After a short time studying exhaustively with Xaemarra, Amos had learned to read. Ink was struggling with the lexicon still - he was brand new to the business of reading - but Amos found enough similarities with English that he could pick it up easily. He wasn't proficient by any means, but he was good enough to be allowed to enrol in classes.
Amos wasn't interested in the esoteric lectures on history or literature. Pursuits of the mind eluded him. He chose instead to spend his time with a more practical application of his efforts. Amos enrolled in Physical Arts, Mutazoology, Metallurgy, and (reluctantly) Alchemy and Maurish Religion.
Each morning, workers in the Avidia Institute posted lecture schedules on notice boards in the House towers. The onus was on the students to ensure they attended - they were paying a premium to attend, after all.
Amos had written down the times of each of his lectures in the strange numerals of Holvarth's writing system on a scrap piece of paper. They used chalk on small boards, mostly, but paper and ink was also common. Amos' writing was splotchy and shaky, truly amateur, but serviceable nonetheless.
He read and reread his schedule, attempting to commit it to memory over breakfast. This was Amos' opportunity to learn about the inner workings of the world he had been reborn into, and he wasn't going to waste it.
Cold bacon crunched in his mouth as he mulled over his new life. Arria and Mondir seemed to have settled in easily. They weren't eating with him this morning as they had signed up for other commitments - Arria for training in the physical arts, and Mondir for horticulture and caretaking of small Mutabeasts kept on site. Ink was sleeping in. The lazy bastard had chosen his schedule to allow the most amount of sleep - afternoon classes only.
Amos jumped when a masked figure slid into the chair directly beside him. They sidled up close, invading his personal space by a mile and leaned into his ear.
"Betcha didn't expect to see little ol' me again," Shanty said with a smile in her voice.
"Shanty!" Amos exclaimed. He'd almost forgotten she was the one who had delivered the letter asking him to become Drai and attend the Institute in the first place.
"That's right! I heard you been doing all sorts of stuff behind closed doors with Xaemarra, you dog..." Amos felt Shanty wink behind her mask.
"Wait, Shanty, that's not-"
Shanty waved a hand. "We get it, goofball. Where's the big muscly fella? Rinky Dink or whatever you call him? He's a sweet little boy if I ever seen one."
"Ink," Amos said. "He's sleeping in."
Shanty sighed wistfully. "Living the life... I don't like sleeping but I like getting to sleep, y'know what I mean? Like cuddling up in the blankets and being in the dark. Hoo boy, nothing beats that feeling! It's like being back in the womb again... or something..."
Amos stared at Shanty. She was rocking back and forth and tapping rhythmically on the table.
"You gonna finish that?" she indicated his breakfast.
"No," Amos said, "all yours."
Shanty picked up a whole fried egg with her hands and lifted her mask slightly to shove it under there. The chewing sounds echoed from underneath as she nodded her head in delight.
"Mmm! Almosht forgot! Xae wants you to swing by the basement later tonight. Meet the night crew. You sure I can eat all this?"
There was about half of Amos' breakfast left. He nodded, Shanty had her fingers all over it anyway. "What do you mean basement? Night crew?"
At that moment, a group of students led by a girl with bleached hair approached Amos' table. The lead girl was holding a thick book under her arm and trailed a painted nail along the edge of the table.
"Ew," she said, "why are you hanging out with her?"
Amos looked up at her. Her black robes had a black patch sewn over the constellation on the back so he couldn't tell what house she was in. The rest of her entourage had the same modification made to their robes. It seemed professionally done - nice stitching.
"What?" he said. Shanty was frozen still.
"Don't you know?" the girl said. "She's a Demon. A baby-eater."
"No, she's..."
Shanty was a deer in headlights.
"Listen, if you want to hang out with people that can actually help you and don't smell like they've just eaten a child, come see us in the library. I'm Luce, by the way."
Luce stuck her hand out, expecting Amos to shake it gratefully.
"Ew," Amos mimicked Luce's high pitched tone. "Get your crusty ass hand out of my face."
Luce retracted it and wiped nothing onto her robe.
"This is what happens when you cast your lot with filth," Luce said, "you become it. Watch your back, boy." She turned and left, giggles and snickers floating behind them.
"They're Trenmir," Shanty said. "They don't like the constellations, so... the patches..."
"Are you okay, Shanty? What was their deal?"
"Yeah, I should... go now. You've got classes to pretend to care about and people to impress. I'll, um, see you tonight. Maybe. I don't know, sorry." Shanty left Amos' breakfast uneaten and ran away.
...
The day of lectures passed uneventfully. Amos learned the foundational principles of Alchemy and completed some training in the Physical Arts. While studying Alchemy, he had a revelation that he could use the knowledge he gained here if he ever got in another fight with a Trenmir agent. Amos committed to being a good student, for the time being.
