The CHARMing Five

School was going well for Moira and Severin. It has been nearly a month since their first day and the days had now grown into weeks. Severin had become very good friends with Nathan Surcaston and spent much of his time with him doing random acts of kindness to everyone they could. Moira had become fast friends with the whole oboe section, especially Molly, Carey, and Winterwood. She also had become quite popular among the flute studio due to her outgoing and friendly nature.

As the members of the various major ensembles had become set in stone it was now time for the chamber groups to begin forming. People all over the halls were discussing groups they would like to do. Severin had already found himself as part of a woodwind quintet with Nathan, Ben, Trey, and Armando and was enjoying being coached by Dr. Kye. Moira loved quintet music and was quite excited to start thinking about forming one. Aslan had already agreed to play bassoon whenever she got the people together to play.

"Would you want to be in a woodwind quintet?" Moira asked Carey as they sat in biology. They had recently discovered that they had somehow both signed up for this class in between theory and music 101 and had become very good friends within a single class period. They now always sat together right in the front row near the door so they could run out and hurry back to the music building.

"That would be awesome! I've been thinking about it myself. Y'think we can round up five freshmen?" he replied, his eyes wide with excitement.

"I hope so," said Moira. "Aslan said he'd play bassoon if I got a group together. I'm sure there's enough freshmen to do it. Are you in?"

"I'm in! In like... winnnn-sauce..." he replied, thinking for a minute on a word that started with 'in' before giving up, making Moira giggle. "I guess you're the one organizing this," he went on. "Who do you want to coach us?"

"I was hoping Dr. Sorela could coach us," she replied with a shy smile.

"Well I don't see why he couldn't. He'd probably... consider it a high honor," he said, imitating Dr. Sorela's voice with amazing accuracy. "Who do you know who's a freshman that we could possibly round up for horn and clarinet?" he asked.

"I was thinking we could get Ravosilu to be our horn player. He's probably in a brass quintet or something by now but it wouldn't hurt to ask. Besides, if he was in it with us and we had Dr. Sorela as our coach he'd be fine speaking Catin."

Carey laughed in agreement before he suddenly interjected. "Wait! I know who we can get to play clarinet! Remember in theory the other day when Hsan Ba was talking about wanting to play regular clarinet once in a while? I bet he'd love to do this! Here- I'll text him right now!"

Moira tried to pay attention to the lecture while frantically writing down names on her notebook while Carey discreetly texted Hsan Ba with his phone awkwardly peeking out from under his textbook.

"Oh yeah! I forgot about Sean!" Moira exclaimed as she wrote down the composition of a sugar molecule next to Carey's name. "...Wait... what do you mean when you say 'regular clarinet?'"

"He plays bass clarinet in band, remember?" he said without looking up from his phone which had lit up already. "By the way he says he'd love to play clarinet for us," he added without missing a beat.

"Yay! That's 4 out of 5! I guess we can talk to Ravo before music 101," Moira thought out loud as she wrote Hsan Ba next to her own name. "How long have you known Sean?" she asked Carey.

"Oh he went to Pathreeah West High School with me all 4 years there. We ended up doing a lot of musical stuff together. He's straight from the Tellish quarters, if it wasn't obvious from his name. If you see any Tellish person in band you can pretty safely assume they're from Pathreeah," he said laughing.

"Really? Like who?" she asked, amused.

"Um... well, I went to school with Pierce, y'know, the horn player..."

"Oh yeah! He's my neighbor!" Moira exclaimed smiling.

"Oh really?! Awesome! Then you know Hugo too. They're best friends and I know them both well." He thought for a moment before speaking again. "Oh yeah! You know Rebecca, the trumpet player? The girl with blonde hair?"

Moira just looked at him confused.

"...The girl... with... no thumbs?" he added suggestively.

"Oh! Yeah, I know who you're talking about! She's hilarious!"

"Hehe. Her name is Rebecca and she's from Pathreeah too. She was a senior when I was a freshman. I know a lot of her younger brothers and sisters though. Almost all of them sing, if not play some sort of instrument... But anyway, see? All Tellish, all from Pathreeah!"

They continued discussing things and when they were dismissed from class they literally ran all the way to the music building and up the stairs where they caught Ravosilu Kribana just as he was walking through the door. Carey and Moira both ran up to him on either side and started talking to him excitedly.

"Ravo! Ravo do you want to be in our quintet?"
"We need a horn player, Ravo! Will you join us?"

