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"Alright then," Steven replied. "Did you have a good summer?"

As the first years filed in behind Professor Belakhdar, Headmaster McArnold stood. This signaled a small hush from the room, as the initiated students anticipated the sorting of the new students. After all, it was always interesting to see who would be joining them, and to get to root for their own House.

As the Deputy Headmistress got the first years to the front of the line, she motioned for them to line up, but stepped onto the platform herself.

Headmaster McArnold smiled at them reassuringly, and then took out his wand. "Accio Totem Pole!"

The school's four-tiered Totem Pole, which usually sat just off the podium close to one of the entrances of the Hall from the school, practically jumped onto the stage and skittered to a halt right in the middle of the stage. Standing an impressive twelve feet tall, the Totem Pole was a solid piece of carved wood (and while no student knew what type of tree it came from, and many myths abounded, it was agreed upon that it was a magical breed of tree). The figure on the top of the Totem Pole was Niyol's Snow Owl. The wood was not painted, but on special occassions (and any time the Niyol House was especially excited) the figure seemed to take on a white hue. Below the owl was Paytah's Scorpion, and it, like all the other firgures, was not painted but often seemed quite red... especially when Paytah house was full of energy. Third down was Odahingum's Great White Shark, with it's tail circling the opposite way of Paytah's Scorpion's tail, as if in direct opposition to it. And when Odahingum was excited, the shark's natural colors were striking as well. And, on the bottom, taking up slightly more height in the Pole than the others, was Tuwa's Grizzly Bear. Being made of a medium hue of wood, the Totem Pole was naturally brown already, but when Tuwa House was excited, the deeper, darker brownish red of a grizzly was impossible to miss.

And so the Totem Pole, of mysterious magical wood, sat perfectly still, center stage in the Great Hall, with the eyes of the figures practically glistening and the carvings looking about ready to skitter, swim, fly, or lumber right off into the crowd. So it is no surprise that, facing such an impressive artifact, most first years take a step or two back from the stage involuntarily at the appearance of the Torbaen Totem.

Not one to stand for unusual delays, Headmaster McArnold sat back down, and gestured back to Deputy Headmistress Belakhdar to begin the sorting. Mehira nodded at him, then turned back to the assembled mass and produced her parchment. Unrolling it, she called out the first name on the list, which was in no particular order whatsoever.

"Turner Johansen."

Turner gulped, glanced around, and quickly, quietly walked up the two steps onto the platform. Following Deputy Belakhdar's gesture, Turner stood next to the Totem Pole, and then placed his hand on the side of the Totem Pole... near to the Scorpion's head. He really hoped the thing was more inanimate than it looked at the moment.

"All right. You know the order. Go." Professor Belakhdar called out to the Houses. At this, cheering began from the Niyol House. It lasted only a few seconds, during which the Snow Owl did look more white, but that was all. Then the Paytah house cheered for a moment, and the Scorpion's hue was a deeper, brighter red. It was when Odahingum cheered next that something more exciting happened; the Great White shark's colors not only strengthened, but the carving actually moved. The jaws of the shark opened and snapped closed once, and the tail lashed out and back. It only moved for a split second, but it was enough. Odahingum House was in an uproar. Turner Johansen was part of the Odahingum House, and they welcomed him to their table with open arms. Before the din could quite die down, however, Professor Belakhdar had moved on to the next name on her list, and the next student to get sorted started up to the Totem Pole.

Professor Belakhdar shook her head softly. Poor Hector was going to need some help with those two. She proceeded to call another name. "Martin Guteirrez."

Martin gulped, took a deep breath, and smoothed his red scarf. Then he took a step forward, looked around, and then continued up to the totem. Not wanting to put his hand on the scorpion (it looked like it might actually sting someone- that last girl almost did for certain!) nor on the shark (that was just reckless!), but unable to reach any higher, Martin rested his hand on the ear of the bear. He was really tempted to close his eyes, and he was really worried.

As Professor Belakhdar nodded, Niyol House began to cheer. And the Snow Owl on the totem pole fluttered its wings wide and turned it's head. When the Owl returned to stillness, it's head was still turned.

Martin smiled, and the color returned to his face. He quickly made his way over to the first table, where Niyol House was still cheering for him. He sat down, his smile (for once) lasting for more than just a moment.

Even though Kitty had ignored his question while in the carriage, he understood why. They were close to the school and she was probably as excited about the sorting as he was. He had to be careful about cheering too hard--it was bound to bring on an asthma attack. When Martin joined the Niyol house, he glanced over at Rosie to gauge her reaction to her brother NOT joining her in the Paytah house--especially after gaining the twins.

After going through a few more names of first years to be sorted, Professor Belakhdar said, "Morgan Smith."

Clearing her throat, Morgan attempted to walk calmly over to the totem pole--however, she could not stop her hair from cycling through pitch black to a golden yellow, to an acidic green, to bubblegum pink, to a radioactive blue--among other unusual colors. Taking a deep breath to steady herself (which allowed her to cycle her hair color back to her default color of choice: white with rainbow ends), Morgan placed her hand on the shark totem.

