I woke up to the early morning light streaming in from the window. I propped myself on my elbow and looked at the old clock that hung by the door. 6:30. I was used to waking up at five so you could consider this sleeping in. I slipped out of my bed and went to my wardrobe. I quietly flipped through my clothes, trying to not disturb the still sleeping Hayden. After some back and forth, I decided on a deep red dress. It was a simple, homemade dress, but the color was one of my absolute favorites.
I slipped into the bathroom and got ready. Silently, I got dressed and braided my hair into one long fishtail braid. Back home, I was always up before all of my siblings to help my parents. I got used to getting ready in silence so as to not wake my younger siblings sleeping three feet away.
When I emerged back into the main room, Hayden was awake and sifting through her wardrobe.
"Good morning," I greeted, putting away my nightgown.
"Good morning. Did you sleep well?" Hayden asked.
I nodded despite her back being towards me. "I did. How about you?"
"I slept okay. My first couple nights in a new place are always a little rough," Hayden replied. Her voice was softer than it had been yesterday. She stared into her wardrobe for a few more seconds before pulling out a light yellow dress. She dashed into the bathroom.
I organized my messenger bag as Hayden got ready. She returned a few minutes later. She appeared tense.
"Nervous?" I questioned. She jumped a little, giving me an answer.
"I guess I am."
I gave a soft smile and said, "It will be okay. You're not the only one who's nervous." I was a little nervous myself, but excitement was overshadowing it.
"I know." Hayden let out a long sigh. "Shall we get some breakfast?" I had a feeling she needed a distraction.
"Sure. I'm ready when you are," I replied. A couple minutes later, we were out the door.
Campus had a large dining hall over by the Front Plaza. Inside, there was a long breakfast buffet set up. My eyes went wide as soon as it was in sight. I had never seen so much food before. It took every fiber of my being to not run over and take everything. Hayden and I joined the line and filled our plate. The buffet was filled with every kind of breakfast food you could think of. Fruit, yogurt, meat, cheese, eggs, bread, pastries. An entire section was dedicated to drinks. I forced myself to go slowly and limit what I took. The last thing I needed was to make myself sick on the first day.
As we ate, I barely talked. My energy was focused on not inhaling all the food on my plate. Hayden was more talkative than me, but she was still pretty quiet as we enjoyed our breakfast. She mentioned how fresh fruit was really hard to come by in the mountains. Which explained why three fourths of her plate was entirely fruit.
Even though we forced ourselves to eat slowly, we finished in record time. We had about twenty minutes before class started. We slowly walked through the Front Plaza and into the Commons. The early morning air was cool, but it would warm up fast with the sun already shining brightly in the cloudless sky.
We decided to head to the classroom early to grab ourselves good seats. We were not the first ones there. There were about half a dozen other students. I guessed that the classroom could hold around fifty students. Hayden and I went and picked out two seats near the middle of the right side. We both agreed that it would be hard to hear in the back of a classroom this big, and that sitting in the front was terrifying.
The two of us talked in hushed whispers as we waited. The classroom slowly filled up as it approached the top of the hour. Mrs. Ashbel entered right before the bell in the Front Plaza's clock tower signaled that it was eight o'clock.
"Good morning, class. My name is Mrs. Ashbel, your First Year Fire professor. By convention, your first period of the day is dedicated to your Major. Thus, you are all Fire Majors," Mrs. Ashbel introduced. Even though it was the first class of the day, she still sounded lively. "Our first order of business is introductions. I want to learn all of your names as soon as I can. Let's start from the left and work our way back."
Introductions took a couple minutes. Even though I considered myself good at remembering names, the thought of memorizing hundreds of names every year seemed daunting.
"It's nice to meet you all. It will probably take a couple days for me to memorize all your names, so I'm sorry if I mess yours up," Mrs. Ashbel said once everyone was introduced. "Our next order of business is to hand out spellbooks and wands." As soon as she said the word 'wands' the classroom lit up. A smile broke out on my face, and Hayden and I exchanged an excited look. She silently clapped her hands together with a full smile on her face.
Mrs. Ashbel first passed out the spellbooks. These were simply thick textbooks that stated what each of the Schools of Magic could do. We got Volume One now, and we would get Volume Two during our Fourth Year. Once those were passed out, the main event could begin. Wands. Everyone got a personalized wand. The wand would be designed to show a person's major and minor, if they had one. The process of how the wands were made was mysterious, but it is said it has something to do with The Great Oak in the Commons.
We had been staring at the wands all class actually. They were in wooden boxes that were stacked behind Mrs. Ashbel's desk. Each one had a little card attached with our names written on them. Mrs. Ashbel grabbed the first box from the stacks and started calling names. One by one, peoples' names got called, and they hurried to the front to grab them.