He stopped and looked around, confused.

"N'za te tu hosa?" he asked, bewildered. "Oh, sorry! Ah... What is... is you want of me?"

Now that they had his attention, Moira mustered up the best Catin she could muster and said, slowly, "Kiki hosa tu... para... en... ermmm... woodwind quintet?"

Her slight grasp on Catin seemed to be good enough for Ravosilu to understand, for his eyes lit up and a wide smile came to his face. Thought her Catin wasn't as smooth as lots of the bilingual music students and was really a mix of languages he knew exactly what she wanted.

"Are you... asking me to be... nia en woodwind quintet with tutu?" he asked slowly, hoping every word he said was correct.

"Yes!" said Carey and Moira together, happily.

"Aiii, I'll do it!" he said happily. He then grabbed Fiara, who had just walked in, by the arm and began speaking fast Catin to her. She looked at him and nodded her head a few times before turning to Carey and Moira smiling.

"He says he hopes you're asking him to do a woodwind quintet," she said, Ravosilu smiling and nodding behind her, "He told me he's been looking for a quintet to be in since school started for it's one of his favorite things to do. Also, he wants me to let you know that woodwind quintet is his favorite and that he doesn't like brass quintet so much. Is this what you're asking?"

"Hooray!" they both shouted. "Yes it is! If he's in then our quintet is complete!"

Fiara turned around and relayed all of this to Ravo in flawless Catin. He asked her one more thing so she turned again to Carey and Moira who were setting their bags down on desks. "He wants to know who is coaching, and if it will be someone who speaks Catin as he's still not quite comfortable with the Kevian language.

"Don't worry," Moira said, looking at Ravo in his dark brown eyes, "Dr. Sorela will be our coach."

Ravo understood this and smiled widely. He wrote down his available times on a piece of paper and handed it to Moira. "It looks like you got yourself a quintet!" he said, smiling, confidently trying out phrases he had learned from his uncle.

"Isvari ni!" Moira replied, smiling at him. Ravo's mouth opened in pleasant surprise at Moira's good use of Catin and then took a seat nearby.

Two days later, Moira, Hsan, Carey, Ravo, and Aslan were all sitting in a classroom, Dr. Sorela standing tall and facing them with a smile on his face and love in his eyes. They had just finished reading through a couple of pieces that seemed fun and exciting to play and were packing up. All of them were pleased with how well they already blended together and really clicked. Moira had taken upon herself the leadership position and had listened to all of the pieces carefully.

"Now I want everyone to think about which of these pieces you really like so we can vote on what to play and everything" Moira said as they quietly discussed their favorites. Dr. Sorela gave them all a smile and a wave goodbye as he glided out the door and back to his office for Molly's lesson.

"We totally need a name for ourselves!" Hsan said, as soon as the door was again closed. The other four all agreed.

"How about an anagram of our names," suggested Carey.

"That's a great idea!" said Moira and Aslan together.

"What's an anagram?" asked Ravo.

Using his translator, Moira and Carey explained it to him. "Oo! That's a great idea!" Ravo exclaimed once he realizes what they were doing.

Carey walked to the board. "First, let's see if the first letters of our names spell anything. Sean, do you want your name to start with H or X... or S?"

"H, I guess," he replied, already a step ahead of Carey. "Cuz... if you spell it with H, then you can spell CHARM."

They all froze as the realization that their names really did spell out a word came upon them.

"That's awesome!" said Moira.

"It could spell MARCH too, I suppose," Sean went on, "but personally I find us all quite charming!"

Just like that, as quick as the idea had come to them, the CHARMing quintet was born along with the means of their introduction. They decided to have Moira introduce the four boys by letter, them playing a tuning A in response. When it got to Moira's turn, Carey or Sean would stand up and introduce her. They planned a couple short skits to present as a way to break the ice for the audience. Suddenly they couldn't wait to perform!

The Ice Queen

The next morning was upon them and Moira and Severin got ready as usual. They wondered what kind of night everyone in the dorms had and were both secretly grateful to have avoided that part. While Moira was very social she knew enough from Severin's college experience that dorms were not fun in the slightest. Severin was less social, having inherited much of his mother's qualities, and was deeply grateful to have avoided the lonely, awkward experience a second time. Plus, he was worried that something might happen and that he would have a lot of explaining to do which he always sought to avoid. As he pulled on his shirt he couldn't help but wonder what Aslan would think when he inevitably found out...

