"Your Highness, we will be arriving shortly."

I snap out of daydreaming as Dame Alex informs me of our arrival. "Oh, sweet - my legs were getting cramped."

Within a few moments, the carriage comes to a gentle stop. When I attempt to leave, Dame Alex stops me.

"Not yet - we're in the carriage line." She pokes her head out of the window briefly. "We seem to be among the first to arrive. It shouldn't be too long."

Since we might be here for a bit longer, I take the chance to stretch out my legs, making sure not to bump my feet into her.

We sit in silence for a few minutes. The lack of something to distract myself with makes me anxious, so I end up trying to start a conversation with her.

"So…have you ever been to the Academy?"

"No, Your Highness."

"Then where did you take courses for becoming a knight?"

"In the knight's training halls."

"That…that makes sense." I scratch my head. "Hey, what was it like, anyway? Becoming the first woman knight?"

"It was quite difficult. The only reason I succeeded is that I had support from the Queen."

I raise my eyebrows at that. "Really? How'd you swing that?"

"I disguised myself as a man and entered a tournament. When I won, I revealed my identity and requested Her Majesty's support to become a knight."

"Oh, shit - that's pretty damn cool." I shake my head wistfully. "Wish I had been there to see it."

"Hmm." She seems to stiffen a bit.

I frown at her strange reaction. "What's up?"

"It…it's nothing, Your Highness."

I consider pushing the matter, but if she doesn't want to talk about it, I'm not going to try to force her.

Just as we're about to fall into silence, the carriage moves forward a few feet. The door is pulled open, and a smartly-dressed man bows to us.

"Greetings, esteemed student, and esteemed knight. You may depart and leave your luggage - it will be brought to your rooms. Please first make your way to the assembly hall for orientation."

When he stands, he looks between myself and Dame Alex.

"Ah - Dame Alex, is it? Then you must be His Highness, Prince Eric. It is my pleasure to welcome you to the Academy."

"It's my pleasure to attend," I respond. I hope that sounds princely enough.

Dame Alex exits first, and I follow, holding on to her arm for support - and what a sturdy support it is! It's like I'm holding on to a cord of steel wire!

Once my feet are back on solid ground, I look around to see where we are, and can't help but be impressed.

We're standing at the gates to a massive and beautiful courtyard, beyond which stands an equally beautiful array of buildings that invokes images of places like Mont Saint Michel or Notre Dame - but a bit bigger, and more spread out.

I notice a large map posted next to the gate. Thus seems to be less of a campus, and more of a small town!

There seems to be a central square, with large amounts of greenery, and what looks like a clock tower smack dab in the middle.

There's an entire swath of the grounds that are dedicated to residential buildings, mostly concentrated in the South West, and is arranged less like dorms and more like a small village. It has its own central square, with its own clock tower to boot.

The western portion of the grounds seem to have a smattering of buildings dedicated to academics - lecture halls, classrooms, study halls, and an absolutely massive library. There are even a few buildings labeled as laboratories!

To the South East, there are what seems to be residential spaces for staff - likely teachers, janitors, cooks, and more. It is arranged similarly to the student's residential area.

In the Eastern side of the grounds, there are what seem to be recreational buildings. They're pretty rudimentary, compared to modern standards. A few open-air auditoriums it looks like, and what I think may be…shops? Does this place have its own economy?

North of the central square is dominated by a massive building, with its floor plan laid out. It serves as a general assembly hall, an administrative building, and seemingly even a mess hall, as there are a handful of cafeterias. Notably, they're labeled for the group it caters to. There's one for each grade of the Academy, first through third year, and a large cafeteria near those that is dedicated to the knights. I wonder if all meals are served there, or if you have to get food from the shops in the East?

There are two more structures, removed from the main bulk of the campus. One is labeled as training and exercise grounds, while the other is labeled as a weapons testing site.

Having absorbed all of the map, I take a step back to look through the wrought-iron gates, and up at the central clock tower. The massive building is visible just behind it.

"Wow…it's beautiful."

"Indeed, Your Highness." Dame Alex nods in agreement as she takes it all in.

"Oh, my - if you think this is beautiful, you should see the royal palace! I've only ever seen it from outside, but it is truly splendid architecture."

I turn to see who's speaking, and find that it's a young woman with platinum blonde hair, and a long, flowing dress. Her face is nearly perfectly symmetrical, and her eyes are a nice shade of green. For a split second, they flash a murky yellow.

Also, I don't want to be gross, but…God, she has HUGE boobs! Like, seriously - she's going to have back problems later in life, if she doesn't already. And a SEVERELY heightened risk for breast cancer.

I decide to put that out of my mind for now - maybe someday if she and I become friendly, I could teach her how to check for breast cancer, since I sincerely doubt that medicine has advanced enough for that to be common knowledge. But that definitely wouldn't be appropriate right now. Or ever, really. Maybe I'll just…keep that to myself.

"Yeah, I've seen it. Honestly? It's impressive, but it's not my style. I like this a lot more."

She falters when she sees my face, and immediately curtsies.

"Y-your Majesty! I…I'm so sorry, I didn't recognize you from behind…" She lowers her head. "Lady Patricia Norton, at your service."

"Hey - nice to meet you. Uh…you don't need to be so formal, we're all equals here - right?"

She smiles as she straightens herself. "Thank you, Your Highness…" She glances at the building for a moment. "If you don't mind…could you perhaps explain to me why you prefer this architecture to the palace?"

