Theo wasn’t used to getting up this early. Normally he’d lay in his bed, and just relax. He’d gotten into the habit of meditating too, so that was how most of his mornings went by. But today, the first day of his proper schooling at the College of Song, he had to be up bright and early (he’d also have to be up this early from now on to get to the morning classes). A light breakfast of chewy, day-old bread with a little butter and some oranges, and he was ready to go.

Leaving his shed, he detoured through the Commerce District, visiting the fishmongers to pick up some smoked salmon to go with more bread and oranges for lunch. He waved to the guards at the gate to the inner ring, and they let him through, pre-occupied with looking over at something inside (which they were unfortunately not allowed to go see because they had to guard the gate, but that didn’t mean they were unable to mentally check out and imagine what was going on to cause the ruckus).

Actually, it seemed that today, the gates were open and everyone was being let through. It was odd, but there were lots of families and parents holding the hands of children as they walked through the gates and nodded happily at the guards as they gawked at the grandiose mansions of the Housing District. A smile tugged on Theo’s ears, as he remembered doing the same thing the first time he’d walked through those gates a few months ago.

Theo strained his ears, and found that he could hear lots of people making noise. Every now and then, a fireball would blast into the sky and pop, followed by a crescendo of cheering. There was moment of internal struggle as to whether or not he should investigate that sound, but eventually he decided that it wouldn’t do to be late to his first day.

Theo sighed, hoping that Sparrow would let him know what was so exciting that was going on. He started walking towards the College District, and found that a lot of those families were following the same route as him (if a bit more leisurely in their pace), and was surprised when the noise got louder and louder as he got closer and closer. In fact, the steady trickle of families extended further along the path that he was intending to take.

When he finally arrived in between the College of Spells and the College of Prayer (after listening to an endless choir of excited chatter, which admittedly would have made it easy to find his way to the College District were he not familiar), Theo found that the park was transformed compared to how it was just yesterday. It seemed that he wouldn’t have to ask Sparrow about what’s going on after all.

In retrospect, Theo could understand how the first day of schooling at the Four Colleges could be an occasion to celebrate, especially considering how the Founders of the Colleges and Union City as a whole were the same four people. Then again, he would be the first to admit that he never received the proper kind of schooling to actually teach these things.

It was filled with a throng of people, milling around food stalls and entertainers, and there were some hugging and seeing off individuals as they walked towards the courtyards of each College (presumably, proud families of every stripe seeing off students on their first day).

Theo felt a little hollow, but buried the feeling in that little corner of his heart (where all the lonely nights and lost days lived). Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself to walk through the crowds, and get to the courtyard of the College of Song.

He was stopped by a gentle hand on his shoulder. Looking to his right side (and slightly down), he found Sparrow standing there, smiling up at him.

“Ready for your first day?” They asked. He nodded, smiling back. Sparrow jumped a little, slinging their arm fully around his shoulders (and making him stoop a little).

“Well, like I always say, it’s not an orientation without some fun!” Said Sparrow, for the first time ever. Leading him almost by the neck, Sparrow pulled Theo towards the mess of people, occasionally grabbing something from a stall and shoving it in his mouth.

This way, Theo tried a lot of sweets (that honestly melted together in his head past a certain point), and some meat fried in a cornmeal batter. On a stick. He rationally understood that the purpose of the stick was to keep his hands clean, but he was used to eating with his hands, and the idea of just having a random stick lying around was quite odd to him. He fiddled with it, moving it around his hands as they moved past the person playing the according from yesterday, who had gathered a small crowd and a handful of dancers, all laughing and clapping along to the music.

“What’s in the bag anyway?” Sparrow asked, as they meandered through, handing Theo a small pastry filled with custard. He paused, making sure to respond before eating it (so he had some time to savour the taste).

“Lunch.” And with that, Theo shoved the pastry in his mouth, and enjoyed the flaky crunch, coupled with the gentle creaminess of the custard filling. It took him a moment to realise that Sparrow’s arm was no longer wrapped around him, and looking over his shoulder Theo saw them almost frozen, a step or two back. He swallowed the rest of the pastry.

Sparrow ran to catch up. “So, no books or paper or writing implements?” It was now Theo’s turn to pause. He hadn’t considered the need for that at all. Sparrow jumped the final bit of distance, and wrapped their arm around his shoulders once again.

“No, didn’t think I’d need any of that. Will I?” Theo asked. His shoulders tensed, and he noticed that they tensed up too. The background anxiety of his life started to spike, and he hoped that this wouldn’t be a big deal.

“Most people tend to like taking notes, and especially for the General Knowledge class. Writing and reading are skills expected of our students. Please tell me you can read.” Sparrow replied, a slight pleading tone in his voice (like someone who found out their home was burgled, but there was still a chance that the important stuff was still there).

“I can read…” Sparrow relaxed their shoulders, until Theo continued, at which point they tensed right back to where they were previously. “But I’m not that good at it. I don’t really have to, but I think I can still read letters.” Sparrow looked like they just swallowed something badly cooked but they didn’t want to offend the chef.