"Are you ready?" asked Moira as she peeked around the corner, breaking his train of thoughts.

"Yeah let me find my cloak pin and I'll be ready to go." he replied, furrowing his brow as he tried to dispel his thoughts from coming back and focus instead on the upcoming events.

They were to go straight to the Student Center that morning for a breakfast and to receive their ID cards and other useful information. Their house was fairly close to the SC and they arrived almost before anyone else and upon entering the ballroom grabbed name badges from the center of their round table, writing their names on them. Since there were hardly any other people there besides a handful of parents and people who opted out of staying in the dorms Moira decided to make intricate doodles on her nametag to make it prettier before she peeled the backing away and stuck it to her shirt. Severin smiled at her creativity and decided to impose his calligraphy skills on his own nametag, making it look as if it were written by an ink quill and lifted from an old book. By the time he finished more students were beginning to pour into the room and luckily Aslan was ahead of the crowd and easily spotted.

"Hi! I was hoping you two would be here early," he said as he quickly trotted over to them and had a seat. He was wearing a blue sweatshirt which, Moira noticed, only increased the intensity of his large, round blue eyes. She blushed as he sat next to her and the three of them began talking in Keoen, discussing their evenings and reflecting on the day prior.

Finally the place was full of the young college students and the droning buzz was so loud that the three of them had to practically shout. They had since been joined by Aurora Fraley, the girl with the older sister that knew Seylah, and Carey N., the boy with the limping dad they had seen while in line to register. They were chatting among themselves when Aurora noticed a tall, thin boy with straight brown hair parted down the middle enter, craning his neck as if looking for someone. She got up and ran over to him and they disappeared into the crowd, not to be seen again until much later. Now that Carey had lost the girl he was talking to, he turned to Moira, Severin, and Aslan and engaged them in conversation. They were interrupted when Josh and Seylah joined their table, happy to talk to some music folk.

Once everyone was seated an array of breakfast food was rolled in on metal carts and each table was excused to get a bite to eat. Severin slinked his way through the crowd and quietly got his food, hardly looking anywhere but the floor. Moira was close behind him, surveying the tables of food as if examining their neatness and presentation, before catching Severin's eye and putting some fruit and bread on her plate. They quickly returned to the table and before long all of them were in conversation again. After a time, the conversation turned to faculty and students.

"So what are the professors like?" asked Carey.

"Hmmmm... That depends entirely on who the teacher is!" replied Josh cheerfully, his flaming red hair so bright it looked like it could outshine the room. "Who would you like to know about?"

"I want to know who teaches the first year classes. I mean, I know several already but I want to know from a student and not from my dad."

"Wait a minute Carey... Who is your dad?" interjected Seylah.

"Oh! My dad is Dr. Nihael. He subs for Sorela occasionally and works in the KSB Office as the auditions manager. He's the 2nd obby- ...I mean, oboe. Did I say Obby out loud? Sheesh, I need more sleep!"

"Holy crap are you for reals?!" said Josh, almost coughing on his orange juice. "I love that guy! He subbed for our history class when Dr. Sorela was out. You're his son! I can't believe it! That's so awesome!!"

Carey smiled modestly and nodded proudly. "He is indeed. I'm sort of following in his footsteps so I might see you in a quintet or something"

"That's so awesome!" Josh replied. Leaning in, whether for dramatic effect or as an effort to keep his voice from carrying Moira was unsure, he went on.

"Ok, now here's the scoop on the teachers. Theory 1 is being taught by Kye and Kribana again. Both are excellent so it really doesn't matter who you take it from. They're also both doing ear training again. It's kind of their specialty. I think Dr. Tao is also teaching ear training and I heard somewhere that our new violin teacher will be doing theory also. The intro to music class is being taught, as it has for billions of years, by Dr. Langley. He's way nice. And Severin since you're a sophomore I assume you've taken all those?"

"Yes I have indeed. I'll be going into the 2nd year stuff."

"Ok you have two options for theory. You could take it from Langley or Lay, and both are amazing since they're keyboardists. Ear training you have Tao or Hieldin Sorela. They actually got her to teach that class finally!"

Severin's eyebrows raised as he heard a very Keoen name. "Hieldin Sorela?"

"Oh yeah, she's Dr. Sorela's wife! When she teaches she goes by both of her last names to avoid confusion. She has taught part time here for years as a choir teacher and accompanist and after we lost Burke from retirement she agreed to fill his place. Hopefully she does a better job. Heh..."

