Junseo studied his new class schedule for a couple of minutes then continued with his task of prying a piece of wood off the top of the door sill with a knife. He used the wood to fix the window into place then tore the schedule he had just been given into strips he folded and stuffed into the cracks along the edge of the frame. He nodded to himself when he was done and then changed into his dress robes. His side of the room was already noticeably more comfortable without the cold breeze coming in. He could not imagine what it must have been like to sleep under the broken window in the middle of winter and wondered if it partially explained his young roommate's den of cloths.

Junseo carefully took his jade jars down from the top of the wardrobe where he had stored them. He debated whether he should wear his crystals but reasoned they belonged with his formal attire. He did not remove the cover over his torque as it would not normally show under the long wide sleeves on his shirt. He also left off the brimmed hat, opting for a wide black headband and a silver clasp over his topknot. With no mirror he was not sure his belt was straight so asked his young roommate if he would pass inspection.

"Does this look right to you? Matron said dress robes for tonight. Is this usual or is it a special occasion?" Junseo fussed with his belt some more.

"You have got it twisted on the side." Tai Yi said in a small voice and pointed to the problem. "It's the night before the civil examination results are released and the seniors find out if they will be training for the qualifying tournament or spending the summer in remedial studies."

"So, the last happy night?" Junseo straightened his belt.

"For the seniors, yes." Tai Yi made a face and continued, "We will sit through a long speech but hopefully the food will make up for it."

Junseo could hear the other boys gathering in the corridor.

"I guess we should get going if we don't want to be late." Junseo stood by the door and waited.

"You go ahead. I will be along in a minute or two." Tai Yi was still trying to get his topknot in place.

"Nonsense. Let me help with that and then you can be my guide." Junseo picked up a comb and held a string between his lips. With a few deft moves he had Tai Yi's hair looking far more presentable.

"Thanks?" Tai Yi was not used to this kind of attention and stared at the floor the whole way to the dining hall.

"You should probably go sit with the seniors." Tai Yi slid over toward the side of the back row. A couple of boys jostled in ahead of him while another looked ready to try and squeeze them both out of the line.

Junseo took a slightly wider stance and could not be budged. He ignored the increasingly aggressive pushing on his back and kept his focus on his roommate.

"I will have plenty of time to get to know the seniors when we are bashing each other about in training. I'd rather just have a quiet dinner together if it is ok with you." He nodded over to some open spots on the end of a nearby table.

Tai Yi gave Junseo a quick smile and went over and got settled. Junseo did his best to avoid the pokes and kicks aimed at him as he went by. The tables were not so close together that he should have to dodge between the benches but the other students made it as difficult as possible to get through. He had never been to a boarding school before but figured there would be a bit of tension at the start. He could not make out what the other boys were saying but shrugged it off.

"Matron said you are from the North but I am not sure if she actually said where abouts."

"Most people here don't know it. Linsang is a small centre in the mountains." Tai Yi's tone showed he did not expect it to ring any bells.

"Isn't that where the Northern court meets in the Spring?" Junseo had looked up what he could find about the Northern kingdom after he had learned about his personal connection. He still struggled to believe everything he had been told but thought it best to investigate the possibilities on his own.

Tai Yi nodded and then gave Junseo a very curious look before asking, "Is that a phoenix on your ring?"

Junseo put his hand out under the light to make his ring easier to see.

"I don't think I have ever seen one set to be ready for flight before. My great uncle has a phoenix ring he was given for service to our prince, the northern prince I mean," Tai Yi's wide eyes were full of questions. He was trying to remember what he knew about the different aspects of the phoenix symbols but couldn't place this particular configuration.

"I have had this ring all my life. Really I don't feel whole without it." Junseo gave this very personal information hoping it would distract the younger boy.

"They say some stones can be like that. I don't have any crystals yet." Tai Yi confessed with regret.

"I had to wait for what felt like ages for my first pairing." Junseo smiled and rolled his sleeve back to reveal his paired bracelets of clear quartz and obsidian.

"You must have been in a lot of tournaments!" Tai Yi could not believe the collection of tuned stones his roommate so casually revealed. Before he could ask any more, they had to turn their attention to the faculty entering the hall.

All the students stood up and repeated the school pledge in unison. Then they had to sit through the Headmaster's rambling speech and the Senior Class President's awkward response. A few special awards were announced and then it was finally time for dinner. Various dishes were set at either end of the table and it looked like the normal procedure was to pass everything around in an orderly fashion and then place the side dishes in a row down the middle of the table for the students to take turns sharing. Unfortunately, it did not appear like the other boys at their table had any intension of sharing. To avoid a scene Junseo flagged down one of the servers heading to another table and asked politely if they could just get a bit of food set down at their end.

"Ordinarily, I would deal with this more directly but I really don't want my uncle to notice anything is out of the ordinary." Junseo nodded toward the headmaster and then put a finger to his lips to indicate he wanted this kept a secret.

Of course, there was not a single servant in the hall who did not know he was the headmaster's nephew but the way he politely asked for a favour instead of making a scene lived up to the story they had heard about him earlier. The result was exemplary service, with piping hot dishes arriving almost faster than the two boys could manage. Junseo made a point of passing any extras across to the table behind him, instead of along to the end of the shared table. This meant some of the most junior students enjoyed some of the best dishes of the whole banquet.

"If you keep it up you will have a fan club in no time." Tai Yi said with a shy smile.

"Good thing you will be around to set them straight about how I turn into a real bear when I am trying to study," Junseo grinned back.

"Glad you warned me." Tai Yi was starting to relax a bit more.