Natalya pulled her eyes away from the circling of the fish to the very loud and very sudden squealing of several cubs. They were out of her view, but as she slid open the door and stepped onto the veranda, her eyes were suddenly filled with cubs.

Instinctively, Natalya knew that this was the best place to have put her. The veranda had a nice clear view of the back field, where the cubs were playing.

And there were cubs everywhere.

They were playing outside; some floating, some flying, some running some jumping, and others sitting around talking. It was loud, it was rowdy, and as she watched, Natalya was sure she saw at least one of the cubs hurt themselves. It was very familiar, considering that she both lived and worked near the local schools back up in Canada.

The grounds of the school were lush, and very very green. There were very few trees on the lawn, but there was a forest near the far end of the property and she could smell the disinfectant of a pool, though it was faint and not very close to her room.

The feral woman's lips pulled down into a frown as her eyes ghosted over the lack of supervision, and she turned on her heel, pulling the glass door shut as she stepped off the veranda. Her feet carried her out of her room, and her nose led her back the way Jean had brought her up.

As she descended the grand staircase that led into the foyer of the mansion, she took in the details. The floors were made of polished hardwood, glowing an almost cherry color because of the sun cascading through the high windows on either side of the grand entrance doors. There were several expensive looking paintings on the paneled walls, and some very expensive looking pieces of artwork positioned here and there.

There were no cubs in this area of the school, but the giggles of other cubs drifted from the room to the right of the stairs, followed by the sounds of some sort of television show. Obviously the older cubs, because children's shows did not have such foul language. Not that she really cared about language, considering she swore often enough herself.

Natalya glanced briefly into the recreation room to the right as she reached the bottom of the stairs before continuing to the left. The first doors in this hall were a pair of sliding doors, and when she opened one, the feral was treated with a view of the cafeteria.

The scent of disinfectant was heavy here, as were the scents of food being prepped and cooked. The clock on the wall at the far end told her that it was going on quarter-past-five, so the liveliness of the kitchen behind the cafeteria serving area did not surprise her.

The doors after the cafeteria were classrooms outfitted with everything from beakers and lab equipment to cheesy math posters and art supplies. The hallway connected to the classroom hall contained the same type of rooms, but these were decorated much differently; some had seriously blinding paint on the walls and cannibalistic-looking butterflies, some had mats and cots for what looked like nap-time, and others looked like primary grade classrooms.

All of them were out of use.

There were other classrooms down the next two halls, leading back to the rec-room that she'd looked at. The older cubs were still there, giggling at their show, but they completely abandoned it to stare at her as she wandered through.

They immediately began whispering as she left the room and headed back up the stairs to her room. The second floor, she already knew, were dorms, with a mixture of younger cubs and obviously troublemaking older cubs closer to the teachers' dorms. Jean and Scott's scents were highly ingrained in each other's spaces, and the other teachers didn't interest her much….yet.

Natalya needed a nap. Her head was pounding from the scent of disinfectants, and various cub smells that were not too pleasant. Her sensitive nose was not used to this many smells at once, and it hadn't been for a long time.

Of course, after her nap, she'd go find herself some food.


Dinner was honestly almost finished by the time Natalya slouched her way into the cafeteria, which was almost empty. There weren't a lot of kids still lingering around that time, and even less teachers.

The feral woman took a plate and a tray from the stack at the end of the serving line and headed down the food selections. Vegetables made an appearance on her plate, but vanished quickly under potatoes and the mounds of meat she served herself.

There were no desserts left. At all. And the portions of kids-to-vegetable servings was not okay.

Natalya scowled as she sat herself at an empty table near the window, frowning at the chemical-smells that wafted from her food.

Obviously, she and the good Professor needed to have a talk, so she slid the protective walls of her mind back.

"About what, Ms Levin?" Charles Xavier's voice drifted into her head.

"About what you are feeding your students. There is chemicals in your food, and the cubs aren't taking vegetables." She scowled at him mentally, ripping a chunk of meat off her fork. It wasn't quite as raw as she liked her meat, but she'd gone so long without hunting her own food that it didn't make too much of a difference. "You ever heard of organic?"

"I did not realize. I'll be sure to make a note to look at our suppliers."

"Hmph."

"Ms. Levin, seeing as how summer break is nearly over," Charles' switch of subject was fluid and easy. "I believe that you should begin making curriculum plans."