My fingers started to tap impatiently on the desk as more names got called. Halfway through, Hayden's name got called. She shot up from her chair and almost ran to the front of the room. When she got back, I leaned over, encouraging her to open the box. It was medium toned, chestnut wood with shiny, gold latches. Hayden flicked the latches and swung the lid open. Sitting in red silk was a wand that was about a foot long. Orange flames curled around the shaft and blue waves capped the ends.
"Turns out you do minor in Water," I whispered.
"What a combination," Hayden commented, laughing slightly. We turned our attention back to Mrs. Ashbel as she continued to call names.
Name after name. None of them being mine. As more people got their wands, the room buzzed with murmuring. I started going back and forth from bouncing my leg to tapping my fingers.
Finally, Mrs. Ashbel said, "Last but not least, Seraphina Blazewind."
I leaped out of my seat and hurried to the front. Unlike the simple, polished boxes that everyone else had, mine was a deep cherry wood with an embossed, gold framing along the edges. Mrs. Ashbel carefully placed the box in my hands, almost as if it would break. Sitting back down I noticed that my box was about half a foot longer than Hayden's.
Hayden was practically in my lap, eager to see my wand. I undid the polished, gold latches and carefully opened the lid. Inside was a bed of deep purple velvet. It was perfectly smooth and extremely soft. Nestled in the velvet laid my wand. It looked nothing like the other wands I had seen around the room. The shaft was bright gold, popping against the purple of the velvet. Within the gold, there was a silver shimmer that sparkled in the light. On top sat an orb that was filled with a red-orange smoke that shifted and swirled. Gold ribbons encased the bottom of the orb and twisted around the wand before blending into the shaft. It was beautiful. The box itself was already the nicest thing I've ever owned, but the wand. I felt like I couldn't even touch it. Lest my simple touch taint it.
I closed the lid and redid the latches slowly and carefully. Hayden looked at me with awe and confusion. My feelings exactly. Gold was not a color wands came in. I turned my attention back to the front where Mrs. Ashbel was answering questions about wands. I wanted to ask her about my wand, but I didn't know where to start. The fancier box? The fact that it was certainly longer than the other wands? The gold color? Everything about it seemed unique. A feat considering every wand was custom made. So instead, I choose to listen to my classmates' questions and Mrs. Ashbel's answers. That provided exactly zero answers.
Soon enough, class time was up. I carefully placed my wand box and spell box into my messenger bag. Those two things alone took up the majority of the space. Hayden and I joined the crowd leaving the building and headed over to the Water building. Hayden tried to talk, but I had fallen silent. We sat down in Water and waited for class to start in silence.
I was confused. Confused beyond belief. I did my best to shake it off, telling myself that I would get answers during the upcoming year. Even as I tried to focus on Mrs. Kellett's lecture about Water magic and its uses and history and whatnot, the weird feeling I had lingered.
Too soon did Water end and I had to go to Earth. One of the two classes I didn't have with Hayden. I didn't realize how much it calmed me having her beside me until we had to split ways.
"I'll see you in Storm," I said as we split. I wanted to let her know that I wasn't catatonic.
Taking a deep breath, I walked up the stairs into the Earth building and headed to Mrs. Maddalyn's classroom. I snagged a desk around the same spot in the room as I had in my other classes. I distracted myself by tracing random patterns on the desk with my fingertips.
"Is this seat taken?" A voice snapped me back to reality. I looked up to see a short girl gesturing to the desk next to me. It seemed that the room had filled up fast.
"No. It's all yours," I replied, giving her a soft smile.
"Thanks. My name is Azalea," she introduced, extending her hand.
"Seraphina," I said, taking her hand. Azalea's hand was tiny in my hand. She was much smaller than me with black pin-straight hair brushing her shoulders. Her eyes were extremely dark and her skin was very warm and tan.
"It is nice to meet you," Azalea replied. "What is your major?" Her face was set in a relaxed smile.
"I'm a Fire Major. What about you?" I asked.
"I am a Life Major, but I am actually most excited to learn Storm magic." Her voice was smooth and her pronunciation was precise. I sounded much rougher than her.
"Do you minor in Storm?"
"No. That would be wonderful. I thought I might because my father is from the Storm Province, but it looks like I took after my mother." I was about to ask her what minor she had when Mrs. Maddalyn started class. Considering how talkative Azalea was, I was sure I would have a chance to ask her.
Earth class went surprisingly fast. I was finally sensing the routine I would be settling into. As Azalea and I left, she asked me, "What do you have nex?"
