Fiona woke in the morning with a groan. She was stiff from lying in the same uncomfortable position all night, and realized that she wasn't in her pajamas. Wriggling out of her used clothes, Fiona pulled on a fresh tunic and splashed her face with cool water. Heading to the table for her breakfast, Fiona tripped twice – still too sleepy to see right. She ate her breakfast clumsily, then walked to school after bidding her family farewell.
It was only when she reached the school that Fiona's brain finally kicked into gear, and she began to think like crazy again. Fiona looked around wildly for Jonas, then saw him right next to her, talking to Asher.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Fiona realized why she had found it so urgent to see Jonas – she had thought that he wouldn't be there. Fiona had thought that Jonas, in his respected position of Receiver, might not be asked to attend lessons anymore, as he was so important. But there he was, chatting merrily to Asher as if nothing had happened, as if he was still the same person as every other school day before this. Fiona realized that he wasn't, though. He looked older, wiser, than he ever had, as he had experience great anguish and honor, all in the same hour. Fiona knew that he had changed.
Fiona went over and joined the conversation, a perfectly ordinary conversation, she noted. "Asher, do you have to go to your job after school, as well?" asked Jonas.
"Yeah, where do Assistant Recreation Directors get trained?" Fiona chimed in.
"Well, yes I do have to go to the field today after school. We get trained in a number of different places, I'm just told every day where to meet my mentor for the next day. I almost wish that we didn't have to go to school any more, you know what I mean? I think that, with our new jobs, it should probably not matter if we have good grammar or not, eh?" Asher confided. "How 'bout you, Fiona? Where do you have to go?" Although asking her should have been considered rude, Fiona didn't mind.
"Well, it is pretty obvious where the Caretakers of the Old have to work, isn't it?" she asked coyly. "The House of the Old, of course! So, I just have to go there after school, and I had to read this very big stack of papers last night – there must have been at least fifty sheets of rules!"
"Yeah, I'm still not finished reading my folder. I musta had a zillion sheets in there!" Asher always spoke too fast and exaggerated when he was excited. Fiona almost looked around, fearing that a teacher would be walking by and give her friend a slap and a lecture on precision of language.
Of course, their conversation had gone completely unnoticed; Twelves were rarely supervised. Suddenly, a whistle blew, and Fiona and her friends joined the rest of their class in a straight line to the classroom.
"Oh man, I dunno what I did on that assignment sheet today. I just couldn't concentrate on work today, not on the first day of our Assignments!" confided Asher. Fiona was reminded that she, too, had not been paying attention in class, a rare occasion for the dedicated student. She walked with a friend on either side, feeling extremely calm and relaxed. First, they dropped Asher off at the recreation field. Then they proceeded to the Annex building, where Jonas went in. Feeling very lonely, Fiona set off towards the House of the Old.
Fiona was almost late as she rushed into the building. A desk clerk, smiling calmly, directed her into a small office, where she was expected. Behind a large desk, piled high with formal documents, sat a petite woman in a straight-backed chair. "Welcome, Fiona. Please have a seat. We have a lot to cover today." Fiona sat gingerly in an uncomfortable wooden chair. "Now," said the woman, "I am Mrs. Heather, and I am one of the current Caretakers of the Old. I take care of about twenty Elders at any one time, and I have five or so people under my supervision to help out. Each day, you will have a new schedule, until you take my place and have a fairly regular schedule day-to-day. So, we'll start with a little exercise, shall we, just to see what you know…"