It was the day of Miguel's first class, he got dressed in his nicest clothes. He was avid on making a good impression on his classmates. He got dressed in a pair of black trousers and a cream-colored shirt, it was slightly baggy on him.

While he was in his dorm, he walked over to the mirror in his bathroom - running his hands through his hair until each strand fell perfectly. He flashed a practice smile in the mirror before sighing. He was uneasy, unsure about the day. He wished that he could see the future and see how every single interaction could go - but he couldn't.

He slipped on his shoes, the nicest pair he owned, and put on his backpack before leaving his dorm and locking it behind him. His schedule consisted of a variety of intermediate and advanced classes. Some of the intermediate level classes he shared with Diego, and the two advanced classes he shared with Sol. One class they all shared, was a labwork class on general spellwork. There was no set skill level for this class, each student took it during their second or third year.

His first class was with Diego, an intermediate-level theurgy magic. The study of ice. Miguel didn't struggle with ice magic, he was alright at it. He felt as if there wasn't anything in particular that he excelled at, but was fairly adequate with the rest of the magics. Except for light magics, though he seemed to excel in any spells that involved the moon. It was an odd contrast. He thought that this was a trait that he got from his father since his father excelled in the same.

Miguel began walking to his theurgy class and stepped inside the classroom. This class was a lecture, where you practiced the spells separately. His eyes widened slightly at the enormous classroom. He had never seen anything like it, the rows of wooden seats seemed to be multiplying before his eyes. He took in a small breath and took a seat on the left side of the classroom, sitting closer to the top of the row.

He got out a notebook and pen after sitting and waited patiently as other students slowly trailed in. Some glanced over at him as they walked past him. Short whispers are exchanged between students. He tries his best to ignore the comments he can't quite hear and keeps his eyes on the empty notebook ahead of him.

"Hey!" A voice then called.

Miguel looked up, it was Diego. He plopped down beside him and threw down his backpack, he seemed out of breath.

Miguel raised a brow, "What's up with you?" He asked.

Diego huffed, "Ran here. Almost late." He then sighed heavily, then grinned. "But as always, I'm a great scholar." He then laughed, mainly at himself before getting out a notebook of his own.

Miguel stifles a laugh at Diego before looking back to the teacher who had walked in. A shorter man, much shorter. His ears were pointy, and it was hard to tell from the distance Miguel was sitting, but the man seemed to be part... elf?

Miguel found himself tilting his head slightly, he blinked a couple of times - as if to shake the thought.

Once the lecture began, Miguel was taking notes. He couldn't seem to stop writing. Everything was so intriguing, so new. He felt himself wanting to answer questions but was too nervous to, afraid that he'd get it wrong - leading to even murmurs about him. He can't be stupid and from a poor town. He needed to do what his dad said, prove everyone wrong - it was just going to take time.

After 30 minutes of the lecture pass, Diego had fallen asleep in class with his mouth slightly gaped open.

An hour later, the class ended, and Miguel shook Diego's shoulders gently. "Hey, c'mon."

Diego jumped, scurrying to sit up in his seat. He quickly looked around at the students who were leaving the classroom. He rubbed his face, "Oh." He yawned and stood, "How'd you like it?"

Miguel stood, putting his backpack on his back with a smile and a sigh. "I really liked it. I've learned a lot about theurgy before, but not like this." He then began walking out of the classroom, Diego following behind him.

Diego then groaned, "Well, don't like it too much. I don't need another Sol in the group."

Miguel then laughed, shaking his head. "I'll try." He says sarcastically. The two say their goodbyes as it's time for Miguel's next class.

There was a small break in between his classes so he decided to sit at a bench close to his next class and get out his water bottle to take a sip. He took in a small sigh as he looked around at the other students near him, then to a large panel window. It was still unfathomable that their school was practically a castle. He thought about home, and how different Soul Court was from Pembrook. He gave a weary smile at the thought of his fortune to be at such a prestigious school.

Then, Miguel stood, it was roughly five minutes before class started. It was another lecture class, this one was on light magic. As he stood, he saw Sol. She was walking to class by herself, a notebook clutched to her chest. 

