It took a moment to notice she wasn't in her bedroom anymore.

It was one of the dorms of the Corner 4E51 school, with the bed specially built for meditation, extra thick carpet for sitting or lying on, and foldaway desk. The lights weren't on, but fumbling around she could easily find the dimmer for turning on the lights.

At first she thinks she's just dreaming again.  But then... She swings her legs out of bed, and notices that she's wearing something she's never remembered wearing before.  And she's never noticed she's dreaming without waking up what seems like a few seconds later...

She fumbles around and turns on the lights.  And by that time, she's decided she's not dreaming.

"Hello?  Fairies?" she says awkwardly with a mix of fear and hope, looking around for anyone in sight who might answer.  "A-are you real after all?  Did you steal me away?"

The light also reveals that there's storage under her bed. It has basically all her clothes: bright blue skirts, leggings, a blazer, several ties, and a snowsuit made of a very slick material, as well as long underwear in multiple thicknesses. Her phone and laptop are placed in a dedicated nook, on a small table in the corner of the room by the door.

Well, the fairies let her wake up on her own?  So it does make sense they're not waiting for her to speak to them?  Right?

And the clothes are all her size.  They're not quite her style - nor fairies' traditionally-supposed style either - but a lot of it is something she's fine wearing... except that slick snow-suit; that looks just too weird...

She goes over to the phone and tries to unlock it with her favorite passcode - the date of her first summer camp.  Does it work?

No, but if she stops for a moment the phone unlocks using facial recognition. It looks a bit... complicated? She can see an unusual-looking phone keyboard instead of a normal home screen, and if she tries using it she goes through her apps very suddenly.

Was that --

If she read that right, the phone said it recognized her face?  Can phones really do that!?

And... did the fairies (or... time-travelers?) leave her any messages in obvious places on the phone?

There are no messages on her phone, though there are quite a few contacts and a lot of notes she's taken over the years, as well as a few photos.

And are those photos of any things she remembers?  Anywhere she's been?

Not at all! They're from museums and beautiful views of nature and interesting building interiors.

But... not any buildings or museums she remembers?

And she's somehow in these pictures?  Wearing... clothes like the ones she was just looking at under the bed?

There are a few selfies, yes, but not many. And she is indeed wearing exactly clothes like those under the bed! The skirt seems a bit... unusually short? Especially as it looks like it's part of a school uniform.

And no pictures of Fairyland either?  Between the strange pictures of herself and that weirdly short specform skirt, this's starting to feel more like time travelers than fairies...

(Something inside her, that'd been rather hoping for fairies, sinks.)

Well, she's not going to get any further on the phone... or at least, she doesn't want to!  It's time to get out there and talk with the time-travelers or whoever stole her away here!

With a little fumbling around fasteners in unusual places, she gets out of her sleepwear, only to notice that the scab on her knee isn't there anymore.

And then with a little more fumbling, she gets dressed in a blazer and skirt and leggings.  She holds one of the... weirdly-shaped sleek sashes?... in her hand, tries to decide whether it's supposed to go around her waist or her shoulder or her chest, and decides to just stuff it in a pocket until she figures out what it symbolizes and what she wants to do with it.

She glances around for a nametag, but doesn't see any of those or any clear name symbol, so decides she'll just go anonymous. 

That done, and the mysterious face-telling phone in her pocket next to the sash, it's time to see the rest of where she is!

Looking around, she sees a long corridor with many doors like hers. If she keeps going, she finds a sign with directions at the end of the corridor. It says there's a pool, a library and a weight room. She can also see that she's very high up, trusting that the 22 above the sign is saying what floor she's currently on!

But are there any people there?  Any windows to the outside?

... If not, she'll memorize any number that's on her door, and try knocking on the door next to hers.

Not from where she can see. The number and letter on her door is 2244. Knocking on the adjacent door results in a boy her age opening the door very soon afterwards, dressed in just his boxers. He's mostly hiding behind the door. "Why are you knocking on my door, aren't you supposed to be asleep?"

Does he know something?

"Supposed to - wait, what's going on?"

"It's pretty damn dark outside right now and us day people are all supposed to be asleep right now, that's what's going on!"

She blinks at the profanity.

Does she want to play the role he's obviously assuming she's playing or -

- nope, she's not going to.

"Day people?  Are there night people too?  What's going on!?"

"You go to this school is what's going on! Did you get amnesia?"

"This's a -- school!?  Not a timeship?  Or -" her mind crosses "school-like place" and "really large place with beds" to come up with "- or a monastery!?"

"Yes and you go here, what the hell is happening to you?"

"Surely not Hell - but -" She throws up her hands.

"Did we get kidnapped by time-travelers or rogue physics-monks or something!?"

"No I was born here, is this a prank?"

"Not by me!"

She stares at the boy's face.  (And tries not to stare any lower.)  She's not that much better a face-teller than most people... but she's pretty sure he's not actually in her school?

"I was at home last night with Mom and Dad, and then I woke up here!"

"That's not very unusual? Many do that around this time of year."

"Many... kids... appear here?"

"After going back to their parents, yes. That's what I just told you!"

"Are you saying I was always a fairy changeling or something!?"

(That... might explain why she kept feeling like she was on a different drumbeat than other people?)

"You have access to this part of the building because you go to this school, right? That's what is happening! You go to this school! What is there to get!"

"But - I've never been here before in my life - I go to Symfire Academy in Birivers..."

"What are you talking about? This is Corner 4E51 School. Symfire Academy doesn't even sound real."

"Corner... four eee whatever - doesn't sound real!"

"Well that's where are. Look around, look it up."

