WARNING: Other players should not read this until Chapter 1 is complete.
Toria was trying very hard to fall asleep, but her mind kept racing with all the things that she had seen and done that day. She had ridden an actual dragon to a place vastly bigger than she could have imagined, and there were all manner of new words and concepts that had been thrown at her. She also really missed her friends back at Katz Field.
Tears pricked at her eyes. It was all just too much! There were so many rules to keep track of like ‘curfews’ and ‘quiet hours’. It wasn’t like she had assumed training to be a Healer would be easy, but the reality was much more overwhelming than she had thought. A few sobs escaped her as she fought to stay quiet. It wouldn’t do to be branded a crybaby on her first night there.
She fished out the wherry claw from her satchel and settled herself back in her bed, clutching it tightly to her almost like one would hold a stuffed toy. She rubbed her fingers on it, thinking of Miss Ranella, Dylan, and everyone else back home that she missed.
Eventually, she must have fallen asleep, because the next thing she knew the sun was streaming through her window, the claw still loosely in her hand. She felt achy from yesterdays exertions and still tired. The sleep she did manage to get wasn’t restful.
Toria was lucky she had the next two days to adjust to everything before starting classes on Firstday. She would have to ask Patrina or her dorm mates what supplies she might need and where to get them. She had no idea what she would need. This was all so foreign to her, coming from a small, rural environment like she did. She was just beginning to grasp what a monumental life change this was for her – as well as an opportunity. She would have to really apply herself in a way she hadn’t had to before to prove she belonged.
She hoped she would be able to make some friends at Healer Hall. Her dorm mates seemed nice so far, and Patrina was really helpful. Suddenly, her stomach grumbled, interrupting her anxious thoughts by reminding Toria that she might need to seek out breakfast soon.
Toria dressed in some of her new clothes, which she had just left on top of the trunk in her exhaustion yesterday, and wandered out of her room. It looked like some of the girls were already up because the curtain doors were pulled back. Curious, she made her way towards the sitting room where they had eaten the potluck dinner the night before. She found them eating meatrolls and fruit, and drinking from cups that were giving off the smell of something she had often seen adults drinking back home.
“Is that klah?” she shyly inquired to Madi, who was sitting at the table with Sersha.
“Sure is!” Madi affirmed. “Ever had it before?”
“Only once or twice. Master Valora let me have it sometimes when lessons went late into the night.” At Madi’s slightly confused look, Toria elaborated “She was the Healer at Katz Field… I was learning some basic healing stuff from her.”
Madi nodded while Roshena poured a cup of klah and offered it to Toria. “You’ll probably be drinking a lot of this, especially during late night study sessions.” Privately, Toria wondered at what that could mean. What exactly would she be studying for? She took the cup, smelled the sweet aroma familiar to her from Katz Field, and gratefully drank the klah with a slight smile on her face.
The other girls straggled in here and there, some going off with books or saying they were meeting friends. Toria gathered her courage and asked Roshena where she might find Patrina, since she assumed she would need supplies for classes on Firstday. She listened carefully to the girls directions to the Senior Journeyman’s living quarters and set out on her first adventure of the day.