As Mayra checked her spot in the large room, Ash helped her put together a list of supplies she'd need with the help of a couple other siren's whose beds were besides Mayra's. Being readily accepted into the room and the group of sirens, Mayra and Ash learned that there were 8 sirens living in a room of 12 capacity of which 3 were sisters in their last year, one was in her third year studying mapping and charting while the others were second years, including the one closest to Mayra, who studied medicine and biology in a human college and came here to get their specialization in water based medicines and biotechnology.
The warden was moving around the room, slowly, deliberately while the other still showered her with compliments, while trying to hide their treasures. And not all of it was treasure. Ash spied a potent drug under the covers to their nearest bed and the siren laughed slightly saying, "experimenting its medicinal use in small quantities."
Once the warden's round of inspections was clear, that is to say, she had finished looking into some future and cleared them of all suspicious activities, she stood by the door and called, "Mayra and Ash, let us go. There are other places to visit too and it's already nightfall."
"I will see you at breakfast everyone."
Breakfast? Ash looked outside as she followed. It was night. Oh! It was night. Her dinner was the night creature's breakfast. Though they were blessed by the moon goddess, they were still creatures who followed human norms. She looked through her papers and asked the warden as they headed back, "what hours do the university keep?"
The warden slowly opened another door. In the dim light of the room, one person slept while the others were empty, some messy, some made well. The seer said, "you will be better by tomorrow. I will check on you again."
When she closed the door, she introduced the unknown woman, "that is Ginger. She just came in after a rough argument with someone. This is the werewolves dorm. The stairs in the room leading up accommodate werecats and were-coyotes but they don't use it. It's mostly for easy access but the internal dispute is big enough to stand against convenience."
Ash stepped away and looked down. Two more doors left but then someone shut their door very hard down the corridor. The warden sighed, "it must be a kelpie. Mayra dear, could you wait downstairs by the reception area? We'll be there soon."
With her mouth a flat line Mayra hurried to the stairs and whispered as she went, "be careful."
Ash nodded solemnly. Kelpies and sirens did not always get along, so sending Myra away was a good choice. As soon as Mayra disappeared, Queen B came out of their room and saw them.
The warden spoke as they waved to each other, "B take her with you, and tell her about the others who live in the dorm."
"Yes. With pleasure. Come along Ash."
Ash joined Queen B who walked slower than even her training prepared for.
"I heard you were enrolling from day one. You will be able to attend orientation. It can be hectic for humans, you will be glad for your arduous princess training. What course will you be joining?"
Ash matched pace as shechatted, "For now, I am taking all the classes that are basic and will decide later. Four years is enough to cover all subjects even if I start later."
"Sure enough." Queen B answered but her head tilted as if trying to hear better. The warden opened the door behind them and went into the kelpie's room, the door neither entirely closed, nor open. There was no light before or after.
"What courses are you in?" Ash asked to keep up the flow of conversation and let her hear things too. Queen B gave her full attention suddenly, "business administration and management. Pretty normal subjects but I cannot go to a human university. And they don't have vampire appropriate electives. Drew is in business and accounts. She has great interest in international trades. She is bright."
Ash noted how well Bree liked Drew and wanted to lift the young vampire in her eyes. Ash responded appropriately, "she will gain much from some internship or experience in direct business. A diamond is a diamond, it only needs a little honing."
Before Queen B could speak up, the giggling laughter filled the corridor and the sirens made their way out. Hearing it, Queen B picked up her pace, if only a little.
"I am glad you think that way. She is notorious for her temper but quite a stickler for rules."
Ash understood. Because the school has an all supernatural policy yet allowed human superior families to study here, whatever the reason they may give, did not sit well with Drew. Ash could feel this as a pre-warning. A human would not sit well with many. It was the first time she ever had to face a prejudice or discrimination based off of her humanity. Unsure of what to do about it, she chose to rest the matter, "I understand."
Queen B only smiled as Ash picked up the pace between them. Queen B changed thesubject, "Considering your island is in the centre of an unexplained human zone, I always wanted to thank you for your services."
Suddenly, the chatter fell. Ash had the urge to look back. She held off until turning towards the staircase and saw in the corridor Drew and other vampires had joined the line of people coming out. Seeing them, the sirens fell quiter. Was it in empathy for their sensitive hearing or in awkwardness, she could not say. As they descended, Queen B continued chatting with her.
"Last I heard there was a flood on a new part of the island. This has never happened before. The medicinal herbs are in scarcity as is and such a disaster could be hard on the entire race."
Ash swallowed the heaviness in her chest, "my brother had the ability to heal, or transfer his life force to other things which heals them. Since the last wave, he has been channeling it into the island and the herbs have revived since. We are not in full blossom yet since it's not the right season for some of them but we have enough to continue production. It has taken a toll on him."
"It also took a toll on his popularity within the island." Queen B said evenly. Ash looked at her sideway, almost at the end of the staircase. She was fishing and Ash found that she didn't mind talking to someone about it. But there were far too many sensitive ears in a public area. In the end, she answered diplomatically.
"It is a small place of about under 2000 occupants, it is a close knit community where we were both well loved."
She could sense the vampiress' eyes on her now. It lasted only a moment before she caught sight of Mayra waving at her by the door.
"Hope you have a great time at the vampire's orientation. I should be somewhere after midnight, you will find the route and the schedule in your things. Make sure to pay us a visit." Queen B offered, circled around the information desk and disappeared down the staircase.
