CHAPTER 3
"Wow," Lily said after the departure of Revven.
"Yeah. What are you wearing?" Ariel went over to Lily.
The girls spent the next twenty minutes trading clothes and working out outfits for the assembly ("You can't wear that!" Lily had exclaimed when she saw Ariel's jeans). Although Lily was a year younger, they were the same size. This was better for Ariel than Lily, as Lily had a large amount of clothing while Ariel had little but jeans, shirts and t-shirts.
When Ariel had opened the closet after putting her things away, she noted that the hole in one of her jeans had been mended, the tear on her shirt fixed. After having a little one-sided chat with the closet, she gave it designs for a basic dress to wear. She put the designs on the closet floor, closed the door, and opened it again a minute later. The dress hung there, just as Ariel had imagined it. She took out the dress, admiring it as Lily came over to see. It was dark red and ended at the knees. It was shaped like a strapless dress, but there were spaghetti straps also made of dark red material. It was narrow and it looked beautiful on Ariel. (Lily said it went well with Ariel's dark hair and eyes, but since Ariel rarely paid any attention to her eyes except to put in contacts lenses, and only noticed her hair when doing a quick, neat ponytail every morning.)
Then, of course, both realized they had forty minutes or so to get ready and panicked. By the time they had finished their clothes, hair, jewelry, purses, and makeup, they only had five minutes to walk to the big doors. Lily and Ariel joined the crowd moving toward the doors. Ariel noticed that there were quite a few boys. Thankfully the bathrooms were in the dorms.
A bronze dragon waited for them at the doors. When the flood of people arrived, it nodded to them and buzzed off, going at a moderate pace for once.
After following the dragon for about ten minutes and going around more twists and turns than Ariel could remember, they emerged in an open, beautiful yard. There were flowers planted all over - although none of the students could recognize what flowers. There were open, beautiful roses, which were streaked blue and purple. Large trees with chocolate bars hanging off them abounded, as well as a bush which seemed to have truffles growing. There was also a large, beautiful lake filled with dark chocolate fudge. The grass that grew next to the path was green, but it was made of sugar. Beautiful little wildflowers grew in the grass, which were flavored according to the color (grape, raspberry, strawberry, orange, etc.), and the dandelions tasted like lemon. The path the students were on was wide and made of stone, and it wound around everything previously mentioned.
"Go ahead and eat!" called the dragon from ahead. Ariel cautiously reached out to a truffle bush and pulled off an large truffle perhaps two inches wide. Nibbling on it, she found it to be champagne. When she finished that, she noticed some oddly shaped mushrooms. Picking one, she found that the bottom stem was solid dark chocolate, and the enormous, tall cap was soufflé.
Lily picked a strawberry flower and ate it. "Wow, these are great, Ariel!" she cried. Ariel, however, was rather distracted. Noticing an oddly round dark brown rock cut into sections, she grabbed a piece as she went past. Eating it, she decided it was a layer cake, with frozen whipped cream and chocolate.
Looking up, Ariel saw that the sky was turning gray. Wondering it was going to rain, she turned to warn Lily. She had no time to do so, because at that moment it began to hail. Expecting to be hit by ice, Ariel was instead bombarded by chocolate chips.
After a few minutes, Ariel simply tilted back her head and let the chips come to her. None of the chips landed on the students unless the students wanted them to. However, drifts of chocolate chips were accumulating on either side of the students. Looking toward the front of the line to see how the dragon was faring, she saw, not a dragon, but two female elves.
"I guess they're substitutes," Lily said to Ariel. "I don't think the dragon would do well in the hail." Ariel nodded absently, studying the elves. One was taller than the other. The smaller one was wearing a black robe hemmed in golden ribbon. Her long black hair was loose, and she had pale skin. Both elves were very thin. Lily and Ariel wormed their way toward the front of the column, the chocolate forgotten. Finally they got to be perhaps six feet behind the elves. When the elf with black hair turned to look at the students, Ariel saw that she had beautiful, intelligent green eyes.
It would have been hard for the other elf to look more different. She wore a black robe as well, but it was hemmed in silver. Long, fine silver hair cascaded down her back. She had dark tan skin and very dark eyes. She was also taller than her companion.
The elves reached a podium with many seats in front of it. The chocolate hail stopped abruptly. Ariel sat, as did the others, noticing as she did so that the elves continued to the podium and sat in chairs behind the lectern.
The chairs behind the lectern filled up quickly. Ariel assumed they were for the staff. The chairs were up against a wall, and many staff members were coming out of a door in the wall. Eventually all the staff and students settled down, and waited for whoever would speak to appear.
Someone dressed in a black, hooded robe walked toward the lectern, flanked by the two elves who had led the students. Although the female elves had stood up from the front row, Ariel could not see where the other figure had come from. Whoever it was, they stepped up to the lectern, while the elven women walked on either side of the lectern.
