The only conclusion Nava could reach regarding the uniform the girls were made to wear – here and in the ASF, really – was that a man had designed them. Possibly a man with psychological issues.
Nava’s turn to introduce herself came last, of course; there were few clans with X, Y, or Z as initial letters. There was a slight murmur as the teacher called her name. Nava ignored it and got to her feet.
‘I am Nava Ward,’ Nava said. ‘I look forward to learning with you.’ She started to lower herself back into her seat.
‘You’ve nothing more to say about yourself, Nava Ward?’ Luca asked. ‘No hobbies or interests?’
Nava straightened her legs and contemplated her answer. Well, she could probably clear away a few things that were bound to come up. ‘I am an orphan. I never knew my parents. Asking about them is pointless.’ She spoke in an emotionless tone, because she felt no emotion concerning the matter. ‘I am attending school on a military scholarship. No, I have no special interests or hobbies.’ This time when she sat, there was no comment, but there was a slightly quizzical look, perhaps because of the flat delivery. It was like Nava was doing a really bad script reading.
‘That’s everyone aside from our no-shows,’ Luca said. ‘Next we’ll be going over various school rules and policies which we’ve found students tend to ignore. That should take us to the matriculation assembly and then you’ll be breaking for lunch. Your first lesson will be here, after lunch, with me.’ The teacher scanned the room to see whether everyone understood and was apparently happy with what she saw.
‘Very well, the first thing we’ll be discussing is the student presidency. The current president is stepping down at the end of next month. The election to replace him with a new president will be happening through next month. The student council will be making themselves known over the course of this month and next and presenting the choices you all need to make for the future. Get involved.’ There was another sweeping stare; the teacher apparently liked them to get involved in school politics.
‘Now, important school policies. First, duels.’ There was a shimmer of whispered sounds from the class. Not from Nava or Rochester. Melissa flinched. ‘Duelling is part of Alliance law and the school cannot legally bar students from duelling each other. We are, however, within our rights to ban frivolous duels, informal duels, and death duels without the written permission of the principal. All duels are to be carried out in one of the shielded combat arenas to ensure the safety of non-combatants. Anyone may bring a complaint to the student council if they feel that they have been challenged over a trivial matter or with no real reason. I am also required to say that disputes over refusal to duel should be taken to the student council for arbitration. The full school policy on duelling is available on the info-net. Read it.’
Nava had read it, along with everything else she could find regarding the school. It did not really matter to her, because she did not intend to take part in any duels while at the school. Duelling might have been part of clan and Alliance law, but it was something only idiots engaged in. Nava was anything but an idiot.
‘Second,’ Luca went on. ‘We have to say this every year and none of you listen, but… Students caught trespassing on areas reserved for members of the opposite sex will be suspended and possibly expelled. Do the intelligent thing and contain your young adult hormones.’ There were some rumbles of laughter and a few giggles. ‘I don’t know why we bother…’
~~~
One indication that all was not entirely equal at SAS2 was the variability of student accommodation. All students lived on the campus. Each student had an apartment to themselves. There the similarities stopped. There were apartment buildings closer to the academic buildings which would not have been out of place in the centre of a major city where the rents were ridiculously high. These apartments had two bedrooms, service robots to handle cleaning, and various other benefits besides being closer to where you took your classes. Nava’s apartment was not in one of those.
Following the directions on her ketcom, Nava walked for just over two kilometres before she located the modular, grey structure built from prefabricated housing units. It was no more than two hundred metres from the boundary fence of the school. Her unit was three floors up, accessed by an open balcony which also gave access to the other apartments on her floor. Waving her ketcom over the door sensor opened the place up and she walked in, immediately finding the stack of boxes which contained all her worldly possessions. At least those had been delivered while she was being bored to death.
The matriculation ceremony had been just that, a ceremony. There had been speeches. Several of them. They held no interest for Nava and she had forgotten about them as soon as they had finished. The afternoon lessons had been introductory. All students at the school were expected to know the basics of sorcery but it was apparent that the school wished to make sure that they did all know the basics. If this kept up, Nava was quite sure she would be reprimanded for falling asleep in class.
She continued into the apartment proper to see what she had to work