"It will depend on how many students I get." Natalya informed him, sliding the mental barriers back as she finished off the last of her dinner.

After dropping her dishes into the dirty dish station, Natalya headed back into the foyer and out the doors to explore the grounds. The drive way of the mansion was made of asphalt and several worn chalk drawings decorated the large area in front of the garage.

Following paved path around the side of the mansion, the feral woman was confronted with a decorative peeing fountain. Natalya snorted.

She'd never understood the attraction of tiny fat babies peeing into tubs of water.

As she explored more, the raven discovered there were quite a few fountains like that, the pool and a basketball court located at the back, and a lot of trees. The students had all vanished inside by this point, or were in the process of vanishing to their rooms.

When she reached the small koi-pond in front of her room, Natalya's legs bunched in her legs and she leapt gracefully onto the veranda.

Her nose and eyes found the room untouched as she stepped in and after prowling around the room once or twice, Charles Xavier's new dance instructor dropped onto her bed.


Over the next few days, as the students returned from their summer vacations, rumors flew around Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters about the new teacher. They were still unaware of what she taught, but the rumors included everything from her name, her powers, where she'd been found, and even if she was sleeping with anyone.

Along with the students returning to the school came teachers, including Ororo Monroe and Hank McCoy, who had taken some of the graduating students to Rome for three weeks. They were also curious as to who their new co-worker would be, but didn't make an effort to search her out, seeing as how both teachers – one for science and advanced math, the other for history and foreign languages- had to plan out their curriculum.

About a week before the school year started, each student was given a course selection sheet, and two of the rumors vanished in favor of spreading around her name, along with brief but curious conversations about her offered dance classes.

They were some of the fastest to fill up, excluding core classes and the ever popular Danger Room sessions.

There were students who took both classes –Rogue, Bobby, John, Kitty, and Jubilee- and others that only took one or the other. Natalia's classes were not completely full when she handed her curriculum sheet into Professor Xavier two days before the first term started.

Nat had propped herself against the wall, slouching and lazy, as the Charles read over the sheets she had handed him. They seemed to satisfy the man, and he placed them in a drawer in his desk before he steepled his fingers and peered at her over them.

"Now, I believe you should see your classroom. It was finished last night."

"'bout time." The raven snorted.

"Across from the cafeteria is your studio. It used to be the ballroom, but I've had it redone. Until you agreed to teach here, it was used hardly at all." The Professor smiled serenely over his fingers. "I should warn you that both Professor McCoy and Logan are both ferals, though Logan currently isn't here. You shouldn't be all that bothered by Hank, however."

"Thanks for the heads of, Charles." Natalya pushed herself away from the wall in a fluid motion, turning on her heel for the door. The bald professor shook his head as the woman exited his office and loudly closed the door behind her.

Natalya almost – almost – pranced down to the beautiful double doors of her classroom. Almost. Instead she settled for a loping quick walk and she barely paused to examine said doors before she threw them open, and stepped into the remodeled ballroom.

The floors were gold-and-blue patterned marble, and were so shiny she could see her reflection. The far wall had gold-gilded floor to ceiling windows, which was a feat and a half considering that the room had vaulted ceilings. The rest of the walls were painted a neutral cream, and the ceiling was painted in a dark blue, which matched the curtains for the windows.

Two enormous chandeliers tinkled over the dance floor, lit by electric bulbs, but none-the-less beautiful.

About two steps into the room, Natalya noticed the table pushed against the wall by the door, and the tablet-like device sitting on it. Curiosity peaked, the feral woman headed over to the thing and poked it with a long elegant finger.

It lit up with a finger scanner.

Natalya put her finger on it and waited for the device to stop its low buzzing. When it finished, a series of buttons appeared on the screen, and the raven pushed one.

The lights dimmed, and then brightened when she pushed it again.

When she pushed another button, a few pieces of the wall shimmered and became reflective.

She barely noticed the polite prod to her mental barriers, but she did and let Charles in.

"I've equipped your class with several high-tech features you'll enjoy, and I've added a simulation system much like the Danger Room."

"What kind of features, Charles?"

"Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back."

"That was definitely not necessary." She grumbled, shutting him out again.

Nobody saw the new teacher for the rest of the summer break.