Tilli, Sam and Cadolina had been riding on the train for an hour. It had been a tense hour. When they had boarded, Cadolina wanted to look for her friends from Liberty House, but Sam pointed out that they might be taking a later train, since they didn't have to be at school as early as Tilli and Caddie did. And those that were arriving early likely weren't on the train yet. Cadolina had stood in the corridor, on the verge of finding a different car while Sam smiled serenely up at her. Then she rolled her eyes, sat next to the window, and stuck her nose in a book, occasionally peering over the top of it, as if expecting to see her siblings plotting her murder. Sam tried to spark a conversation once or twice, but it fizzled, so they sat in silence, Sam staring at his hands, Cadolina sending both of them nasty looks, and Tilli... wishing desperately for a transportation station.
Being the daughter of diplomats, she had gotten overly used to being in big cities, where it was easy to transport from one side of the world to the other, almost instantly. But the closest station to Faraday was in Shakif, a thirty minute train ride from the school, so it made more sense to catch the same train outside of the Taend Forest, where they had been visiting their mother's family.
Tilli was grateful when the train made its next stop. Passengers noisily passed their open compartment door. Most were students in white shirts bearing the Faraday starfish logo on the right side, and most of those wore the black and white ties of freshmen, though a few wore the colored ties of upperclassmen. Tilli half expected Caddie to stand up and walk out, looking for her friends, but her sister stayed, as if she hadn't even noticed the stop. Then a girl stopped in the doorway. She had a round face with large green eyes and a small nose. In her left hand, she carried something in a quilted fabric case. Tilli thought it might be a typewriter, though it looked a little big for that. The girl also wore a backpack, likely because her right arm ended not far below the elbow. And for some reason that Tilli couldn't place, she looked incredibly familiar. Tilli took of her glasses and polished them on her shirt, as if it would help her recognize the newcomer, but it didn't. The girl stood for a moment, without saying anything, probably examining the appearance of the siblings the same way Tilli had examined hers. Being half-sprite meant they all had their mother's bright red hair and tree-bark patterned skin, but their human father stood well over six feet, making even Sam, who was the shortest of the three, quite tall by sprite standards.
"Um... can I sit here?" The girl said, likely deciding it would be rude to ask how she had stumbled upon not one, but three, tall sprites.
"Sure." Sam, always accommodating, gestured to the seat next to Tilli. "Do you need help with your bag?"
The girl opened her mouth as if to say something, and then stopped. She glanced at the rack above their heads. "Yeah, okay."
She handed Sam the case, but Tilli stood up. "I'll get it." At five foot ten, she was three inches taller than her older brother, who looked barely taller than the one-handed girl.
"Be careful with it," the girl said as Tilli took the case from her. It certainly weighed enough to be a typewriter, but the girl didn't offer the information and Tilli didn't ask. Instead, she carefully set the case on the rack, wedged between the wall and her duffel bag, so it wouldn't jostle too much. Then the girl handed Tilli her backpack, which was lighter than she expected. Since the girl didn't give any special instructions for that, Tilli placed it on top of her duffel. Then she and the other girl took their seats as the train pulled away.
Sam tried yet again to break the silence. "So you're a freshman."
"Yeah." Tilli tried not to laugh at the other girl's curt response. Sam was studying to be a lawyer, and could make a good argument, but Cadolina was much better at small talk... when she wanted to be.
"Sorry, our sister's a freshman too. I thought we might use the ride to answer questions about the school." Tilli wanted to ask the girl her name, but Sam looked so hopeful about the prospect of helping a new student that she didn't want to steal his moment.
"Um... why are your ties different colors?" the girl asked.
For the first time since she had sat down, Cadolina snapped her book shut. "They represent our houses. There are six houses at Faraday. Westwood, Providence, Liberty, Magnolia, Hawthorne, and Victoria. I'm in Liberty House. Sam's in Magnolia." She jabbed her thumb at him. "You'll be in Victoria House your first year. It's the freshman house. Then you'll get tapped for another house at the end of the year." Tilli visually mimicked her sister's bossy tone until Cadolina shot her the worst glare of the trip. After a moment, she snuck a glance at the other girl, who met her eye and hid a smile behind the nub of her arm.
Cadolina continued. "Whatever house you get tapped for, you'll be there for the rest of your time at Faraday. so it's good to make yourself known early on." Tilli generally tried not to let Caddie's words get to her, but she couldn't help touching her necklace in order to draw courage and strength from the past lives it connected her to.
"But how are they different? Like... besides the colors?"
Based on the tremor that went through Caddie's body, Tilli suspected her older sister interpreted this question as insolence. Now that Cadolina was house head, she had probably forgotten how it felt to be a freshman. But Sam was phased by little. "Technically, there's no difference," he explained, "it's not like the founders said everyone with wind magic lives in Hawthorne or the most creative students go to Providence. But the first class chose their own houses. They also picked the colors, even gave each house a mascot. And since the older students tap the new ones, they've kind of developed personalities over the years. For example, the students in Magnolia House are..."
"goody two-shoes overachievers," Cadolina said from her book, which she had returned to during Sam's explanation, and Sam's face turned as red as his hair.
"And Caddie's in Liberty House," Tilli said with a straight face, "which is for sneaky, dishonest types."
"Liberty is full of strategists," Cadolina shot back.
"Enough!" Sam yelled, and a strong wind swept through the compartment, even though the window was closed. It silenced both Tilli and Cadolina. "Could you two stop fighting for five minutes?"
Cadolina glared at him from over her book, as if to say, "you made me sit here." Tilli crossed her arms over her chest, though it wasn't fair to Sam, who was the most mature, even if Cadolina was the oldest. Sam turned back to the one-handed girl. "The houses developed personalities, though as you can see, different people think of them differently. It can be be overwhelming at first, but I wouldn't worry about it. It's probably like any other new school. After a few weeks, it'll all seem normal. And you've got all year before you get tapped." At that, Tilli touched her necklace once again.
