Slaith and I were finally delivered to the Cloisters. The cluster of buildings had stone facades and pillars that showed the grime of ages was slowly winning the battle to turn them ever darker. The stone was a rare type that I knew to have come from a world we had ransacked until the very structure of it had failed. Some even speculated that destruction by attrition may have destabilized the universe that world existed in. Either way, the Grey stone, shot through with purple veins that had been used, was impossible to acquire these days.

The rest of the structure had been built of an artificial stone made from limestone and sand, with other components. The synthetic had some aesthetic benefits, but I saw it as lacking character. It was homogenized to the point of monotony. Even the embedded rocks were unchanging in consistency from one block to another.

When we arrived in the transport, its organic brain opened the door for us and waited while we unloaded our bags. Once we were done, it quietly closed up and compressed the cargo and passenger sections back into its body and rolled away quickly on smaller tires that it extruded from a gland in its underside. We had grown that transport several years ago, so it was wearing out. It would need to be cloned and the hardware moved to the new unit soon. We were not going to be able to have the newest upgrades installed. They were too expensive.

Slaith followed me a pace behind and to the left. We had practiced this positioning, as well as the stoic and disinterested expression he wore. The slight look of contempt was the hardest for him to learn.

I did my best to carry the self-indulgent air of a spoiled child of nobility. I mixed in some furtive glances around at the gathered students around me who were starting at the same time. Small clusters had already begun to form. Those who saw and recognized the rampant drakon crest of our uniform jackets done in blue, silver, and black turned away without approaching us quickly.

I wore the family sword at my left side, in a sheath that was designed to match my uniform. My father had made me take it that morning, only saying, “You need to wear this. As the heir of House Dothstaire, it is your birthright.” When I had drawn the blade, I was disappointed. The blade was just an edge with a treelike lace of metal where a hollow grind and fuller, as well as the main structure of the blade, should have been. The pommel was another lace-like sphere of metal strands. This thing had no use as a weapon. The aesthetics were striking, with a black, bone handle that was shot through with blue and a cross guard of more metallic lace. I had been sure that he could at least have given me a serviceable weapon. Slaith had a new sword of a respectable, if unimpressive metal. His sword was a simple, brutal weapon that everyone who saw it knew it would be used if the wrong things happened.

“Hi! I am Greah from house Altose,” said a female voice from behind me and from the right. I had known someone was approaching, but their tread had not been stealthy or overly bold.

I turned to see a girl my same age, with hair of yellow gold and eyes the darkest blue I had ever seen. “Hello! I’m Solan of house Dothstaire.”

“I know. I can see the crest! I think we may be distant cousins! Your mother was from the house Altose, wasn’t she?”

“That is what I was told. I’m afraid I never got to meet her, though.”

“Solan, who is this constipated musclehead?” she asked, pointing rudely at Slaith.

“That’s my foster brother, Slaith. Slaith, meet Greah. She seems to be my cousin.” Slaith grunted a rude greeting at Greah. We had covered things like this. He was supposed to be sullen. We could get away with this kind of rudeness because my mother’s family had never dared to claim a connection to me. They were much lower on the social scale than even House Dothstaire. They only had one member who could use their keystone just enough to keep from having it taken from them. We also knew they were known to be tricky.

“So, Greah, how come we have never heard from you before this?” I asked.

“Oh, your father has heard from us. He did not like our suggestion to partially merge the families. You know, I have three younger sisters… If we made sure you are distant enough of a cousin, maybe you could marry one, or even all of us. Your mother was not that close a relation to any of our mothers.”

“Don’t you have a brother to carry the name on?” I asked.

“He’s been tested and is infertile.”

“I appreciate the suggestion, but why don’t we just get to know each other as classmates first?” She was beginning to make me uncomfortable. I did not understand how she could be talking about creating a harem for me with her sisters after we just met!

“Maybe I am rushing things a bit. We would have to test the genetics first anyway.” This was a big warning for me. One did not allow genetic samples lightly. My father had also been adamant about not letting anyone do genetic testing on me.

“Why don’t we get through orientation first?”

At this point, the announcement telling us to gather in the main colosseum for orientation blared out from announcement pods in the eves of the buildings. “All students who are entering for their first year will need to find a seat in the colosseum and remain quiet. After the address from the head of the school, you will go to the administration building and be issued a schedule. At that time, you will be able to sign up for optional classes in the specialties you want to explore. Go to the colosseum now.”

