“I don’t care. Let’s go.” I pushed away from this strange wall made of trees — actual trees, not something that looked like trees — and headed back the way I’d come.
Myel followed.
The trouble was, we kept inching closer, my hand itching to reach for his. It was an effort to keep apart. This bond was going to be a pain if we were together in public.
On our way back to the admin building, Myel filled me in on one last thing I’d need to know: my name. In this world your caste — your rank in the grand scheme of things — was part of your name, so everyone knew just how high-up or lowly you were. Apparently, nymphs were of the gentil caste and referred to as “Sa.” Above me, nobles were “Di” and royals — just the elves — were “El.”
Also, they did the last name first thing, so I was Sa Brown Izzy. Sounded weird to me, but… when in Rome.
The lowest caste went by “Lo,” which I thought was a bit on the nose. That meant Myel was Lo Myelas. That was his full name, shifters — or “beastfolk” — didn’t get surnames.
Just… wow.
Also, there was another level of caste between mine and Myel’s, a sort of middle-low class which went by “Ye.”
I had a lot to learn.
Rounding the corner of the admin building, I saw the princess from earlier just leaving. I ducked back behind the building and pulled Myel with me. It was hard to let him go… and not kiss him.
Damned bond.
“What?” he asked, surprised.
“I made an enemy earlier. Someone named Princess Saldrea?”
Myel’s eyes went so wide I thought they’d pop out. His mouth moved but no sound came out. He knew of her, it seemed.
I filled him in on the encounter.
“You called the princess a turd?” A manic laugh escaped his lips.
Not my finest moment.
I shrugged. “I’ve always had trouble with authority. Figured here I’d just start at the top.”
Myel shook his head in shock. “You need to stay away from her. She’s a piece of work, as nasty as her mother, who isn’t actually queen by the way, but queen regent. She just likes everyone to think she’s a real queen and her daughter follows suit.”
I had a feeling I’d need more of an education on that… later.
I peeked around the corner and the group was headed away from us, already some distance off.
Myel and I quickly ducked into the admin building and returned to the registrar’s office. I found that woman with lavender skin and got myself enrolled.
The first hiccup was that I was coming in after the semester had started, but we still got me into all the basic level classes, called Primal Studies. Sounded savage to me.
The second challenge was finding a room for me. Apparently, most of the “lesser residence” were full, including the all-girls dorm. The only room available was in a coed dorm. Not my first choice, but a room was a room. Complaining wasn’t going to help me. To add to the fun, each pair ofrooms shared a bathroom. In the coed dorm, usually it would be two girls or two guys who shared a bathroom, but… I’d be sharing with a guy.
Great.
I could feel Myel’s restrained frustration on my behalf. Or perhaps it wasn’t on my behalf? Perhaps he didn’t like the thought of some random guy walking in on me in the shower. Not that that was likely to happen, assuming the rooms had locks.
I asked.
They didn’t. It wouldn’t be fair for one roommate to lock the door to the other’s room then forget to unlock it, especially if they left for class. You could lock your own bathroom door, so your roommate couldn’t just walk into your room, but that was it. I could see the reasoning in that, but this still didn’t seem like a great arrangement. According to the registrar woman, most roommates worked out a system to alert the other they were in the bathroom or had set times for things. She then apologised profusely but said there was nothing she could do. It was the only room available.
One more thing I was being forced to accept. I was nearly at my limit.
Finally, I was given a magical tattoo-like thing on my palm, like one of those bar-stamps, only permanent. It looked like a pale blue tear drop.
