And just like that, Csendez spent the rest of the night cleaning her apartment and giving it a small touch of life. Every object was carefully placed. Although she owned very few belongings, the room no longer felt empty.
On a small table beside the sofa lay several sheets of paper. From time to time, Csendez wrote down things she wanted to add to her apartment.
I need a lot of things...
A small mirror...
A container for different feather pens...
New notebooks...
A stand for drawing...
If possible, a small plant...
A small basket for my stone collection...
A magnetic blackboard for my schedule...
The books we need for school will probably be provided by the teachers.
My drawing wall is too visible... Maybe I should move it into my bedroom...
The curtains no longer covered the window. In the distance, the forest was already illuminated by the rising sun.
It was early morning.
Csendez changed back into her uniform before stepping onto the balcony. She quietly enjoyed the fresh air and the peaceful scenery.
I need more everyday clothes... and maybe...
Her thoughts drifted from one subject to another, just as her eyes wandered across the landscape. She looked at the sky, then at the sun, the nearby trees, the dormitory gardens below, back toward her balcony, and finally inside her room.
She simply observed everything.
I am really free now.
Without that annoying family...
Without...
This really is a new beginning.
And I won't ruin it.
I will live a long and happy life.
Time passed quickly. Eventually, Csendez realized it was already time for breakfast.
As she put on her shoes, a memory suddenly returned.
Only then did she realize she had forgotten something.
She opened her Koutiul's interface and searched through its different functions. After a few moments, she found the communication feature, the class group Uituba had mentioned, and finally her friends list.
It was empty. So she continued searching until she found the pending friend requests.
Unexpectedly, there were several. She looked at them briefly, accepted only Uituba's request, then closed the window.
It's a little late... But it doesn't matter.
She left the apartment.
On her way downstairs, she didn't meet anyone.
Since she wasn't particularly hungry, she headed toward the common room instead. It was their agreed meeting place anyway.
A few students were already sitting on the sofas, quietly talking or reading, but she didn't recognize any of them.
Csendez chose a chair farther away, sat down, took a book from her inventory, and quietly began reading while she waited.
A phoenix doesn't need to eat much.
One meal each week is enough.
But elves… I don't know.
For nearly an hour she remained there.
Occasionally she stopped reading, not because she was distracted, but because she preferred observing the students around her.
Watching people had always been one of her hobbies.
For most of her life, it had been one of the few ways to escape boredom.
Just as she finished another chapter, her ring flashed.
[Csendez, you have a message from Uituba.]
"Okay. Thank you, Chirip."
A small message window appeared before her.
{Good morning, Csendez.}
{Where are you? I'm upstairs and about to leave my apartment.}
"How do I reply?"
[There is a keyboard with all the letters. Use it to write your answer.]
Csendez typed her reply.
{I'm in the common room. I'm waiting for you.}
A response arrived almost immediately.
{I'll be there in a moment.}
Csendez closed the conversation, put the book back into her inventory, and waited.
In my opinion, this inventory is still the best feature of the system.
Uituba appeared only a short time later, and together they left the common room and walked outside.
"Where are we meeting with our classmates?"
"You really didn't read any messages from the group? We decided to meet in our classroom."
"It was a good choice."
"Right? It was my idea! Some of them wanted to meet in a secret place or inside someone's dormitory room... idiots. It took me so much time to convince everyone, and you didn't even witness my battle. You should read the group chat and admire my impeccable writing skills."
With a proud posture and an expression clearly asking for praise, Uituba looked at Csendez.
She is really good at this.
I need to learn from her.
"You are amazing. I'll try to read everything, but I can't promise."
Uituba laughed before changing the subject back to books. The two girls walked through the forest toward the Academy building. They passed several other students on the way, but nothing memorable happened.
Soon they reached the classroom. Both girls naturally became more serious before entering. Inside, many students had already arrived. All of them were their classmates, although the class was not yet complete.
I don't see Tenin or Fahim.
They must still be on that ship... or maybe they simply haven't arrived yet.
But almost everyone else is here.
Impressive. Uituba, you've earned my respect.
"Hello, everyone! I'm Uituba, the one who suggested this meeting."
While she introduced herself, Csendez quietly walked toward a seat near one corner of the room and sat down.
"From what I can see, everyone who confirmed they would come is already here. But this classroom isn't very suitable for a discussion."
"Let's change the layout."
Some students looked skeptical, but they still stood up and moved away from their desks. Uituba placed her hand on a specific spot on the teacher's desk.
Immediately, the classroom began transforming. The stepped lecture hall flattened into a normal room, while the desks rearranged themselves into a large circle. The chairs were positioned so every student could clearly see everyone else.
"I asked Teacher Iman about this classroom yesterday, and he showed me this trick. Pretty cool, isn't it?"