At this news Severin became very interested and wondered what sort of a person she was. He'd heard things about her obviously since Dr. Sorela was so famous in Jadali and knew that they visited every summer, but didn't make the connection that she would also be a teacher here. At that moment he felt like he'd won the lottery- a school with TWO Keòen-speaking music teachers from Jadali, a new friend fluent in Keòen, and a lovely small house that would soon be getting another housemate.

"I'll have to consider that! ...When do I get to take classes from Dr. Sorela?"

"Ah! He teaches the first two music history classes. You can start them as soon as this coming spring if you'd like. I'm sure you're dying to meet him!"

"Yes I kind of am, actually. I'm very excited!"

The conversation turned once more and soon someone stepped on the stage that almost everyone had overlooked and began to speak into a microphone. Seylah and Josh left to go up front with all the other OL's and the chatter began to die down. After a long and pretty boring speech they were excused by majors to receive their ID cards and then to go to the computer lab downstairs and register for classes. As the music majors were excused Moira and Severin looked around to see who else was around. She immediately noticed Rachael by her bright red hair talking to Aurora and a couple other people. On her way out from getting her picture taken she looked back and noticed a short and filled out girl with snowy white hair and very pale, fair skin- her pale blue eyes hidden behind a dark frame. She had on bright red lipstick and was chatting eagerly with a shy-looking Catin boy who was apparently having trouble with the language. She overheard her say the word "flute" and as she and Severin left the room she waited for her.

"Hi! I overheard you talking about the flute!" said Moira, cheerfully. The snowy girl stopped and looked at her, smiling. Up close, Moira could tell that she couldn't see very well because her lenses were very thick and her eyes were all over the place.

"Why yes! I do play flute! Do you as well?" she replied, stepping closer to get a better look at Moira.

"I do! I have good ears and just picked that right out. What's your name?" Moira asked, as they began walking side by side towards the stairs.

"My name is Fiara May. I'm from here and have been playing flute for as long as I can remember. Would you mind helping me down these stairs? I'm as blind as a bat!"

"Certainly," said Moira, holding her arm as they slowly walked down, noticing that Fiara was wearing ice-blue jeweled earrings and had her hair braided back nicely, the same way her own mother did her hair on occasion...

"You have an accent from far away," said Fiara lightly, "are you from Jadali?"

"I am indeed! How did you know?"

"Oh I've heard some people on the tv and they had that accent so I asked my mum," she replied with an air of mystery in her voice. "Is it true that you have two colored eyes?"

"Yes indeed it is, look!" Moira stopped and held her eyes close to Fiara's so that she could see them.

"I see it! That's excellent!"

They continued on, Severin ahead talking to Aslan, when Fiara suddenly continued.

"I hear people speaking in Keòen. Are there more of you?"

"Oh yes, my brother is here too. He also plays flute and also percussion. His name is Severin. My name is Moira, by the way. We managed to find someone here that also speaks Keòen although he's not from Jadali. We're hoping he moves in with us."

"Amazing! I love people from afar! I look forward to playing music with all of you."

They were almost to the computer lab when Fiara suddenly spoke again, as if she felt her looks needed explaining.

"My friends call me the Ice Queen," she said with a mysterious grin. "I'm half Catin but have no pigment in my skin so nobody would know. It's like all the color melted out of me. I'm clear, like an icicle in a mystical ice cave."

"Oh! That's very nice," said Moira, surprised. She was delighted by this young girl and could hardly contain the excitement she had for being in a section with her.

They chatted the whole time they were in the computer lab, stopping only to listen for instructions. Fiara needed some help reading the small print but was able to register all right for class. They made sure they took a class together and ended up taking everything together. As they were leaving, Moira saw the Catin boy again and turned to Fiara.

"Who is that Catin boy you were talking to earlier?"

"Oh he is an international student from Catarika. He's Dr. Kribana's nephew. His Kevian is decent but he doesn't have a full grasp on it yet. I was speaking to him in Catin helping him learn some terms. I'm sure he'll be speaking all right when school starts. His name is Ravosilu Kribana and I hear he's a quite gifted horn player."

With that they exchanged contact information and parted ways, as the orientation session had come to a close. Moira and Severin stayed behind with Aslan, preparing to call Mr. Charles and sign Aslan onto the rent. They were beyond excited for school and to room with someone so similar to them. As they headed for the parking lot they shared their thoughts and speculations for the year as the shapes of Aslan's brother and sister in law came into view.