The rest of our long weekend was, thankfully, fairly quiet and relaxed. After dinner in the cafeteria on Sunday, we had a quiet night in our dorm room, relaxing and trying not to think about our upcoming first day. On Monday, Aunt Maya asked us to come home for dinner and to bring Karen along so she and the twins could finally meet her. I was actually a little bit worried about that, but Karen was on her best behavior, or at least she was doing her best to be respectful toward Ainslee’s mother, Selina, and Sammie, so we all had a nice, relaxing evening together.

Now it was almost eight thirty on Tuesday morning, and we were on our way from the cafeteria, where we had just finished eating breakfast, to Vanguard University’s main auditorium. There, we would have to sit through several speeches and then orientation for new students before getting assigned to groups for a tour of the campus. “This fucking uniform is stiff in the worst places, I can barely walk in this skirt, and I look like an idiot,” Karen grumbled as we walked.

We were all uncomfortable in our Vanguard dress uniforms, so the Dark Elf wasn’t saying anything that the rest of us couldn’t empathize with. Honestly, it wasn’t surprising that the uniforms were uncomfortable, though, since we had only received them recently and hadn’t worn them at all yet. I was not looking forward to wearing this all day either, but there wasn’t really much that I could do about it.

Since we were all girls, our uniforms consisted of polished black shoes, form-fitting black knee-length skirts with gold lines down the sides, and long-sleeved navy-blue tailored dress shirts with a black tie and a gold-colored tie clip. We also had black berets that bore the Vanguard’s coat of arms in gold on the front. The shirts bore gold epaulettes on the shoulders and our names and rank insignias on the left side of our chests. The problem wasn’t with how they looked, though; it was that the material was new and a bit stiff because we hadn’t had a chance to break the clothes in yet.

The tailors did try to make them comfortable and accommodate extra limbs like wings and tails, so I was appreciative of that, as were Poppy and Kelly. The shirts that Poppy and I had been given were a backless cut that was standard issue for Fairy-type Altered, and Kelly’s skirt had a sizable hole for her tails, as well as a button on the rear above her tails rather than at the side. Ainslee got a pass on the shoes for her uniform because she had hooves rather than feet, but she and Kelly had paid extra attention to her hoof care regimen this morning to make up for that. My best friend could be self-conscious about her hooves, which was why she usually kept them hidden with long skirts, but today she couldn’t get away with that with a knee-length skirt.

The only one of us wearing an unaltered uniform was Karen, so I guess she had good reason to complain, especially since the color scheme didn’t really go well with her dark, blue-gray skin, and the skirts were a bit tight and hard to walk in. She wasn’t happy about having to wear her hair in a tight bun all day, either, something that we all agreed with. “Be happy that you don’t have hooves to worry about, Karen. I’m gonna be worried about people staring at them all day,” Ainslee muttered as she cast a glance downward at her partially bare legs and exposed hooves.

“Yeah, I know wearing dress uniforms sucks, everyone, but I didn’t write the regulations, and I can’t change them,” I told her, letting out a sigh as we approached the auditorium. “Let’s all do our best to support one another today. Maybe since we already have a full team, I can get us out of the meet and greet early.”

Once everyone was settled in for orientation, the Dean of Vanguard University gave a speech, probably one that he had given many times before to new students like us. He went on about the standards of this institution and how we students were the future, the sort of bog-standard speech that I would have expected at an event like this. Then he talked about tolerance and working together as he launched into an explanation of how Vanguard University was different from other institutes of higher learning, like how recruits for the Vanguard would be studying alongside civilians, and how we had fields of study that couldn’t be found anywhere else in the world.

That damn speech and the general overview of what the University offered took almost an hour before it was over, and the staff on hand were ready to start dividing students into groups for tours of the campus and facilities. That came as a relief for the Altered among us, who were growing tired of the unwelcome attention. I had noticed that most of the civilian students were spending more concentration openly staring at those of us in uniform, and the rare civilian students who were obviously Altered, than they were listening to the Dean.

Most Altered students decide to join the Vanguard and get their schooling, dorm rooms, and other expenses covered, but some were well off or had no interest in ever being in an Incursion Zone or seeing a Titan again. That was fair, to be honest. If I weren’t so damn determined to save my mother, I probably would have felt the same way in their place. They probably weren’t expecting the stares from their fellow civilian students, though. At least we’d been somewhat prepared for that possibility since we were in our dress uniforms and expecting some attention from that.

