When he presented himself to the surly gatekeeper at the Sun Temple in Leuso, In-Yeon had to remind himself that he had no real standing here in the capital.

"Mid-term transfer. Well, that is never a good sign." The short monk sniffed as he looked In-Yeon up and down. "Is that all you brought?" he pointed to In-Yeon's pack. When the boy nodded the man muttered to himself "well, at least he doesn't need a porter," then pointed toward the junior dormitory

"Thank you." In-Yeon said but shifted from one foot to the other.

"Well, what is it?" The man gatekeeper grumbled.

"It's just I have a message for Brother Pange Suk-Chan from his family. Should I leave it with you or can you tell me where to find him."

"We don't use family names here. But if you are looking for Brother Suk-Chan with an accent like yours he would be working in the gardens up behind the library today. Now off you go and don't doddle. Afternoon classes will be starting soon."

"Thank you." In-Yeon bowed and then jogged in the direction the gatekeeper had pointed. He stopped when he reached the gardens but there seemed to be no-one in sight. He re-scanned the area then turned to go. A careworn monk in a dark robe was standing right behind him.

"Oh, hello. I have a letter here for Brother Pange Suk Chun." In-Yeon winced inwardly when he remembered the order did not use their family names.

The monk held out his hand. In-Yeon studied him a bit closer. "Uncle? Is that you?" he whispered.

The monk straightened up and looked down his nose, "Ah. One of the Baron's brats I presume."

"Pange In-Yeon. I am sorry to have troubled you, sir." He bowed then hurried away to the dormitory. His reception there was no warmer. The house-master pointed to a bed in the far corner under the window, then handed In-Yeon some plain robes and a class schedule. He just had time to change and drop off his bag before being rushed across the lower terrace to where his classmates had gathered. He nodded politely to the boys closest to him but the students were all giving the instructor their full attention.

The man stalked across the front of the platform and then pointed at one of the boys who promptly rose and recited the opening salutation for the spring equinox. The next boy selected recited the salutation for the summer solstice and so it went through the calendar and offices of the day. The tall instructor's combination of stillness and swift pointing reminded In-Yeon of a hunting crane. He rose reluctantly when it was his turn, and recited the mid-day welcome for the winter solstice. Some of the boys tittered at his performance so he blushed and went to sit back down by the instructor gestured for him to stay standing.

"You must be from the south."

In-Yeon looked down at his feet and nodded.

"Yes, well since you are new, we can overlook your use of the common forms but pay more attention to your classmates. At temple, your cadence is important. Now listen closely to how Initiate Woo-Sung presents the mid-day office." He pointed to a boy sitting just behind In-Yeon who jumped up and repeated what In-Yeon had said but put more emphasis on the rhymes in the middle of each stanza.

The mantras for the elements were even more confusing to In-Yeon. It was not just emphasis and rhythms, it almost felt like an entirely different language. Mercifully, the instructor skipped over In-Yeon during that part of the recitation but his classmates frowned at this omission. When they were on their way to the exercise yard, he overheard a couple of the other boys complaining, "If you are coming in mid-term you should expect to keep up," a lanky boy with close cropped hair said while looking directly at In-Yeon.

"Like you knew the flow of the offices on your first day here," a smaller boy muttered under his breath. It looked like there could well be a fight brewing so In-Yeon inserted himself between the rude boy and the small defender as they made their way across to the terraces. He was relieved to find the pattern work was the same as what he had learned at home, even if it was at a lower level than what he had practiced for the tournament.

Since there was an odd number of students, In-Yeon was called up to the front to do  partner-work with the instructor. "Been good to know you," one of the boys snickered as In-Yeon went by. He did not let the comment rattle him. He was still unranked so knew his skills would have to be tested.

The set started out normally with the instructor calling out the sequence of advances and blocks for each compass point. He had In-Yeon adjust the stance for one of the moves then pointed to different members of class who needed to make the same correction. Then the instructor stopped announcing the directions and picked up speed. The moves were the same but the intensity increased. In-Yeon concentrated on controlling his own breathing and keeping his energy tightly anchored before trying to re-establish his own flow for the set moves. He managed to push the instructor back half a step before he was bowled over with an unexpected leg sweep. He did a quick flip back up into a ready position but the instructor signaled the end their match. In-Yeon bowed.

"Come to the second terrace tomorrow," the monk said with a smile.

In-Yeon bowed again then made his way back to his row. The smaller boy whispered, "Well done," and the ones around him all nodded. After class the boy next to him explained that In-Yeon had lasted longer in the partner work than anyone else this term.

"I guess I was a bit lucky," In-Yeon shrugged then admitted "It is really hard to keep the flows when things speed up."

"If you say so," one of the others shook his head then cried "Race you." At this signal all the boys tore off in the direction of the dorm.

In-Yeon kept pace but asked "Why the rush?" He did not get an answer until he was in the middle of a line up along the backside of the dormitories.

"Hot water is in short supply. We might get lukewarm but any further back and it will be cold shower."

While he was trying to take in this explanation, he watched two of their larger class members stroll to the front of the line and push some of the other boys out of place. This had a domino effect with the whole line jostling each other. In-Yeon shielded himself and his partner but could tell they were losing ground. He gave up in disgusted and stalked to the back of the line. There he stood with his arms firmly crossed shaking his head at the others.

The Dorm-master came around the corner and waited for the line to settle. Then he instructed the boys to turn around and proceed in reverse order. The boys at the end of the line rejoiced at this change in their fortunes and told In-Yeon he had brought them luck. He only shrugged but had to admit it was satisfying to see pushing into line was not going to be rewarded. His comment earned him a tight smile from the Dorm-master.