That day, she wore gray. A gray short sleeve that was a lower cut, it seemed to hug her perfectly despite how modest the top was. She wore light jeans and white shoes. It seemed to be a signature of hers, she always dressed casually and comfortably. Her curly hair always seemed to be always perfectly tamed. Today it was up in a clip, small pieces of hair from above her ear and the middle of her forehead perfectly framed her face. Her jewelry was gold, the same jewelry as always. Small gold hoops and a small gold necklace, it wasn't a pendant, but a dainty chain that was thin. The design was twisted, shimmering when the light hit it in the right spot. She was so put together, not a single thing about her seemed unintentional, but she was so effortlessly collected.

Miguel watched her for the quickest of seconds as he watched her open the door and walk into the class. She pushed the door open as she walked in for anyone who might've been behind her though she didn't glance back to see if anyone was there.

At this moment, Miguel noticed something. That Sol isn't nice, but kind. Kindness has no agenda, and no validation is being sought. Being nice is to be pleasant, agreeable, or satisfactory. They all tie into being validation. That wasn't Sol, many knew Sol to be the opposite of that. She's blunt, argumentative, stubborn, and an advocate. She has firm boundaries, whereas niceness is consistently accommodating. He knew so little about her but assumed so much, he had a feeling he was right though. He didn't know where or how this thought came about, so he just brushed it off.

He walked into the classroom soon after her, he glanced around the room, looking for her. She was sitting by herself, straight in the middle section of rows. He began to walk over, he looked down at her as he approached. "Good morning."

Sol then looked up at him as she was taking a notebook out of her bag, she offered a small smile. "Morning." She responds shortly before looking back down to her bag to take out a pen.

"Do you mind if I sit?" He then asks, trying not to sound too awkward.

"I don't mind." She responds shortly, opening her notebook. She begins writing the title on the top of the page and the date.

As Miguel takes a seat beside her, he glances over to her paper and her neat handwriting. He thinks about whether or not he should compliment it. Before he does, Sol hands him a small set of papers. "Here, it's the work you've missed from the first week of school. We can go over it today after our classes if you're free." She says it like a statement, keeping her eyes on him as she speaks.

Miguel kept his gaze fixated on her as she spoke, he gave a short nod and took the papers. "Thank you." He says in a quiet tone and nods. "I'm free." He thinks for a moment, "Uhm, where should we..." He trails off, trying to find the right words.

"The library is fine." She then says, like she already knew this conversation. Like she rehearsed it.

Miguel then nodded, he looked up as other students began filling up the seats in the classroom.

A group of louder students sits near Sol, practically surrounding her. Two guys sat on her left, and another guy behind her was with a girl.

It was visible Sol was irritated through her dull expression, she didn't say anything about their arrival.

The boy sitting behind her put his crossed arms up on the headrest of Sol's seat, he peered over with a grin. "Hey, Sol~ Who's the new guy?" He asked with a smirk, looking over to Miguel.

Sol was writing small things in the margins of her notes, "His name is Miguel." She says shortly, her voice almost monotone.

The girl sitting with the loud group looks Miguel up and down, "He looks... humble."

Miguel looks between them all, he feels extremely judgemental but just raises a brow.

The boys sitting beside Sol laugh, one of the boys put a hand on her shoulder. "Sol, why are you with a commoner? You're much better than that." He sneers.

Sol shoved his hand off her shoulder. "Can you guys go away?" She then said dryly, her irritation now showing in her tone.

The girl laughed, "Aww, Sol finally accepted that no man wants a prude like her, so she's to be with a dirty commoner." She fakes a pout, "How cute."

Sol looked up at the girl, her eyes squinted. "He's not a dirty commoner, he deserves to be here just as much as anyone else here." She spat, her tone growing harsh.

The boy on her left began to laugh, "You can't be serious."

Sol turned to the boy, her face was dull - almost scary to see how much irritation she held with showing such an expressionless face. "See a smile on this face?" She said dryly, she gave a piercing look with slightly raised brows.

