I breathed deeply as I walked down the quay wall of Pearlbay, my cloud just a yard or so above my head as I walked, it wasn’t the first day, just orientation, nevertheless I was still quite anxious.

              “Hercule!” Da called out as she wove grandly, bouncing at least ten or so feet into the air on her rabbit legs as she flagged me down, “There’s a special tour group for transfer kids!” she added as I walked up to her and Nic.

              “Oh, thank goodness, I was worried about getting stuck with a group of kids who were questioning who the old guy was” I sighed

              “You’re not that much older than them. They’re all eighteen-nineteen” Nic brushed off

              “I’m twenty-five”

              “Same” Da laughed

              “Twenty-three, but…we’re not that much older. Especially when it comes to magic, age differences get crazy…like Warlord Varga and his husband, what’s the age difference, a couple of centuries?” Nic asked

              “Something like that” Da shrugged before looking up, “Should probably get up there then”

              “How do people who can’t fly get up?” I asked, Da just laughed as she looked up towards it and held her hand out, a burst of white stars rippled out of her hand and a rune on the underside of the school flashed in turn before light burst out towards us and hit the ground forming an almost escalator like shape, despite the little magic she used, the air suddenly became filled with the smell of mandarins, cherries and ginger. She just shrugged with a laugh as she turned and took a long leap that skipped at least a handful or so of stairs as she sailed upwards.

              “Flight magic is something most people do learn though just for the convenience” Nic shrugged, probably because of the time I’ve spent around the two of them, but I was starting to get a little nose-blind to their magic: Da’s mandarin, cherry and ginger mix and the mix of saffron, pistachio and pine trees from Nic.

              “Probably don’t want to let her leave us in the dust, no?” I asked motioning to Da who was halfway up the stairs.

              “We shouldn’t” he said with a laugh before taking a few long strides, kicking off the end of the staircase as he flapped his wings and flew up along the stairwell as Da scoffed and picked up her pace. I laughed quietly to myself as I just willed myself into the air before following behind them, a few thin wisps of clouds swirling around my ankles and feet as they trailed off behind me.

              The school only got increasingly majestic the closer you got; the sheer scale of the towers were far more impressive when you were at their bases compared to when you’re looking at them from the ground. The towers looked like floating needles from the ground, but at their bases…their thinness when met with their height was even more concerning at their stability and the feasibility of their standing, they just looked even more impossible looking as they rose further and further into the air. Even looking straight up felt like you weren’t able to see close to the roof.

              My shoes were quiet on the stone loop around the main tower, there were large groups and clusters of people about the stone landing or milling about the base grounds of the central tower, enjoying spots of shade under the canopies of the far reaching Silklily Tower trees or the various fixtures around the central tower. The excitement was more than palpable, it was visible and not just from how people were acting or talking, magic randomly flickered, sparked and crackled off people as they couldn’t contain their excitement for being here along with various other forms of magic being unconsciously discharged off their persons.

              If I had to guess, those slowly orbiting bridges that connected the central tower to the others were probably ten or so stories up, they hit the middle floor of the surrounding towers, but were closer to the top of the central one, no visible moving parts that showed how the bridges did so or how the bridges held themselves up; there were on metal struts or joists or anything of that sort, just arching bridges of sleek stone, metal and glass, plus one had clouds, one had tree roots, another flames and the last had these floating, glowing gold panels hanging around it like suspended chunks of mirror.

              “I can’t believe we’re here!” Da whispered at a barely contained volume, she was visible bouncing on her feet, all, but vibrating with excitement as she stood beside Nic and I, Nic just reached over and softly grabbed the back of her neck making her freeze up in place.

              “Breathe, you’re going to give yourself a heart attack” he more chided than scolded, she sighed as she rolled her eyes before closing them and taking a handful of slow breaths as her shoulders slacked and her posture returned to a not broom-stick straight and she stopped bouncing on her feet.

              “I’m fine” she said holding her hands up, he let go of her neck as she brushed herself off before softly rubbing that spot of her neck.

              “Tonic immobility, a lot of more animalistic people have a spot like that” Nic just explained in a quiet laugh, “Demonic based too, usually the horns.”

              “Yeah, but you have to be careful touching a demon’s horns, that’s like super intimate to them and can make them make some very embarrassing sounds” Da added with a sharp elbow to Nic’s side making the simurg man wince as he rubbed his ribs.

              “Really?” I asked

              “Oh yeah” she said with a nod, “Dragons, demons, a good chunk of people with horns or antlers talk about how they’re just like pure nerve ending, so they can be rendered inert just by someone grabbing onto one or touching on, but most of the time it’s kind of a…sexual gesture to them, like I said, it’s a super intimate thing for them, to have someone touching their horns.”

              “Oh” I said quietly as the weight of the horns on my head suddenly became more present to me.

              “Transfer group, this way!” A voice called out