When Miriam and Ayan arrived in their history class, Mat was sitting in his usual space, his hair still down and covering his face like a curtain. Miriam sat down and opened her mouth to say something, but Ayan shook her head. She had gotten in enough fights with her brother to know the best thing to do was probably to let Mat cool down.
Reed coughed and looked at Ayan. "Is he okay?" he mouthed pointing to Mat.
Ayan put her hands up to show she didn't know. Reed mimed sleeping and then mouthed, "not sleeping." Ayan nodded, but she didn't have anything to add.
The history lesson that day was about the Old Kingdom of Alaj, and how it came about due to the conflict between Nefrale and Linakra. Naturally, Miriam knew a lot about it, down to why the early Alajan kingdom had led to modern-day Alaj's national motto "Knowledge and Water."
"The Alajan people depended, and still depend heavily on the Weeping River, on which the kingdom was founded," she explained, "but they also depended heavily on magi-tech, and until the last century, Alaj was the leading country in magi-tech on Nideon."
Mat was quiet, as usual, though he took extensive notes. When the class was over, he left without a word to the girls.
During their break, Miriam decided to spend some extra time studying for the physics test she would have the next period, so Ayan wandered over to the lightning ball pitch to watch the other students play and make plans for Tilli's birthday. Even though Miriam had said she didn't want to celebrate, but she hoped she could honor them both anyway.
She knew her recess period was over as she saw the lightning ball players break up their game and other students crossing the lawn from the main building. She picked up her bag and headed to her fundamentals of sewing class.
"How was the physics test?" she asked Key as she took a seat next to the other girl. Key had physics fifth period, along with Tilli, meaning Ayan would be the last of the five to take the test.
Ayan worried for a moment when Key bit her lip. "It was easy," she said, "I was surprised... considering Mrs. Putyam never smiles. I thought her tests were going to be as bad as Mrs. Theelnin's. I don't know how Mat thought it was hard."
"Reed confirmed he didn't sleep last night."
"Mat's roommate?"
Ayan nodded. Then she changed the subject. "I wonder what we're going to do today."
Key's face broke into a broad grin. "I don't really care. It's going to be fun." Key had taken to Mr. Depping almost has quickly as Ayan had. The first weeks of class, he had divided his students based on their sewing knowledge. Newer students, like Key, had played games and done activities to study sewing tools and learn the vocabulary specific to the class, with more experienced students, like Ayan assigned presentations to present sewing tutorials to the new students. Ayan had taught the others how to make a pincushion. But the last of the students had presented the day before, and Ayan secretly hoped they would no longer be dividing.
"Good afternoon all." Mr. Depping had dropped his illusions by the third week of school, and was now dressed in crisp black trousers and a wrinkle-free Faraday shirt with the typical orange and white striped ties the teachers wore. "Now that we know the basics, it's time to talk about projects. We'll do mini-projects each week, in order to practice specific skills, but the meat of this class is four projects, which you will select. These four projects will also count as your exam grade each quarter. I want your projects to be meaningful to you--make something that you want to make. That being said, remember the quarter ends on the third of Fya. Don't bite off more than you can chew." Ayan was grateful that last idiom was the same in Imk, otherwise she might not have made sense of what he said.
Mr. Depping turned to her. "For those of you who are also studying fabric magic, you can use this as an opportunity to put into practice the theory you've studied in fourth period." He turned away from her, probably giving a meaningful glance to two freshmen who were also taking his sewing magic class. "Before you begin your project, I must approve it. If you're not sure what you would like to do, feel free to peruse my books." With a wave of his hand, he indicated the bookshelf at the back of the room. "You have the rest of the period to select a project. I would like your proposals by the end of the period."
After giving such a speech, other teachers might have sat down at their desks to wait for students to approach him. But Mr. Depping instead circled the room, and as the majority of the class went to the books, he soon meandered towards Key and Ayan, who had not stood up.
Mr. Depping pulled out a chair and sat near them. "Do you girls have an idea of what you'd like to do for your projects?"
Key didn't hesitate. "I want to make a set of Thisaazhou clothes."
Mr. Depping nodded. "Tunic and skirt?"
"Tunic and trousers."
"with or without embroidery?"
Key stroked the embroidery at the hem of her shirt with her thumb. "It's not real Thisaazhou clothing without embroidery."
