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Dear Diary. If I had told them about the dorm back home in Minos, no one would have believed me.

This "American" college dorm life is a real change. I had something like a monastery or a lodge in mind when my guardian described living at the university. No one told me it would be like this. More good, fresh, food than you can eat, a city full of people, unending running water, and so much space. My dorm room must be at least seven feet by ten feet or more with a bed, a desk and enough room to stretch. After all the bad things people said about dorms, I never expected such luxury! I've never lived any place this fine, even when I stayed at the palace at Knossoss.

As for Black Hawk Down, I'm not going to talk about the movie except to say it convinced me that this world is really strange and maybe I need to go to college after all. The guy who asked me to go with him was ok, but not worth a repeat date. I learned that guys here don't expect the woman to pay for everything. I did pay for the tickets and food, after all, my mother raised me right (and it was fun -- I finally got to use my debit card without anyone to help me), but it isn't expected. No wonder guys are so relaxed about asking a girl to go somewhere with them. They aren't asking her to pay for them, just to meet them. I skipped kissing him, the movie didn't quite bring us close enough for that and he wasn't my type. Got to catch up with Ducks.

American History and Citizenship was perfect for me, just like preparing for an assignment. I guess I looked a little intense, but the lecturer seemed to appreciate that someone was paying attention. Most of the class seemed to either be asleep or missing. You would think they would find the class as important as I do. Then for the real treat! Geometry was even more fun than I expected. No wonder the Greeks kept the Orean mysteries to themselves. I can't wait for more classes, even if a lot of the students in my class seem strangely unenthusiastic. These Americans must be a very reserved people. 

Akijutsu adds an entire different dimension to the pan kretan I learned at Minos, but that special seminar, that was a surprise. Guess I get to talk about the eye candy of watching Ducks at the Akijutsu workout after I tell you about the special seminar. I'm beginning to think that Ducks is really cute, and a great guy at your back in a fight, but I'm not sure I really want to date him. Still, it was a great workout. Anyway, that special seminar my guardian signed me up for was what I was going to talk about.

The class is held near the administration building, in a room that is reached by a door next to a corner that isn't there. You can't really see it unless it is on your class schedule, but no one goes that way anyway. I thought it was an unusual spot, but most universities I've seen have lots of nooks and crannies like that. Universities seem to accumulate them like fossilized tenured professors. I've gone hunting in the old University ruins on Thera, or I did in the old days. The strangeness was perfect for a hunt.*

This class seemed different. There was a tyler by the door, but he just smiled at me and I took a seat. Front row, on the left. I'm getting excited about school. Of course that is a seat that makes you blend in too.

After I put my things down, I stood up and wandered over against the wall so I could watch everyone come in. Just relaxed, as if I were waiting for the professor, the usual bookish look, head down (but with just the right angle so I can see the entire room). I had on a green silk t-shirt and off-white denim shorts today. I'm wearing shorts to get used to them, especially since no one wears the kind of pants I'm used to and no one here does without them. When I suggested to Ari that I could just wear my belt until I got a feel for the kind of clothes people were wearing at school, (she is Duck's sister and kinda speaks Koine, like I do -- we talked alot on the travels we had last summer together) I didn't know if she was going to laugh or cry. Turns out that the pants are not optional and that she really meant it when she said everyone wears shirts all the time. Her mother gave me an ear clip that creates a magical illusion of clothes just in case I forget to wear them. I'm wearing the ear clip but I know enough not to forget an item of cover.  

The classroom seems to be in what was a small chapel that was part of an older building where the campus was built. It is still warded and as I walked in I could feel the curtilage. The seats are padded folding chairs and the front of the class has a table rather than a lectern.

So, I'm standing by the wall, my backpack on the chair I've picked out, watching people come in and acting like I'm just waiting timidly for the professor when one of the svartalf entered. He looked a little rough, but he didn't even see me. Svartelves have some history with the Blue Lodge, due to the amount of chaos many of them have embraced. I'll need to watch him for a while. Most of the rest of the students entered and no one was particularly alert, though it is an interesting group to be sharing a class with. Wait until I tell you about them.** I caught most of the class coming in before the bell rang and I had to sit down to avoid sticking out.

"Well, time to begin my first lecture. Today we cover the fact that we really mean the five rules, a quick survey of the Pacific Northwest, and alcoholic beverages and you. To begin with, the first rule that you have to remember is that you must not display your natures and you must not attack fellow students or others on the grounds of this campus or within the demise of the Joyous and Bitter Kings. Aside from breaches of the peace being an offense against the kings, an act of lesse majeste, and a violation of certain covenants, not everything is as it seems.

For example, Drathkalah of Raska, of the Svartelves of Kosovo, can you think of any reason why you would breach the peace?"

"Of course not, the only blood enemies we have are those of the blue lodge and the azure liosalfar and they both have been extinct more than two thousand years."

"An excellent place to start the lecture on the perils of assumptions, as the Blue Lodge is not extinct, the blood feud you learned from your lore masters is actually an excuse, a cover story, for other things -- a way to blame a group for things that are not their fault, and, of course, the only member of the blue lodge you are likely to see was ritually adopted by the Bitter King."

"You can see how easy it could be to make the kind of mistake that would result in terrible complications, don't you -- assuming that if you encountered one of the blue lodge and attacked under the blood feud, that you would survive the attempt."

"Oh. Err, oh."

