It was that time of her life at last. After spending her entire life at the Academy, it was time now for Wyrdda to make plans for leaving it. She’d begun this school year not really comprehending the full import of that. She’d just sort of refused to acknowledge it, even to herself. But now that it was November, signs were starting to go up around campus advertising the various colleges and universities. Fliers advertising jobs for new graduates would show up later in the year, closer to May and June. For now, the universities held sway, and it seemed like every poster had a pocket in it to hold brochures. Wyrdda had been staunchly ignoring them for the most part. She refused to acknowledge that she’d have to leave the Academy. She didn’t want to leave. It was home! And yet, she didn’t have a choice. She couldn’t stay here after she graduated—she’d have to move out. The Society would help students like her get on her feet so that she could start taking care of herself, but she still had to decide where she’d be when they were helping her.Her roommate, Oriset, had had other ideas. She’d been looking over all of the brochures, collecting them whenever she came across a new one. She also tended to pick up extra copies of the same one. She claimed it was because she couldn’t remember which ones she’d already picked up. Wyrdda sometimes suspected that it was because Oriset planned to wallpaper their room with the brochures.
She and Oriset were both getting ready to graduate, so at least the brochures served a purpose. They were suggestions of what they could do in life. And as November dragged on and more and more of the colleges opened their applications, Wyrdda became more and more resigned to the fact that she had to accept it: she was leaving at the end of the school year, and she needed to start planning for the future. She sat down at her desk one rainy afternoon with a pile of brochures that Oriset had left heaped over the floor. She began by sorting them out into piles by university, tossing the duplicates over her shoulder in an unusual fit of pique. How to choose, how to choose…
A flashy cover depicting staves and clefs caught Wyrdda’s eye. Ah, music! The soul of life. Wyrdda glanced at the harp in the corner. Yes, music…she could study music at school. That would be—which university? She opened up the brochure. Ah, Grendel. Yes, that school sounded good. She set the brochure aside in a special place and continued flipping through them. Another one caught her eye, this one depicting the silhouette of a nightmare against a brilliant sea-green and chartreuse background. Within the swirls that emanated from the Nightmare could be seen the words “Illusions.” Wyrdda hesitated. She’d always dreamed of being able to communicate by using music and illusions together. Now she saw two possible paths before her: illusions? Or music? She looked from one brochure to the other. Music? Or illusions? Oh, why couldn’t it be easy to pick one or the other?! Why did it have to be so difficult? Why did there have to be two different majors instead of just one? True, both subjects were taught at Grendel, but she’d have to pick one or the other. She couldn’t take both.
She stared at the brochures, her fingers interlaced with her hair, pulling it gently back and forth as she tried to decide. She barely noticed her roommate walking in until Oriset peered over her shoulder. “Schools, huh?” she said. “Looks like you’ve got most of the brochures. But—I think I found a new one~!” She waved a grey and red packet in front of Wyrdda’s face. “No, really, I haven’t seen this one before.”
Wyrdda snatched it out of her hands and looked it over. “Double Majors and You” it said on the cover. Double majors? What were those? She opened up the brochure and began to read. As she read further, her eyes grew wide and the frown on her face became a smile. Her tail wagged back and forth. She dropped the brochure, turned around in her chair, grabbed the side of Oriset’s head and kissed her on the mouth.
She could study both! All she had to do was go to Grendel University, and she could major in both music and illusions. Her decision made and her tail still wagging, Wyrdda grabbed all three brochures, snatched up her book bag, and rushed down to the library to use one of their computers to apply.