At this, their laughs slowly stop, and they sit back in their seats. They don't say anything more.

The interaction confused Miguel, he was shocked to see how fast the group stood down at just a glare from her. "Thank you." He whispers to her, leaning down slightly.

She shook her head, sitting up and taking in a breath. The pieces that framed her face moved perfectly aside as she sat up straight. "Don't mention it." She spoke firmly, but the irritation in her voice still lingered. She stared straight ahead, looking at the professor who was about to lecture.

The professor was a tall woman, she had long hair and wore some type of head accessory. It was a tiara that looped in the middle - in the middle was a yellow stone of some sort. Her clothes were all linen, all the light brown color that linen typically was. Her pants were wide and flowy, and her top ties together in various places.

The name "Mrs. Sonne" was written in elegant handwriting across the board. She then spoke up, "Good afternoon everyone. Today, we're going to start a new lecture. This one is on the history of the sun God - Salali, the goddess of the sun and light." She took in a breath of contentment, looking around at her students.

"Salali is one of the oldest gods in the history of magic. She was one of the first. It is said that she is the sun's first daughter and therefore the most righteous ruler. Every day, she is the one who allows the sun to shine down on us, the sun that peaks through the clouds. She is known to represent warmth, hope, fertility, knowledge, and womanhood. Oftentimes, when a mother is experiencing trouble with fertility, or suffering from a miscarriage - they pray to Salali to bless them or their family for help with fertility. If she accepts, the child will almost always be a girl." The woman had explained.

A student raised their hand and Miguel and Sol looked over to the student, "Why always a girl?"

The woman smiled, "In Salali's sanctuary, it is believed that her court consists of all-powerful women. The women of her court are referred to as Soha's. They all represent the stars we see, they are women of high intellect, great valor, and pure hearts." She nodded as she spoke.

"It's so stereotypical for the sun and moon to be at war, but they were. It was always an even fight between the two. Until Salali began to fall for the god of the moon - Mene. They longed for each other from afar, their love was forbidden. Salali found herself hating Mene, for how his coldness made her feel, it was a soothing type of cold. And Mene hated Salali for how she made him feel warm. One day, Mene ignored all of the rules about their love. He came over to the sun kingdom, and held her, what he's been longing for this whole time. And that is why we have solar eclipses - it is when the sun kingdom is most weak." She continued explaining.

All of the students seemed so intrigued, Miguel was writing down everything he could. Sol didn't, she sat back with her hands perfectly clasped in her lap, one leg crossed over the other. It was like she knew all of this already.

Another hour goes by of various students asking questions about Salali's kingdom and her relationship with Mene.

Miguel had never paid more attention to another topic before than now, the history of the Soha's and the sun kingdom intrigued him greatly.

Sol seemed content with listening, though she didn't take notes on anything.

Their class soon ended and the moment it did, he began packing up his supplies. "What did you think about all that?"

Sol was putting her notebook away before she looked up at him, "Which part?" She asked.

Miguel stood, he took in a breath with a grin. "All of it, I mean - it's all so... intricate and interesting." He breathed out.

She shrugged, "It's mean, most god history is very detailed." She said simply as she picked up her book bag.

He began walking out of the class alongside her. "Well, yea, but... this one more than the others. I want to learn more about the sun people, if people have ever gone to her court - if it's possible."

Sol looked up at him curiously as she spoke, she was intrigued by his train of thought. "Well, I know a lot about the history and culture. We can talk about it today after tutoring." She then looked ahead as she was walking.

Miguel gave a small smile, nodding. "I'd like that, thank you." He then thought for a moment, it was their intermission period, about 15 minutes before his next class. It was a class he had with her and Diego - a labwork class on general spell work. "What do you normally do between classes?" He asked her, looking down at her as he spoke.

Sol looked up at him for a moment, their gazes meeting each other for a moment. "I just sit, usually revise my notes if I need to." She walked alongside him to one of the many stone benches that were placed in the corridor. She sat down on the bench, leaving room for him to sit beside her.

