Ryeowook was only mildly curious when the Meister's Train first stopped for the upperclassmen foreign students. Of course, none from their car alit, the neophytes required to enter the school through the Meister's Train Station. Of course, Henry and Kyuhyun were more curious, and they joined the gaggle of students on the other side of the train watching the off-loading of the foreign students and seeing the part of Station Immigration available to their view. Ryeowook stayed in his seat, figuring he'd get to visit the Station one of these days, if he can find out a way to get into Manse Phoenixian. Kibum only stayed in his seat because he was still sleeping.

Then the train whistled, signaling as it started to leave Station Immigration. Henry and Kyuhyun scrambled back to their seats, looking out the window as the train continued on its journey. The Meister's Train cuts across land this time, traveling northwest to the Meister's Train Station stop at the junction where the Imjin and the DMZ meet.

There wasn't much to see outside other than trees, the train tracks now going through a forest cover. Ryeowook wracked his brain trying to recall this area - the only thing he was sure of is that they are still on the South Korean side of the DMZ. It seems a rather dangerous place to locate a magic school but Ryeowook guesses it's also an effective way to hide the school, along with the standard charms they put in place to confuse Muggles who stumbled into the area. And this far north, only patrolling soldiers would tend to stumble into it. And if the charms are working as expected, Muggles wouldn't even see any part of the school.

The train finally pulled into the Meister's Train Station, and Kibum only stirred awake as it came to a stop, Ryeowook and the rest of the neophytes scrambling to get their stuff as they eagerly waited the announcement for off-boarding. Once they did, they eagerly alit the Meister's Train and had their first look at the Meister's Train Station.

It was a non-descript, old-looking station compared to the modern ones on Platform 10 3/4 of the Seoul Metro and Station Immigration. The modern train itself looked oddly out of place beside the wooden platform. But what the station had going for itself was both the regal and benevolent feeling that welcomed them, especially the neophytes, as the station itself is a hanok, or particularly a stretch of hanok gates.

The sweeping shingled roof is both familiar and ancient, all wooden gates open throughout the structure, giving the illusion of pillared portals to an otherworldly time and place. After the initial hush from all students, an undercurrent of excitement swept through them and an ambient noise from people chatting and greeting schoolmates started up again.

The idyll was broken for Ryeowook when Kibum stepped past him and on through the station. The rest of them just looked at each other before they also hurried after Kibum through the hanok gates. Through the gates, Ryeowook saw that the station straddled the boundary between a forest to their left, and the Imjin river to their right. In the forest area, several horseless 4-seater carriages stood waiting as the older students each squeezed themselves into one before it hied of to wherever it was expected to go beyond the forest. Ryeowook inadvertently bumped into Kyuhyun, who had stood still watching the front of the carriages with a weird look on his face.

A couple of Seniors were an exception to riding the horseless carriages, as Ryeowook saw several of the 4-striped jackets organizing themselves into either herding the neophytes down to the river port, or commandeering a sailor-less barge waiting down the river. Kibum continued his unawed walk down to the port, cutting through the crowd of confused neophytes, and easily stepped onto the nearest barge. Ryeowook, Kyuhyun and Henry scrambled after him.

Ryeowook was the last one in, and only because he had issues with any big body of water. Henry was already rocking the boat trying to find a comfortable seat so when Ryeowook stepped in, the rocking and his jelly legs didn't manage to hold him up. He was only saved from an embarrassing fall when the Senior standing aft of their boat easily stretched out an arm and caught Ryeowook before he went careening overboard.

"Careful there," came the clipped baritone voice somewhere over Ryeowook's head and he belatedly realized his eyes were squeezed shut and he had a death grip on someone's cloak. He looked up to find mesmerizing dark eyes looking down at him, a pleasant face framed with a cloud of green hair. Ryeowook blushed, embarrassed at being shown up a weakling on his first day at school.

"Sorry," he squawked, to his horror, and in his hurry to get away from the Senior's grip, rocked the boat even further. Even Henry shouted in alarm, while Ryeowook cringed as the grip on him just tightened as he was being irresolutely guided onto a seat.

"Sorry," he squawked again, though he forced himself to look at the Senior and say a proper thank-you. The Senior only gave him a small smile from where he continued to stand, before turning his gaze away from Ryeowook and out onto the river. Ryeowook prided himself on his people skills, and he was sure there was a sort of disdain oozing from the Senior. Well, considering this one is a green jacket, it was to be expected. Ryeowook miserably huddled in his seat as their barge started to move out of the port and into the middle of the river.

"I am Yesung, and I'll be your guide in this ride," the green-haired Senior suddenly intoned as they came upon an arch underneath the wooden bridge spanning the Imjin River. "Neophytes, Welcome to the Meister's Institute of Thaumaturgy," Yesung continued as they sailed under the arch. As if on cue, magical fireworks greeted their sight at a distance as they cleared the arch in time to the end of Yesung's welcome spiel.

