"How did you sleep?" asked Moira. "Anything happen?"
"Nay, not this time," replied Severin, stretching, "I barely even dreamed it. It was so nice."
They talked for a moment about the series of events that awaited them and both went to their bathrooms to shower and get ready for the day. Severin climbed upstairs much later and found Moira already in the kitchen, making some toast and cooking up some oatmeal. Her hair was still wet but she was already dressed in some of the most Jadali clothing she could find in the large wooden chest they had taken with them across the country. She had on a long crimson tied skirt, just stopping above her woven sandals, and had on a light yellow tunic with charming embellishments and embroidery, knitted as a graduation present by her grandmother, a master craftswoman of textiles. She looked like she was ready for anything and definitely looked like a Jadali-Kiillra. Severin sat down at the table and began to help himself to some oatmeal, spiced with some herbs they had brought with them, and felt very under-dressed.
Eating together, they began to speculate the dealings of the day. Severin pulled out a red piece of paper which had the basics of freshman orientation on it and began reading it aloud.
Greetings incoming freshmen and transfer students and welcome to Orientation! Every year, KU hosts a special freshman orientation, running for the whole month of June, to teach the incoming class the campus layout, provide and assist in important procedures all in one place, and to teach them the basic ways of campus life. In order to help people meet other students that they will likely see in class, we do each session by major. Those with an undeclared or double major may choose which session to attend and each session runs for 2 days and 1 night. The dorms are open for people to stay but those who have already secured housing or wish to stay in a hotel may do so if they have indicated so on their sheet. Please refer to page 4 of the included packet for more details.
The session running from 8:00am Tuesday, June 7, to 4:00pm Wednesday, June 8, is designated for the following majors:
BUSINESS
ECONOMICS
LANGUAGE STUDIES
MUSIC
Please report to Larson Hall no later than 8:00am to receive your orientation packet, free tshirt, and for your orientation leader (OL) assignment.
The session running from 8:00am Tuesday, June 7, to 4:00pm Wednesday, June 8, is designated for the following majors:
BUSINESS
ECONOMICS
LANGUAGE STUDIES
MUSIC
Please report to Larson Hall no later than 8:00am to receive your orientation packet, free tshirt, and for your orientation leader (OL) assignment.
"Sounds boring..." said Moira, unimpressed.
"I can't wait to see how many people run up to us when they notice that we appear to be plucked from Jadali!" said Severin, trying to hide his smile. One of this favorite things was getting stares by Kiillaanian folk and hearing them talk about Jadali, even if for a moment.
"Well- get dressed in your best!" said Moira quickly, "You're the one who loves attracting curious onlookers!"
With all their things in hand, they prepared to head for the dorms. Mr. Charles had pointed it out on the way in so at least they knew where they were headed. Severin was dressed in a white tunic and a travelers' cloak and his black hair was just as curly as ever, a strong trait of the Lochgren family. His hair may not be golden blonde, like a typical Lochgren or like Moira's, but he was a Lochgren all the way and was very proud of his ancestry. He looked at himself in the mirror and was pleased by what he saw. A stone pendant hung around his neck, held in place by a black cord. It was a gift to him from a family friend who was a sculpture art apprentice. Moira was behind him making sure she looked good as well. Around her neck was a butterfly pendant that she found on her latest trip to Meren Bha and had quickly recognized as a true and rare apprentice piece.
Finally, at 7:30, they were ready to go and left their house, locking the door with their shiny keys behind them. They had put up a lovely handwoven tapestry over the large front window and looked over their shoulders as they walked down the road, admiring its beauty. It had a light blue background and had a large but somewhat abstracted butterfly of a bronze tan color on it- a symbol of Terabi. The Jadali flag was waving lazily in the wind on the flagpole that they were pleased to discover in the pictures Mr. Charles had sent.
"I wonder how many people Mr. Charles helps," thought Moira, admiring the lovely sunrise to her right.
"He's a wonderful man. Did you hear? His daughter is having a baby any day now. I think that's wonderful. I'd love to have him as a grandfather."
"Did you hear also that his other daughter is also in band here? She plays trumpet and is also married to a trumpet player. And his daughter having a baby lives in Tarra! I've always wanted to visit there. A flute player even! How awesome is that!"
Severin smiled as he heard this. Although at Attlefort Coastal he was a percussion major, his real love was the flute. It was all Moira's fault, he thought. She's the one who found that flute and then taught me how to play once she learned. She showed me to my true love.
They crossed the street and after about 15 minutes of walking noticed a large crowd of what looked like high school kids. Some stood alone in line, trying to look poised and mature. Others were chasing each other, yelling and giggling, some flirting. Some were chatting to each other and still others looked terrified. About half had a parent there with them and a few people had their whole family there. Moira and Severin took their place at the end of the line and talked to each other, the whole time glancing around to see if anyone was staring at them.
