1 Chapter 1: Your Inevitable Fate as an Unsoiled Broodmare

Solaris province was living hell. It was already September, but the temperature was pushing one hundred degrees outside, to say nothing of the humidity. Tree branches hung low with wilted leaves. The Chancellor had placed a temporary ban on deducting house points from students not wearing their robes.

By the time Lilith made it to her dormitory building, her white button-down shirt was translucent with sweat against her back. Her thighs kept sticking to each other, making peeling noises as she walked first into the building, up the stairs, and to room 209. Thank goodness the dorms were cool on the inside, she thought. She brushed a moist strand of dark hair from her forehead and pressed the flat runic key against room 209's lock.

The lock was solid stone, with a flat surface raised off the wooden door. With Lilith's key, the runic lock pulsed green once, and then the stone lock's surface shifted and presented twelve runes. Lilith pressed in her passcode, and then the lock shifted to a solid, bright green. She rushed into the room.

Inside, the suite was dark. All the lights were off. A dead moth lay on the ground. The locked door opened into a hall barely wide enough for two school trunks to fit through. The middle inner door lead to half of a bathroom, with sinks lined up against the mirrored wall on one side and a door into the rest of the bathroom on the other. To both sides of the bathroom, doors lay cracked open into the suite's bedrooms.

After wheeling in her trunks into the suite's hallway, Lilith began unbuttoning her shirt. Had she brought enough clothing? At this rate, she'd be changing shirts several times a day, just to avoid turning into a person-shaped swamp. The laundry rooms were all going to be full every day until the heat went down, too. Unless Lilith started doing some washing in the sink in the evening, she was going to run out of shirts before the weekend was over.

The door to 209A swung inward with a creek. Another student rolled into gaze from the dark bedroom. They had a slim build, and curly brown hair with both sides of their head shaved. Their eyes were partially obscured by a pair of pince-nez glasses with dark green lenses.

Lilith turned her head, then jumped back and pulled the sides of her shirt back together.

"Sorry! I didn't think anyone else was here, yet!"

The quiet student put up a hand against their face.

"Do not worry. Breasts can no longer harm me," they said.

"Oh. That's good to know. Are you Zell Masyga?" Lilith asked.

"Yes. I assume you are Miss Radcliffe-Forsythe? I received a letter earlier this year stating that we would be roommates," Zell said, extending their hand.

Their voice was smooth, almost lilting. When Lilith accepted the offered handshake, she noted that Zell's hand was just as small as hers. That was a new one.

"You may wish to shower before dinner. I have already done so," Zell said, then turned back into their shared room. They paused.

"Then again, that will probably prove to be a futile effort in the long run," Zell added.

"I just want to not smell disgusting for a few hours," Lilith said, letting the front of her shirt fall open as she hauled her luggage into the room she shared with Zell.

Students at Imperial Magischola would have gasped at how small and sparse the dormitories were at New World in comparison to theirs. Two twin sized beds, dressers, and desks were the only furniture inside the room. All of the furniture was identical and plain, which meant it was all cheap to make and easy to replace from damage caused by students antics. It also made them easy to repair.

One trunk lay under the lofted bed on Zell's side of the room.

Lilith picked the other side, and wheeled her trunks underneath the second bed.

Zell returned to arranging items on their desk. Their pale hands had quick movements, long and slender like spider legs. Several mundane pens resided next to what Lilith thought might be a calculator and a pile of loose paper. There were two boxes on the desk--labeled with messy, angled handwriting.

Lilith unlatched one trunk, shuffling through clothes, books, and stationery supplies before pulling a decorative box out. The Mage put that to her side, then pulled out a grey towel from between several heavy books and slung the towel over her forearm. Then, picking up the box, Lilith retreated into the bathroom.

Zell watched out of the corner of one bright hazel eye. They waited for the sound of water, and closed the 'teeth' box on their desk with practiced movements. As far as Zell was concerned, there were only two known facts about Lilith.

First, Lilith was unsoiled. Although both of Zell's parents were mundane born wizards, even they knew of a handful of the most notable Magimundi unsoiled lines. Lilith apparently had two names so important, that her parents had to slap them together with a hyphen--least someone forget just how important both names were.