She stepped away as Drew and other vampires, she counted them to be eleven, followed after their leader muttering, "ambitious wannabe."
And before she reached Mayra, the cackle of the sirens picked up and reached her friend at the same time as her.
She was about to follow them to their orientation when she heard warden, "wait a moment please Ash."
Mayra stopped with her but the seer waved her off, "go on with your peers, I am just taking her to get her schedule straight."
She waved to Mayra as she went down the road and disappeared in the thin line of trees. Behind her, the seer warden held out some papers, "list of courses and clubs hosted by the college. It should help you narrow down on what exactly you want to specialize in."
Unsure if the warden had overheard her conversation or looked at it through her seer eyes, she accepted the papers gladly and tugged them behind the other things in her hand.
"If you will follow me. The chancellor sorted your schedule for the first few months and is ready to hand it over. You can either bring your luggage along from there or simply go to your classes. We can do other formalities later."
As Ash followed the warden silently back she had come from, she saw multiple creatures holding schedules and maps in their hands. While the club tents were wrapping up, the line for the dorm help had considerably reduced, yet nowhere close to finished. The werewolves' area was practically empty, leaving a large view of the forest line. As rowdy as they were, they had cleaned up pretty good and pretty fast. Some of the vampire camps were already rolled and the booth for Night Radio was empty, the chair, fallen backwards. She wondered if the man had fallen backwards. On the other side, the simpler clubs had just become a lot more active with the cartographical club and astronomy clubs butting heads with each other quite literally over a signing student.
The knitting club was hanging out their goodies and the swords club was putting on a video display while the axe throwing club had a target and an axe sitting peacefully, more for show than play. They moved close to the gate and circled around the forest and came to the side entrance of the side mansion.
Her warden opened the door and let her lead. Still unfamiliar with the house, she lingered in the large sitting room and hesitated. The seer took the lead and led her through two doorways, towards a side room where the old man looked up, smiled a little and slid the paper with a tiny hand written schedule towards her.
When Ash picked it up, she realised, it wasn't a schedule for one month or weeks, it was the schedule made per day and was full 3 sheets.
"That's for a few days. He will figure out a weekly routine and call for you again." Her warden explained, and turned around, "let's go now."
But Ash did not move. She put the schedule with her other things and asked, "how is old madame doing?"
"Rather frail but the more rest she gets the better she will be."
"Can I see her?"
The chancellor shook his head, "Unfortunately she is in an unstable cycle of emitting and sucking energy into her body, which is not fit for you to be around."
Ash sighed, "she was originally from a family of witches. If only I knew her family, maybe they could help."
The chancellor nodded, "I do. I will contact someone in her family and see what they have to say about it."
Once outside, Ash felt his breath come easier. Her dorm warden always walked with a sense of purpose and she walked fast. But it wasn't the warden making her short of breath, it was the contant unease that increased with every person, new or old, she met. Meeting C and the golem had not soothed it, sticking to mayra had not soothed it, ignoring Drew had not soothed it. Her constant unease refused to pull back or relent.
"Alright. This is where our paths diverge. I saw the first thing on your schedule, we part here, see you in the morning."
Ash waved slightly, folded the map in half and put her schedule on top. For tonight, she had orientation with sirens, for one hour, then two hours with the kelpies and the centaurs, a 10 minute break before going for cyclope's orientation. Then it was nixies, werecats and finally vampires. Post two am in the night was her time to retire. She looked at the next day's schedule and realised the resting time was closer to morning at about 4 am. There was more nixies, golems and free time for two hours before attending her 1st class for the year.
Once done checking the plan, she opened the map again and found the building for sirens closest to the chancellor's mansion. Through the thin line of trees, she could see it straight ahead. In the distance, she heard the last of the people announce. "That is it for today. Everyone, the orientation is soon starting, you can safely leave your bags here with us and go to your respective buildings."
She looked at the crowd in the dim street lights. Everyone's head was buried in their own map or schedule, looking down, looking up, turning from side to side, trying to figure out the best route or any route. The seniors, few and far in between, were still busy with the clean up. The line of wait had dispersed and she saw a hurried back putting tags on the student bags that needed to be sent to their dorms. Ash buried back into her map and started following the path through the forest, the shortest and the quickest method.
She had taken many such uncharted paths through the trees back at her own island. Compared to the forest on the island, the line of trees surrounding the main building was a decoration. And this was her new home now. She didn't even know if she'd ever get to go back to her home to live permanently. The seer had prophesied at her birth that once she leaves the island, she is never coming back. In fact, she will never stay in one place for long and for that very reason her parents never took her to any conferences. She, too, put all her effort into her training. Her mother always said that she would travel all her life once she was queen. But now, here she was, in university, in a decoration of a jungle.
A gust of air pushed into her side, followed by a man. Ash moved quickly, while the guy moved to the other side, their shoulders still bumped. His head hunched, hair sticking out in all directions and legs much too long for the upper body, kept running, almost flying through the forest. There was a familiarity in how he ran through the trees as if he had done it countless times before.
"Apologies," he called in the wind, voice raspy, textured and deep. Ash blinked after his lost form. To other humans, they might not have seen him, even been pushed by him but to her, this speed was comprehensible. She knew it was a part of having superhuman abilities but just what they might be, she did not know.