"Do you realize that we're likely going to become friends with some of these people?" Moira said, amused.
"I just can't wait until we find out our little group," said Severin, as he watched a rusty-haired boy walk by, accompanied by his father, a short man with a limp. "I wonder if any one of these people are a Terabikai."
Moira gave him an annoyed and warning look. "Oh not now! There will be a time for that. The last thing you need is to be thinking abou-"
Her sentence was cut off as three loud girls chasing a frisbee ran past, almost crashing into them. They jumped out of the way and just smiled at them, as an angry-looking man in line ahead shouted "Hey! Watch where you're going!"
As they neared the front of the line they noticed a girl a couple people ahead of them. She was wearing a knee-length beige linen skirt and a light blue capped sleeve tank top. Her hair was long and straight, way past her shoulders, but the reason they noticed her was because her hair was so red that it was literally orange. It was shiny and strikingly beautiful and as soon as they saw the man next to her they knew it was all natural. He was a short and round man, with a pointy nose and small jaw, and his extreme red hair was combed across in a side part. The girl and her father approached the table labeled J-M and there behind the table was a boy with hair equally as ginger.
"Oh my goodness! They're 'Airbhrochs!!" said Moira excitedly, in Keoen to avoid the inevitable awkward silence that would have followed, as she would have definitely been heard by nearly the whole vicinity.
"Shhhh! Don't talk so loud!" Severin replied, also in Keoen, "We don't want to be drawing attention to ourselves just yet!" although he couldn't help but notice that all three of them had the exact same hair color. "Besides, I believe the term that Kiillra use is redhead. It means the exact same thing."
Upon getting closer to the table, they noticed that the redhead working the table had a name sticker that read "Joshua Norbert." As the redhead girl approached with her father Joshua greeted them, not by asking for their last name, but by smiling and saying, "Hi Rachael! Welcome to campus! You'll totally love it here. Here's all the stuff you'll ever want to know and this one's for you Dad." As he said this he handed them both a shirt. "Your OL is Seylah Renvasu and she's over there (he pointed to his left) with a sign. Enjoy this time- she's a music major too and will make a lengthy stop at the music building. We made sure to put as many music majors in that group as we could."
Their ears perked up a bit more. So, this beautiful redhead and that boy were siblings, and both music majors! As she and her father walked away it was their turn to step forward.
"Hello, you two! What's your last name?" Joshua asked as they got closer.
"It's Lochgren," said Severin gently.
"Ah- how do you spell that?" he asked.
"L-O-C-H-G-R-E-N" he said quickly and clearly.
"Oh! You're the two from Jadali! You're music majors, correct?"
"We sure are!" said Moira grinning.
"That's great! I am too. I'm Joshua Norbert and I play horn," he said, shaking their hands. "You must be Moira..." he said as he handed her a packet of information, a tshirt, a bag, and a lanyard, "And you must be Severin!"
"We are indeed!" replied Severin, taking his own materials. "We were just noticing that the people in front of us had bright red hair like you. Are you 'Airbhrochs?"
"Believe it or not, we are indeed related to the 'Airbhroch family. It goes back a couple generations but yup my great grandparents are straight from Dahhod. I just recently found this out too and I love my hair so much." Josh replied, as if he had been waiting to tell someone this for weeks.
"Well we love our eyes," Severin smiled, "It's very nice to meet you. I'm glad we have at least... two people that we'll see this fall? Wasn't that girl that was just here your sister?"
"Indeed she was, you have a sharp eye! Although it's hard to miss our hair. The whole family's redheads! She's in your group- her name's Rachael, with two A's. Your OL leader is Seylah Renvasu and I can see her over there, where my sister and dad are standing. You're the first to get here. I hope I can chat with you later!"
With this he waved and they waved back, walking towards the sign which read "Seylah Renvasu" on a stake in the ground. She caught sight of them and waved and they hurried over. The only other people there were Rachael and her father, and when they caught sight of Moira and Severin they looked quite excited.
"Hi! I'm Rachael, and this is my dad Ezra. You must be the Lochgrens! My brother had heard that we'd be getting Jadali-Kiillra again and when he saw your names he knew you were the ones and made sure you got put with the group with mostly music majors."
Moira and Severin smiled at this and felt very honored that they had been talked about enough among faculty and students that they did their own sleuthing to get them situated with other musicians. They introduced themselves and then they all introduced themselves to Seylah and then all began talking about the instruments they played and where they were from.
"I'm a horn player like my brother. There's another redhead brother of ours here who plays trombone but he's a music minor and you'll only see him in band. His name's Isaiah."
