Ennis is in line still, splitting the last nondubious slice of pie with Isla. "Hira," he says politely. "May I introduce my clavemate Isla - Isla, Hira is from Jaipur."

"Enchanted," says Isla.

"It's lovely to meet you too! I hope you don't mind if we steal Ennis for a bit? Jaipur wants to meet him."

"Of course that's all right," says Isla graciously. Ennis peels off from the line to follow Hira.

Then Hira will lead Ennis towards Jaipur's table. She glares at anyone who threatens to block their way for more than a few seconds.

"How did you sleep?"

"Tolerably. One of our upperclassmen helped me check my room, and I got a handed-down quilt, and I'd been up quite early."

"It's good you had support. Does Manchester have a lot of high-quality upperclassmen? Jaipur is impressing me so far- obviously, you worry that they're all talk, but they showed up for me."

"There's a range, of course, but they seem all right on the whole. I hadn't seen the seniors in years and they've all grown a lot."

"It is strange catching up with people I knew. It's not just the physical changes- although everyone has matured nicely there too- but there are so many other pressures."

"Yes. More focused."

There a few beats of silence, and then-

"Jaipur! This is Ennis, from Manchester. Ennis, Jaipur."

Jaipur's table has four freshman girls and two freshman boys, plus Hira now, plus a more gender-balanced cohort of sophomores who are mostly still finishing their dinner. 

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Ennis," says a girl who has a sword at her waist. "Daya Chaturvedi. Would you like all the names now, or would that be too much?"

"Pleased to meet you. Go ahead and give me the names, though please forgive me if I must ask for some again another day."

"Of course. You know Hira, I presume, and then that's Navya, Jaanvi, Krishna, Dhruv, and Aditi. And our sophomores, Riaan and Kabir and Aaisha and Kavya and Veer, but I imagine they'll be leaving soon, so don't trouble yourself too much with them."

"I thought it would be good for us to get to know each other. Make room, c'mon."

Jaanvi pouts, which is a good way to get the negative kind of attention. Hira hopes she hasn't been doing that all day. Dhruv and Aditi are smiling in a suitably genuine way; the former can be naïve, but she's glad Aditi has gotten with the program. And Daya is being an immense help already. She's glad to have someone reliable.

"There, sit."

And she takes a seat next to Aaisha so that Ennis is facing most of the freshmen.

"So, Ennis, what are you good at? I will not ask only about affinity, because mine is useless and I am making up for it with swordplay, but of course you may answer with that if you wish."

"It's cosmetics. They're not useless, but I didn't bring any along and will have to make new batches here."

"I was telling Ennis that there might be some demand for that here. We would never turn down good enchantments."

Hira does not expect there to be so much demand that it justifies bringing Ennis around often, but she intends to court all of the promising enclaves that will deign to talk to them (leave New York and Shanghai to their own devices; they're not immune to losing members).

"I've considered writing up an order form but I don't yet know what the market will bear."

"I wish I had foundation," says Jaanvi, forlornly. "Mama made me spend the weight on more mana storage."

"What sorts of enchantments do well as cosmetics?" asks Daya.

"A lot of sensory things and some minor protective ones - if you mean practical enchantments; of course they can also just look particularly nice. I currently have recipes for alertness eyeshadow, a concealer meant for injuries, and chapstick that reduces thirst. Generally it's easiest to work as some sort of pivot of the intention of nonmagical makeup - to look more awake, to look less injured, to keep your lips from drying out, all those recipes extend from that."

"How fascinating. Alertness seems particularly useful, although I suppose that you will need time to make them, and we will need time to build up enough mana to have any services worth providing in exchange. Unless you need anything stabbed, but somehow I doubt I will have such good fortune so soon."

"If you need something smashed, I'm your girl."

If she can convince one of the girls to give up her enchanted earrings, then maybe they get one of these cosmetics early.

"If I remember correctly Hira wanted eyeshadow too, in purple."

Hira isn't sure if she can sweet-talk one of the boys into paying for it instead, maybe then she could keep her earrings. It is probably too soon to make deals- if she still wants it a week from now, she'll have built enough mana to trade for it even if the earrings don't pan out.

"Let's revisit that later, when I have more than my earrings to trade. Bad idea to make a deal on my first day, right?"

"Understandable. I have lab on Monday and don't expect to get a batch going before then at the earliest."

They can talk about other things in the meantime. The other freshman are happy to ask Ennis a bit more about what he's tried already with cosmetics, which is enough dinnertime conversation for the first day.

Hira tunes out the conversation until she's made enough progress on her food to fuel tonight's workout, and then asks her own questions- is it true that [vague stereotype about Britain]? How did he first find his affinity?

"We are fond of tea, yes. My grandmother makes her own mascara and I was her lab assistant at times." They let him try that after he kept stealing Isla's makeup and trying it on, and mercifully it was in fact his affinity, which is a good excuse for being interested in makeup.

"That's pretty cool. Looking forward to lab?"

"Yes, I have it before lunch Monday, I'm glad to have the slot."

"I don't envy you it. I look forward to seeing what you make"

And then they can move into small talk, as everyone gets some much-needed nutrition.