"My willingness to sign is conditional on my friend's, can she come here."

"Certainly." 

The doll touches something under the desk, and beckons Lily forwards.

- and she does come forwards to stand at the desk with Marianne. 

"Can you fill me in?"

She slides the contract and handbook over.

Lily has a look.

... the regulations are rather depressingly medieval. 

Still, they would pay for room and board and teach for no fee...

"Have we considered all our alternatives? A year's contract is a significant commitment."

"I'm surprised it's that short, if anything. The military demands more from mortals, who have fewer years to give. And... I think so? Scythe said they were the best in education, Penelope that they were one of Earth's most powerful factions. If there's an alternative I think it would be Arcadia, which I have the sense is less strict, less generous, less focused."

"We will likely have to choose the same option on account of the mana bond."

She is not unaware of the cold fixed gaze of the counterdoll.

"I have about the same sense too, but it's questionable to make decisions based on feel..."

She taps her fingers against her arm.

"... It's probably just my anxiety over the discipline measures. Wherever you go, I go, you know that. If you want this I won't stop you."

Marianne Belor does not believe corporal punishment is acceptable. She has never investigated the matter and does not know if it is effective, but has her suspicions. 

Still, she does not mind being cursed. The moment-to-moment of what happens to Marianne is unimportant. Like every other human, she loathes pain and will do anything to make it stop — she simply doesn't permit herself to factor that into her plans. Experiences are fleeting, every moment spent feeling them is one they're draining away. Swirls of colored paint are no matter to a river: it will be clear again.

But she doesn't have the right to think that way about Isabel. Isabel is fragile and rigid, beloved and sacrosanct. The possibility of Isabel being physically harmed should not be available for trade. The interior canals of her brain stir with utter infuriation.

—if it were a guarantee of torture rather than a possibility of it, she thinks she would actually turn on her heel and go to Arcadia. It would be difficult to accept, hobbling herself for creature comforts, but she thinks she is pure and just enough to do it. But the downside never need come into play. Most mortals are not actually ever put in jail, even if their governments reserve the right to put any of them there.

Marianne simply need be perfect enough to manage both of them. If what they ask is something she can do, if it is a matter of will and conviction, she will not fail.

The strokes of her signature are thick and firm.

"I would like a form as well, please. I assume the same arrangements as for Marianne should hold?"

The doll produces a matching form. "That would be correct. You will likely have the same tutor, joining together three weeks into the semester. Do you wish to request housing together?"

"We require housing together, actually; we have a mana bond."

Lily reviews the contract to verify that it is indeed identical to Marianne's, and then signs.

"Welcome to the House of Hawthorne, Ms. Belor, Ms. Amber."

The doll takes their contracts, and produces two small leather pouches; they clink softly when it lays them on the table.

"Your stipends for the first month. You may proceed to orientation in the Students' Tower at any time within the next 48 Earth hours. This doll recommends that you first have your witches' garments tailored to match Hawthorne regulations; there is a tailorwitch in the market outside if you look. You've just missed lunch; supper will be in around three hours Earth time. If you wish to participate this doll recommends you hurry."

Lily takes one of the pouches and places it in the pocket of her dress.

"Thank you."

"This doll is happy to serve the House and its students both. Is there anything else?"

Lily looks at Marianne. 

"Is there?"

"Do we get books, or is that out of our allowance? How do we tell which rooms are ours?"

She is appreciative that witch college seems more competent and down-to-earth and user-friendly than mortal schools — except that every time she has thought that about a mortal institution it ended up being the same under a thin veneer, or else horrible in exasperatingly similar ways.

She maintains a stance of optimism but cautious dread.

"There is of course a library, but its books are not to be removed from the student tower. You may purchase what you wish with your stipend. As for rooms, you will be assigned one during orientation."

Liiiiibrary.

She rolls the word around in her head like some kind of memetic hard candy.

"I understand. Thank you for your valuable time." This is the standard Marianne goodbye.

She ducks out and looks for that tailor.

There is quite a bit of market.

"Do you mind if I go buy that book?"

She looks at Isabel visibly appalled, like she just asked to use the bathroom. It evolves into a thin smile.

"Yes. It is precisely none of my business how you conduct yourself. I will send you when I find the tailor."

She turns and goes.

Lily smiles. "Just checking." And then she's off, down down down the stairs, off into the market, book book witch book book she's going to learn magic!!

She wades into the market in a different direction, watching intently for the mana slippage.

It's imperceptible in the first few minutes, one loose thread in a tapestry.