Nobody commented. Instead, everyone quietly chose a seat.
This time, exactly thirty chairs stood in the circle—the same number as the students registered in their class. Thirty students.
This morning, four were absent.
Besides the two young men Csendez had seen aboard the ship, there was also one vampire and one student she didn't recognize. That last student had also been absent on the first day.
Once everyone was seated, Uituba began explaining once again why she had organized the meeting and why teamwork—or at least the appearance of teamwork—would benefit the entire class.
The discussion focused on how they could coordinate their optional subjects and decide what would be best for everyone.
"So... what does everyone think?" Uituba asked.
Silence. Until now, no one had spoken.
They had listened, but without showing much interest.
Seeing that no one intended to answer, Uituba's expression darkened slightly. She turned toward Csendez. The phoenix girl had already expected this.
She was about to stand and support Uituba, but another student spoke first.
An alicorn boy rose from his seat with an indifferent expression.
"Everyone knows this Academy has a hidden agenda, so give us a reason to work together. A different reason. I don't care about my class ranking or my position. Now that we're here, there's no easy way out. As long as we're not complete idiots, we'll spend the next fifty years at this Academy."
After a brief pause, he continued.
"A comfortable life. A life without our families interfering. Without creatures from the Shadow Realm threatening our lives. And without constantly preparing for war. So why should we fight so hard to reach the top when living at the bottom isn't much different?"
Uituba opened her mouth to answer, but someone interrupted her first.
Judging by her appearance, the speaker was a griffin girl.
"Look, everyone. A man who only wants others to carry him. What a coward. The war and your family must have been terrifying if they've turned a grown man into this. Horses are supposed to be brave. This one must have too much bird blood. What a disgrace to his race."
Several students laughed. The alicorn slowly turned toward her.
"Oh? Did I offend a winged kitten? And you're a girl? I never would have guessed. Are you sure there's nothing between your legs?"
"What did you say!?" The griffin girl shot to her feet so suddenly that her chair nearly tipped over.
"You want to fight, scared little bird?
"Come here and—"
"Enough."
A calm voice cut through the classroom.
A boy whose right eye was hidden beneath bandages looked at both of them. Judging by his appearance, he belonged to the Dark Eye race.
"We came here to talk. Not to fight."
Almost immediately, another student spoke. A siren looked at him with open disgust.
"Oh? So now you want to lecture us? Who are you to give advice? You're a violet elemental user. Don't act as if you're above everyone else."
"What do you mean?" one of the students asked. "He's another dark-element user?"
"The second-ranked student..." a djinn murmured quietly.
"So the top of our class is occupied by those cursed people..." a vampire girl whispered to the girl beside her.
"What a joke." A fairy looked genuinely surprised. "Do you actually believe those old stories?"
"You don't?" a unicorn asked.
"Are you serious?"
"I'm the crazy one?" The unicorn frowned.
"You're the narrow-minded one." A werewolf who had been listening quietly finally spoke.
"A werewolf is going to teach me about being open-minded?" the unicorn shot back.
"You must be joking."
"Are you some kind of stray dog?" Another unicorn joined the argument. "He must be a bastard."
"That would explain it." The first unicorn nodded.
The werewolf rose halfway from his chair.
"I'll kill you for that."
"Oh?" Both unicorns looked at him with mocking expressions. "I'm terrified."
"Careful," a demon tried to interrupt.
"You don't want another scar on that face, do you?" One of the unicorns ignored him and continued.
"Who actually believed we could gather here and find common ground?" A phoenix girl, who had remained silent until now, spoke with a blank expression. "This whole meeting is a joke."
"If you don't believe that," another voice replied, "then why are you here?"
The classroom fell silent for a brief moment.
"..."
"Fine. Then why are you here?"
"Unlike you violent races, we Nigris believe every conflict can be resolved peacefully." A Nigris boy answered proudly.
"Oh. How noble." A Pegasus student looked at him coldly. "Do you remember the Tragedy of Huhar? Were you discussing peace back then? Our Pegasus brothers died because of..."
"That happened long ago." The Nigris boy interrupted him calmly. "Why bring it up now? You should move on. Or do you want everyone to remember everything your race has done as well?"
"All of you are hypocrites!" The djinn raised his voice, finally losing his patience.
"We came here looking for common ground..." Uituba finally raised her own voice. "But everyone was just waiting for an excuse to start arguing!"
The classroom had descended into complete chaos.
Some students still remained silent, simply watching the argument unfold.
Csendez was one of them.
In fact, she found the situation more informative than the meeting itself.
But when Uituba looked toward her once again, asking for help without saying a word, Csendez knew she could no longer remain silent.
Even I think this is a lost cause….
Still... I should at least try.
If this meeting succeeds...
It won't be a loss for me either.
All right. Let's do this.