He noticed that she left room for him and sat beside her. He began thinking about what to say to her.

"How do you like it so far?" She then asked, her voice cutting off his thoughts.

Miguel then looked at her, giving a faint smile. "It's... different." He sighs softly before nodding. "I like it though, I like learning. There's so much I haven't been told."

Sol gives a tiny smile, nodding. "The world of magic seems never-ending, I feel like there's always something new." She then takes a moment as if to think, "I'm sorry about those guys back there... in class. They're stupid, truly." She sighs, "Just... don't worry about them too much."

His expression softens, "I'm alright, no need to be sorry." He then smiles softly, "I haven't focused on them anyway." He says, keeping his eyes on her.

Sol was about to speak when Diego walked up to the two with a grin. "My two best friends."

Sol and Miguel then stood, and as they did, Diego hugged Sol.

Sol blinked widely before slowly patting his back. "Uh... hey Diego." She said stiffly, not quite hugging him back.

Diego soon let go and grinned, "Hey Sol." He then looked at Miguel and nudged his arm with a grin.

The three soon walked into class with Sol leading the way. The first half of the class was a lecture, then the lab work followed after. The three walked to the middle right section of the class and walked through the row of seats, Sol sat in the middle of the two. Miguel to her right and Diego to her left. The professor was a shorter woman, she was older with gray hair and small-framed glasses. She held her head high as she spoke.

Diego skipped this class the whole week, this was his first time attending the class, so he and Miguel would be experiencing it firsthand together.

Once the woman began the lecture and started speaking, she spoke incredibly fast - almost too fast to the point of being incoherent.

Sol was writing in her notebook steadily, she didn't seem intimidated or thrown off by this.

Miguel and Diego exchanged looks of bewilderment with each other before Miguel began writing down anything he could hear, his handwriting was sloppy and rushed.

Diego started writing but looked at Sol, he whispered loudly. "How can you keep up?" He was exasperated.

Sol waved a hand dismissively, "Shh." She didn't bother to look up at him, she just kept on writing.

Miguel struggled to keep up, he glanced over to Sol's paper, it was filled with notes.

After 30 minutes, the professor finished what would normally be an hour-long lecture. The students around them let out various groans and sighs of relief. All the while Sol seemed content, smiling softly down at her notes in satisfaction.

Diego whined, looking down at Sol's paper. "Ah-"

Sol cut him off, "I'll make you a copy." She then looked at Miguel, she always looked in his eyes when she spoke to him. "You too."

Diego let out a dramatic sigh of relief before slouching back in his chair.

Miguel had a worried expression before hearing her words, the minute his eyes met hers, he felt relieved by her words, and he nodded a 'thank you'.

Sol put away her notebook and stood, "C'mon, it's time for the lab downstairs." She gestured for them to follow.

In the downstairs lab, the two stood at Sol's side as she began setting up the things they needed for spellwork. She looked at the sheet. "Diego, can you get the lavender, nightshade, and amethyst please." She spoke while keeping her eyes on the paper, she then looked up at Miguel as she spoke, "And can you get salt and the mortar and pestle, please?" She asked politely.

Diego walked off to get what he was told. As Sol looked at Miguel, he felt as if it was hard to look away from her gaze until her eyes left his. He gave a small nod before prying his eyes away from hers.

Sol set up their spellwork station as the boys grabbed their ingredients.

The two came back with the ingredients as told, setting them down on the table. They practically towered her at their tall heights of 5'10 and 6'5.

Miguel stood beside Sol, peering over her shoulder at the paper she was looking over. "What's that?" He asked.

Sol glanced up at him for a moment, she didn't seem to mind him peering over her shoulder. "Instructions." She breathed out, looking back to the paper. "I know this spell, it's just that they're being particular about the order you do it in." She put down the paper on the table.

Diego leaned his arms on the table, looking down at the paper in front of them. "Why does that matter so much?"

Sol glared up at Diego, he should know the answer to this. "Different outcomes." She answers shortly. "So, one of you can grind the salt, and one of you can start peeling the lavender. I'm going to enchant the amethyst." She looked up and glanced between the two, "Sounds good?"