Second, Lilith knew a suspicious amount about Star Trek for someone with an unsoiled pedigree equivalent to a Westminster Kennel Club Best-of-Show champion.

By extension of the first known fact about Lilith, Lilith probably knew that the Masygas were nobodies in the Magimundi. The Masygas weren't even a thing. So Zell wondered why, exactly, Lilith was still their roommate. Most of the unsoiled scions had the pull, money, or both to ensure that they only roomed with other 'acceptable' members of Magimundi society. Why hadn't Lilith?

Optimistically, Zell might conclude that, perhaps, Lilith was less conservative than most of the unsoiled Zell encountered thus far. It would certainly explain the Star Trek knowledge, and why Zell was deemed an acceptable roommate.

Pessimistically, Zell might conclude that Lilith had not deemed looking over the roommate arrangements worth her time and was in for a rude surprise.

Zell found themselves hoping for the optimistic outcome, just this once. And only because there had been talk--via letter--of converting car battery power into something they could plug a television and dvd player in so they could get some quality mundane-world shows on campus. And, while this might be a seven-step joke at Zell's expense, part of Zell wanted to hope for someone else who thought the entire car battery scheme was a good idea.

Mixing mundane technology and magic was a generally poor idea. But, mixing mundane technology with mundane technology in order to use it in a magic school was much less dangerous.

The unfortunate thing was, Zell's parents were even less certain how their child rooming with an unsoiled heir would turn out. So there was no guidance on that front. No one from Zell's primachola had even bothered to ask. This was the most predictable possibility, but it still left Zell without much of a clue of what to do or how to behave.

Should they say something? Yes, how was Lilith's meat suit doing today? Was it true that the Forsythe family was so rich that any single heir could do a Scrooge McDuck dive into a pool filled with the wizard gold they received from one year's allowance? These did not seem like completely adequate questions. Socialization might very well be overrated. Indeed, this was the conclusion Zell's had drawn many years ago during Primaschola. So why were their hands so sweaty? This interaction was irrelevant, and the only reason Zell was not in a single in the first place was the matter of cost.

Lilith returned from the shower, and then dressed facing a corner. She began unpacking, and neither she or Zell seemed to be capable of facing the other. Or speaking.

"So how do you feel about your inevitable fate as an unsoiled broodmare?" Zell realized mid-sentence that this was probably not 'acceptable small talk,' as their mother would say.

Lilith paused, then shook out her folded pillow cover.

"I don't think I'll get married. My parents usually forget that I exist. They've got my older sister already, so I'm just the spare," Lilith said, face bright red.

"So. Um. I-I don't think it's inevitable. At least not for me. I'm kind of, um, a mess. To them," she finished. Then she noticed she had re-folded the pillowcase. She shook it out again and began stuffing a pillow inside.

That only explained something if Zell could take Lilith's word at face value. But Zell found some measure of satisfaction in their successful conversational skills. Adequate.

Lilith wasn't so certain. Had that been meant to be mean? Or was it curiosity? Or maybe it was something else entirely. The mage set up her bunk in silence, occasionally glancing back at Zell. Lilith couldn't know that she had already exceeded Zell's average conversation length with classmates several times. So she was only left with the notion that, maybe, something else should be said.

Should she be the one to say something next?

She turned that question over and over as she unpacked her books, her quill pens, her loose paper, and other academic tools.

"What path are you studying?" Lilith finally asked.

"Healing."

"Oh. Is there any particular reason why?" Lilith asked.

Shit. This was going so badly. First day, and her roommate already hated her. Clearly Zell didn't want to talk to her. She should have just kept her mouth shut.

Zell was quiet, looking at their desk.

"I do not think we should be bound by what the conventional zeitgeist deems the 'normal' human form. Instead, I believe we should be free to pursue the betterment of our physical forms to the extent that our own free will and consideration merits," Zell's voice wound like a stream.

Lilith paused.

"You're a transhumanist?" She ventured.

"Indeed, that is the common label applied to my mindset."

Another pause.

"I guess that seems cool," Lilith said.