In stead of staring at the mass of students, Morgan instead watched the totem pole. When the Niyol house cheered, the owl lit up but did not do anything. For Paytah and Odahingum the reactions were quite the same. However when Tuwa cheered, the bear shook his shaggy head and twitched an ear.

Relieved, Morgan walked over to the Tuwa table and sat down--almost immediately pulling out a book about the school and began reading.

"Wulfric Zeppelin," Professor Belakhdar called.

Swallowing hard enough to hear the click in his ears, it took someone from behind him to shove Wulfric forward for him to even begin approaching the totem pole. It took him another few seconds when he reached the totem pole before he was able to draw up enough courage to actually place his hand on it. Immediately, he squeezed his eyes shut and listened to the cheers.

When the Niyol house cheered, the owl reacted as it did for Martin. Tapping Wulfric on the shoulder, she said, "You are in Niyol. Please go sit with your house."

Heaving out a pent up breath, Wulfric quickly went to go sit next to Martin.

Chase watched the totem somewhat anxiously as the first set of houses cheered- and nothing happened. Then the Paytah students cheered and- again- nothing. Odahingum's shouts were also useless, and so Chase stared at the Tuwa house. The last house. The houses had been cheering, sure, but not as enthusiastically as earlier. This whole thing had been going on for, what, almost half an hour? Who wants to cheer for that long? Could it be if the houses didn't cheer loud enough that it might not work? And if it didn't work, would he be sent home?

All these thoughts raced through his head as Chase waited for Tuwa to notice it was their turn. The thoughts raced through his mind, but they did not linger. Chase was not the type to hold on to senseless worries.

After a moment or two delay, and lots of poking from the Odahingum house, the Tuwa members realized they were up, and started to cheer. This time, Chase looked at them, willing them to cheer loud enough.

He should have been looking at the totem.

The grizzly bear's huge paw took a swipe at Chase's leg, knocking him back more than a few paces and slinging blood from four brand new gashes across his thigh across the stage.

Chase tried to get back up, but his leg felt like jelly. He turned to look for help, and some of the staff were already racing to him. Deciding to get the most out of his 15 minutes of fame, Chase addressed the students.

"And that is why you don't take a Tuwa for granted!" he said with gusto, to the quickly thrilled applause of Tuwa and the laughter (much of it relieved) of other students. Chase just smiled, trying his best not to pass out or cry. Who's idea was it for the wooden bear to have real claws, anyhow?

Mr. Kuptig was, of course, the first of the staff to react. This wasn't the first time the totem had caused injury. It wasn't even the first time in recent memory. But it was the first time in many years that the bear had reacted so animatedly. But those thoughts were for later.

Reaching in his robes, he pulled out his wand and did a cursory look at the injury. He noticed other professors reacting by now, mostly trying to calm the children and maintain order. One was even cleaning blood off the stage already. But Alex Kuptig was adept at healing, and he had Chase's wounds sealed fairly quickly.

"Ok. You are going to be fine, but you won't be able to walk again today. The wounds were deep enough to sever muscle and a tendon here and there, and those take a few hours to mend. Off we go, then- to the Medical Ward."

With that, Alexander Kuptig lifted the first year off the ground and easily into a carry hold, making sure that Chase's injured leg faced away from himself, and got ready to take him over to the Medical Ward.

Headmaster McArnold stopped Nurse Kuptig just before he was going to sweep the boy off to the medical ward.

"Alexander? If he's well enough, I am sure he would enjoy sitting through the feast at least. We can get him to a bed quickly enough after it's over. Yes?" He said, smiling. It was a request, but it was easy to tell that he expected Kuptig to do as he had requested.

And Kuptig did. He took Chase over to the Tuwa table, and helped sit him at the end and sideways so that his leg would remain along the bench and therefore be kept elevated.

Chase mouthed a quiet "thank you" to the nurse, though he suspected that he owed this chance to stay to the Headmaster as much as through the talents of the doc.

Headmaster McArnold ran a hand through his short, spikey hair, and then stepped up to the podium that he levitated back to the center.

"Well, students. I must say that I am happy to welcome you once again to Torbaen. We do have a new staff member this year, a Professor Keophonthepha, who will be our new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher. I'd like you all to help her feel welcome here, as I'm sure she will somewhat miss the changing staircases of certain other magical learning institutions. Other than that, I have to remind you to stay out of the hills, and the large Hot Spring is still off limits until we can deal with a certain pest problem. So, let's have a wonderful feast and start this year off right!"

And with that, the professor raised his hands, and the wonderful work of the Torbaen elves was magically transported onto the table; plates and platters of all kinds of roasted meats, whole roasted chickens and ducks, grilled vegetables, baked vegetables, tempura-style vegetables, and at least ten different forms of potatoes. Pitchers of Milk, Water, and Apple Scider littered the tables, as well.

Most of the Staff managed to begin their meal with a level of decorum, chatting away nicely.

Over at the Niyol table, Martin was very nervous. He could swear his sister kept looking at him as if he'd committed a terrible crime- or once again failed to uphold family pride (same thing, after all)- by not making into Paytah House. He didn't care. He was already liking the idea of being away from his family's influence for a time. And he had so many questions. He began to fill his plate.