In truth, I guess I couldn’t really blame the civvies for staring, though. The lion’s share of them were foreign students who had probably never endured an Incursion or seen a Titan, let alone someone who was obviously Altered. And from all the uniforms that I was seeing around me, at least a quarter of this year’s new students were Altered. Sure, some of those civvies could be Incursion survivors, not all of us become Altered after all, but from the way that most of them were openly staring, I got the feeling that most were lucky enough to have never had their lives turned upside down by an Incursion.

Unfortunately, they were separating us into tour groups based on what programs we were in, so that meant that my team was completely separated from one another, and I would only have Moonlight for familiar company. So, after we all promised to meet up at the cafeteria closest to our dorm for lunch, we separated to find our tour groups. Luckily, they were easy to find with the clearly marked signs that our tour guides were holding above their heads for our convenience.

The group that I found myself joining wasn’t very big, barely two dozen students, including two fellow Sprites who looked like Earth Sprites from their green hair. Only one of those students wasn’t in uniform. She was Altered, though, some kind of Fey from the look of her ears. I thought she might be an Elf at first, but most of them tended to have willowy figures while hers was closer to Ainslee’s more generously curvy build. She was also very pretty with tanned skin and bright pink hair that made her stand out in a crowd.

I wasn’t surprised that there were only Altered students in the program I had chosen. A good portion of the program’s courses did focus on magic studies after all. Magic of any sort required some control over mana, and since only Altered seem to have that ability, it made sense that only we would be able to get anything useful out of this program. That probably contributed to the small class size as much as the fact that the program was sort of niche.

I looked around at my fellow students while the faculty member counted heads, hoping to find someone to talk to, and I found my attention drawn to the pink-haired Fae who wasn’t in a Vanguard uniform. She looked like she was feeling kind of awkward with all the people in uniforms surrounding her, so instead of trying to strike up a conversation with the two other Sprites, I started to approach her. -Perhaps you should try to make friends with the other Sprites instead,- Moonlight suggested, a strange nervousness in her mind voice.

“I’ll be fine, Moonlight. Besides, she looks kind of lonely all by herself,” I replied, wondering what that was all about. I mean, she was often wary of people, but that was usually because she didn’t want to interact with them; this time, she actually sounded nervous for some reason. Promising Moonlight that I would be cautious, I flew into the pink-haired girl’s line of sight so she could easily see me before offering a friendly, “Hi, I’m Lily.”

Despite my efforts, it seemed that I startled her because her eyes went wide as she noticed me. “Oh! Umm… hi. I’m Raina. Sorry, I… uhh… wasn’t expecting any of you Vanguard recruits to talk to me.”

“Why not?” I inquired, genuinely confused about why she might assume that.

“Well…” she started nervously while looking at her feet, “I’m Altered, but I didn’t join the Vanguard. I just… couldn’t, and I had enough money from the insurance policies and stuff that I could afford the tuition.”

“Fighting Titans isn’t for everyone,” I offered practically, “and at least you know your limits. I don’t see why anyone should hold that against you. So, why did you choose the New World Synergy Program?”

“Well, you see, I’m a Wood Nymph and I’m really interested in learning more about Altered flora and fauna. Ideally, I want to join one of the research teams studying the ecology and new species to be found in former Incursion Zones,” she answered with a bright and enthusiastic smile.

Well, now it made a lot of sense why she hadn’t joined the Vanguard. From what little I had heard about Wood Nymphs, they’re generally very gentle in nature and don’t like violence. I had also heard that they’re very good with nature magic and helping plants grow, so she would probably be very useful to the ecological research teams. I had just told her as much when our guide called out to follow him for a tour of the campus.

I had already seen much of what the campus had to offer, but there were some things that I hadn’t, such as the eco-lab that was exclusive to our program. It was a large geodesic dome, almost a kilometer in diameter, that was positioned on the far northern edge of the campus. It held a developing ecology of Altered plants and small Altered animals that had been found in and around former Incursion Zones.

Raina was practically bouncing in excitement the entire time that we were there, and I have to admit that I was pretty excited about observing all the new species as well. Since we both seemed to share a similar interest in Altered ecology, I spent the majority of the remainder of our campus tour talking with my new friend about the program and what courses we were looking forward to taking the most. She seemed to be most interested in New World Ecology and Magical Conservation, while I was most looking forward to Altered Herbalism and Magical Mixtures, which studied not just Altered flora, but also potion making using those plants and other, more mundane, herbs and ingredients.

