her door, which clicked open as she approached, revealing a spacious room with two beds. A travelling case on the ground indicated her roommate had arrived a little earlier. Karya smiled - as someone used to living in a close-knit community, she'd hoped for a room share. Her half of the room had already been set up with a workbench, and a few potted plants in the corner.
Not that she had much time to look around. She headed to the room at the back, and stared blankly.
This was a bathtub? She'd expected something bigger, more lake-like. The metal basin looked rather cold, hard and cramped, not to mention the most glaring issue of all.
"How can this be for bathing," she muttered to herself,
"if it has no water in it?"She jumped as, from the sleeping quarters, a voice piped up.
"You have to turn the taps."Karya gave a breathless laugh. Athena. Of course - the crystal she'd spotted on the wall between the beds.
"Oh hi again! Looks like I've got a second roommate, the more the merrier!" She turned one of the knobs on the tub, water gushing out of a pipe. She had no idea how this system worked - was it even sustainable? Why go to the trouble of setting up indoor baths when there were perfectly good lakes and rivers outside? Still, after all that travelling, she couldn't complain. She plugged the bath and let it fill up, steam rising from it like a hot spring.
Once it was full, she turned off the tap and stuck her finger in.
"Ah!" She jerked her hand out and gripped it.
"Athena! It's a little hot.""Turn the other tap for cold water."Karya turned the second knob, eyeing the water level. It would overflow if she wasn't careful, but she had to let it cool down before she could take the plug out. When it neared the top, she turned the tap, but instead of shutting off, the flow gushed faster. Rivulets cascaded down the side of the bath, all over the floor. Well, crap. Her roommate wasn't going to be happy. She swivelled the tap the other way and set about grabbing towels, mopping up the flood, only to make more of a mess as she reached into the tub for the plug.
By the time she'd finished cleaning up, the towels were sopping wet. She undressed and climbed into the hard-earned bath, wincing from the sting of heat, but the temperature was now bearable at least. Since there was little time to relax, she scrubbed with floral oils and clambered out. Unable to dry herself for lack of clean towels, she donned her uniform while soaked, dampness seeping through the fabric. Oh well. She was used to drying off naturally anyway.
Her hair and clothes dripped everywhere as she ran down the hallway, through the grounds, back into the main hall. Glancing around at students chatting and gathering, she breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn't late, but she nearly had been, given the limited number of empty seats.
One of the students caught her notice, with pink hair and rabbit ears. No, fox ears, she corrected herself as she spotted the tail. She table she and others sat at still had many vacant chairs, but with a flicker of apprehension, she noticed many of the students there were humans. She'd met a few travelling humans, some open-minded, others disdainful of races unlike them to varying degrees. At least these ones were willing to sit with a fox girl and a dwarf, and the blond guy in particular seemed pretty friendly.
"Hey!" With a warm grin at the group, she approached them, placing her hand on the back of an empty chair. Her wild tangles of hair dripped water all over the table.
"Mind if I sit here?" 
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