"That makes sense!" She has been saying this a lot because it's hard to think of other things, but this time she says it with feeling. "That would be amazing. I know there's never enough space, most places. - I am also city and not enclave. With Cairo, I mean."

"How'd you manage the last couple years? It was pretty easy for us since we have skyscrapers and mals don't really like climbing stairs." 

"Uh... I guess my mother babysat me, mostly. And there were a lot of mundanes around, we were in a very crowded area of the city. I think that helps."

She honestly hadn't really thought about this question with regard to herself; her parents have been trying to keep her sisters alive for the past several years, which obviously didn't work out very well. But it occurs to her that maybe she survived this long in part because the mals were going after them until the second-oldest died, relatively recently.

"My little sister just turned twelve, so they're going to have to through the whole thing over again." Until she dies, he doesn't say. "Uh. Anyway, it's kind of nice to be somewhere different, even if it's. You know. Completely horrible in every other way."   

"I guess so." She hasn't thought about it that way, either, but hey, yeah, she is no longer cooped up in a two bedroom apartment with her parents going around having opinions about everything she does. "I'm looking forward to classes."

"Me too. Do you have any idea how course selection works here?" 

"I heard the school puts you in a room with a bunch of other people in your year, gives you a schedule, and then lets you request different courses without actually telling you what courses are on offer. I guess you either guess what courses those might be or look around at what other people in your room got assigned to. It sounds... disorganized."

"....at least it's trying?" 

"Well, yes. I think it doesn't make things difficult for you on purpose unless you fail to do your homework. Or if you're out after curfew."

"I hear the enclaver kids pay to have other people do their homework for them. I wonder how one gets in on that, it seems like a good gig." 

"Sounds time-consuming." She is totally also going to do a ton of time-consuming stuff for people, just, more interesting than doing the same homework twice. "I guess if they were taking different classes it wouldn't be so bad, unless you couldn't figure it out without having - attended the lectures. Probably you just have to demonstrate in class that you're smart and a good bet to do it?"

"I mean, as long as you're doing it anyway, it's probably not that much work to copy it over. Different classes would be best but seems harder to arrange. I'm not to worried about it, really, it can't possibly be harder than the entrance exam." 

"Oh right. I didn't take anything formal like that. I guess I should wait to see that I - can easily handle the way the school does things before I promise to do it for anyone else. But I guess it wouldn't be too bad just copying."

"I hope we have some classes together." 

"Yeah! I hope so too. Have you met anyone else so far?"

"I delivered some mail to the Shanghai kids earlier, so I got to talk to them. And, uh, sort of got drafted as a bodyguard? One of their freshmen is apparently totally useless and lives in the room directly below mine and his sister wants me to look after him." 

"Oh huh. Weird that they want a freshman guarding him. Where are your rooms?"

"I'm 77B, he's 64A. Really I think she wants almost anyone else, I just happen to be right there, you know? At least I can walk him to class and walk him home at night."  

"That makes sense. I'm 36A, it can't be that far."

"What about you? Met anyone interesting?" 

"I met a girl from Istanbul who seemed cool. Offered to ward my room in exchange for discount rates on healing when necessary."

"Are you very good at wards? I like to think I'm decent but I'd love to compare notes. If you're comfortable with that, of course." 

"I think I'm okay at them, but it sounded like she specialized in them. I'm not opposed to sharing notes, although the one I was planning to use tonight is in Arabic."

"Right, of course." He's so dumb. "We could – uh – talk about theory, though? I don't know the first thing about Arabic warding traditions."  

"I can talk theory! Although maybe we should switch to - no, harder it is the more mana it is, I will try to explain it in Mandarin first and you can tell me if it makes no sense."