We had other things in common, too. We had both grown up on ranches, for instance. She grew up in northern Alberta and had been involved in rodeo and 4H when she was a kid, just like Kelly and I had when we were little. She came to Amethyst Harbour after she was caught up in the Incursion south of Grand Prairie a couple of years ago and lost her parents and home in the attack.

By the time the tour ended, just before lunch, we had exchanged call codes, and I had invited her to join me and the rest of my team for lunch. I kind of wanted to introduce her to Moonlight as well, since she showed such an interest in Altered fauna, but Moonlight seemed reluctant to let me even mention her to the Wood Nymph for some reason. Raina didn’t get to meet my other friends that day either, since she said that she had just moved into her dorm room last night and had to get all her stuff unpacked and work some things out with her new roommates.

It was after Raina had run off toward her dorm, and as I was making my way to the cafeteria to meet the others, that I asked Moonlight, “Fess up, what was your problem with Raina? I know that you’re not comfortable showing yourself to people on a general principle, but you haven’t been that resistant to someone since I first decided to introduce you to Poppy and Kelly. What don’t you like about her? She seems very nice.”

-She’s hiding something,- the Unicorn responded cryptically before giving a sort of mental sigh and elaborating. -There was a hidden presence with us for that entire tour, and it was connected to that girl. I could feel the bond; it’s just like the one that you and I share.-

“Wait, are you telling me that she has a Unicorn, too?” If Moonlight were visible, I probably would have been gaping at her in shock.

-It is very likely, though, I have never encountered another of my kind before, so I cannot be sure. Whatever it is, she is hiding something,- she responded suspiciously.

“Oh, you mean like how I didn’t tell her about you because you didn’t want her to know about you? That kind of hiding something?” I replied, rolling my eyes. It would certainly explain why she was so nervous when I came to talk to her and why she left so quickly despite us getting along so well. If her bonded Unicorn was anything like Moonlight, they probably were trying to keep Raina from revealing them… or the poor girl thought that she had voices in her head.

-Perhaps,- Moonlight admitted reluctantly, -but I think it would be wise to be cautious.-

“Yeah, I get the feeling that she’s being told the same thing right now," I grumbled. "Fuck that, I’m calling her tonight after the meet and greet to talk about this. Raina seems like she could be a good friend, and if she does have a Unicorn bond too, then maybe we’ve found a new friend for you as well.”

Moonlight was not happy about that decision, but there’s such a thing as too much paranoia, and I was beginning to think that was a trait that all Unicorns shared. She was quiet as I got my lunch from the Fairy service line in the cafeteria and searched for my teammates. I tried to convince her that I would be careful when I talked to Raina, but I could still sense her nervousness in the back of my mind when I found the others waiting for me at a table and asked, “So, how did your tours go?”

“I liked mine,” Ainslee responded first, grinning from ear to ear. “I’m really looking forward to learning more about Magitech Engineering, and our year group is pretty small for such a cutting-edge tech course. Everyone seems to be fellow Vanguard recruits, too.”

“Yeah, well, that’s not surprising, given that only people who can sense and manipulate mana can work in that field. My program is stuffed full; we had to split into two different tour groups, and I only saw a few other Vanguard recruits,” Kelly countered. I guess that wasn’t surprising since Psychology and Counselling was a program that anyone could take, and Vanguard University had hired some of the best teachers available for the program.

“It’s the same for Nursing and Trauma Care,” Karen huffed in reference to her own program. “I saw a few other recruits like me who want to be field medics for their units and go into nursing when their contract is up, but most of them were regular humans. I spent most of the fucking tour being stared at by rude assholes.”

“Yeah, I’m one of the few Altered starting in the Music Studies program this year, and the only Sprite. The program isn’t very big either, so the group was small, and it felt like everyone was staring at me the whole time,” Poppy added, looking uncharacteristically frustrated. “Well, it’s just the first day. I’m sure those people will get used to being around Altered soon while living and studying here, and then it won’t be so uncomfortable. So, how did things go for you, Love?”

Everyone turned to look at me, and I smiled. “My program is pretty small, too, but there are magical components to it, like with Magitech Engineering, so that makes sense. All my fellow students are Altered, and there was only one who wasn’t a Vanguard recruit. I spent most of the tour talking with her; we have a lot in common, probably more than either of us suspected. Moonlight thinks she has a Unicorn pal.” The looks on the faces of my friends and girlfriend were well worth it as I quietly started to eat my lunch.