Classes at the Academy are taught by Abecedarians, Masters, and Wizards. There is no attendance taken, no quizzes, no tests, and no homework like there would be in a non-magical school. What motivates students to attend and study is their love of knowledge or their fear of getting expelled from the Academy for failing to achieve their next rank on time.

Chad had now been at the Academy for a week. There were a couple things he had learned. First, Quartz had been right:other apprentices (and novices) had decided that he was a great target to practice their magic on. For the most part, he was able to avoid the worst of it, but not always. Second, the Academy was amazing, despite the people. There was so much magic to learn and all the resources needed to learn it. He was very excited about starting his studies at the beginning of the next quarter. Third, he was rather bad at the Landrean fighting art known as magical staff, but he intended to change that.

His first day of kitchen duty had started at 5:00 am and went through breakfast and lunch. Quartz and Jet had left in the late morning to go to classes. As Chad hadn't had much time to get to know anybody else, he continued working by himself until he was approached by Master Sanders at around 1:30.

“You're still here, lad? I thought you had left with your friends. It's a beautiful day and this is an Academy for magic; go out and learn some!” He gave Chad a hearty push on his back and sent him towards the door.

“Thank you sir, but I am not entirely sure where to go or what to do. I was just going to wait it out here until orientation at the beginning of next quarter.”

“Why didn't you say so? If you don't know where to go, you can always go to the library. On second thought, why don't you go to the dueling grounds? That was always my favorite place to be when I didn't have anywhere else to be. All you have to do to get there is....”

And that was how Chad had found himself at the dueling grounds for the first time. The dueling grounds were a large grassy field full of hills and protruding rocks. The field looked like it had never been touched by a plow, pick, or shovel. On one side of the grounds, the field merged with a wood. Coming out of the wood was a large stream that meandered to a pond on another side of the field.

When Chad arrived, there were fifteen or so pairs of people attacking each other with wooden staffs like the ones that Selena, Edward, and the Wizard had when he first met them. Most of the people were simply using the staffs and their feet to attack each other, though they were doing it very spectacularly. Their movements looked more like a chaotic and elegant dance than any sort of fighting Chad had seen back at the village.

One pair, however, was even more eye catching than the rest. The older of the two was wearing loose red clothes with a white belt and a white cloth covering his head and holding his long brown hair out of his face. The other was dressed all in orange with a strip of cloth tied around her bald head to keep the sweat out of her eyes. He had learned from Jet and Quartz that a solid colored outfit designated an abecedarian, and a color with white accents designated a master. However, it was not their clothing or rank that caught his eye, most of the combatants were abecedarians. What caught his eye was that they were using magic. Their fight was an elegant, physics defying, dance of destruction and distorted light. With every movement they made, the light around them would distort and something amazing would happen.

The master swung with his staff and a blade of flames came off of it. The 'darian swung her staff up to block which triggered a wall of earth came up to block the flames. She followed with a kick to his stomach. The kick was accompanied by a rock flying at his back. The master blocked the kick with his staff and the rock crashed into an invisible barrier behind him. This continued for quite some time until the master finally broke the 'darian's defense and stopped his staff just short of slamming into the side of her neck. By the time they had finished, everybody else had also decided a victor, in some cases more than once. The master seemed to give directions and they broke up into larger groups and started dueling two-on-two.

Chad sat down on a hill at the edge of the field and watched until dinner time. Over the course of the afternoon, groups of novices, apprentices, and abecedarians came and went, but the master and abecedarian that had caught his eye stayed and instructed the entire time.

He met up with Quartz for dinner. It turned out that Jet's work at the dorms often included standing in for the abecedarians when they went to dinner so that there would always be somebody present. At dinner, Chad asked Quartz about what he had been watching.

“That is magical staff,” replied Quartz. “Apparently whoever named it wasn't much of an original thinker. It is the official combat style of the Landrean mages, which is another way of saying 'anybody from the Academy.' Other countries use swords, axes, and other sharp weapons as the basis for their magical combat, but we like to think we are better than them because the staff is 'more elegant and better suited for a mage.' You can learn other styles of fighting here, but it is frowned upon by snobby mages, whether they're novices or wizards.”

After dinner, Chad and Quartz went to the library to meet with Jet. Apparently, the more serious students who wanted to push ahead, or had started falling behind, spent the daylight hours practicing and taking classes, then went to the library to study for a few hours while the sun no longer displayed its brilliance.

When they headed back to the dorms, Chad had spent a couple of hours feeling completely overwhelmed by the sheer amount of knowledge held within the library.

The next day, Chad started work at the kitchen early again. This time, however, Master Sanders sent him out after lunch preparations were done. Once he had eaten, he headed back out to the dueling grounds for another afternoon of watching duels. At least, that was his plan.

When he arrived, there was a group of apprentices practicing while the master and abecedarian instructed. After about 15 minutes of watching, Chad was hit on the head with a staff. He jumped up and whirled around to find the master and abecedarian standing behind him.

