The Fallen Ascending 01 -- Rebirth
A Meal With Friends

Arriving at the school cafeteria, we worked our way through the small line and chose what we wanted to eat. The school cafeteria was set up in a simple pick-and-choose order. You walk in the door to the right and grab a tray, some woodenware (the forks and spoons were made of wood instead of metal, and I didn’t see any knives handy so apparently you supplied your own if you needed one of them), and a couple of glasses of whatever you wanted to drink. There was water, several different juices; apple, orange, grape, and a few mixed punches; milk, coffee, and a few different blends of tea to choose from.

Once you’ve gotten your tray, eating utensil, and drinks, you simply slide the tray along and then pick and choose little dishes of various things to take with you. The variety of dishes weren’t bad; fish, chicken, pork, beef, and even some wild game was available to choose from for meat, and there was a large selection of fruits and vegetables also. The only thing I really didn’t see in the line was anything that I’d call dessert. I don’t know if the school doesn’t serve any, if they’re limited to certain meals or occasions, or if they’re in a different line somewhere, but I wasn’t going to ask Dino about it.

I like my cake, but I don’t like it enough to listen to him ramble on for half an hour about which type he replaces superior to the rest, about who invented them, and how the cake is only great because his magic makes it taste better or some such bull. Better to just remain ignorant and do without cake, than to ask Dino about it – at least that was my opinion on the matter. Once we’d gathered our meal, Dino led me to a set of tables in the far corner of the cafeteria where a few young women were already gathered.

“Oh, Mageflame!” A young puppy-eyed blonde gushed when we sat down. “I didn’t think I’d see you in here this evening. You’re welcome to come sit with me, darling, if you want.”

“No. He’s sitting over here with me instead,” another black-haired young lady countered, as Dino sat beside her. I took my seat across from him and near the first girl who’d spoken.

Looking at the two girls, it was obvious that the blond was slightly poorer than the black haired girl – her clothes were more white and gray cotton, instead of the richer dyed cloth that the other girl wore. Neither was what I’d call an amazing beauty – but then again, perhaps I’ve simply gotten spoiled with beauties like De’Nara and Le’Nara and mother around the island – but I guess they both would be qualified to be called ‘cute’ by anyone’s estimation.

“Michael, this is Jess,” Dino pointed over to the blond haired girl sitting beside me first. “And this is Sarah,” he told me as he pointed to the girl beside him. “Jess is learning to be a magical healer and alchemist, and Sarah is becoming a summoner. They’re both quite talented in their own way.

“And, “ he finally pointed to me, “girls, I’d like to introduce you to my new roommate, Michael.”

“Um…” It didn’t seem like it’d be possible to hold out a hand and shake or anything like that here at the table, so I simply nodded to both the girls instead. “It’s a pleasure to meet you both,” I told them.

“Oh, it’s always a pleasure to meet a friend of Lord Mageflame’s!” The blond – Jess – gushed all at once while looking over at me and batting her eyelashes furiously, which confirmed my earlier suspicions: stupidity seeks the stupid. I’d imagine this girls breasts are probably larger than her IQ. At least she did seem to have a nice set of curves to look at, unlike the other girl who seemed a lot more flat chested. Now, I understood why Dino sat on the opposite side of the table – he’d chosen the side with the best view!

“Happy to meet you, as well,” said the other girl, Sarah. At least she didn’t bat her eyes like me like a gnat had flown in them while she was talking. She might be the most normal of the bunch.

“Sarah’s descended from a family of knights,” Dino informed me proudly. “She’s from a good bloodline, and her family is moving up in the world. Her father might even get to lead his own chapterhouse someday and become a commander of other knights.”

“Well, that’s impressive,” I told her.

“Well, it’s not set in stone yet. Mageflame brags a little too freely. There’re still a few others open for consideration for the post, so father hasn’t attained it yet. He’s still just a Knight of the Rose for now.”

“Knight of the Rose?” I know I’d studied all the different knightly orders, but sometimes it’s a little hard to keep them all straight since each land seems to have their own titles and positions.

“You probably don’t know the differences in the titles,” Sarah said a little condescendingly. “A lot of folks don’t keep up with the differences. A Knight of the Rose is a knight of the people; a Knight of the Crown is one sworn to the king; a Holy Knight is one blessed by the temple or Gods. There’re other orders and houses of knights, but those are the big ones. My father is a knight of the people, so he’s a Knight of the Rose.”

“I see,” I told her. “It sounds like a very honorable position. You must be quite proud of him.”