Zell opened their mouth, then pursed their lips in a thin line in consideration. They nodded, almost to themselves. Lilith's response had been unexpected.

They watched Lilith drag a toolbox and several canvas bags out of her trunks. Several lengths of power cord peeked out, into Zell's view. Even among the unsoiled, that would be a bit far to go for a practical joke.

"I surmise that you are what is commonly called a believer in the Cultus Iktus, or 'useless things,' a technological enthusiast that finds interest in the applications of mundane advances in addition to magic." Zell's eyes sparkled.

"I may have misjudged you, as it appears we may be comrades against the restrictive social norms of the people around us," Zell said, then stuck out their hand.

"Zell Masyga."

"Lilith Radcliffe-Forsythe," Lilith repeated, but this time shaking Zell's slender hand. Their grasp was sure, and their gaze steady, now.

"I will hesitantly say that I look forward to spending this semester amongst a like-minded individual. Unless this is exposed as an elaborate hoax with the intent of exposing any vulnerabilities I may have. But know that I am in the process of researching whether or not I can grow a third eyeball on my head that does not need to blink."

"I will make sure to keep that in mind," Lilith said.

Zell nodded, with the severity befitting the solemn nature of the situation.

"Yes, and have you made any progress on the project we discussed in writing?"

"I think so. I need the electrical information about the battery, and what the television can take before I can start building a converter. But, the theory all works out," Lilith replied.

The bell tower rang. Six o'clock.

"I suggest we continue this discussion over dinner," Zell said, adjusting their tie.

Both students left their robes in the dormitory.

The dining hall had moved. Last semester, Lilith's older sister reported that it was next to the dorms. Now, there was a good mile between the dorms and the quad hosting the dining hall. First years were obvious on the walk. They split into nervous pairs or knots. All of the upperclassmen eased into groups full of laughter and conversation.

Some schools, including Imperial Magischola, had a tradition of announcements proceeding meals. But, the faculty and staff at New World Magischola gave up on that nearly a hundred years previous.

Zell and Lilith joined the rest of their classmates. Students and staff alike served themselves from a series of buffet-style stations. Grey, stone golems covered in glowing blue runes replaced empty plates and bowls with full ones. Several of the older golems were covered in bits of moss or plants growing from cracks in their stone exteriors.

All of the second and third year students began crowding into tables by house. Instead of the single, long rectangular tables Lilith remembered from her Primaschola, there were multiple small, circular tables arranged into a rough row for each house. A sixth winding row was cordoned off for first years.

Lilith sat down first, with her tray. She sipped on her water, and watched the doorway from the buffet area. Then, she saw a familiar dark bob of hair contrasting with pale skin.

"Hey, Akeldama! Jacinth! Sit over here!" Lilith waved.

She had to shout a second time before the other woman noticed. Then, the pale woman looked to both sides on reflex, surprised that she was being called over.

"Hello, Lilith," Jacinth said, setting her tray down.

Jacinth's eyes were dark, like Lilith's. And their hair was a similar near-black. Both were also petite. But, that was where the similarities ended. Jacinth was all sharp angles, and willowy like a crane. Lilith, in contrast, was approaching an hourglass figure.

Jacinth blinked back a few tears, staring at her plate.

"Did something happen?" Lilith asked.

"My roommate left. I only saw her when she showed up to get the last of her things, and just moved to a different suite," Jacinth whispered.

"Do you think she knew about--"

"No way. I mean. Probably not. Look, even if that was it, then she's still being a jerk," Lilith fumbled.

Zell sat down at the table.

"Oh, Zell. This is Jacinth Akeldama. We went to Primaschola together. Jacinth, this is my roommate, Zell Masyga," Lilith rushed to the new topic.

Handshakes made their way around the table. After they heard about Jacinth's roommate leaving, Zell suggested that Jacinth take the opportunity to fully embrace life in a single dorm room. Jacinth could get a couch, or turn the other half of the room into a lizard habitat. Lilith approved of the couch suggestion.

Nearly an hour into the meal, the school Chancellor stood up at the staff table and a ripple of silence slowly glided through the room.