Chapter 11: A Proper Introduction to Campus

It seemed that Maut-mai hadn’t been lying about knowing her way around campus: she easily escorted Suria directly to where she needed to go. There was a cluster of smaller buildings to the right of the entrance, like shrubs around the great halls’ trees, that Suria had looked straight past at first. The staff there seemed annoyed, but Maut-mai deployed her powers of complaining and soon an administrator met her in a cramped office.

“I’m not a proctor,” the man said, “and you’ll still need to interview with someone. Probably tomorrow. But based on what I’ve heard, we can set up the basics.”

“Thank you.” Suria lowered her head. “That would be…?”

“Basic identification, for a start.” After rooting around in a drawer, the man handed her a small piece of metal that looked like a button, similar to a ranked mage’s seal but smoother and duller. “That will let you pass through the gates and enter basic buildings. I’m also qualified to assign you housing… there are lots of places in the eastern dormitories available, so-“

“Oh, but what about the Taedric Building?” Maut-mai interrupted. “Couldn’t you give her a room there?”

“There aren’t individual rooms in the Taedric, and you can only make a claim if you have enough students to fill a room, so-“

“Then that would be fine, wouldn’t it?” Maut-mai immediately looked over to Suria, her elegant expression hiding a hint of nervousness.

It was obvious what she was suggesting, but Suria didn’t respond immediately. She had known she would need to stay with others, since even Darkmoon University didn’t give most students individual rooms, but she hadn’t considered this. Maut-mai had given her a bad first impression, but had been helpful so far, and Suria had few allies, so…

“I’d be happy to room together,” Suria said with a smile.

“Wonderful!” Maut-mai beamed at her.

“Fine.” The administrator wasn’t smiling in return – if anything he seemed annoyed at their cheer – and shoved a paper at them. “Just fill these out and we’ll arrange something. You’re lucky you came early.”

Maut-mai took the forms and filled them using some sort of reed that seemed not to run out of ink. Suria looked over her shoulder at the paper, just in case she was agreeing to something unwise. It seemed like students had the ability to request quarters in multiple different locations, but Suria had no idea about any of the buildings, so she decided to go along with this.

Once they’d finished, they were each given a dull bronze key along with an exhortation not to lose it. Then they were away, leaving the administrator to his work and heading to their quarters. Despite feeling like she was being rushed along, Suria found herself growing increasingly weary.

“Where exactly are we going?” she asked.

“Trust me, you don’t want to stay in the main dormitories!” Maut-mai told her. “They’re musty and drafty and just awful, and so many of the students are crammed into them. The Taedric Building isn’t the most stylish, but at least it has modern rooms, and you can get rooms for just two people.”

“And which building is that?”

The answer became obvious before Maut-mai responded, however. They had moved away from the cluster of buildings near the entrance to the eastern side of campus, and now that they left the maze of smaller dormitories, there was a single looming structure that was actually labeled with “Taedric Building” across the front. It was multiple stories of sturdy gray stone, covered in large windows, with several towers rising even higher. She couldn’t see them all clearly from this angle, but one of them appeared topped in an observatory, another might be a bell tower, and a third seemed to have an empty flat top.

“The Taedric Building is the newest major construction on campus,” Maut-mai told her, “only two hundred years old or so. It has all sorts of amenities, plus the cafeteria is inside. You’ll thank me for that come ethertide, believe me.”

When they arrived Suria wished she could explore the building thoroughly – it was only the second place she’d entered in Darkmoon University – but Maut-mai didn’t seem to want to give a tour and instead rushed them to their rooms. The interior of the building was more welcoming than the exterior, with wooden paneling softening the blocky stone. Some of the areas were large and open, but they turned away from those to smaller rooms on the second floor.

Once there, it took them a while to find the room for their keys, then they discovered that they were barely furnished. They had to go back to talk to staff about getting proper bedding and arranging other details. Maut-mai seemed to think everything was a little shabby while Suria was impressed with how much they gave students. The door had basic defensive wards and though the beds were rather narrow, each had a lockable drawer built underneath.

By the time they had sorted everything, it was past time to eat and Maut-mai dragged her across the building to the cafeteria. It was a surprisingly large room that spanned two floors and had open windows along both walls, which would make it quite bright during the day. Almost no one was there, yet a small amount of food sat on one of the tables. Suria wanted to appreciate it or pay more attention to what Maut-mai was saying, but once she got some food in her stomach her exhaustion only grew worse.

Even as sleepy as she was, it wasn’t hard to understand why she was so tired: she had lived through multiple repeated hours, so it was late into the night from her perspective. Maut-mai seemed disappointed that she wanted to turn in, but Suria was tired of talking and made excuses until she was able to curl up under the covers.

She was asleep almost instantly.

~ ~ ~

Suria woke up much slower, blinking in confusion at the unfamiliar room before events returned to her. She had spent the night in Darkmoon University, finally here after all her travel and the time loop ordeal. Maybe she wasn’t formally accepted, but she had been given a room, which made it all feel real.

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Despite complaining about going to bed early, Maut-mai looked to be deep asleep. Suria decided not to wake her and instead gathered her things and headed out to explore the building now that she was fully rested.

In her weary state the Taedric Building had seemed like a maze, but in the morning everything was much clearer to her. The majority of the first floor was dedicated to amenities for students, easily accessible from one of the entrances, in particular the cafeteria. Dormitory rooms covered most of the upper floors, a bit confusing at first but nowhere near as much of a warren as the old dormitories or the twists of Convocation Hall. Everything was clearly labeled and there were actually signs, unlike in the older buildings.

On the upper floors Suria found most things to be locked, including the tower entrances, what seemed to be a secondary library, and something called the “Air Society Assembly”. Her identification pin opened normal doors but nothing that was closed, so she resolved to figure out those mysteries later and instead headed back to the cafeteria.

There she again found the room mostly empty except for a few students awake as early as she was. Food had been placed on a long table on one side of the room and, even though she watched, she never saw any kitchen staff or anyone bringing food. Could they really manage the cafeteria entirely by magic?

As for the food itself, there was a variety of fruit and bread, as well as a little sort of cake that was called a “muffin” according to the placard. Suria took several of them along with her, chewing slowly as she considered everything that she had seen.