As Rachael talked they couldn't help but notice that her eyes were a pure green, the color of emerald crystals in the sun. She had a soft smile and an oval face like that of Catins. Seylah was next to introduce herself. In a heavy Catin accent she spoke:
"My name is Seylah and I am originally from a city in Catarika called Tumira but I moved to Kiillaana when I was 9 and lived in Aildfror, Vetonia, until I was 15 and I moved to Sunway. I play violin in orchestra and hope to see some of you in it."
At this Rachael's eyebrows raised. "Did you say Sunway? My boyfriend is from Sunway!"
Seylah's eyes got wide. "Oh! You're dating Nathan Surcaston! He's a wonderful, wonderful young man. We went to school together and had class all the time."
Now it was Moira and Severin's turn to speak. "Wait a minute- did you say Nathan Surcaston? Why does that name sound so familiar... I know we just heard it somewhere...." It was Moira who made the connection first and enlightenment struck as she said "Oh Severin of course! He's one of the names on the basket of food that was left on our table as a welcome gift!"
"Ah, that sounds like exactly something he would do," said Rachael, smiling brightly, "He's always watching out for everyone and has this peace about him that fills up a room. It's like he glows with kindness. He too is a horn player and I must say I am very excited to be in band with him and my brother."
Moira and Severin were quite intrigued by this man now. Who was he? What did he look like? They looked at each other but didn't say anything yet, but the way Rachael and even Seylah were describing him made them wonder if he could possibly be a Terabikai. If he was, then he would be able to speak Keoen with them and so much more...
The hour went on and soon it was 8:30 and almost everyone had been sorted to their orientation leaders. There were 20 OL's in total, each with a group of roughly 10 students. When everything had settled down each group went to a different part of the grass that made up the central court of the dorms. In the center was a fountain with an abstract design of a globe with rings around it, with an area big enough for a few people to sit while the rest sat in the grass. Rachael's dad had left and it was just 12 of them (Joshua had come and joined their group until he had to be at the cafeteria organizing lunch) by the fountain. Wearing a skirt, Moira sat on the fountain bench next to Rachael, with Seylah and Joshua next to them.
They went around their circle and once again introduced themselves by saying their name, major, hometown, and an interesting fact. It was very informal and most people shyly looked around.
"Well I'll start. I'm Seylah and I'm your OL. I'm from Tumira, Catarika, but moved to Aildfror at 9 and Sunway at 15. I'm a sophomore here as a Music Ed major and I play the violin."
"I'm Rachael and I'm a Music Ed major. I play horn and I'm from South Kennywood. Something interesting about me is that my family breeds dogs and train them."
"I'm Moira and I'm from Jadali. I went to school in Taleah and chose to come here because there's a Jadali-Kiillra on the music faculty and I this college caught my eye, plus it was a change. I play the flute and I'm a performance major. Another interesting thing about me is that I found my first flute in a secondhand shop and bought it out of curiosity."
"The name's Carey and I'm from Pathreeah. I too am a music performance major and I play the oboe. Something interesting... Hmm... My best friend is 14 years old and both our families moved and ended up on the same street."
Severin recognized him as the rusty-haired boy that they saw earlier with the limping man and laughed as he realized that he had been thinking that some of these people they would come to know well. Here was one of them! Next to Carey was a tall girl named Georgetta who was a business major from here who liked rafting. Severin was next.
"I'm Severin and I'm also from Jadali. I am a music performance major on flute and percussion- you can't get much more different than that! Some interesting things about me are that I'm actually a sophomore and went to Attlefort Coastal University last year and Moira is my little sister."
The group oohed and ahhed and were very curious indeed about their dress and cool accents. Severin couldn't help but notice that a curly-haired boy with big, round eyes and a round face was a couple people away and kept staring between him and Moira, as if he wanted to say something but refrained out of shyness. He's have time to talk to him later and resolved to approach this boy at lunch. There was something oddly familiar about him...
"My name is Aurora and I'm from Rafi. I too am a music major and I play violin. Heads up Seylah, I'm Aury Estela's little sister! Something interesting is I love outer space."
The introductions kept coming. Two more people, Amy in econ and Rosie in business gave their intros and finally it was time for this young man that Severin couldn't get off his mind.
"My name is Aslan," he began in a very thick and odd accent that sounded like a mix of Keòen, Catin, and Binko, "I'm from Kile Point and I'm here because my older brother goes here ("Who is he?" "Declan, the trumpet player") and I really wanted to join him. I am also a music major and play the bassoon. Something interesting about me is that I really love to surf."
Joshua, though not in their group, decided to introduce himself anyway.
"I'm Joshua and I'm actually an OL but don't go until Thursday so I'm helping with all the registration details. I'm a junior majoring in animal medicine with a music minor and I play horn. Now get to work on your tour!"
Laughing, he ran off to the cafeteria to help with more details.