"Welcome," the person at the lectern said, pushing the hood back. Ariel stared. The face seemed vaguely familiar. The person was an elf. Ariel felt she should know him, but she could not tell who he was.
"I am Dalamar," he said, and Ariel wondered no longer, because she knew where the voice was from. It was the man from the hospital wing.Dalamar.
"This is the Dragonlance Academy. You are here to learn more about Dragonlance. If you did not read many of the books, or only read the parts with your favorite character in, the problem will soon be corrected." Dalamar gave the students a glare that said, "I really don't care what you think and if you disagree, you will be an example of what happens to the unfortunate students who cross me."
"You are taking mandatory classes. Skip or be late, and I will make you write a one thousand page essay on a completely random subject - or worse." Ariel shuddered. "By the way, this is Kiara" - Dalamar indicated the smaller elf with black hair - "And this is Liara. They are not twins. If you call them twins, very bad things will happen. They will both be teaching a course this year. The other staff members you will recognize, or you will if you wish to keep your health. Tika does not particularly like being addressed as Linsha, nor does Raistlin like being called Palin. Similarly, do not mistake Sturm for Steel or the other way around. Each teacher has their unique mode of torture to give you, should you make any of these mistakes. Any questions?"
The Courtyard was oppressively silent.
"Very good. Now that the hail has stopped, Zent can lead you back to your dorms. It is nearly dinnertime. When you get back, you will have forty- five minutes to get ready for dinner, as we serve it regularly at seven. Do not be late. I suggest you get a good night's sleep. Your classes start in two days, and tomorrow will be hectic, despite the absence of academics. Have a good evening. Kiara."
Kiara and Liara silently followed Dalamar out the staff door. The other staff left, while the bronze dragon - Zent - flew out from under a chair to lead the students back to the dormitories.
Ariel stood for a moment, staring at the now empty lectern. She wondered, not for the last time, how all this had happened.
With a last look at the place where Dalamar had so recently stood, Ariel turned with a sigh and joined the students going back to the dorms.
Thanks for reviews! I maintain my policy - reviews are great, criticism is super.
To answer AngelDragonStar: The DragonLance characters will mostly be teachers. I will add in a few teachers of my own as well. Although that is a good idea, maybe I will mix in some characters with the normal students!
Thanks also to Taru, who has supplied exquisitely unique ideas as usual to improve my stories. The Martians kick ass!
~*~Alexa
"Yeah. What are you wearing?" Ariel went over to Lily.
The girls spent the next twenty minutes trading clothes and working out outfits for the assembly ("You can't wear that!" Lily had exclaimed when she saw Ariel's jeans). Although Lily was a year younger, they were the same size. This was better for Ariel than Lily, as Lily had a large amount of clothing while Ariel had little but jeans, shirts and t-shirts.
When Ariel had opened the closet after putting her things away, she noted that the hole in one of her jeans had been mended, the tear on her shirt fixed. After having a little one-sided chat with the closet, she gave it designs for a basic dress to wear. She put the designs on the closet floor, closed the door, and opened it again a minute later. The dress hung there, just as Ariel had imagined it. She took out the dress, admiring it as Lily came over to see. It was dark red and ended at the knees. It was shaped like a strapless dress, but there were spaghetti straps also made of dark red material. It was narrow and it looked beautiful on Ariel. (Lily said it went well with Ariel's dark hair and eyes, but since Ariel rarely paid any attention to her eyes except to put in contacts lenses, and only noticed her hair when doing a quick, neat ponytail every morning.)
Then, of course, both realized they had forty minutes or so to get ready and panicked. By the time they had finished their clothes, hair, jewelry, purses, and makeup, they only had five minutes to walk to the big doors. Lily and Ariel joined the crowd moving toward the doors. Ariel noticed that there were quite a few boys. Thankfully the bathrooms were in the dorms.
A bronze dragon waited for them at the doors. When the flood of people arrived, it nodded to them and buzzed off, going at a moderate pace for once.
After following the dragon for about ten minutes and going around more twists and turns than Ariel could remember, they emerged in an open, beautiful yard. There were flowers planted all over - although none of the students could recognize what flowers. There were open, beautiful roses, which were streaked blue and purple. Large trees with chocolate bars hanging off them abounded, as well as a bush which seemed to have truffles growing. There was also a large, beautiful lake filled with dark chocolate fudge. The grass that grew next to the path was green, but it was made of sugar. Beautiful little wildflowers grew in the grass, which were flavored according to the color (grape, raspberry, strawberry, orange, etc.), and the dandelions tasted like lemon. The path the students were on was wide and made of stone, and it wound around everything previously mentioned.