“Okay, that’s something to mention to Thelonious then. That should be fine…but if I were you I’d focus on understanding Tome of Memories, at least to the second step.” Sparrow cautioned, and Theo filed that away for reference later.

They had walked through all the stalls and fun in the park at this point, and moved towards the actual College of Song. It was still early enough that the school day hadn’t officially started, but most of the students were milling around.

Theo hadn’t seen the courtyard this packed before, but considering what he had heard before about classes being off for the past few months, that made sense. It still wasn’t packed tight, like blades of grass in a field, but still enough that the entire courtyard was occupied, like the stars in the sky.

Sparrow finally disengaged their arm from his shoulders, as they approached a group of people that looked older than most students, and without much similarity between them. He wondered whose family they were. Sparrow hailed them, and they all nodded in response (not simultaneously, but more of an uncoordinated wave breaking on rocks and splashing everywhere).

“Everyone, this is Theo, my apprentice.” A murmured round of “Hi Theo”s rang out, and Theo found himself observing them. It was a ragtag bunch, but he spotted Maria in the middle. A thought occurred to him.

“You’re all the staff, aren’t you?” It was rhetorical more than anything, but Theo still received a hearty laugh as a response from one man, a snort from a woman, and a few light chuckles. He took a moment to understand who his (probable) teachers would be, looking at them starting from his left.

There was a woman with grey hair worn in a tight bun, and a pair of spectacles hung on her nose. She looked unimpressed, with the haughty kind of look that Theo imagined the worst kinds of nobles would sport. She wore a sweeping robe, pure black that went down to her feet. He couldn’t imagine how difficult it would be to walk around in that (or to keep it anywhere close to clean).

Next to her stood a man that Theo understood instinctively was Thelonious, even though they had never met. He looked like the kind of person to be utterly obsessed and passionate about some niche, mundane topic or hobby. Tall and lanky (lankier than he was, even before he started training with Sparrow and became fitter), they had a permanent bend in their neck, as if they had to constantly stoop to avoid hitting their head. They wore a plain white top and brown pants with a belt, something almost as simple as what Theo was wearing (even though he had picked out his best-looking clothes to make a good impression, and they didn’t seem to put much thought into their clothing).

In the middle, between “Thelonious” and Maria, stood a woman that was hard to keep your eyes on. Theo felt like he was trying to look at something that wasn’t there, or in the background. Their clothes likewise seemed to be so plain as to be unnoticeably uninteresting, melting camouflage in a way that felt like it could work regardless if she was in the middle of a crowd or three days deep into the woods. Her eyes on the other hand, were wide open and watching his every move. It almost felt like they saw everything around them.

“Seems that your project this time is attentive, eh? Picked Tiff out straight away.” The man to the right of Maria joked, and the wide-eyed woman glanced in his direction for a moment before looking away in disinterest, and re-focusing on Theo. This was the one with the hearty laugh. Frankly, he was not the kind of person Theo expected to be teaching at a bard school. Balding, middle-aged, with the kind of belly you get from drinking too much in a pub too often, he looked like he belonged more behind the counter of a stall in the Commerce District than he did here. But even so, there was something undeniably interesting about him. He held out his hand, and before Theo could even register what was going on, he was shaking it. “I’m Frederick, but you can call me Fred. Sparrow’s been telling us all about you.”

Theo tried not to blush, or freeze, but his success was like trying to stop ice melting in the midday sun. The woman on the end, next to Fred rolled her eyes, and lightly punched him. Lightly, meaning she clearly held back and tried to be gentle, but Fred still stumbled and almost fell over. He flashed her a slightly unsteady grin, which she ignored, grunting. She was the one who had snorted earlier. Even with all the restraint she had exercised, Theo could feel the power held in her frame. Which, to be fair, didn’t look all that impressive until you took into account the slight wisps of glittering mana constantly rising from the surface. She was fit, but lean, and Theo had a feeling she was very efficient and effective with her strength, the same way a katana can be wielded with less effort than a great sword, but produce a similar effect.

“Yes, these are going to be your teachers. More importantly, these are my friends, and the best bards in this city.” Sparrow said, ignoring Fred’s interjection. They all reacted to that, the uptight matronly woman rolling her eyes, Thelonious smiled with gentle eyes, the wide-eyed woman (Theo wasn’t sure if Tiff would be an appropriate nickname to call a teacher) let a slightly feral grin creep onto her face for a moment, Maria looked like she wanted to hit Sparrow, Fred (Theo had less hesitation when Fred himself told him it was okay) had a captivating smile, and the powerful woman beamed.

“From left to right, we have Eleanor, Thelonious, Tiffany, you know Maria already, Fred, and Sasha.” Theo was very happy that he had guessed Thelonious’ identity corrected.

“It’s lovely to meet you all.” Theo greeted, and it looked like they were curious, but holding back any questions they had (even if they threatened to spill out of eyes and ears and anywhere else they weren’t actively keeping shut). Before any of them could indulge in that instinct, Sparrow continued.

“Now, you’re going to have a lot of classes to get to know each other, but I thought I’d introduce everyone before things really kicked off.” Sparrow said, as they turned to look directly at Maria.

“Speaking of, isn’t it about time we officially started the school year?”