Yesung continued a spiel as they sailed down the Imjin River, the late afternoon sun casting soft light from their right. The bridge they cleared was called the Dragon Bridge. On the Meister's side, it connected to the Dragon Gate which the Dragon Road ran through and which the older students are now plying in the horseless carriages.

Henry had to ask why it was everything dragons.

Yesung pointed back to a promontory overlooking the bridge, gate, and road. "See that Greek looking building above the cliff? That's the Manse Dragonica. The areas north of Meister's are predominantly under supervision of the Manse." Yesung went on to explain how the four main manses are arranged around the compass points and overseeing the particular area - Dragonica in the north, Serpentine in the south, Airehawke in the east and Beaverian in the west.

The other side of the Dragon Bridge connected to Mabeobui Maeul, the only nearby town Meister's students have immediate access to if the duty-free mall in Station Immigration got a bit boring, as everywhere else would need a train ride and an overnight pass. The name prompted Kyuhyun to snort something about hiding in plain sight.

The rest of the barge ride was uneventful, as the view stayed monotonous with a view of the river, the Dragon Road tracing the river, and forests on both sides of the river. The main campus wasn't even visible from their vantage. Ryeowook did manage to ask if there lived enchanted beings in the river, much like the merpeople he heard about in Hogwarts, and Yesung, in a rare chuckle, answered no. "A river system, even a big one, is not exactly an ideal habitat for magical beasts and beings to settle in. Lakes, marshes, the seas... they would be ideal... rivers are more like roads in water topography, so transitory... its where everything passes through, so nope... at least there's no enchanted beings in the Imjin," Yesung sort of lectured. When Kibum looked about to challenge what he said, Yesung merely looked him down and said, "Advanced Care."

Things only got interesting as they approached the Beaverian port. The large cruise ship that was the Manse Beaverian is currently docked, and in deference to the neophyte welcome, flew pennants of all manse colors instead of just the navy blue and yellow of the manse. A couple of Beaverian upperclassmen were already on deck, waving and shouting to the neophytes in welcome. At the port, a couple of open-topped horseless carriages stood waiting.

"You'll be taking the carriages to the Meister's Garden," Yesung instructed them as their barge docked. He made sure to assist the purple-haired one off the boat, noting the pink tinge highlighting the neophyte's cheeks. Yesung could blame it on the afternoon sun, but he thinks he can recognize a blush. "Good luck with the Sorting, and good luck with Meister's."

The quartet took the same carriage Kibum appropriated, avoiding the usual neophyte behavior to loiter around and gawk at every new thing. Which suited Ryeowook just fine as he just wanted to get as far away as he could from the water. The sun was also setting, and it was getting tiresome to see green all around.

A few blocks out of the Beaverian port and Meister's started to look like a proper campus - tree-lined avenues leading in and out of Center Buildings, some old, some new, and mostly representative of the Center. The campus is so wide that the Centers actually have buildings to their name, and not just one building each as Ryeowook had expected. He also noted that some of his consecutive classes for the semester were buildings apart - thank the wizards for brooms then, though he found the current lack of broom-riding wizards and witches a bit unsettling. Maybe a tradition during neophyte welcome? He tried to imagine the kind of traffic it created on a normal schoolday, what with each witch or wizard heading off to the next class in different directions.

As the twilight faded, lights nestled within the trees also started lighting up and illuminating the road leading to the Meister's Garden. Facades of the Center buildings also lit up, and up ahead, Ryeowook finally saw the outer fringes of the Meister's Garden, the formal name for the campus park, which is an open area located at the center of the main campus. While it was brighter in the area, Ryeowook was confused at the seemingly empty assembly area as they entered the center road into the park, and approached the central open air gazebo. Long tables and benches decorated with linens of the manse color were already set out but nobody occupied them.

Then the carriage took a turn around the gazebo, and a cheer from the upperclassmen gathered behind it greeted them. Ryeowook couldn't help but start shyly laughing at the welcome, covering his mouth with his hand while Henry and Kyuhyun gamely stood up from their side of the carriage and waved at the cheering crowd as the carriage continued to parade them infront of the upperclassmen. Kibum tried to slink down to the carriage floor, but his tall height could only shrink so much, not to mention a beautiful Apprentice in a green jacket enthusiastically greeted him from the front, successfully ruffling Kibum's blue hair despite the way he tried to avoid it.

The cheers continued as they alit on the area designated for neophytes, other carriages still streaming in and discharging their neophyte passengers. By the time the last carriage came in and Sorting is about to start, Ryeowook felt very welcome indeed.

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