Herb is walking in the hallways of the school, looking around at the different students. Some were elves, dwarves, vampires, fairies, and many other things. What Herb thought was the weirdest is how some students had different colored ears.
"Oh, I'm nervous..." she muttered.
Salt walks next to her, looking calm. "Well, it's obvious that you are."
Herb instantly turns deadpanned.
Salt notices it, and stops walking. "What?"
Herb shakes her head with a sigh. "Can we just go and get our dorms?"
With that, they went to where they are handing out the keys, suprisingly, they got into the same room.
"Hey, after we're done, maybe we could explore the town around?" Salt offers, opening the door to their dorm.
"Yeah... good idea..."
At the town, which is named Dalarhaven.
"We could... go and get food, or to the arcade." Salt suggests, walking with her hands behind her back.
Before Herb could respond, her stomach grumbles, which causes Salt to smirk.
"That answers it."
"Come on, I know a place." Salt took Herb's hand, and runs off.
Salt walks her through the early-evening crowd, pulling Herb along sidewalks lit by floating lanterns. The air hums with chatter, clinking glass, and the occasional whoosh of a winged student overhead.
"Where are we going?" Herb manages to ask, trying not to trip over a cobblestone that decided to be slightly taller than the rest.
"You'll see," Salt chirps, barely out of breath.
After a few turns, they stop in front of a brick building with a warm golden glow spilling from its windows. A small painted mushroom wearing a chef's hat beams down at them.
Herb blinks. "A noodle shop?"
"You'll love it," Salt says, already pulling her inside. "And if you don't like these, then... well, you're wrong."
The cozy place is dotted with students of every kind, two fairies arguing over the last dumpling, a vampire sipping something dark from a teacup, a werewolf cutting his steak.
Salt plops into a booth and gestures for Herb to sit. Herb does, though her eyes are busy darting around, taking in everything.
A server, a tall elf, with soft green eyes, approaches. "Welcome! First time here?"
Salt nods. "Yep! Two bowls of the Sporefire Ramen, please. Mild for her, medium for me."
Herb opens her mouth. "...I can order for myself, you know..."
Salt smirks. "Yeah, I know, but still."
Herb opens her mouth again... then shuts it. Salt grins wider.
The elf laughs softly. "I'll be right back."
Once they're alone again, Herb relaxes into her seat, tracing the grain of the wooden table with her fingertip. "Dalarhaven's... nice. I didn't expect it to feel so alive."
Salt leans back, hands behind her head. "It grows on you. Like moss. Or fungi. Or emotionally attached roommates."
Herb snorts. "You're impossible."
"Thank you," Salt replies, absolutely meaning it as a compliment.
Herb suddenly feels something rub againts her legs, she looks down and sees a dark blue creature smiling up at her, but it doesn't have eyes. She jumps up onto the chair, looking scared.
"What?" Salt asks, when Herb doesn't answer her, she also looks down, but once she sees the creature, she just looks to Herb. "That's just a mold creature."
"A what?.."
Salt sighs, and begins to explain, "They are harmless, sure, they're basically made out of living mold, but they can't really kill you anymore."
"Anymore?!"
Salt chuckles softly, leaning closer. "Yeah, 'anymore.' They used to be a problem decades ago, but now they mostly just wander around looking cute, or creepy, depending on who you ask. I even got one at home as a pet."
Herb eyes the little mold creature suspiciously as it tilts its head and seems to... smile at her? "Cute...? It looks like it wants to eat me."
"It doesn't, really," Salt assures her,tapping the creature lightly. The mold giggles, a squishy, bubbly sound, and hops onto Salt's shoulder. "See? It's friendly."
Herb slowly lowers herself back onto the chair, still eyeing it like a ticking time bomb. "Friendly... right. So, why is it blue? On Earth, mold is deadly!"
Salt shrugs, and grins. "Blue mold is kind of rare here. They say it's a good sign, and that they bring you luck. Or chaos. Usually both."
Herb mutters under her breath, "I think I just got the chaos part..."