"Oh, sure. So, the palace has a lot of white stone slab facades that make it seem like an almost continuous structure. But here, you can see that each of the stones stand alone, with their own history and coloration - if you look closely, you'd probably see markings from tools, and maybe even insignias from the stone masons that worked on it.

"Also, whereas the palace is mostly free standing, the flying buttresses here really bring a pop of life to the architecture, and they seem to merge with the courtyard walls, so they serve two purposes."

She nods with a small smile. "As expected of the Prince - you are rather insightful."

I can't help but feel like she's kissing my ass, which makes me rather uncomfortable.

"Rrrriiiiight…uh, anyway, we should probably head in, right? Don't want to hold up the line…" I look around with a frown. "Uhhh…where's your knight escort?"

"Ah, he went on ahead to assist with sorting out my luggage. He should be back shortly."

"In that case, wanna walk together?" I motion towards Dame Alex. "Dame Alex can easily protect us both."

"Oh! Dame Alex!" Patricia curtsies to her as well. "Your performance at the tournament five years ago was truly marvelous! I was not aware you had been chosen as His Highness' knight escort. Congratulations!"

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, My Lady."

As if from the shadows, a man approaches from the gate. It takes everything in me to maintain my composure and not jump out of my skin. "My Lady - your luggage has been sorted."  We briefly make eye contact, and his eyes flash a shade of yellow similar to what I saw in Patricia's eyes. He immediately bows his head to me.

"Your Highness."

"Thank you, Sir Thaddeus." She smiles at who must be her knight escort, before turning to me with a smile. "Well, now that my knight escort has arrived, I would gladly accompany you, Your Highness."

"Shall we?" I make a gesture that should imply ladies first. I'm not sure if it means the same thing here, though. Thankfully, it does, as she smiles and begins to lead the way.

As soon as we're walking, I immediately regret my decision. I now have no idea what to say to her or what would be appropriate - when she asked me a question, all I had to do was answer.

For a few minutes, the only sound is that of four pairs of shoes on cobblestone. Thankfully, Patricia eventually breaks the silence.

"Your Highness…I apologize if I'm speaking out of turn, but…it would seem that the various conflicting rumors about you are not true."

"Oh?" I feign ignorance.

"Yes - I was told many scandalous things, such as how you are far too willing to form a relationship with any woman. And yet, you didn't even offer me your arm as you accompany me, or attempt to kiss my hand…"

A quick flash of etiquette training from Eric's memories surfaces into my mind, and I latch onto it to form an answer.

"A gentleman should only ever kiss the hand or take the arm of a lady with whom he is intimately familiar, My Lady."

"Oh, my - that is quite correct, Your Highness. Well done."

I can't help but cringe at her deadpan tone. I think I may have just accidentally mansplained…

Well, may as well lean into her response, and make myself look like an idiot rather than an asshole.

"Thank you! I've had to re-learn some etiquette, so having someone to remind me of the finer details is definitely very helpful."

"Oh! You are…quite welcome, Your Highness." Her mood seems to brighten a bit. I think. It's really hard for me to read people.

We continue to walk in silence, until something shiny catches my eye. I look over, and notice something I hadn't seen before - the light is reflecting off of a pair of earrings she's wearing. They seem to be normal studs, but something about them is making them unusually lustrous. They definitely aren't an ordinary gemstone.

"Hey, what're your earrings made out of?"

She seems taken aback by that. "Uh…prismatic crystals, Your Highness. They are magical crystals that have been shattered, and differently colored parts have been recombined."

"Wow…they're beautiful."

"Oh…why, thank you."

"They really catch the light quite well."

"Yes…they do. They are among my favorites."

I nod, returning my attention to the path ahead of me. I briefly look over at Dame Alex, and wonder if she'd ever get piercings. If anything, she'd probably get a cartilage piercing. Maybe a bar piercing or something.

"So, Your Highness…what do you hope to learn about in the Academy?"

"I definitely want to focus on engineering. You?"

"I'm hoping to specialize in alchemy."

"Alchemy, huh? Sounds tough - but I'm sure you can do it."

"Oh! Why…thank you, Your Highness."

I just give her a little nod as we continue walking, following the handful of signs set up on the path.

After a minute or so of walking in silence, we arrive at the doors for the assembly hall. There's a seating chart at the front door. I can't help but notice that there is a large swath of the seats that are simply marked as "C". I suppose that commoners will have to find a seat.

"It appears as though there is assigned seating, Your Highness - this is where we part ways."

"Alright - I'll see you later, then."

She nods, but hesitates for a moment. "Your Highness…you have a rather strange way of speaking. But I must say, it's…refreshing." With that, she curtsies and walks away, her knight in tow.

I spin around and start to look for my own assigned seat.

"Your Highness…you should be careful how you speak to people from now on."

I turn to Dame Alex with a frown. "Why? She said it's refreshing."

"Many people in high society hide their intentions behind flattery. She may very well mean that she intends to spread word that you speak in an unsophisticated manner."

I shrug. "And? It'll be easier to manage expectations then."

She heaves a deep sigh. "Your Highness…"

"Oh - here it is." I find my seat - it's on the aisle in the front row, with only a seat to the right. When I look at the neighboring seat however, the name card on it says "Turing". My heart skips a beat, but I know that I likely won't meet one of my personal heroes in this world.

"Where are you going to sit, Dame Alex?"

"Your Highness, a knight must stand behind their charge." To accentuate that, she takes her place behind the chair.

"Alright, well…I hope we aren't here for too long. Your legs will hurt after a while."

"Do not worry for me, Your Highness. I will be quite alright."

I shrug and take my seat. "If you say so…"

I cross my arms and begin to wait.