Settling In

A few weeks had passed since my new life had started away from home in Sivas. The harsh Sivas winter seemed like it was just getting started. Spring seemed but a distant dream at the moment. Everyday the days grew colder and leaving the house and the warmth of a fire became an ever more difficult preposition to take. I could only think over this because i had everything in the house I needed which meant going out was not a necessity. In fact the authorities actively dissuade people from frequently leaving their homes during the harsh winter months.

Basic food was distributed to everyone by the authorities, in order to assure there would be no starvation. It was a rather interesting system which I found myself pondering over in the first few weeks. I had come to know this with the latest delivery of basic foods last week. I had asked the delivery man why this was done and the reply was quite simple because 'winter life was incredibly difficult so we need help to survive.'

After that I got to know a bit more about how this was organised and more deeply why they did it. Winters in Sivas were a period of basically suspension of most of its activities. Not only was commerce from outside heavily affected but its agricultural production also halted. Therefore, it always stocked portions of its surplus from its collective agricultural produce from every harvest. I was not surprised that this was possible in Sivas because of the smaller population size but I did not expect its agricultural sector to be as large as it was. It matched Hax's level of agriculture but unlike Hax it was a large exporter to other neighbouring northern areas of the empire. Of course, I had not received all this information form an exchange with one of the delivery men but in one of my trips to the library.

I had been going to the library frequently, I did realise I was not following the safety measures but I could not stand to feel locked at home. I felt like I had to spend it preparing for the start of my university life in spring.

The library was a palace I do not think I could ever get accustomed to because of how it was unlike anything I had ever seen before. The massive rounded ceiling and unending row of floors with rows of books that covered every genre, topic and basically everything I could possibly think of. I sat at the usual table in the area that contained historical books, obviously they focused on the history of the most recent empire but there were books that went back further into what they called the 'dark ages.' It did not seem like a good period from the name but that was probably part of the plan for people from the current kingdom to glorify their own era at the detriment of the past. In particular, what I wanted from these books is understanding the world as well as the different views on it after all, I did not have access to these many different books in the past so I had a strict closed view set in the period of the kingdom, so I was intrinsically drawn to what happened before or if i were to phrase it 'how did we get here?' It is this question that drove my interest in studying the history of the kingdom because I wanted to understand why particular areas in the empire were left underdeveloped, this came from my interest as well as my ambition to see the poorer areas of the empire develop to the level of areas such as Sivas.

'Hey'

I heard a voice coming from behind me and turned to face towards where it was from. It was a girl not that much taller than me but she seemed a lot more intimidating though maybe it was because she just had an air of importance. 'Can I help you?' I said, or so I thought after all I had limited experience socialising with strangers if it did not involve my interests, so I wore a robe with a hood that I used to cover my white hair and to avoid facial contact with strangers. This was probably part of a small village mentally that made me aware of the town and city as places of danger and corruption. In addition, there were no children my age in my village and since there were only a handful of people many of which were part of my family, I had little to no interaction with many strangers. So for better or for worse I was shy to put it plainly and especially around strangers and the distinct colour of my hair just made it worse for me.

'I see you here quite often, are you a new student?'

'Yes' I answered in a low voice as she approached me curiously. I thought it would be impolite to keep the hood on when greeting someone so I pulled it down and introduced myself. 'I am Yi and I will be a new student in Sivas University in spring',

'Oh!' She spoke out and her eyes gleamed in surprised.

'I am the same!'

'But have never seen you here before' Her curious eyes and overwhelming positive body language made me step back until my lower back was pressing into the table. 'I just recently arrived'

She fell back and in thinking like style rubbered her chin. 'You are here quite early, who would come here during the winter, but anyway, nice to meet you future colleague' She held out her hands and I reluctantly accepted her handshake, I was particularly shaken by her somewhat overwhelming intrusiveness but she seemed good natured and the way she approached a random stranger is something, I probably should learn from.

'What are studying at the university anyway', she asked and I answered ' General.'General studies included topics from all the 5 academic disciplines : philosophy, maths, religious studies, art and natural sciences. I opted for general studies since it would mean I had at least a decent level of expertise in the broadest amount of areas possible but general studies from what I had read about lets just say it is not the most popular choice, simply because people tend to lean to only doing what they find particularly interesting and it is not like a lot of people can make it to university anyway.

'That's the same as me.' She exclaimed with what I thought was too much excitement as her purple gem-like eyes sparkled. She noticed I was a bit taken aback by what seemed to be excessive enthusiasm. 'Sorry, I was a bit too excited, Even though I have always lived in Sivas, I have never met a fellow student my age because of various circumstances.' whilst she said that I felt a tinge of sadness in her face as she stepped back and her body language became a lot more defensive.

'No problem, I'm just not used to talking to people' I felt awkward and a bit guilty after seeing her downcast and I could relate to her. I was just curious seeing someone around my age, sorry if I bothered you,' She turned away and was about to walk off downcast until I interrupted her and asked. 'Do you want to join me?' She turned back and accepted my invitation and her face had regained the shine and confidence it had in the beginning.

