.jpg)
"I see. I'd love to pitch in a little," Aesir replied, "I don't know a ton about gardening, but I'm more than willing to learn."
They glanced over to another section filled with vegetables and other edible plants.
"Oh, do you guys grow some of your own food?"
"The gardener could probably teach you a bit. Or I could, though we would have to both have the time for it." they replied. "And yes, the school grows a lot of its food. There are also animals kept for meat, as well. Due to how far we are from any other towns, the school needs to be pretty self-sufficient."
"That's cool- but… just how far did they take me from home?" Aesir chuckled nervously, "It seems like a lot of hoops to jump through- but for a major prophecy, I suppose it's understandable."
"I'm…not sure, but it's a long distance. The school is pretty isolated. And…all of us are here because of a prophecy. It's for privacy and all that."
"Yeah, yeah," Aesir sighed, "Would've been nice to get more prep time, a better warning and all that. I just hope my friends don't think I'm dead or I've been arrested."
"Makes sense. You can send them letters, if you like." he replied softly, shrugging his shoulders a little bit as they looked over at Aesir.
"Well… unfortunately, most of them either don't read or don't have anywhere I can send the letter- or both," Aesir sighed, "I can't do anything that would possibly incriminate any of them, either."
They shrugged.
"No matter. I'll get back there one day."
"Ah. My apologies for that, then." Maze replied, shrugging their shoulders and bending to smell a flower.
"That's alright. People go missing all the time, I'm sure they won't think too much of it," Aesir answered.
They looked closely at the plant Maze was at and circled around its roots. They could smell it, even without bending down, the fragrance was so strong.
Maze straightened up again, nodding faintly. "Alright. Well. You can visit someday, I'm sure." he replied, giving Aesir a faint smile.
"Yeah, exactly. It'll be fine," Aesir replied with a firm nod.
They paced through a few hedges, brushing their hands against the various leaves and branches.
Maze hummed faintly, looking around the garden.
"Anything else you wanted to show me today?" Aesir asked, "And um… am I supposed to start on classes right away? They never explained a whole lot about that."
"I…don't think so? And you'll probably be starting classes tomorrow. They'll bring you your supplies and sechdule sometime tonight, I think." they replied.
"Alright, great," Aesir said, sounding a little tired, "Ample time to settle in. At least they're taking care of the materials, though. Did you want to go on ahead to the dining hall, then?"
Maze nodded. "Sure, let's head there." they yawned softly, heading back towards the building.
Aesir followed Maze, giving a few last glances to the garden behind them.
"So, do you have any friends here?" Aesir asked, abruptly stopping themself. "I- uh- not like- Not insinuating you don't have friends. That was more me asking if I could meet them, I guess."
Aesir laughed softly, rubbing the back of their neck.
"I haven't met much of anyone yet."
They laughed a little. "I have a few, and I can certainly introduce you to them." he replied. "Although, I will warn you, most of us are future prophets in some way, so we are…a bit of an odd group."
"That's quite alright," Aesir replied with a laugh, "Odd has never been a bad thing."
They paused for a moment.
"Many of my friends in the past have been various flavors of thief or street urchin or scam artist, and trust me, they're a lot less savory people than prophets."
Mze laughed again. "Aye, yes, that's true, but ah…my group is still a bit more different than you may be expecting." they replied.
"I'm sure," Aesir replied, "But I'm looking forward to meeting them anyway."
He nodded, leading Aesir back into the schoolbuilding. "Of course." they smiled a little bit.
Aesir finished following Maze to the dining hall. Even on first glance, they knew it was much bigger than any place they'd eaten before. They had to scrape around for food for years, and their few funds went into whatever cheap food they could find on the market. They had never seen this much food in one place before. At least, not like this.
There was a decent amount of people in the dining hall, as well, some lined up to get food and some already seated and eating. A few waved to Maze or greeted him by name; more gave Aesir curious looks. New students were not overly common, and always elicited curiosity.
Aesir exhaled shakily. They weren't used to having this many eyes on them, and if they ever did, that was usually a sure sign of danger. They tucked their arms closer into their cloak as if trying to hide.
"Well, they seem… interested," Aesir murmured under their breath.
"THey're curious. We don't get a lot of new students, so everyone's curious when we do." he replied, leading Aesir to the line to get food.
"Usually if I have all eyes on me, it's because I've done something awful," Aesir laughed, "So forgive me for my bluntness."
They fell in line behind Maze and glanced across the food up ahead. There was more to choose from than Aesir ever really had the choice of eating, and secretly, they were quite eager for the steady flow of food here, as well as the constant roof over their head.
"You've done nothing wrong." Maze replied, loading some food onto their plate and leading Aesir through the line and then towards one of the tables.
"Not here, no," Aesir agreed softly.
They followed behind Maze, trying not to make eye contact with any of the strangers.
Maze sat down with a group of a few other people, greeting them all with smiles and laughter. "Hey, guys, this is Aesir." He introduced them, gesturing to Aesir to sit down beside him.
The various other people all greeted Aesir, some with waves and some with verbal greetings.