Their food arrives-steaming bowls full of glowing mushrooms, curling noodles, and aromatic broth. Herb's stomach growls again at the sight.
Salt raises her spoon triumphantly. "To surviving our first day."
Herb lifts hers as well, a small smile creeping onto her face."To... surviving... I guess..."
They clink their spoons together.
"And don't forget to pick up your uniform after this." Salt quickly says, and begins to eat.
"Right! I knew I was forgetting something."
Later, the two walk out of the shop, and back to their school building. Specifically to the front desk.
"Hi... hello..." Herb waves her hand shyly. "I'm here for my uniform..."
The receptionist doesn't even look up from her papers, and just points her pen towards a door.
"Rude." Salt comments, and walks off into the room the woman just pointed at, alongside Herb.
Inside the room, they see uniforms stacked on top of each other, folded neatly. But what caught Herb's eye mostly was how the uniforms did not look like the ones she usually sees.
"Why is everything... purple and yellow?" she asks.
Salt shrugs her shoulders. "It's a thing here... honestly, nobody understands it."
Then, they spot a girl with fluffy pink hair walking out of another room, she has a big smile on her face, and she spots Herb and Salt.
"Welcome!"
Herb stiffens instantly. "Um... hi?"
"I'm Cinnamon!" she says, holding out a hand. "I help with fittings sometimes. You two are new, right?"
Salt takes her hand and shakes it without hesitation. "Yes. Roommates actually. And we are mildly lost."
Cinnamon giggles. "That tracks. Come on, I'll help you find your sizes."
She guides them over to a table stacked with folded uniforms.
Cinnamon grabs two bundles. "These should fit. Changing rooms are back there!" She points to the dressing rooms. "If you need any help, call me."
Herb nods and takes her stack. "Thanks..."
"Are these washed?" Salt asks, looking at the stacks.
"Yep." Cinnamon nods.
The two soon step into separate small changing areas. Herb carefully unfolds the uniform.
She hesitates, then changes.
When she steps back out, Salt is already waiting for her.
Salt whistles. "Wow."
Herb looks down at herself. The purple jacket fits her perfectly.
"You look cool." Salt adds, more quietly.
Herb feels her face warm up. "You don't look bad either..."
Cinnamon hops next to them. "Oh my gosh, you both look adorable!"
"Is 'adorable' the school's official dress code?" Salt asks again.
Cinnamon just grins. "Basically. Yes."
Herb adjusts the cuff of her sleeve. "So... that's it? We're official now?"
Cinnamon nods her head. "Pretty much! And you're already doing it amazingly."
After getting their uniforms, Herb and Salt walk out into the courtyard to see students outside, either performing magic spells, reading, or doing all kinds of sports.
"I wanna try that!" Herb points to the archery fields.
"Suit yourself for it. Archers here aren't the nicest people." Salt explains, putting a hand on her hips, but she sees that Herb is already walking away. "And she's gone..."
Herb walks up to a girl with blonde hair, "Hello?.. Is this the-?"
"Archery class? Yup." the blonde girl responds, not looking at Herb. "I've done it all my life. I can show you how to do it."
Herb's eyes widen, but her lips soon curl up to a smile. "That's so nice of you... uh..."
"Pepper." the girl holds a hand out.
"Cool... mine's Herb." she shakes Pepper's hand.
"Now," Pepper begins, and hands Herb an arrow. "Shoot the target."
"I don't even know how-"
"You will feel it." Pepper says, taking a step back.
Herb takes a deep breath, and tries to shoot, but it falls out of her hands.
"It's okay. Nobody gets it the firs try." Pepper takes her bow back from Herb.
Herb walks away back to Salt.
"She was so cool and nice!"
"Don't think they're all this nice. They're all jerks." Salt crosses her arms.
Herb happily starts walking backwards. "Oh come on. None of them insulted me, or anything."
She keeps walking, but she bumps into someone.
"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!"
Herb turns around and sees an adult man, who just laughs. "It's okay."
Herb stares at the man, then she runs off. "Who... was that?.."
"That was Professor Nightshade. He teaches flower studies." Salt explains.
"Oh..."