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A/N: thank you to everyone and anyone who's reviewed! sends cookies and good karma

Two

Day One

The muted, dull sound of bells ringing a long way off woke Lyra. She sat up to find Audra and Marda already awake. Audra was making her bed, her robin daemon perched cheerfully on her shoulder. Marda was at one of the two desks in the room, frantically scribbling something. Thamathy was curled up in her lap. Jen wasn't in the room.

"Good morning," said Audra brightly, her daemon letting out a chirp. Lyra grunted as Pan stretched himself out and yawned, his coppery fur rumpled.

"What time is breakfast?" Lyra askedas she climbed out of bed.

"Eight o'clock sharp in the Dining Hall," said Audra brightly. Her daemon fluttered to the floor. Marda folded up whatever he was writing, religiously stuck it in an envelope and began to address it. Sealing it with a drop or two of hot candle wax, Marda asked, "When do they pick up and drop off the post?"

Audra shrugged. "I guess you could ask," she said hopefully, and Lyra got the impression she had something she wanted to mail too.

Jen burst into the room, carrying what looked like a crate, her cat demon at her heals. "Uniforms!" she called as the door slammed behind her. Lyra grimaced. She had been measured for the said uniforms a few days before she arrived at Saint Sophia. The uniforms came in bundles, the clothing folded neatly and tied with twine. It was clear that the crate had held many other girls uniforms, and that they were the ast to get theirs. Jen opened the crate and handed out the uniforms.

"Lets see here...Azetti...Belacqua...Finch...and Gilion. And now we have a useless empty crate. Brilliant."

"Well, may as well try them on."

The uniforms were strange things. Pantalaimon had to stifle a snort when he saw Lyra fully dressed. The uniform consisted of a wool skirt in an odd gray and red plaid, a red polo shirt, and a gray sweater with an 'S' embroidered on the breast. The girls all giggled when they saw each other.

"We get our books today, right?" Marda asked no one in particular.

"I think so," said Audra, tying her bootlace.

"Crumbs!" Marda wailed as she looked at the clock. "We've got two minutes to get to the Dining Hall!"

Jen and Audra bolted out the door, but Marda lagged behind. "You coming?" she asked.

"I'll be down in a minute," Lyra assured her. Marda grabbed her letter and shot her a curious look, then followed her friends down the winding stairs.

Once they were out of earshot, Pan clamored up on Lyra's shoulder. "Hide it now!" he hissed. Lyra opened one of her luggage bags and dug through it for a while, until finally finding the wad of black velvet. She slid it into the gap between her mattress and the bed frame, where it was virtually invisible. "Hurry!" he whispered. "I'm goign as fast as I can," Lyra hissed back. After swiftly making her bed so that there was no need for a servant to disturb the hiding place, Lyra, Pan at her heals, sprinted down the stairs toward her first day of school.

A/N: whatcha think? Remember, I live off reviews. Oh, and if you have any good title suggestions...