Greah and Slaith both stayed close to me as I went into the crowded structure of the colosseum. I estimated there were at least eight hundred of us who were there to start the first year of our education. On the stage at the center, there was a cluster of older people who had to be faculty. One was very old. He had wrinkles that made his face look like a dehydrated fruit, and what little hair gave his shiny head a fluffy fringe was white as snow. As old as he seemed, his body language spoke of bored tension, as if he was waiting for any reason to jump, like a coiled spring, into motion.

A woman entered the stage from a hidden area to the right of the stage. She was in a uniform of black, gold, and red. These were the colors of the First Prime’s family. My family was suffering the way it was, partially because we were related to that family, putting me far down the line of succession, but still in it. This did not make me feel good about being under the control of someone who might see me as a threat to their power. This was yet another reason to resent what my grandfather had done. I was glad he was dead!

A few of the students cast appraising looks at Slaith and me. I had a feeling some of them had plans to curry favor with the royals by removing me from the possible succession. I actually heard Slaith growl at one who dared to look him in the eyes.

The smirks of some of the other students did not seem to dim when Slaith growled. This sign of contempt kept me distracted until Greah grabbed my arm. I looked down at the unexpected contact and looked back up to the stage, and locked eyes with the old man. He stepped forward as I heard the royal introduce him, but he kept his eyes locked with mine.

When he got to the podium, the old man looked around at the gathering of students. In a clear and crisp voice, he spoke, “I am Master Zenash. I am a master of all five sources. You may call me Stolath or Stolath Zenash. I will be evaluating students in small groups.” He looked into my eyes from a distance as he said, ”Some of you have studied you martial arts from private masters. The lucky few of you have studied under masters whom I, myself, trained. Do not think that you can hide your skills or the lack thereof. A select few of you will get either advanced training or remedial training from me directly.” Looking around the crowd again, he continued, “Most of you will be learning from my assistants. You will accept my assignments, grades, and orders without question or comment!” The last sentence was delivered while glaring directly into my eyes.

The next speaker replaced the old man, who had a visible smirk as he took his seat at the back of the stage. The next speaker was an obvious bureaucrat who was too timid to look anyone in the eye. He was a man of average build and dark hair. His grey uniform was not remarkable in any way. I almost missed the fact that he was the stealth and poisons professor. The rest of the senior staff went by unremarkably. The event ended after it had droned on for quite some time. There was a fair amount of pushing and jostling as the crowd trickled out. I kept back with Slaith as the crowd thinned. Greah stayed with me, seemingly attached to my arm.

Eventually, enough had left for us to begin moving toward the exit. As we neared the exit to the square, I noticed three guys and a tall, thin girl waiting for something. As we passed them, each of the guys came uncomfortably close to one of us. The girl stepped in front of me and addressed me, “Little lord, that guard dog can’t protect you all of the time, you know. You could join us, and we can protect you. All you have to do is be a good little lord and do whatever I tell you to.”

I smiled warmly at her and looked her directly in her green eyes, “And who, may I ask, am I to be the minion of?”

“You have the honor of serving Sayleah of the House Racash. By the way, that is an amusing toy you carry at your waist. Maybe you should just hand it to me?”

I continued to smile and look into her grey eyes, her black hair ruffled by the passing breeze, “I will not be serving you, and I will not be giving you my family sword. If you don’t mind, we would like to go get our schedules.”

The shock on her face was very rewarding. She looked like I had splashed cold water in her face. It would seem that she was not used to being defied. Maybe she would learn to get used to it. I planned to make it my standard response to her. “I also imagine you plan to threaten me and my brother. Let’s make it interesting and only have our little ‘discussions’ when there are fewer witnesses. That would help us all cut down on whatever penalties we might incur. Does that sound fair?”

Her recovery took a moment, but then she smiled a sharp-edged grin. “Sure. I’ll be sure to keep the ‘lessons’ I teach you from becoming public. However, I doubt you will enjoy the experience. That goes for you, too, Greah. You made the wrong choice of company.” She turned and moved away quickly with an extraneous hair flip. The dark, waist-length hair had an almost supernatural sheen.

Greah cringed away from the girl and her minions as they strolled away. Slaith was tense and ready for violence, but held himself back. He made do with dirty looks at the minions as they walked away.

I could not seem to get the girl to release my arm, so she went along with us to get our schedules. She was easy on the eyes, and she was now allied with me by default. I could put up with her if I had to in order to keep her safe.

Getting our schedules was fairly uneventful, even though the looks we got from the other students ranged from predatory to amused disdain. Greah left us finally when we went to settle in our dorm room. Slaith and I had a room to ourselves. Our bags had been brought to the room for us.

Tomorrow morning, we both have our assessments with Stolath Zenash. I was not looking forward to that.