"Which I hope helps all of you to appreciate that you need to question your assumptions and the things that you think you know, if you intend to do well, either in college or on behalf of those who enrolled you for the learning you are intended to achieve." 

"Speaking of which, anyone care to guess why Drathkalah's fire elemental guardian is dispelled, dead shards on the floor, rather than guarding him and why you ought not to summon magic inside of these premises without my express permission and understanding? We will get to that later in the lecture, for now, lets review five rules, then we will discuss the Joyous and Bitter Kings, have a short quiz on what is the most dangerous entity you might encounter in the Pacific Northwest, and then go on to discuss alcohol."

Well, we got a lecture on the Joyous King and the Bitter King. Most people were not aware that the Basilisk King had been replaced by the Cunning King (that's his new nickname) or that he had taken a young human girl as his godchild. I spotted his son (Tindelasse) in the crowd -- the same one I had rescued -- and he winked at me. Otherwise he kept an impassive face, he can keep a secret just like his dad. We also got a short lecture on how the Svartalfer of Kosovo took on the Aes and the Van in a rather foolish war and how they blamed their disastrous losses on the Blue Lodge and the Azure Lios Alfar to cover up the true facts. Even though that king's line died out, no one has taken the effort to correct what makes for a good distraction, though the lecture also touched on how a lightwalker saved them from the last of the Nazi incantations.

Which was used to segue into entities of the Northwest. Or don't hunt the phoenix or rukh in this part of the world. Most of the students just assumed that the most dangerous thing around had to be the Bitter King or one of the Troll Dragons. Both Tindelasse and a young snow dwarf (Brandson Briarhammer) got the Rukh right as the most dangerous creature in the Northwest, which led to a discussion of the various dragons and the snow dwarves. Which caused me to see Robert-Etienne sitting in the back of the class. He had just sat quietly while the questions had been asked and I missed him because he had slipped in late. I'll be, I've got two friends in the class We also got a discussion about how the wilderness areas and mountains around the campus are not inhabited except for occasional scorpion men who are regularly hunted (that's my Ducky). Other than Robert-Etienne and Ducks, the rest of the crew is off at a boarding school in Switzerland.  

The five big rules are simple. No public magic. No violence except in self-defense. No assumptions. No risks (there are no guarantees of your safety). I'll talk about the fifth rule later. But it was an exciting lesson. Especially when Drathkalah was told that he'd have to do without his bodyguard for a while and that he could expect that next semester, when his hunting charm was restored, to need to think before he jumped at shadows again.

Which let me know how he had recognized me (though he forgot as a result of being stunned in the pass) and how long I had to work things out with him. But it wasn't as if there were not more "traditional" enemies in the class, and they all got the point about the king's peace and the rules. Afterwards a number of students circled around Brandson to hear the rest of the story about the Rukh and the troll dragons. You could see some of them thinking and one of them finally mentioned that he wondered just how and what the prof had meant when he said that the Rukh "favored" the Bitter King. I would be thinking about that too (imagine me grinning to myself). I kept quiet and was ignored. Most of the students were people who were second (or third or fifth or tenth) sons (or daughters or whatevers) who were finding another way to serve or to progress. Low status, low power, keeping their heads low too.

"Class, read your assignments and remember, next lesson we will discuss football, the summer readings you were assigned before you started school, and newspapers. We will also discuss the course of study for the rest of the semester."

Oh, I almost forgot about the alcohol part of the lesson.  Seems like wine has come a long way too. When I was younger, we had wine that was about 2% to 2.5% alcohol.  We would mix it four or five to one with water (yep, about .4% alcohol when we were done). Closer to what they call beer today than today's wines, with 10-12% alcohol or the troll vodka with 150% alcohol or better (such is magic troll liquor). The professor wanted us to be aware that sharing drinks with humans could result in some of us getting a lot more than we expected and some of us killing them (with what would only be a small sip to a young troll). Since the starpath changed me, I don't drink alcoholic beverages any more (unless I want to drink acid and spit fire), but it was interesting. Then it was back to the dorm for dinner (another meal with meat! It seems like every day is a feast day here), a rest, some study and akijutsu club.  

That was interesting. The akijusu club was inside the facilities built into the football field (I learn about football later in my special seminar), and thus inside the magical wards. While most magic is completely warded, like all of the blue lodge I can hold power within myself for use in areas where magic does not exist. Anyway, I got to the dressing rooms (neat, they have separate areas for men and women) and got dressed in my hakima pants, jacket and t-shirt. Strange to practice a martial art in clothes rather than stripping down to my belt, rubbing myself with oil and sand and then stepping out into an arena. Instead, we put on special clothes and practiced indoors, on some really soft mats.

We practiced the initial training for Bengoshi Waza. I enjoyed looking at Ducks when he went on to advanced Akiki and Akido drills (the Akido is new to me, the large circle throws were not part of my training but they look good on him). As for the Akiki strikes, I was in there with the best of them. It was good to have some people who didn't back off on the force because I was female or small (to them). I'm going to like working out with this group.***

But it does mean I have to plan on doing something besides dating Ducks this weekend. Guess I'll come up with a plan. Maybe I can explore the wilderness areas nearest to campus, those mountains look like fun.

• *In this context, by hunt, Indigo means a game that is somewhere between hide and go seek and tag, with practice weapons and teams. It was a play version of one of the types of year king rituals common to the ancient world.
• ** deleted thread -- not part of the continuity.
• *** deleted thread -- not part of the continuity.
• More about snow dwarves
• Robert-Etienne
• Indigo