We spent the rest of the day studying together, her name was Melissa but I did not know much else about her and I did not like to pry in case she was not willing to say. However, she was incredibly intelligent and knowledgeable and it only served to remind me that I had a lot of work to do to keep up with my colleagues at university. 'I think this should be enough for today, since I am starting to get hungry,`` Melissa said as she stretched her arms.

We had been reading and discussing for most of the afternoon and did not see the time fly by. It was already near the end of the day and Winter in Sivas meant another thing other than just shivering cold, it meant short days.

'I think I am going home as well then', ' Me too'

We headed towards the exit of the library together which was unsurprisingly empty. I had noticed it was like this for most of the time. After spending a few weeks of winter in Sivas, I thought I had grown accustomed to the frequent snow storms but when we came out of the library we were met by a raging snowstorm.

'Well, this is not great', It was not a long walk for me to reach home but it would be dangerous since the snow was piling up at an astounding speed and besides it was already a good few centimeters high, but waiting for it to pass seemed like it would take quite a while perhaps the remainder of the day but it was the more the reasonable option.

'It is better if we stay here today', Melissa beat me to it as she strolled back into the reception area and I closed the door of the library, Staying in the library was partly possible because from what I had noticed there were no workers. Melissa confirmed this to me as she said it was maintained by the users themselves during winter as it often was empty and the few users were expected to clean up and arrange the books after themselves.

'It might not stop too soon, so we might be stuck here for the night', Melissa said but she sounded rather calm but since she had always lived here I am sure it was just a common occurrence whilst I still felt apprehensive.

The library was also reasonably warm because it was heated by electric stoves which were a rarity. I read from the newspapers there were projects to spread this to all the town folk but it was still underway.

'In the middle of winter, snow storms like these become a common occurrence' I had just followed Mellisa into the back room of the reception which was probably for the staff here but since there was no more it was empty but it still had sofas, and a kitchen. It was a decently sized room and the sofas could be used as beds so this was perfect for the night.

'We can just stay here for night because I doubt the storm will pass today.' Melissa was rather quick to make herself comfortable as she sat and opened a book to read, in fact I was rather surprised at how at ease she seemed with me after all we had just met today and there was the prospect of us sleeping in the same room. 'Why did you come to Sivas anyway?', 'After all the educational facilities here are extraordinary but it has been overcome by the Capital in the past few decades.'.

'Sivas caught my interest because of the way it is significantly different from other places in the empire' Uhh 'Plus, I do not know if I would fit into the capital, I feel more at home in somewhere smaller like Sivas' I scratched my head and laughed wryly.

Melissa's eyes sparkled as she heard my answer for some reason. 'Yes, I agree this town is special!.' Her sudden excitement was rather surprising and I fell back onto the sofa as a result. 'You see, I have always lived in Sivas and whilst it might seem unappealing to live here especially due to the harsh winters, it is an incredibly beautiful place.'

'It is indeed, winter does cause a lot of changes into the daily routine but the buildings and the classic architecture is really beautiful'. I was indeed rather fascinated by Sivas, not only was it filled with fascinating ancient buildings but it also had within it more modern buildings and therefore the town was a mixture between the old and the new.

'The storm is still raging, so we might as get comfy and prepare some food' Mellisa again took the initiative and went towards a door at the back of the room, I could help but feel that she was incredibly comfortable in the library, so this was probably not the first time she had been in this situation.

I followed along soon after her and to my surprise it was a decently sized storeroom which was significantly colder and it held various large boxes and packed sacks with all sorts of foods. 'Oh, what are these?', I mumbled unconsciously at the surprising amount of food in the room. 'This is some emergency food available in all public buildings and in some outposts in the residential district, so if someone runs out of resources before the delivery last there are still some resources available.' Melissa picked a few things and we moved back in the warmth of the staff room. There was a kitchen and since the storeroom also had logs and fire starters, we quickly decided on who would handle each task and soon enough we prepared a hot soup for the cold night.

'This really warms me up' It was definitely getting a lot colder as the night settled in and the storm became stronger and the heating could only do so much. 'Yes, it does and it tastes great,'

'It seems like this is not the first time this has happened for you'

'Is it that obvious? I am often in the library and during winter this happens quite often and over many winters I just got really accustomed to this sort of situation,' She said as she put down the empty bowl of soup. We should prepare for the night,' Again, she went to a nearby cupboard and pulled out a few covers and blankets and I soon stepped up to help her arrange a place above a large carpet in the room for us to sleep. 'It is better to avoid the floor and the sofa's can be quite uncomfortable to sleep in and I say this from experience.'

'I understand, but are you not worried about spending the night with a stranger' I was worried about it mostly because she did not showcase any worry whatsoever but she just shrugged it off. 'I spent the entire day talking with you, I can tell you are a good person and I am sure we will be great friends,'

'Yes, I think so too,' I replied, Melissa was an interesting person full of surprises as well as ups and downs in expressions so it was quite entertaining spending time with her. In addition, her incredibly knowledgeable about Sivas really motivated me to continue studying because if all students at the university were as diligent and intelligent as her then I would need to play catch up so I might as well start as soon as possible. Melissa wished me good night and I likewise did the same in return and got comfortable and soon drifted into the land of dreams.