The tour of campus was very fun and certainly full of humor. They went through most of the buildings and Seylah was very good at keeping it all interesting ("This is a building I've never been in, so let's move on!"). When they got to the music building she had a lot to say and without going inside told them about how the classes were on the 2nd floor and how everything was fairly well-organized. Just as they were about to turn for another building a tall professor with chin-length blond hair ambled out the door and around the corner.
"That's Dr. Langley," whispered Seylah, "He's the percussion teacher and also does some advanced classes. He's great!"
They concluded their tour near where they started, at the cafeteria which was in the student center along with some games, the bookstore, and some other stores and shops. They waited quietly in line and then slowly made their way in. They were the 2nd group to arrive so they didn't have to wait long before entering and getting their choice of meals. Being pescatarian, Moira and Severin were a little worried about food but to their surprise and gratitude they offered lots of vegetarian foods. After grabbing what they wanted they made their way to a table in the back. As they sat down they caught Aslan's eye and waved him over. As he sat down, everything he had looked like he wanted to say came out.
"Oh I've been waiting to talk to you all morning! From the moment I saw you I knew you were pure Jadali Kiillra! I have tons of Jadali blood and speak Keoen!"
"You-... you do?" said Severin, his eyes wide.
" 'Ese, 'e tahre!" he replied.
Both of their jaws dropped. He was serious! Immediately they began to strike up conversation in their native tongue and he kept up no problem at all. Moira arose, holding her things, as she prepared to go back for something to drink.
"What's your crest?" asked Severin, in Keoen.
"My full name is Aslan Tilden Loch," he replied. The response was one he was not expecting. Moira dropped all of the things she was holding as her hands flew to her open mouth in shock and to stifle the scream that would surely have been let out as she loudly whispered "Osiel Iydan!" Severin spat out the water he had been drinking. Aslan looked taken aback but knew exactly why they were both looking at him with eyes as wide as saucers and their jaws to the floor. It was Severin who spoke first.
"You're.... you're of the... the Loch crest? The LOCH crest?? Does that mean you're-"
"Related to Mera Visi. Yes indeed!" Aslan knew exactly what he was going to say and, smiling, with Moira still staring at him speechless, finished his sentence for him. "I know what you're going to say next and yes I am related to Isli Loch AND Drakon Visai, though not as directly. Our common ancestor goes a couple centuries back but if you look at me you'll see that I have the green eyes found in his works."
Moira and Severin couldn't believe it. Here, of all places, they met a direct descendant of one of the most famous heroes in the history of Jadali! It was his ancestor's statue which stood majestically in the central square of Leena! Finally Moira collected her words and spoke.
"You're a Loch! I can't believe it! A Loch from Kiillaana who can speak Keoen! Tell me, does Herblore still run in your family?"
"Yes it does. My father is a pharmacist and although me and my brother are musicians we both have that healing power and a vast inborn knowledge of herbs both in medicine and in other uses."
Moira let out a squeal, a mix of dumbfoundedness and delight. The rest of lunch and in fact the rest of the day they spent talking about Jadali and crests and all manner of things. They talked to others from their group and others as well but always ended up talking to Aslan. By nightfall it was clear that they had become fast friends.
"Say, Aslan, where are you staying this school year? We have a house that can take up to two more people," Severin said, as the topic turned to housing.
"I really don't know, actually. For the moment I'm staying at my brother Declan's house north of here until I find a place. I know better than to stay in the dorms. I don't want to stay at his house forever because he's married an' all, and but until then..." His voice carried off as he realized just what Severin had said. He looked around as he thought and then quickly and excitedly said, "Can I live with you? We have a lot in common and I promise I'd be the perfect housemate!"
"That's exactly what we wanted you to ask!" said Moira cheerfully. "We have room for two more and you've proven to be the gem in the sand that we were hoping to find here. I felt strongly that we should go here, and it wasn't completely because Dr. Sorela was on the faculty. I have a feeling this was part of it."
"I would love to move in with you two! Where do you live?" Aslan replied, happy as if he had just heard the best news of his life.
"We live on the west side of Peace between Canton and Pillar. It's a small house with four bedrooms- two upstairs and two in the basement. It's got a recently added master bathroom so there's three bathrooms total and as far as we know it has plenty of space." Severin and Moira replied.
"That's really close! I'm set! Who do I call to move in?" he replied, excited.
"Call Jimmy Charles. He might be out of town since his daughter is having a baby but I'm sure he could get you a key. You can move in anytime you like!"
As Moira and Severin returned to their small home late that evening they couldn't believe the events that had taken place. Not only had they met several band students, they had also found themselves a third housemate and the beginning of a true friendship that would last forever. They couldn't wait for Wednesday to come upon them so that they could talk to Aslan as well as everyone else they'd met and show him to the house he would stay in for a long time to come.
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