“She is,” injected Jess. “In fact, she’s so proud that her father has lectured her about it in the past. ‘Pride, envy, avarice - these are the sparks that set many a battle ablaze. Humility, dignity, self-respect – these are the weapons one must use to fight that battle for one’s self.’” She giggled empty-headedly. “Apparently Sarah doesn’t live up to her father’s expectations when it comes to humility.” Sarah just snorted lightly but held her tongue, which I thought showed a nice level of maturity and self-restraint.

“But enough about her,” continued Jess, “tell us some more about you. Are you able to use magic like Mageflame?” Once again, she followed her speech with a furious flutter of her eyelashes. It reminded me of the struggle a butterfly would make trying to escape a spider’s web.

“Oh no! I certainly don’t use magic like him,” I told her honestly. “Mageflame seems to truly be one of a kind. My talent isn’t anything like his. I’m just a simple man, hoping to learn a little more about the world while I’m here.”

“Well,” she pouted her lip at me, “that’s a shame, but understandable. There aren’t a lot of male wizards out there, and Mageflame is the only one at the whole school! He really is one of a kind! Not that we aren’t always hoping to replace another each year. It has to be hard on Mageflame not to have a guy to talk things over with and study with. We girls try and help when we can, but having another male wizard around would probably help him, you know.”

“Ha!” Dino laughed sharply. “I don’t need another male wizard. My talents are great enough as it is already. If another man transferred here, he’d probably be intimidated by my prowess and drop out feeling inadequate. It’s probably for the best that there aren’t any other male wizards here currently. But, that aside, it still doesn’t tell us: what are you trying to learn here, Michael?”

“Well,” I wanted to keep my story simple so I could always keep it straight, “to be honest, I’m not fully certain. I’m wanting to learn a craft of some sort, but I’m getting a late start since I needed to earn some coin to pay for school and live on before coming here. This semester I signed up for a variety of different things to see what might strike my fancy. I signed up for smithing, carpentry, and masonry to see if I’d be good at any of those things. And I signed up for a fighting class so I could learn to protect myself a little better, and a hunting class so I’d always be able to put food on the table in case everything else didn’t work out.”

“Oh!” Jess half bounced and turned to face me. “While you’re out hunting, can you keep an eye open for different things for me? There’re a lot of herbs that grow in the wild, and I’m an alchemist. I’d be happy to give you a reward for gathering things for me.” She fluttered her eyelashes wildly again – I suppose she thinks it’s a cute way to flirt – and I had to fight hard not to laugh at how silly she looked.

“Sure,” I told her. “I don’t mind. As long as I’m out in the woods or wherever, I don’t see any reason why I couldn’t bring back any herbs or such that I replace which you might use.”

“Great!” Jess wildly brought her hand to her lips and then tossed me a kiss. “It’s a promise then! I’ll be looking forward to whatever you can replace!”

“Leech,” mumbled Sarah quietly. Neither Jess nor Dino acted as if they heard her, but in some ways, I had to agree. Who pesters someone they just met into gathering things for them while they’re going to be trying to learn a new skill from a teacher? The request was somewhat rude and showed a lot of selfishness, to my way of thinking. I’ll bring back whatever I replace for her; however, I simply won’t be looking very hard for anything, I don’t think.

The rest of the meal after that was just a little small talk where the two girls both seemed to fawn over Dino. Jess was more obvious and extreme about it – I had the impression that if she’d been born on Earth, she would’ve been called a ‘gold digger’. By the time we’d finished supper, the idea of being around her much left a bad taste in my mouth. She might be good for Dino, but she made me nauseous.

Jess will definitely go on my list of people to have as little to do with as possible, and I definitely don’t want her to be a healer for me. I’ll have to keep an eye out for a decent healer of some skill before I go and get myself hurt out on the practice field. I don’t like the idea of being treated by someone like her at all.

Sarah, on the other hand, seemed a bit more respectable and reserved. I might be able to actually make friends with her, given time. I guess even an idiot can sometimes hang around with decent people. I’ll be cautious with her; just the simple fact that she hangs around Dino and Jess makes me hesitant to get too close, but I’ll give her a shot. My first impression of her at least wasn’t all bad. Only time will tell for certain if we’ll be able to become friends or not.

After the meal, we all said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. Dino and I emptied our trays and went out together back to our room, and the two girls went off in separate directions to do their own things.

The only thing I really regretted about the whole experience?

I never did learn anything about where to replace dessert. I miss my cake.