Flop against the wall.  She isn't getting anywhere with this boy, and she'd rather not look things up in the library right now.

(Her stomach rumbles a bit.) 

"So who do you think I am?"

"Jenwy Burell, and I think you're pretty cool."

She opens her mouth in surprise.  That's not a thing anyone says the first time they meet her -

(of course he's saying it isn't the first time -)

"- and who're you?"

"I'm Stephen Johnson."

That sounds like a name, though she doesn't remember ever meeting anyone with it.  She bobs a quick curtsy.

"Speaking of names - where're our nametags?  Or are we all going by signet-badges here?  I used an acorn at camp, but..."

"We don't do nametags at school. I don't know anywhere that does nametags, thinking about it..."

"How do you even have a place this big without it --  Everywhere does nametags!  Unless you're doing signets!"

"People get good with names, is how! And especially with the phones it's easy to know everyone's name and keep track of them."

"That sounds like -- like someone's taken math drills and language camp and figured out how to make it worse!"

She shrinks back a bit.

"Er, if I wear an acorn on my blouse, will anyone have the least idea what it means?"

"They'll think it's just to make you look cooler."

Flop against the wall again.

"So... who runs this school?"  Fairies?  Let it be fairies?  "And what were we doing yesterday?"

"I uhh... didn't actually look up the principal's name. What we did yesterday, well what I did yesterday was practicing diving. So I can fix underwater things!"

"Sounds fun!  I've never been diving!"

Her stomach rumbles again.

"Er... is there breakfast somewhere?"

"Yes, absolutely, some of the night people are in the kitchen and are happy to make you something... somewhere." Stephen steps out and uses his phone, showing Jenwy where in the building the kitchen is. "And here are the directions! Take the elevator some floors down and you're there already, there'll be lots of signs and navigation stripes."

Jenwy stares at his phone, at least half to make sure she isn't looking at his boxers.  The other half is that she isn't used to phone maps... her parents use them sometimes, but she's more used to paper maps... but she can follow it.

"Thanks!  And - er -"  She's about to ask "who are the night people?  Talking lizards, like in that one book?" but decides it'd be more fun to get away from the suddenly-awkward conversation and find out for herself!

"Uh, see you in class or something?"

"See you after!"

She heads down the hall to the elevators, feeling a little exposed without her nametag... and, apparently, surrounded by a whole huge schoolfull of expert face-tellers who're convinced they already know her?

Did she somehow replace some other Jenwy Burell?  Is she that other Jenwy Burell, with a different world's set of memories in her head?

If there're any windows, she'll gladly pause there to look outside and think.  Otherwise, she'll head down to the food hall and try to see something of this school-monastery on the way there.

She finds a few windows looking out from the elevator lobby. Looking out, she's only really seeing mountains and forests in the frosty landscape. The windows are also pretty huge, taking up much of the wall.

Ooh!

She feasts her eyes on the beautiful mountains and forests for some time.  That explains the thick underclothes in her room, too...

At home, Dad was always too focused on his gallery to take them anywhere this far north.  She'd begged.  But now, she's here!

And then her stomach rumbles, and she heads down for food.

She finds the way to the kitchens, where there a few others her age sitting around and chatting, savoring a wide variety of foods; the smell in the air is fantastic. One of them looks up and looks at Jenwy. "Anything you want to eat? I'm happy to get started on something just for you."

Are they wearing the same sort of clothes she is?  What're the doing with those weird sashes - do there seem to be different factions in how they wear them?

Jenwy instinctively looks at the girl's collar for her nametag but (of course) doesn't find it there.  "Yeah, thanks - er -" She stumbles over her words, not sure whether to ask for her usual cereal (would they even have it in this world?) or her favorite scones (do they have any already) - and looks around the table.  What is there that looks delicious and maybe scone- or muffin-like?

They wear a mix of workout legging and uniforms like hers, including the boys wearing similar skirts as hers. They have pizza and soups and chicken and chickpeas and fries to eat, nothing very scone or muffin-like though.

Boys in not even robes, but shortish skirts?  Well at least they're wearing something over their boxers.

And they put the sashes around their necks?  Wouldn't that feel uncomfortable?  Not that she'll say anything there for now...

For the food... all right, she'll ask.  "Do you have any bread around?  And - maybe some chicken..."  That's occasionally a breakfast food, right?

"Well... we can try coming up with something! Don't hear a lot of people ask for bread." Says one of the boys.

She couldn't keep her surprise off her face if she tried.  "Oh - no need to bake it for me!  Er, anything breadlike or..."

She casts around mentally; what would probably exist in another world?  Her history classes told her porridge was ancient -- well, that doesn't work; what would her aunts say if she asked them for garum?

"... some sort of cereal?"

"Rice is a cereal, we can do that for you!"

That still feels weird for breakfast?  But - "Thanks!"

She looks around for a good place to sit and listen to the conversation.  What's going on in this school?

The kids are having fun diving and skiing and hiking through the woods, as well as reading and learning, and they think it's really cool how they're going new places thanks to the new technology.

Oh!  She visibly perks up.  This sounds like school's combined with travel!  And so much more fun than just classes!

Though... where are all the adults?  Do they get mentioned?

The adults are around, as much as they have to be, but the kids are expected to do quite a lot themselves so they don't show up too much.

Jenwy feels even more at loose ends now, adrift in the new world.

Maybe she'll feel better with some breakfast in her?  And then... find one of those adults to talk with about who she is?  Maybe?

The rice is ready for her, and looking around she can find an adult sitting nonchalantly at one of the tables. He perks up at seeing Jenwy.