The two nodded, Miguel, getting the mortar and pestle, and the salt while Diego began taking each individual blossom of lavender off its stem, it was hard for him to be meticulous but he was putting all of his focus into it.

During this, Sol snapped her fingers and her wand appeared above her hand, it was levitating. She didn't bother looking at her wand as it appeared. She held the grip of her wand, she muttered an enchantment spell under her breath. After she did, a small beam of light shot toward the amethyst. The gem began glowing a very soft white.

Her wand had a wooden grip, a sun charm with a sunstone in the middle dangled from the bottom. The rod was perfectly straight and steel, it almost looked like a mini sword from afar.

Miguel was grinding the salt as this happened, he kept his eyes on her as she cast the spell, mostly in awe. He didn't want to be caught staring, so he looked back down to his salt which was now a fine powder.

Sol set down the lightly glowing gem and looked over to Miguel, peering over his arms to see the state of his work. "That's good. Thank you." She smiled, her tone showed genuine thankfulness.

She took the salt he ground into the fine powder and poured it onto the tray in front of them. "So, now we're going to spread out the salt. Do either of you want to or do you want me to?" She asked as she glanced between the two, it was clear she didn't want to seem like she was doing all of the work and wanted to include them as much as she could.

Miguel then nodded, "I'll do it." He then stepped forward and began to evenly spread out the powdered salt slowly with his big hand, he was gentle and slow with the motion.

Sol began carefully removing the purple petals from the nightshade flower. She stepped up to the tray and placed a petal in each of the corners of the tray, then one in the middle. She looked to Diego, "How's the lavender?"

Diego held out a handful of picked lavender buds in his cupped hands, some leaves were still attached. He grinned widely, seemingly proud of himself.

Sol peered over his cupped hands, her expression teetered as if she was debating if his work was up to par. "Okay." She nodded, "Can you sprinkle that around the perimeter of the tray?" She asked him politely.

Diego nodded happily before doing as told, he seemed happy to just be involved.

Miguel watched them both to see what was coming next.

Sol placed the glowing gem on top of the middle nightshade petal. She then glanced down to the paper. "So, this spell is for sleep, the one we're doing is a deep sleep spell." She pointed to the plant at the table in front of them, the plant screeched once Sol pointed to it. "These things need to be put to sleep once a month, or they don't produce any pollen." She then glanced between the two. "Did either of you want to cast the spell first?"

Diego and Miguel exchanged glances before quickly shaking their heads.

Sol laughed, then looked at the screeching plant. She started the spell with her wand pointed to the tray. "Moro dur slem." She began saying slowly with closed eyes as the tip of her wand was glowing a soft white, she then pointed the wand at the screeching plant. "Toire." She stated the last part with open eyes. As she finished speaking, her wand shot out a stream of light that hit the plant. Almost instantly, the plant went to sleep.

-

After the class ended, the three had one other class without one another. Miguel didn't bother to talk to anyone unless he needed to, he seemed to do fine in his class. He decided it was best to start going to the library and wait for Sol, as it was going to be their first tutoring session together.

He went to the library and upstairs to the third floor, he leaned against the wall at Sol's normal spot. He had ten minutes to spare, he figured that he might as well keep himself busy. He looked up to the bookshelves to his left and slowly pushed himself off the wall and walked over. He stood in front of the shelf and began reading the titles. He found one that was an old textbook that the school no longer used in the curriculum, called, "The Fundamentals of all Magic', he raised his brows and took the book off the shelf. He leaned against a nearby pillar and began to read the book.

Two minutes pass before Sol walks in, sitting down at her usual spot. She didn't notice Miguel down a book aisle, leaning against the pillar. As she sat down, the sun peeked out behind the clouds and shone through just her window. It illuminated the table in front of her, her brown eyes looked like warm coffee as the sunlight shone down on her face.

Miguel looked up and watched her sit down and get settled in before putting the book back on the shelf. He walked over to her, "Hey."

