Returning the Gift [THANKSGIVING FEAST]

The Grand Hall opens up to eight long tables overflowing with food. There's not just turkeys, but goose and duck and capon and ham glazed with brown sugar, mac and cheese and collard greens, marshmallows on a bed of candied yams and mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts swimming in pools of hot gravy, corn on the cob drizzled with butter. Teachers and Guardians and other volunteers parceled out thick slices of pumpkin and apple pie onto waiting plates as the hall soon filled with hungry mouths. There were hundreds of students in the city, thousands, living off a weekly stipend with no family in the city to share this holiday with. This was Samuel Digby's tradition, for all those who had left their ordinary lives behind to live between these secluded mountain peaks.

Blanks rarely stepped foot on Beata Academy's campus, but today, the black iron gates were drawn back and the thick oak doors were propped open. The Deputy Headmaster was insistent everyone would sit as equals.



Welcome in, and enjoy the food! The school's doors are open to all residents until 10 PM.