Curious Kenzou

     I just love chocolate truffles. Kenzou delighted in this magical dining experience.  He popped a truffle in his mouth and let the decadent chocolate ganache melt in his mouth. He looked around again at his peers as he reached for another one. I can't believe I can eat as many sweets as I want now without any effort. 

  Surrounding him at the table were his fellow first year Sukodawabuk Clan members, along with their Head Mentor, a gentle ninth-year woman named Kala. There seemed to be an even number of new boys and girls, seven each. A pale boy with dark features was emphatically joking with a darkly-tanned boy beside him. The tan boy had unnaturally vibrant eyes that reminded Kenzou of the Caribbean Sea where he had gone snorkeling with his brothers over the summer vacation. 

     Judging by the way those two interact they have been friends for a long time. I wish I had a friend like that here. At least I have my brothers. I wish one of them was in the same Clan as me.

       The rest of the students around the table seemed to be just meeting each other for the first time, and a few of the girls were already eagerly chatting away together. A dapper boy with faintly pointed ears seemed to just be concentrating on making various items of food appear on the table in front of him.   

      He must have some elf blood in his family, though he is clearly not fully elvish. If he hadn't been actively observing the boy he would have never noticed the difference; even then, Kenzou was much more observant than most people.  I wonder if I will be able to make friends with any of them... 

     "Are those truffles?" The bubbly redhead he was sitting next to reached across him and grabbed two truffles. "How awesome is it that we just think of a food and it appears! I'm just glad someone else is having dessert first too!"

     Kenzou's eyes lingered on her for a moment. She intrigued him. She looks almost like a lit matchstick. She grinned at him with a mouth full of chocolate and then grabbed for a bowl of mashed potatoes.

     "Excellent! I see you are all understanding how the dinner tables work. It's a really interesting enchantment..." Kenzou caught a bit of what the Sukodawabuk Head Mentor was saying before his mind wandered off.

     Slight tan to the skin. Slanted eyes. Dark, curly hair. Plus the name Kala Mamoa. She seems to be of Hawaiian descent. I wonder if she was born there. I wonder if she practices any Hawaiian magic.

    "So now that everyone has some food. Does anyone have any questions before I move on?" Kala asked, looking around the table.

    "Can you tell us the deal with our rooms?" Asked a blonde on the opposite side of the redhead from Kenzou.

     "Of course," Kala's eyes glinted as she smiled towards the girl. "The main castle is divided into four large sections. Each section corresponds to a clan, for example the North section of the castle is the Wheengush Clan Wing. Ours, Sukodawabuk is the West Wing. I'll be taking you there later and showing you where your rooms are located." She looked around briefly to see if anyone looked lost, but everyone was either preoccupied with their food, or listening while eating.

     "You'll each have your own room as Elder Asa stated in his speech. They're really quite roomy and comfortable. You'll notice they are originally decorated to match the Clan Den decor but you can change them to whatever you like since it's your room. There are magical ways of doing this but you can also bring stuff from home if that feels more genuine to you."

      "Does that mean we are going to learn some glamour magic soon?" another one of the girls at the table asked excitedly.

      "Well, we'll show you some of the basics for now but not anything too in depth right away. The elder thinks that it's very important for people to feel that they are comfortable here which is why we teach that so early on. Some people also just opt for asking an older student, such as myself, to do some of the harder stuff for them. Others simply don't mind waiting, or they go get stuff from home on one of the off-campus weekends. I think it's a pretty nifty little spell genre to play around with in your spare time, especially since there's some down time before classes actually start up."

      "Wait, what? When do classes start?" asked a dark-haired boy across the table, with his mouth half full. "I thought we started the same time as regular schools."

    "Well, it's a little different at our school since the grounds are so big and there's so much to learn before you even start classes.You won't have full down time though, if that's what you're thinking. We will be doing some tours, workshops, and orientation sessions in the first week. There's a lot to settle before you can really get into anything."

     Kenzou watched as the dark-haired boy and his friend next to him high-fived each other. Everyone else was mostly excited and one girl looked confused.

      This really is a fascinating system they have in place, Kenzou thought, as the rest of the students started chatting around the table.

     Kala took the break in conversation to test if her soup had cooled down adequately. Deciding that it hadn't yet, she spoke up over the first years, "Speaking of tours we will be holding one every morning for the rest of this week, so Wednesday, Thursday Friday, as well as one this afternoon when we go to see your rooms. We've found that it's better to hold multiple tours since the grounds are so large and it can be difficult to remember everything. I took one tour each day during my first week here but I still had to ask my way around for the first little while."

     "What happens if you do get lost?" asked a timid-looking girl sitting next to Kala. Kenzou noted that the girl hadn't spoken a word to anyone until now. She must be as introverted as I am.

     "Excellent question!" Kala beamed at the girl, "Don't worry. There's an enchantment on all of the framed paintings in the castle. If you ever don't know your way somewhere, you can just walk up to one of them and say 'Map, show me the way from point A to point B,' and whichever places you named will be displayed on a map with the two fastest routes highlighted. You can also say a few other commands, such as 'Show me X classroom,' or 'Show me the castle layout.' There are a few more but it will be easier if I show you all later at one of the paintings. That's one of the things we go over in the tours. School can be stressful enough without getting lost, and with all this magic a solution was very simple to find." Kala looked at the girl reassuringly before continuing.

     "In terms of orientations, the main one was obviously Elder Asa's today, but that's more of a brief overview. We will also be having various in-depth topic orientations. Each Clanmaster does an orientation of the clan in which you've been placed. There's an orientation that goes over how class time works and which different classes you'll be taking. The lead librarian puts on a spiel about the main library and how to navigate around there. There are a few others but those are the three that you shouldn't miss.

     The workshop sessions are a little different because it isn't just sitting and listening. It's sort of like mini-classes before you start your main classes, like a more hands-on orientation. It's basically Pre-Magic 101 for any students who may not know what is typically involved in magic working. Even if you do know the basics, these workshops are mandatory because there are some things the teachers don't want you to miss. There is a formal Magic 101 class that you'll start after Orientation Week but we did the workshop beforehand to be able to get some basics out of the way. The school designed a workshop session to let you test out what kind of tools you think you'd want to start working with. Not everyone uses tools during their rituals but most do these days, especially when first starting out.

     The first weekend is an off-campus weekend." She stopped as a few of the students made noises of confusion upon hearing this. "I know it's a little strange to be able to leave right after you get here but it's what makes the most sense. There are most likely going to be things you'll need that you didn't anticipate when you packed your stuff. Some students simply don't have any tools to use and will need to be given some time to go buy some, or pick them up from a family member. You won't need to supply your own books, herbs or crystals, for the most part, but tools are very personal so you will need to get your own.

      At least a few of you probably miss your pets and the first off-campus weekend will be the perfect time to transport them here since you'll have had time to settle in yourself. We'll go more in depth about all of this in one of the more formal orientation sessions."

      Kala went quiet and took a few sips of her now-cooled soup. She seemed to be wondering if she had forgotten any major details.

      I wonder what kind of soup she's having. I could go for some leek udon right now, myself. A bowl of soup materialized in front of Kenzou. He smiled and pulled it towards himself before happily slurping down a big, juicy noodle.   

Author's Note

Added/Updated 03-08-2016