"Go ahead and eat!" called the dragon from ahead. Ariel cautiously reached out to a truffle bush and pulled off an large truffle perhaps two inches wide. Nibbling on it, she found it to be champagne. When she finished that, she noticed some oddly shaped mushrooms. Picking one, she found that the bottom stem was solid dark chocolate, and the enormous, tall cap was soufflé.
Lily picked a strawberry flower and ate it. "Wow, these are great, Ariel!" she cried. Ariel, however, was rather distracted. Noticing an oddly round dark brown rock cut into sections, she grabbed a piece as she went past. Eating it, she decided it was a layer cake, with frozen whipped cream and chocolate.
Looking up, Ariel saw that the sky was turning gray. Wondering it was going to rain, she turned to warn Lily. She had no time to do so, because at that moment it began to hail. Expecting to be hit by ice, Ariel was instead bombarded by chocolate chips.
After a few minutes, Ariel simply tilted back her head and let the chips come to her. None of the chips landed on the students unless the students wanted them to. However, drifts of chocolate chips were accumulating on either side of the students. Looking toward the front of the line to see how the dragon was faring, she saw, not a dragon, but two female elves.
"I guess they're substitutes," Lily said to Ariel. "I don't think the dragon would do well in the hail." Ariel nodded absently, studying the elves. One was taller than the other. The smaller one was wearing a black robe hemmed in golden ribbon. Her long black hair was loose, and she had pale skin. Both elves were very thin. Lily and Ariel wormed their way toward the front of the column, the chocolate forgotten. Finally they got to be perhaps six feet behind the elves. When the elf with black hair turned to look at the students, Ariel saw that she had beautiful, intelligent green eyes.
It would have been hard for the other elf to look more different. She wore a black robe as well, but it was hemmed in silver. Long, fine silver hair cascaded down her back. She had dark tan skin and very dark eyes. She was also taller than her companion.
The elves reached a podium with many seats in front of it. The chocolate hail stopped abruptly. Ariel sat, as did the others, noticing as she did so that the elves continued to the podium and sat in chairs behind the lectern.
The chairs behind the lectern filled up quickly. Ariel assumed they were for the staff. The chairs were up against a wall, and many staff members were coming out of a door in the wall. Eventually all the staff and students settled down, and waited for whoever would speak to appear.
Someone dressed in a black, hooded robe walked toward the lectern, flanked by the two elves who had led the students. Although the female elves had stood up from the front row, Ariel could not see where the other figure had come from. Whoever it was, they stepped up to the lectern, while the elven women walked on either side of the lectern.
"Welcome," the person at the lectern said, pushing the hood back. Ariel stared. The face seemed vaguely familiar. The person was an elf. Ariel felt she should know him, but she could not tell who he was.
"I am Dalamar," he said, and Ariel wondered no longer, because she knew where the voice was from. It was the man from the hospital wing.Dalamar.
"This is the Dragonlance Academy. You are here to learn more about Dragonlance. If you did not read many of the books, or only read the parts with your favorite character in, the problem will soon be corrected." Dalamar gave the students a glare that said, "I really don't care what you think and if you disagree, you will be an example of what happens to the unfortunate students who cross me."
"You are taking mandatory classes. Skip or be late, and I will make you write a one thousand page essay on a completely random subject - or worse." Ariel shuddered. "By the way, this is Kiara" - Dalamar indicated the smaller elf with black hair - "And this is Liara. They are not twins. If you call them twins, very bad things will happen. They will both be teaching a course this year. The other staff members you will recognize, or you will if you wish to keep your health. Tika does not particularly like being addressed as Linsha, nor does Raistlin like being called Palin. Similarly, do not mistake Sturm for Steel or the other way around. Each teacher has their unique mode of torture to give you, should you make any of these mistakes. Any questions?"
The Courtyard was oppressively silent.
"Very good. Now that the hail has stopped, Zent can lead you back to your dorms. It is nearly dinnertime. When you get back, you will have forty- five minutes to get ready for dinner, as we serve it regularly at seven. Do not be late. I suggest you get a good night's sleep. Your classes start in two days, and tomorrow will be hectic, despite the absence of academics. Have a good evening. Kiara."
Kiara and Liara silently followed Dalamar out the staff door. The other staff left, while the bronze dragon - Zent - flew out from under a chair to lead the students back to the dormitories.
Ariel stood for a moment, staring at the now empty lectern. She wondered, not for the last time, how all this had happened.
With a last look at the place where Dalamar had so recently stood, Ariel turned with a sigh and joined the students going back to the dorms.
Thanks for reviews! I maintain my policy - reviews are great, criticism is super.
To answer AngelDragonStar: The DragonLance characters will mostly be teachers. I will add in a few teachers of my own as well. Although that is a good idea, maybe I will mix in some characters with the normal students!
Thanks also to Taru, who has supplied exquisitely unique ideas as usual to improve my stories. The Martians kick ass!
~*~Alexa