Jora had gotta up and put on her high collared blouse, a knee-length skirt and a red tie. It was a usual day as she put on her boots and labcoat and left her home to go to the Frontier university campus where she was one of the very few professors. She walked out onto the paved street. The university was just down the road. She had just come here two years before and had learned to speak the language without a hint of an accent. Occasionally she would revert to a strong accent when excited but luckily barely anyone had noticed yet.

She arrived at the building. It was a large building for the town. The campus however only had three hundred students with a tendency of growth. Her position was to teach general practice and modern medical technologies. She really loved the technology though. Her research sort of got her in trouble in the old country. They called her subjects abominations even though she helped mostly people with disabilities. This year the university was offering independent courses for people just acquiring skills.

All they had managed to acquire was a small plot of land.

But it was enough for them to start.

It was a rather curious cacophony of colorful vegetation and random trees that served mostly for decorative purposes, once arranged, with a large shed in the middle of it all, a small stone path barely disernable among the rebellious foilage.

It was still early, but Minerva eagerly collected flowers for her first large order. It was a wedding of some well off individuals, which filled her with glee, as she was glad her arrangements were getting attention.

She could get her brother one of those fancy automatic handsaws, it would make his work so much easier on him. He had refused to get one on his own, but surely he would use it if she gave it to him.

~~~

"No pay? But complete the order-"

"This isn't pearl cedar. I asked for a pearl cedar set, and it is not what I asked for."

Ronaldo ran his hand through his hair, annoyed. Either this man was trying to cheat him out of his payment, or simply couldn't tell wood from wood. "I assure, it pearl cedar, all."

The man shook his head. "No, no, that can't be true, I'm a man of class, I'm not going to have some illiterate chap say otherwise. And it's so hard to get excellent, classic wooden furniture. Tsk. I do need it though, it's too late to have another set built, I need it for today. Since you've made a mistake, I'll simply cover expenses, let's see..." He handed him a pittance- it was barely enough to cover the expense of bringing the tables over, plus all the effort put into these damn things...

As he left, the man merely snickered at having successfully cheat Ronaldo, with him barely able to do anything more than seethe.

How could he ever get all the papers straight for himself and Minerva if he couldn't even afford a ride back to the shop? He kicked at the sidewalk, absentmindedly glancing towards the university campus. It was a ways from the shop, but the building was so massive it was visible no matter where you were. He had never stepped inside the place, though it did seem tempting, even if it was out of curiosity. Maybe he could learn something new, something that people took seriously?

Jora was working on some papers as she heard a man scold a worker just across the street. It was something about woodwork not being pearl cedar. Jora thought that the man must have had problems seeing as she could identify the kind of wood from across the street. Then the man only seem to pay a small amount, leaving with a smirk on his face. The man's face was rather familiar to Jora, but many faces were as many people came through the university. Maybe she would have a talk with him how it doesn't help the economy to cheat people off their hard labor.

She stood up and left the building. Jora then headed over to the young man. "You look interested in the university. I happened to see the conflict from before and heard part of it. It didn't seem right. I could offer help as an employee of the university. We got a special offer for immigrants since you don't look like you are from around here. The government has the so called immigrant grant financing the studies of new citizens and giving a little side money to cover living costs. And if you register for a course, the university will assist you with government paperwork, give you language courses and you can study for a degree. And if you don't have a secondary education, we also have qualification courses." Jora said. She then sighed. "I might be talking a bit much and it may be hard for you to process. But well currently the only degree programs we have are for general medicine, psychology, mechanics and medical technology. I am sometimes a bit overworked as I am the only professor for medical technology and general medicine as well as the substitute for mechanics. I forgot to introduce myself. I am professor and doctor of medicine and human biology Jora Prudnitzgl, also formerly an immigrant from Ostroguthenia. But hard to notice because I don't have an accent right?"

Ronaldo noticed a woman approach his direction, but didn't really pay attention until she spoke to him.

And she spoke a lot. Thankfully she was aware it was a lot to process. "Er... I Ronaldo Marinero. Never have met someone from ostro...ostrogutherania. But your accent sounds much like the accent of here. I lived here for 3 years, but it notice the accent still." He understood words, but often switched them around, according to the word order of his native tongue. He was aware of it, and hoped he made sense, that he had properly stated that he had lived in the Northern republic for three years but his accent was still heavy. "How much time to learn a class?"

"I see. I guess I did say a bit much. If you are going for a degree two years. If you just want to visit a class to learn a specific skill, then six to twelve months." Jora said. "You can earn extra money if you work part time as a lab assistent or volunteer as a medical subject. Of course as someone participating in a medical trial or as a subject in medical research, you would be informed of the trials beforehand so that you can decline if you feel uncomfortable with them. I happen to be in need of both."

Ronaldo nodded as she explained, mulling over the final offer. He wasn't sure if he wanted to be a medical subject, but being a lab assistant sounded like a much safer bet, and a bit more long term. "How much pay for be lab assistant?" He asked.

"Well, it pays around 300 dublons a week. That should be plenty for you to live off of. Work time would be each day from one to six in the afternoon and the work is assisting me in building, operating and you get to carry stuff. A condition however is that you aren't allowed to tell anyone about my research, except for the dean and my patients. We help people who are handicapped be ehbel to valk and funktion again." Those last few words, Jora's accent slipped out. "Sorry, I lost a bit of control of my speech." She then smiled at Ronaldo.

He continuously nodded as she spoke to show he understood what she said, though his expression did show surprise when she suddenly spoke with an accent, as it caught him off guard. He smiled back. Her accent was still better. "Of all modes, your accent is better of the mine. Should I speak to someone more for establish that I work for you?" He didn't want to walk into the building, surprising whoever ran it that he was suddenly an employee, so he just wanted to make sure that that was clarified, if needed, with a higher up, which he assumed was The Dean.

"Well, the dean would get the contract ready and you just have to see me sometimes later today or tomorrow. If you are interested then let me know and if you are taking the job, you would just have to come back in two or three hours to sign the contract and the dean would stamp it and make a copy of it." Jora said. "Understood. So are you absolutely sure you want to be a lab assistant that may have surgery on occasions?" She asked raising a bow.

Well, surgery can't be much different from slaughtering animals. Only its not slaughtering animals. It's fixing people. "Absolutely sure," he nodded affirmatively.

(I am sort of unsure where to go from here. First off, I cannot do much with such a short reply and secondly, it sort of sucks to do a one on one.)

(I'm sorry, you're right, it is very short and it kinda starts wearing thin without many people. But you can always timeskip. Or I can just make more characters later. I'll also try to post something more substantial later.)