He returned to the Aries House tower with Ink, both dragging their feet, weighed down by the application of their minds in the pursuit of new knowledge. The sliding door rolled open to reveal a more lively common room than usual. Amos even recognised some of the faces milling about.
Wabu, an elf with squished features and a permanent scowl, gesticulated animatedly at Milosh and Haylee - who Amos remembered as both members of Luce's gang of bullies and Trenmir aspirants. Katy was trying to get a word in edgeways to tell them to calm down so she could study, but they were at each other's throats. Chitin, a fulsome elderly student who was never seen without a chainmail shirt (at the very least), was holding Wabu back from the Trenmir aligned students.
"...respect the culture of this Institution! It is older than your stupid fucking Empire and will outlast the bullshit Divinity of Maur. I have ball hairs older than that man, so you better start praying to me, cunts!" Wabu pointed a finger at Milosh and Haylee interchangeably.
"Careful, grandpa, sounds a lot like treason coming out your shithole mouth," Milosh snapped back.
"Fuck you!" was the most intelligent jibe Haylee could manage.
"Wear your heart on your sleeve, souls on your backs, you pitch black motherfuckers. Eat a bag of dicks. Take the fucking patches off or stop rubbing it in our faces. It's just fuckin' sad," Wabu spat at them and the Trenmir students lunged.
Amos and Ink scrambled to help pulling them away from Wabu. As much as they deserved a beating, Amos had to keep his head low lest he be discovered for what he truly was and out the entire secret organisation within the Avidia Institute.
"Duusha will be hearing about this," Chitin rumbled in his low voice. "All three of you. Return to your dormitories or I will call him this instant."
Duusha was the head of house for Aries. A scary man with a fire in his heart that often came out in his voice. Amos hadn't had the (dis)pleasure of meeting him yet, but he had heard stories.
Wabu started to complain at Chitin, but the armoured student held a hand in front of his face. "Enough," he said. "Talk to the hand."
"Tch," Wabu stormed away upstairs. Several other dormitory doors opened a tiny crack for curious eyes to peer through. Wabu's scowl deepened at each of them and eventually the sound of his own door slamming echoed down the stairs. Amos and Ink let go of Haylee and Milosh when the danger passed.
"You're all okay with that?" Haylee gestured upstairs. "He's a loose cannon! A traitor to the Empire!"
"Go. To. Bed." Chitin growled.
Milosh gulped and pulled his friend upstairs. "So that's how it is."
When they were gone, Chitin slumped into an armchair and put his head in his hands. "Thanks guys," Katy said, "my roomie wanted to sleep early so I had to practice my runework down here, otherwise I..."
"It's okay, Katie, we get it," Amos said. "They're assholes, anyway."
Chitin nodded in agreement. "Wabu's probably right, but he's too quick to anger."
"Typical Aries," Ink said. The group laughed - Aries House was typically categorised as brash and unthinking. They found it easier to lean into the stereotype than fight it at every opportunity and made jokes to lighten their hearts.
"We've got an early morning, can you make sure that doesn't happen again?" Amos asked Chitin.
"Why me?" he grumbled.
Amos patted his hand on the way to the stairs. "You're just so dependable, Chitin."
"So you agree, it pays to be prepared?"
"I'm not wearing chainmail all day."
"One day you will see reason."
Amos laughed. "Come on, Ink, sleep awaits us!"
"G'night," Katy and Chitin said in unison. "Don't let the Mutabugs bite," Katy added quietly.
Each dorm room in the House towers housed two single beds on opposite sides of the room, two desks, and two storage units. Candles, ink, paper, chalk, and boards could be delivered on request and were dropped off downstairs for pickup. Students often brought books to study in the comfort of their own rooms as well, so there were empty bookshelves on the walls to store these. A single window in the centre of every room looked out on the sky. It was a clear night.
"Ink," Amos said, sitting down on his bed heavily, "those Trenmir students are trouble."
"They haven't recognised my tattoos yet," Ink said. He sat on the floor and scratched symbols on the floor with chalk. "I get all scared when they walk past. They're mean."
"Mhm. They called Shanty a demon today. It seemed to really upset her."
"Well, she does have horns."
"Huh?"
"Shanty's got horns. Didn't you see them?"
"No, she's always wearing a mask and that hooded robe."
"Oh. Maybe you're not special like me. Shanty showed me her horns. She's got blue skin too. She said her family lived in an igloo."
Amos chewed on the thought.
Is Shanty actually a demon? Maybe she's just different, there's no way she could eat babies like Luce said.
Amos recognised the symbols Ink was scratching onto the floor: trigonometry. It sent a shiver of fear up Amos' spine.
"She said we should go to the basement tonight."
"The basement?"
"She gave me this note with some instructions. A secret entrance!"
"Oh, fun! But I'm so tired..."
"Well... you don't have to come with me. But I'm going to meet some of the other Drai, I think."
Ink sat up straight and dropped his chalk. "I'll come with you. I wanna meet some strong people!"