Freya's Heir

DISCLAIMER: I am not a canon author. I have added Mercy as the teacher of the flight class as a favor to a fellow author who helped me get started.

Chapter 12
The first thing they did was unpack. Jennifer said, "I see you got your stuff from Rogers Boutique. My folks considered it but decided it was a bit too pricey so I got some stuff from Under Armour's hero collection and the rest is normal clothes."

"Well I hope you don't mind having a roommate with a little more money?" Fred said. "I'm not any different than you."

"No, I'm not upset," Jennifer said. "I'm hoping that if it helps you a lot I can get my folks to spring for a set next semester. Or next fall at least."

"Thanks," Fred said. "When we hit the campus store I'm buying. Consider it a bribe to not mind the many visits from my girlfriend that I'm hoping to have."

Jennifer smiled, "You really adapted well didn't you? I'll take you up on that if you'll include helping me adjust in the bribe as well."

"Sure," Fred said. "My spirit helped a lot with the adjusting but I will help you as much as I can."

"Thanks, now we can get our books and see what they have for decorating a dorm room," Jennifer said. When they get there she is surprised by everything available. "It's like someone crossed a Walmart with a bookstore," Jennifer said.

"And a magic shop," Fred said. "I think we'll be glad we're Exemplars when we start carrying stuff back. Let's grab a backpack first then fill it with our textbooks as we go." Fred said, "We can probably have stuff sent if it's too heavy to carry."

"What? Like a refrigerator or something?" Jennifer said.

Fred nodded, "Yeah, exactly like that. Or a cupboard to hold snacks."

"That sounds good," Jennifer said. "Textbooks first, then snacks and extra furniture."

Fred agreed and they started filling backpacks with textbooks, notebooks, and related things. Then they each grabbed some of their favorite snacks and arranged for a refrigerator to be sent to their dorm.

"Should we get posters?" Jennifer said.

"I'm not buying a poster with a guy on it but I'm not ready to be buying posters of girls right out in public either," Fred said softly after a moment to think. "I won't deny it but I'll try not to advertise." then she grinned, "But if you want to get a few for your side of the room I won't stop you."

Jennifer blushed, "Maybe, but not today."

"Back home then," Fred said. "We'll put stuff away and go visit Brita and Sally."

"Sure," Jennifer said.

They passed a flight class taught by Mercy on the way to breakfast that Saturday. "Too bad none of us can fly," Fred said.

Brita sighed, "I would love to fly. If you ever learn a flight spell, take me with you when you practice."

"If I learn a flight spell I will take you for a flight after enough practice," Fred said. "I'll want to get good at it first."

"Once you're confident about it then I want to fly with you too," Jennifer said and Sally laughed and agreed.

Powers theory had interesting material but a very dry delivery. Sally had to poke Fred a few times to get her to stay focused on the first day.

"Thanks," Fred said as they walked to the next class. "I think we should all agree to help each other stay focused and awake." They all agreed to help each other stay awake.

Basic Martial Arts was basically what they had been doing. Sparring both with and without powers. Sensei Tolman split the class into those with prior experience and those without.

Soon Fred was facing a male student for her spar, "You're an Exemplar too right?"

"Yeah," he replied. "How did you guess?"

She shrugged, "You just have that look to you."

"I'll take that as a compliment," he said. He attacked then and she won the spar, but just barely.

"Next one with powers," said Sensei Tolman.

He looked surprised when golden runes surrounded her briefly. She moved first this time and won again without as much effort.

"What was that?" he asked.

"A spell to move better and be more coordinated," she replied.

"That's a great idea," he said. "If you ever put that on an item non mages can use let me know. I'd love to buy it."

"Stop chatting," Sensei Tolman said. "Third spar no powers again."

Fred lost the third by a small margin but wasn't too upset. She'd won two out of three, and sensei had declared her the winner of the match. She cheered when Brita won her spar but tried not to be too loud about it.

After class she headed to the women's locker room with the rest but when people started stripping she didn't know where to look. Then she met her roommate's eyes and saw Jennifer was trying to do the same and they shared a smile. "We have English next right?" Fred asked Jen as they waited for a shower.

Jen smiled, "Yes, we have the same schedule until your Intro to Magic class."

Fred continued the small talk until they were dressed and on their way out.

As they left the building Jen looked around for listeners then smiled and said, "Thank you! I didn't know where to look and I didn't want to look weird but if we're talking then it's natural to look at each other."

"I felt the same way," Frederica replied. "I'm sure Brita wouldn't mind me looking at her but the expression on my face as I watched her would probably show more emotion than I'd like so I'm glad you went along with my idea." She shrugged, "It's better than staring at the ceiling or continually trying to make up a reason to shower late."

"Feel free to do that every time," Jen said. "I will try to hold up my end of the conversation and keep my eyes on your face."

Fred laughed, "Probably best when showering after gym. Feel free to look all you like in Poe. Brita won't get jealous as long as you're just looking."

