The guard led Katrina to her new room for the next three years, handed her a map and left. Putting the ring on her finger, she placed her hand on the door and it clicked open. The room had dark brown flooring with cream walls which had accents of the same wood which the floor was made from. On the right side of the room, was a queen sized bed with a light blue duvet and matching pillow cases.
The wall facing the door, had massive windows, floor to ceiling with black curtains which can be pulled to cover them at night. Other than that, there was a dresser to put your clothes, a small table with a single chair, two cabinets on both sides of the bed and a bookshelf near the dresser. It was a well decorated room. On the wall facing the bed, was a door which most likely led to her bathroom.
Shutting the door behind her, she laid down on the bed enjoying the feeling of having one after two long weeks of travel. Katrina laid there for a moment, before deciding to pack. Placing about a quarter of her clothes in the dresser (before it ran out of room) and her books on the bookshelf.
The silver-haired princess took out all her poisons (in glass bottles) and slotted them in between her books to stop it looking so one note. Katrina left the spacial chest at the end of the bed so she could access it whenever. Unfolding the map, she first looked for all the places which would be applicable for her.
The cafeteria, which was about a five minute walk from her dorm building, not counting the time it'd take her to get all the way out of her building from the seventh floor, the earth institute (where she would learn flora magic) was located about thirty minutes away in the east, the water institute which was about fifteen minutes and where she would learn her poison element she would find out in the opening ceremony.
The opening ceremony, which Sir Drierad informed her about, was going to be held at noon in three days. At the ceremony, she would be told about the rules of the academy, her schedule and any up and incoming events. Changing her clothes into something more simple, she decided to do some shopping with the academy coins she was given (the only thing the shops in the academy accepted, it was possible to convert your kingdom's money but other than that the only way to earn more would be by going up in class rankings).
As well as being taught their elements, they were taught politics, ethics, non-magical fighting, and magical theory. With the possibility to take extracurricular activities if they provided it. All these classes, held the same forty students with a ranking based on who was the best in them. Those who were higher were given a greater monthly allowance than the others.
Katrina wanted to see if there were any books which would be useful, or any magical poisons. The closest shop to her was an apothecary, which she headed to. A few minutes later, she was standing at its entrance, a hanging sign reading 'Crescent's Apothecary for Cures.' Walking inside, she noticed rows and rows decked full of different potions and salves with different purposes.
In the back corner, were ingredients, which she headed to first. She recognised about a fifth of them, but most of them she did not. Reading their labels, it gave their name, price and most popular use. None of them gave any information whether they were poisonous but she was sure a few definitely were.
"Hiya miss, what ya looking for." A chirpy voice spoke out, a girl with bright pink hair approached her.
"Uh, I was wondering if any of these are poisonous?" She asked politely, the girl to smirk at her question.
"You got an ex? Or maybe a girl who's trying to get with him? Or is your ex the girl?" She babbled on, assuming she wanted to poison someone.
"No... I have a poison affinity and so I'm studying different poisonous material." She answered her, Katrina's voice deadpan at the girl's antics.
"Oh that's more boring. Erm these four are highly poisonous. And these ones are slightly poisonous and usually just cause adverse reactions like fatigue or in some cases a heightened sex drive." The shop worker explained, wiggling her eyebrows when she picked up the aphrodisiac which caused Katrina to blush.
"I'll take the highly poisonous ones, and the aphrodisiac." She replied with all the decorum she had been taught as a child. It wasn't like she was going to use the aphrodisiac, she was just going to study it.
"Yeah, I'll get my mum to ring you up. I'm not allowed near the till anymore." The pink-haired girl briefly explained before walking off in a back room. Taking the poisons to the till and fishing out the money needed from her trouser pockets, she waited patiently for a moment before a older lady walked out.
"Oh my." She said after taking a look at her.
"Silver hair huh, and you're still alive what a mystery." The owner spoke to her.
"Excuse me?" Katrina responded baffled.
"That's ten academy coins total dear." The aged lady informed her, ignoring her question.
"What did you mean about my hair?" Katrina asked her while passing her the coins.
"I said nothing about your hair, either buy something else or leave." Taking the hint, Katrina left after being dismissed. She was confused over the woman's statement, her hair had always been a mystery. Naturally silver with no family or knowledge of anyone else with the same hair colour, and now this old lady was suggesting that her hair colour meant death.