A loud voice began to sound from every where at once. I whipped my head back and forth, trying to determine from whom it was coming.  The voice talked of all manner of different things, from activities to food, before it stopped. Afterward, the door to the principles office swung open, and a lady I presumed to be Mrs MacHaversham walked out. She was dressed in a gray jacket with pants, and she seemed to tower over us as we sunk lower into our chairs. Her white blonde hair was swept back from her face into a knot at the base of her neck, and her glasses sitting prominently on her nose. When Aria had first spoken about her, I had envisioned someone much like the elders in my village. Truly was I mistaken, for she looked to be of the same age as my mother, though I doubted as such, since my mother was nearly a millenia old, minus a few centuries.

          "In trouble already? The school day has hardly begun. This is highly unacceptable." Mrs MacHaversham told us, her voice cold and unfriendly.

         "Cecily, those two are new students, just enroled this morning," said the lady behind the desk, her voice floating over to us without even lifting her head.

          "In that case, I apologize. Will the two of you please follow me into my office?" She motioned towards the open door behind her. With that frost gone from her voice, I recognized it as the one that came from every direction merely a moment earlier. Hesistantly, I stood up, letting my bag swing against my legs as I began to walk towards the room beyond. I could hear Mekaîle shuffling along behind me, his feet barely lifting from the floor. We seated ourselves in the chairs that stood side by side infront of an impressive wooden desk. I tried reaching out to the dryad who must be living inside, but found no response. This wood was truly dead. For our homes, we took branches that had fallen off already from the trees, or asked of bits from the dryads, never killing those blessed spirits if it could be helped at all. This was sad, for I knew no one had asked the permission of the fey-like being who had once lived in this tree whether it was alright to destroy her heart and home.  Mrs. MacHaversham came and sat on the other side of the desk from us, and I found I could not look her straight in the eye.

                                                                              ~*~

  "I would like to welcome you to the school, and I hope that you will both enjoy your year here. The second class bell is just about to ring, so you'll be able to join your classes without disturbing the teachers. Here is a map of the school for each of you. If you have any trouble finding your way around, I'm sure any of the students would be happy to help you." With that, we were dismissed, shoved into a hall that was beginning to overflow with mortal beings. I looked over at Mekaîle, not nearly as certain as I had been that this was a good idea. What if everyone discovered us? It would be hard to hide from everyone our naivéte of this world. Only the day before we had learned of malls and electronics. How would we fare in a place where this is all common, where even the slowest child knows how to hook up a computer? I could barely turn one on, as we had discovered this morning, setting up an email account for school. I had managed to 'freeze' the computer, as they had said, though I saw no frost.

   "Well, we might as well try and find our class," Mekaîle shrugged.

    "Just pray to the Goddess that we make it through the day," I sighed, running my fingers through my hair. It was something I had just recently truly adopted. It seemed a commonplace gesture among the humans, though it would be frowned upon by my own people.  Mekaîle reached up and hand and placed it on my shoulder, squeezing gently before taking his hand away. That gesture of reassurance helped to ease my worries, however slightly. Taking a deep breath, I looked at my map, and then at my class schedule. Today would truly be the longest day of my life.