"Storm," I replied.
"Same! With Mr. Molan?" Azalea exclaimed. Even her exclamations seemed refined yet she didn't come off as faking it. Somehow.
I couldn't help the smile that appeared on my face. "Yeah. I can introduce you to my roommate, Hayden."
Azalea quickly clasped her hands together in excitement. We hurried to the Storm building. Hayden was already there when we arrived.
"Hey, Hayden. This is Azalea. I met her in Earth class and we happened to have Storm together too," I introduced as we sat down.
"Nice to meet you, Hayden," Azalea said, that welcoming smile still plastered on her face.
"Likewise," Hayden replied. Her smile was a lot softer.
Since we still had a few more minutes, I asked Azalea, "Where are you from?"
"Chai, Life Province. What about you two?" she replied. Straight from the capital of the Province.
"Bodaway, Fire Province," Hayden said.
"Blaze, Fire Province," I answered.
"I have always wanted to go to Blaze," Azalea exclaimed. Her voice started to rise slightly over the din of the classroom.
"Everybody wants to go to Blaze," Hayden commented as the clock bell rang.
"Including you," I whispered to her as Mr. Molan began class. Her only reply was a playful glare before we turned our attention to the front. Which wasn't hard considering Mr. Molan was sporting a yellow and purple striped suit. I thought what he was wearing when I met him was obnoxious.
If you were tired when you came into Storm class, you wouldn't be after approximately 30 seconds. Mr. Molan had more energy than the Storm spells he taught. His enthusiasm was contagious. That class went the fastest by far. Before I knew it, lunch time had come.
I invited Azalea to lunch with Hayden, Evrain, Sirena, and I. She gladly accepted. The three of us made our way to where we said we would meet, and Sirena and Evrain were already there waiting. I introduced Azalea to them. Then we headed to the dinning hall.
Sirena and Azalea immediately hit it off. After learning some basic facts about each other, they were talking like they had known each other for years. I was the only one who could get a word in. Hayden and Evrain decided it was a lot easier to talk among themselves. They were certainly a lot quieter.
Sirena brought everyone back together when she asked, "What do your wands look like?"
Hayden and Azalea eagerly reached into their bags and put their wands on the table. Causing a raucous as they pushed our dirty dishes around. I pulled my wand out and decided to set it in my lap.
Azalea was first to open her box. Her wand was metallic. The base color was a bright blue with green, metal plates shaped like vines and leaves wrapping around it as it tapered near the top. All of us around the table gave our compliments. It was very clean and elegant.
"Looks like I'm not the only one minoring in Water," Hayden said, as she lifted her wand from the box. Que another round of compliments.
"Your turn, Seraphina," Sirena said.
As I placed the box on the table, their faces went from eager smiles to slight confusion. I flicked the latches open and lifted the lid. It was then my turn to look confused. The orb on top of my wand was no longer a solid red-orange color. Now it was a mixture of red, green, brown, and gray. All the different colors swirled around, but they never mixed. Silently, I lifted my wand out of its velvet bed. It was a comfortable weight in my hands. I honestly thought it would be heavier.
Everyone was taken aback except for Hayden. She just looked confused like I was. I heard Sirena and Evrain whisper, "Wow," softly.
"It's beautiful, Seraphina," Azalea commented.
"Wasn't the orb red during class earlier?" Hayden asked. I nodded.
"Wait. So not only is your box embossed, your wand longer than normal, gold, and showing no particular major, the orb changes color?" Sirena stated.
I wanted to congratulate her on listing every weird aspect of my wand within one sentence. Instead I said, "Yeah. Your guess is as good as mine for why." I placed my wand back into its box and packed it back into my bag.
Sirena and Evrain went next. Sirena's was a tapered wand made of polished rock. White and black bands cut through giving it a striped appearance. At the base was a handle of gray leather. Evrain's was a dark purple base with yellow lightning wrapping the wand in a spiral.
The conversation quickly shifted away from wands. Instead going to about the classes we had so far and what we had next. That included Hayden's and my unfortunate next class. Death.
"Hold on, you two have Death next? It wouldn't happen to be with Mr. Ahimoth, would it?" Azalea perked up as I started to complain about it.
"It is," I confirmed.
"Oh thank Mistress Fate herself. I don't think I could survive Death class alone," Azalea exclaimed. I would have said she was being a little dramatic, but I was thinking a similar thing. It would be nice to have Azalea's friendly attitude in that somber classroom.
Too soon, lunch time was over. We said our goodbyes, and Hayden, Azalea, and I walked over to the Death building. All of us were ready to get this class over with.