Adelin mutters, “Sleeping! Be quiet!” as rolls over and tries to ignore the kerfuffle.
Eloise and Larrikan get up to go find out the commotion. They find a new girl dragging Yda and a large stick into the common room. The new girl is telling Yda, “I saw a terrible monster in my room!”
Yda is sleepily asking, “And you want my help because?”
“It has clearly eaten the others,” says the new girl, “We will have to drive it off or kill it!”
“You all right?” asks Yda.
Larrikan and Eloise nod. Eloise adds, “Adelin didn’t even get out of bed.”
The unknown girl looks shocked and says, “Really? I saw green, glowing eyes and terrible fangs! How did you not get eaten!”
Yda looks sleepy, and Larrikan looks lost, but Eloise giggles, and says, “Larrikan… yawn!” She yawns to encourage him.
Larrikan almost instinctively yawns back.
Eloise asks the new arrival, “Is that what you saw?”
“M… maybe,” guesses the new girl.
Eloise asks Larrikan, “Do your eyes glow in the dark, like a cat’s?”
“Yes,” confirms Larrikan. He looks at the new girl, who is starting to blush, and says, “I’m sorry if I startled you.”
In a tiny voice, the girl replies, “I am such a fool.” She adds, “You’re not very scary with the lights on.”
“Not really, no,” replies Larrikan, smiling and saying, “You must be Emblem.”
Yda says, “M’kay. I’m gonna sleep,” and heads back to her room.
Emblem has begun to blush furiously, and says, “I’m so sorry! Please don’t hate me!”
Eloise grins, and says, “Aww, I don’t think this is the worst thing Larrikan has had happen today.”
The Shy Folk grins back, and says, “Nope, it isn’t. I’ll tell you in the morning if you want to hear.”
The rest of the night is quiet, and Larrikan wakes up, early and slips out quietly, not waking any of his roommates. He walks around the still quiet campus, excited for the first day of classes to beghin.
He is in and out of the dining hall early, and arrives at Coldwillow’s classroom early. He winds up walking in nearby woods to burn off his nervous energy.
Coldwillow finds Larrikan waiting eagerly. She lets him in and asks, “How have you gotten on?”
Larrikan can only be excited at the professor before the other students arrive. There are two others. One is Haoys, from his dorm. The other is a oung man called Thim, who says little to Larrikan, but gives him a dirty look.
Coldwillow goes over the syllabus and hands out the book list. It is that which makes it clear Larrikan cannot read.