After English Fred and Jen met up with Brita and Sally to head over to get lunch. Sally said, "We'll have to grab a table on the bottom level for now but if we register as a training team we can reserve one on the next level up."

Fred shrugged, "Okay, but why?"

"It's a status thing," Sally said. "Besides we should form a team to train anyway so why not grab the perks?"

"Okay," Fred replied. "So is four enough for a team or should we recruit more people?"

"Four is enough to register," Sally said. "We can talk about possible additions while we eat and over the next week or so."

They grabbed food and grabbed a table on the bottom floor of the cafeteria.

"I've never seen a school cafeteria with three floors before," Jen said.

"I hear that it was a senior project," Sally said. "Because the number of students was getting too large to fit on just one floor."

"That makes sense," Fred said. "So what, if anything, is missing from our team? We have Sally as our heavy hitter, Brita is a great energy projector, I'm a mage, and Jen is a null, and we're all Exemplars."

"Well we have the basics and Nulls are rare, but we could use more ranged combat power and secure communications," Sally said. "A devisor could fill both of those needs. We could also just buy comms and find a telekinetic who we can fit with. Probably from Poe just to make things simpler."

"We can ask around," Brita said. "I think we have a gadgeteer on our side of the dorm. I'll ask her what she specializes in, if anything."

Fred smiled, "And I can check online to see what manner of personal communications are available. Whateley web first, then a wider look."

"Okay, but don't buy anything until we find out what resources we have for getting something built in house," Sally said. "A customized set will be better than a generic store bought version."

"Well, sure," Fred said. "We should get the best we can and not spend more than necessary."

Fred went back to the dorm after last class and headed for the room Brita shared with Sally, "Hey, are you in there?"

"I'm changing but you can come in if you want," Brita called out.

"I'm also changing so wait a minute," Sally said.

"I have Jennifer with me as well so I'll wait," Fred said. Jennifer blushed a bit and nodded.

Once they were in Fred said, "You mentioned a gadgeteer on this floor. Can we go see if she's in?"

The gadgeteer was a short, overweight girl named Amy. She grinned as she saw them outside and let them in. After hearing them out she shook her head, "I'm not a combat oriented gadgeteer, sorry. I specialized in electronics yeah but I'm not planning to be a hero or a villain. I will happily sell you any awesome invention I make but I'm not joining a team."

Sally started to argue then decided against it and just said, "Thanks for listening."

"No problem," Amy said. "Check upstairs. The dorm fixer should know who's looking for a team and who has good stuff to sell. You don't need a gadgeteer on your team to get cool stuff made, you just need connections and money."

"Thanks, I'll do that," Fred said.

Soon we were in a dorm room up among the juniors and the dorm fixer, more of an ombudsman than anything, was in front of us. She said, "So you are creating a new training team and are looking for a devisor or gadgeteer who wants to join or at least provide you with comms and other tech, right?"

Fred nodded, "Yes, I can pay for tech. I could order from the web but I would rather have something that's not off the shelf."

"It's a little early for most to be looking to join a team but if anyone is and I hear about it I will introduce you and them." She looked at them, "I noticed you are all Freshman and all female, do you not want any male team members or other years?"

Fred looked around at the others and then back at Daphne, the fixer, "I think we would prefer someone from Poe best but anyone sufficiently open minded is fine."

Daphne smiled, "I can understand that." She stood up from her desk, "I will check my contacts and get back to you soon."

They left and headed to dinner. Once outside Brita smirked, "Did you see Amy's face when she opened the door and saw all of us?"

"You're one to talk," Sally said.

A few days later Daphne came by, "I might have a prospect for you but first I need a favor. As I'm sure you realize not all girls can afford a new wardrobe when they need one. In fact every year we get a few who arrive with only the clothes on their back or only the clothes they had before the change."

Fred nodded, "I understand and I'm willing to help."

Daphne smiled, "Good! We just got two new arrivals and one is TG. She's about your height and build so grab what you can spare and follow me."

Fred grabbed some of the clothes she had bought in the mall and walked out of the room to see a few others heading for one room with clothes.

Once there Daphne said, "This is Paula, she's a new student. She's an Exemplar that changed over the summer." She gestured to the girls behind her, "Since you don't have anything to fit you and your scholarship funds are still on the way I have arranged for some of your fellow students to share some of their clothes with you."

Fred dropped her bundle on the nearest bed, "If these fit you can keep them. Two sets of jeans, two tee shirts, two bras in 34B and some underwear in medium." She shrugged, "I changed over the summer too so I know how it goes."

The next girl threw a few sweaters on the pile, "I know Exemplars don't feel the cold as much but the winter up here is nasty if you're not used to it."

"Sweatpants and thick socks are a must for lounging," said another girl as she tossed more clothes on the pile.

Daphne called a halt after a while, "Okay, you should be good for a while. If you need more, come to me. Otherwise just relax and settle in."

On the way back to the room Daphne said, "The other new arrival is a Devisor. She might be willing to join your team but you'll have to let her settle in a bit first."

"Of course," Fred said. "Thanks for thinking of me. In a week or so I'll look her up and ask."