The Rossem Project

Settling In - Part 2

     Lirenna had originally hoped that Derrin would be able to stay in the tree with them, but there just wasn't room. The tree only had the one bedroom, which was only just large enough for the two adults. Their son would have to move into the dormitory with all the other students, therefore, which was what the University preferred in any case. They made an appointment with the housing secretary, therefore, to have him assigned a vacant room, and while they were there Thomas made a few enquiries, to let the wizardly community know that he was looking for useful employment. If the enrolment secretary was right and younger wizards were in short supply in the University, then he expected the offers to come flooding in, allowing him to pick and choose; to name his own terms. He looked forward to it eagerly.

     Derrin protested loudly when he saw his room, which he was going to have to share with three other students, and Lirenna patted him on the shoulder sympathetically. The room was small, with two bunk beds covered by coarse, threadbare blankets, a single wardrobe and a chest of drawers. The dark wood of a table, stained by spilled drinks and potions, was chipped and scored with the names of former occupants, and beside it stood two simple wooden chairs; about as basic and rudimentary as a chair could be and still fulfill its prime function.

     The floor was bare wood, also stained with drinks and potions but polished to a fine sheen by generations of feet which tended to be bare more often than not. The walls were bare brick, pitted and scratched over the years by bored students armed with sticks and knives, and the single window possessed only a single curtain, yellow with age and worn so thin that, even when drawn, it could do little to protect the students within from prying eyes in the gardens below. The only thing that marked the room as being the abode of potential apprentice wizards, rather than common farm labourers, was the small globe of polished white marble that hung from the middle of the ceiling and that shone with a soft, pearly light. It shone continuously, which meant that when the students wanted to get some sleep they would have to shut it away behind a trapdoor in the ceiling.

     Thomas felt a lump rising in his throat as a wave of nostalgia swept over him, while Lirenna shuddered with horror as her own memories of her five year stay in a room like this came back to her. "Can't I stay with you in the dwelling tree?" begged Derrin, his huge blue eyes fixing his parents in the almost hypnotic way that had so often gotten him what he wanted in the past.

     "I'm sorry," replied Lirenna with heartfelt sympathy, "but there's just no room. You'd be sleeping on the floor."

     "I'd rather sleep on the floor than here! It's horrible!"

     "I know it is," agreed his mother, "but there's no other way if you want to be a wizard. I hated it too when I was an apprentice, but I had to put up with it and now I'm an enchantress and one of the guardians of Haven." She put an arm around him and stroked the skin of his forearm. "It won't be so bad, you'll see. I'm sure your roommates will be very nice, and that the four of you will soon be the best of friends. Soon, you'll be right at home here. You'll look forward to coming back here at the end of every day, larking about with your friends and neighbours, getting to know them... How will you get to know them if you only see them in class? Think about it. You'll be making friends with people from all over the world!"

     Derrin nodded doubtfully, but there was still a look of muted horror on his round, pixie face as he swept his gaze around the sparsely furnished room.

     "My first room used to be in this block," said Thomas, grinning as all the memories came flooding back. "It was for full blown apprentices back then. Let's go have a look, see if the old place has changed."

     He left the room, and Lirenna and Derrin followed him to another room about twenty yards further on. This room was occupied, although the students assigned to it were away at the moment, and a strong smell of iodine and sweaty socks hit them in the face as they entered. The two demi shaes wrinkled their noses in disgust and hung back in the doorway, but Thomas swept right in and went straight over to the single small window overlooking the courtyard below.