"So, what kind of pest could live in a Hot Spring?" Martin asked the table-full of students in general. He wanted to know if they knew, and he kind of wanted to make friends.

Eric quickly slipped Bart a piece of raw meat that the House Elves had learned his first year there to provide for him at meal-times, and then started loading his plate. He also was curious, though. Hadn't n** been at Hogwarts? With that whole Evil-Wizard-Taking-Over-The-World thing a few years back? Was this the same person? He'd have to send an owl to Uncle Bob to find out for sure.

Ell was super excited to get to know all the people at her House, but they were... mostly all just hungry. She put some food on her plate- but she didn't fill it all the way. She didn't want people to notice the chubby first year because she looked like she was going to become fat through eating. She remembered to pick out lots of veggies of different colors, and then added some meat and a small roll. While she was doing this, she noticed that some of the other tables were a little loud, but Odahimgum's was one of the quietest. She was kind of hoping someone would talk to her, but she was also hoping it wouldn't be about her green hair.

Rosie smirked at the WonderTwins. Yes, this was going to be a great year.

"Of course, she'll be excellent at D.A.D.A. It's just going to be too bad that we won't be able to really see her in action, won't it?" Rosie asked. Mainly she seemed to be talking to the two Paytah girls on either side of her and the three Paytah boys across from them- Rosie's clan, as she liked to think. But she really was looking for any kind of gleam from the WonderTwins. She really, really wanted them to be something worth losing House points over.

Manuel turned to the new- and recently injured kid- and asked "You gonna be okay, there, amigo? I've never seen the Bear maul that viciously before." Before he could get a response, he heard Morgan's question. "Of course I do. And you would too, if you'd get your nose out of a book for a moment, ay? You do not even live in the moment, and you probably did not notice that we have new students. One of which the Bear just tried to maim." He shook his head, and his hair managed to go right back in its perfect place. "But to answer your question, si. The Professora is famous for helping out with that issue over in England. The one with the Voldemorte? Si. She helped out the Boy Who Lived, too. He is my idol, you know. Maybe The Professora will introduce us one day...."

It was obvious to Chase that the older Tuwa student was kind of full of himself- and knew a lot about a lot of things magical people should know. But he was glad- and also worried- that he'd been singled out so much by the bear. What on earth did that mean? He hoped it was nothing. The food from the table was starting to smell really nice, and he started to pile it on his plate carefully.

Martin shrugged. "My sister... my whole family... they, well," he squirmed under the simple question. "Let's just say, they're not very generous- with anything." He started eating, still wondering which water creatures would be dangerous enough to live in a Hot Springs so near a school and yet not be easily removed by Professors. He thought of something quickly enough, however. "How long have you been here? Have they always said to stay away from the Hot Springs?"

Ell was eating carefully, and surprised that someone had already actually noticed her name. "Yes, I go by Ell. What's your name?" She paused to get a response, and then continued to answer Rhi's question. "I, um... that doesn't happen a lot? I don't know what it means. I've read that the Sorting Hatat Hogwarts tells songs that forshadow how the year will go- you don't think the totem does something similar, do you?"

Eric looked over at Rhi. He hadn't noticed this girl getting attacked- just the boy with the huge leg wound. He listened intently, as the first year actually said something intelligent. She was obviously from a wizarding family- muggle-borns would not know so much already.

Rosie smiled. "Yes, this really will be a great year, I think. And, while I think it's a horrible loss, the fact that Andrew, Xavior, and Jessica all graduated last year means that there are vacancies on the house team. A chaser, a beater and the seeker. I heard Derek mention he might even hold open try-outs for all the positions on the team. Considering he's only a chaser, that means there's room for any talent." She began eating after this statement, certain it would spark its own conversation that she could then monitor and use later. One of her favorite things was guiding the thoughts of others, including conversations. She kept a keen eye and ear out for the wonder-twins, however. She noticed they had a way to communicate that kept her out of the loop. That, and they were practically walking mascots for Paytah house already.

Manuel frowned slightly for a moment. He was used to people fawning over his good looks, not noting his tone or having a problem with the things he said. He shrugged and began eating. A girl who was afraid of blood, in the house of the element of earth? Very strange.

Chase immediately felt like an idiot. "I'm so sorry." He used part of his cloak to cover up his leg, even though the wound was already bandaged; there was still some blood on his pants. "So, I'm not the only one who grew up knowing nothing about magic even existing?" He had worried about this a bit- worried he was behind before he even started.

As most of the staff chatted and ate, Valeria wolfed down her food. She was annoyed that she had to sit so far away from n**- she really wanted to introduce herself. But Kyra was already chatting her up, and knowing what little she did about n**, Valeria doubted she'd get a chance to even introduce herself before n** tried to become reclusive. Just her luck she had to sit next to Kuptig and Humphreys. What bores.

When no more hands reached for seconds or thirds on the plates and the noise in the room began to rise, the dinner platters vanished from the tables, only to be replaced with dessert. Chocolate layer cakes and ice cream in over 50 flavors (with all the toppings), raspberry and blueberry and apple pies all appeared suddenly, along with pitchers of hot cocoa and milk.