Mr. Depping nodded again. "It's ambitious for someone who's never sewn before."
"Thisaazhou clothes are fairly simple." Ayan tried to come to Key's defense. "It's mostly rectangles--they were designed to minimize fabric waste."
"Still, you've never sewn before, outside of this class." Mr. Depping's eyes were still on Key. "Make the trousers first. Then we'll see to the tunic. If you finish both, you're all the better. But if you don't, you can always complete the tunic for your next project." Key agreed and Mr. Depping turned to Ayan. "And what about you, Miss Tyeen?"
"A pair of silent pajamas for my roommate, so she won't wake me up in the morning," Ayan muttered. She hadn't spoken seriously, but Mr. Depping seemed to think she had.
"Also ambitious. Silent clothes aren't easy."
Ayan tried not to stare. "You do silence with flash," she told him, "shiny fabric, laces, ruffles--you trick the fabric into being visually loud instead."
Key stared at her as if she had lost her head. Mr. Depping just chuckled. "Still," he said, "it's not easy."
"But..."
Mr. Depping interrupted her. "It would make a good first quarter project. Demonstrate your skills first--then we can talk about more complicated things."
"Oh," Ayan said as he stood and walked away. She wasn't sure why she had been arguing in the first place. She'd had plans to work on clothes for Miriam anyway, and a simple quarter project would give her time to focus on her other classes.When Mr. Depping's class ended, Ayan headed to physics. As Key had said, the test wasn't too difficult. In fact, the most difficult part was Mrs. Putyam silently stalking the rows glaring at each student's test with her eagle eyes. Ayan double-checked a couple of her answers just because she could feel Mrs. Putyam's stare judging her from over her shoulder. The she turned in the test and with that, the week was over.
For dinner, they had grilled cheese sandwiches, which reminded Ayan just a bit of home. Though it wasn't the seasonal bread of Antarand, it was clearly homemade. Large leaves of kale sat between layers of soft, white cheese, and it was served with fresh fruit, as Ayan had learned was standard practice in Nefrale. She settled in with her dinner as the other girls discussed their plans for the weekend.
"I think we should go bowling," Tilli said. "I bet Mat's never been bowling," she added to Key.
"Where is Mat?" Miriam asked without looking up.
"Oh, our channeling objects class got canceled," Key said, "so he went to his room to sleep. He said he took a nap during his recess period, but it just made him more tired."
"Bowling?" Tilli repeated.
Key winced. "Actually..."
"You have plans with your friends from Hawthorne House." Miriam interrupted Tilli and then glanced up at Ayan, wide-eyed, before returning her gaze to the table. Ayan stifled a laugh. She looked just like Mat did on the rare occasion that he spoke out of turn in class.
"Actually, I was going shooting with Tisheet."
"Our student head?" Tilli asked, and Key nodded.
"So, have you guys met before?" Miriam snuck a glance at Key.
"I think I was nine the last time we saw each other?" Ayan was surprised to hear Key answer one of Miriam's questions without her usual annoyance. It must have showed on her face because Key explained. "Most Thisaazhou meet at least a couple of times in their lives. We're all one big family. Anyway, we ran into each other in the hall, and she invited me to go to the shooting range with her in Kporo."
Tilli nodded. "Shooting sports are popular in Nefrale." She turned to Ayan. "What about you? Bowling?"
Ayan had a feeling she made the same face Key had. "I kind of want to get started on my project for Mr. Depping's class." She hoped to finish it early so she would have more time to study when their other exams rolled around. "And we have that paper for Imk literature." Tilli nodded.
"Wait, you have a literature paper too?" This time, Miriam was caught off guard enough that she did look up. Key did too.
"Yeah. We have to write about our favorite part of Marcus Pfieffer's travel journal."
"...Devils of the Depths," Miriam and Key said together as Ayan named the book. "We have the same assignment for Nefralean literature," Key explained.
"So we're taking the same class in different languages," Tilli said, "typical Faraday."
Ayan nodded, remembering the registration form that came with her acceptance packet. "Freshman literature. On the bright side, we can probably work together this weekend. Even if we're writing on different books, our teachers are probably expecting the same essay format."
Miriam and Key nodded along with this, and finally, Tilli sighed. "Okay, we'll go bowling later."