Sol jumped slightly at his voice before looking up at him, "Hey- sorry." She cleared her throat, gesturing a hand toward the seat in front of her. "Have a seat."

Miguel chuckled softly as he took a seat across from her. "You're quite jumpy."

She sighed softly, "I'm just not used to other people on this floor."

He tilted his head, "Don't you meet here with your other mentees?" He asked.

She looked up at him, her eyes falling on him once again, her eyes illuminated by the sun. "No. Just you."

Miguel feels a strange feeling in his chest, though he doesn't think too hard about it. "Just me?"

She began to open her book bag, taking her eyes off him at the moment. "Yeah, I figured that you don't know the campus very well, and you already remembered this spot, so..." She shrugged again, then looked back up at him. "Thought I'd make it easier."

"Oh." He pauses, "Thank you."

Sol puts down her notebook on the desk, glancing between him and his notes. "So, what did you want to try to catch up on first? You have an even amount of schoolwork to catch up on, so it's up to you."

He then gets out a folder that contained all of the work he needed to catch up on. "I actually finished most of it in between classes. I just have one more thing to work on." He pulled out a piece of paper, it was from their lightwork class. "I can't find anything on why lunar eclipses occur, I know we went over why solar eclipses occur, but not lunar."

Sol took the paper and looked down at it for a moment, "Oh, that's easy. You know how when a solar eclipse occurs, Mene came over to Salali's kingdom and held her? Well, the opposite happens for a lunar eclipse. Salali leaves her Soha's and goes to the moon's kingdom, and she holds him."

Miguel looks into her eyes as she speaks, his full attention on her as he's digesting her words. "And, what about a total eclipse?"

"It's said that during a total eclipse, Salili mourns Mene's touch so much that she lets her kingdom's guard down and that they're weakened at this time. So Mene takes over the sky in hopes of comforting her with the darkness." She spoke with ease, the information flowed out of her so naturally.

Miguel nodded slowly, glancing down at his hands every so often as she spoke. "You know a lot about all this." He then looked up at her, "You're way ahead of the class."

Sol laughed lightly, "My uh, my family prays to her. So I know all of the stories and everything." She waved her hand in a dismissive gesture.

He raised his brows at the information, "Oh, that's cool. So, you have a different culture than most of the students here?" He paused for a moment, "If you don't mind me asking."

She gave a small smile, shaking her head. "I don't mind." She clasped her hands together and placed them in her lap. "But, yea. I grew up with different celebrations, different foods, stuff like that." She shrugs it off, then looks down at the finished work that he completed during classes. "I can go over those if you want. " She gestures towards the paper.

Miguel takes note of how she quickly changed the subject, he just nodded and handed her the papers. He began watching her hands as she held the papers between them. He stared at her hands for a moment as she shuffled through the papers. His eyes began trailing up her figure, his gaze now on her face. He knew he was staring, he knew how he probably looked to anyone watching. But he couldn't help but look at her, especially her eyes. He kept his gaze on her eyes which were looking down at his papers. Not a thought occurred to him about how well he did on his work, he was more focused on her eyes. How her brown eyes shone in the light, her dark, brown, coffee-like eyes that looked like they were begging to be looked at. It was hard to look away.

As he studied her face, then her figure as a whole, he took note of how her silhouette was a small glow, like she was made out of the sun rays that were shining down on her. He studied her with curiosity, he felt like he needed to rip his eyes off of her.

Sol caught his gaze, she looked up at him and blinked a couple of times in confusion before speaking. Her cheek rested in the palm of her hand with her elbow on the table. "You okay?" She asked slowly.

Miguel blinked fast, snapping him out of his thoughts. "Yea, sorry."

She didn't comment anymore on it, her brow raised slightly for only a second. She looked back at the papers, "You did amazing on these, really." She hands him back the papers in a neat stack. "I left some notes in the margins for you to look over, you did good."

At this, Miguel felt that feeling in his chest once again at her comment. "Thanks." He then gave a short smile, he was confused about the thoughts that he just had. He didn't quite know where to place them as they racked around in his brain.