The master spoke first. “Only one day of watching allowed, apprentice. If you want to stick around, you have to participate.” He spoke in a clear, projected voice, as if he was addressing an entire class. “I am Master Blazer Henry Sanders,. I have a second cousin who has been at the Academy longer than I have. So, instead of having two Master Blazer Sanders, I just go by Master Henry. This is Abecedarian Shifter Julie Starling. And who are you, apprentice? Name, rank, and field of study!”

“Apprentice Chad Lawrenceson, not sure about a field of study, but I like plants.”

“Oh, an up and coming enchanter.” Said 'Darian Starling while scanning Chad from head to foot. Then, turning to Master Henry, she added, “What do think, Master, will he make a good staffer? He looks like he has the muscle for it.”

“Indeed he does, but muscle is only part of what is needed, and we don't even know if he wants to try,” replied Master Henry, before turning back to Chad. “Well, what do you think Lawrenceson, do you want to give it a try?”

“Yes, please....”

“Actually, I have one more question for you. All novices and apprentices are required to learn how to defend themselves. As I have never seen you before, what style have you been studying until now? Don't worry, I won't tell your instructor that you have defected.”

“I just came to the Academy two days ago under unusual circumstances. So, I have not learned any sort of fighting.”

“Good, then no habits that we need to change. Come, let us begin.”

They headed to where the other apprentices were practicing, and Chad was given a staff that was slightly taller than himself. 'Darian Starling took him a little bit away from the others. and showed him some basic forms to practice, then went back to help instruct the others. Chad spent a little over an hour practicing by himself, with one of the instructors coming over occasionally to see how he was getting along. He was called back over to the main group when a group of novices had arrived. He was paired up with a boy who looked to be about sixteen, and Chad was severely beaten in every bout. That was when he started to have trouble with the other students. When the novices discovered that they could beat an apprentice, they started picking on him whenever the instructors weren't looking.

Chad spent the rest of his afternoon in a similar manner: practicing by himself most of the time, but joining in when there were students near his level, or at least close enough to it that he wasn't completely overwhelmed.

That night passed in the same manner as the previous, but with Jet joining Chad and Quartz for dinner this time. The day after also passed in the same manner: kitchen duty, lunch, magical staff practice, dinner, then library. This would become Chad's standard routine until the beginning of the next quarter.

On the fourth day since his arrival at the Academy, Chad finally encountered a member of the expedition party that had picked him up. He was practicing magical staff by himself again when he noticed that 'Darian Starling had started a magical duel with another abecedarian. To his surprise, the other abecedarian was Edward Smith. The duel was different from any of the previous duals he had witnessed. The other mages he had seen participate in a magical duel had constantly used magic to attack their opponent. 'Darian Smith, however, only used magic to defend the magical attacks of 'Darian Starling while he focused on attacking purely with his staff. His defense was impenetrable and, for the first time, Chad witnessed 'Darian Starling lose to someone besides Master Henry.

When the duel was over, 'Darian Smith noticed Chad watching and called out to him. “Chad, it is good to see you again. I didn't expect you to find your way here until the beginning of next quarter. By the way, I believe 'Darian Yellowborn has been looking for you. I guess she never thought to check out here. You should probably go see her. She usually eats lunch and dinner in the healer wing of the tower.”

“Okay, I will,” replied Chad. “You were awesome! I didn't know that you could fight, and I didn't think any other abecedarian could beat 'Darian Starling.”

“She used to think the same thing, and now she is bald. Well, I have to be going now. See you later. Thank you Master Henry. Julie, until next time.” Chuckling to himself 'Darian Smith left.

Chad turned to 'Daring Starling. “What was that about you being bald?”

“Well, we both got to the point where we were beating all of our peers. When Master Henry suggested that we spar, we were so confident in our skills that we made a bet that the loser would shave their head. I lost and had to shave my head. I decided I liked it, so I have had a bald head since. Only after I had shaved my head did I discover that Edward had been watching my practices beforehand and had planned out a strategy to beat me. I got angry and convinced him, which was not a particularly easy task, that if I ever beat him he will shave off that nest of his. So, now whenever we have the time, we spar. I haven't beaten him yet.”

Chad left the training grounds a little earlier than normal that day to try and find Selena before dinner. He found her alone in the common room of the healer wing, reading a book in the corner.

When Selena saw him, she smiled and came over to him. “Chad, I have been looking for you. What are you doing here?”

“I ran into 'Darian Smith at the dueling grounds and he said that you had been looking for me. So I came to find you.”

“I am glad you did. I felt terrible leaving you alone like we did. I am assuming everything worked out. How have you been? Would you like to join me for dinner? I can try to answer any questions you have about the last couple of days. There isn't that much here but I am sure I can come up with something”

“Actually, my friends are expecting me for dinner.”

Selena's smile disappeared for a brief moment and she looked sad. Her smile quickly reappeared and she said, “That's great! I am glad you made friends. I guess I will see you around then.”

“Why don't you join us? I am sure that my friends won't mind.”

“Are you sure? I don't want to make things awkward .”

“Yes, and I can tell you how I have been on the way there.”

Chad told Selena about his week as they walked to the commons. When Chad and Selena finally found Jet and Quartz, there were exclamations all around.

“Chad, what are you doing with Selena Yellowborn?!” - Jet

“Your friends are the Millers?!” - Selena

“Chad, how could you?!” - Quartz