Orientation contains some surprises.

With just a few minutes' walking, you {if Terence Helpful = True}and Terence{elseif Britt > 0}and the girls{endif} find your way to the large lawn in front of the dining hall where orientation is to take place. The lawn is covered in hundreds of white folding chairs - to your surprise, they're separated neatly and clearly into pairs. Even more odd, there's assigned seating. You {if Terence Helpful = True}bid farewell to Terence and {elseif Britt > 0}bid the girls adieu and {endif}find your seat, in about the middle of the pack. There's a girl sitting in the seat next to yours, who looks up at you sharply, eyebrow quirked, as you sit down.

"Hey there," she says guardedly. You give her an awkward nod as you shift uncomfortably in your seat. She's pretty good-looking, actually; pale blonde ringlets fall around her long, sharp face, and blue eyes gaze into yours from behind thick, cat's-eye glasses. She's dressed positively rebelliously, for this school: jeans, boots, and a light sweater under a black leather jacket.

"Hey," you say. "I'm Luke."

"Huh. Jenny," she says. "Jenny Pierce. Any idea what the kooky seating is about?"

You shake your head. "None at all." Jenny snorts.

"Me neither. I was hoping to sit with my roommate...oh well." She sighs and sits back in her chair, clearly not terribly interested in making conversation. You shrug and relax for a few minutes.

After not terribly long, the president steps up to the podium to speak. "Welcome, incoming class!" he says cheerily. He's an older man, definitely in his 60s, but clearly still vigorous. He drones on for several minutes with the usual nonsense you'd expect: the pride of the school, how competitive it was to get in, how great he knows everyone will do, et cetera. Just as you're shifting in the hot sun and wondering when this will all finally end, something unexpected happens.

"And now, what is perhaps one of the most important parts of our gathering," President Jefferies says. "If you would all please reach under your seats and retrieve the small packages taped to the undersides?"

Puzzled, you (and everyone else) obey. Your groping fingers encounter a small plastic ziploc bag, with something heavy in it. When you pull the tape off and lift it up for inspection, the bag turns out to contain a sturdy silver loop - a sort of thin bracelet. Pulling it out of the bag to look at it more closely, you see that it's got a charm of some sort attached to it, sliding along the loop of metal: a tiny, flat, silver rendition of an elephant's head.

"These bracelets are an important component of our pair-bonding system, and it is crucial that you keep them safe!" President Jefferies declares. "This system is how we award the Ephesian Scholarship. To explain more about how it works, I now turn you over to the winner of said scholarship the last two years running: Jared Kadecki!"

There's a smattering of confused applause as Kadecki walks up to the mic. {if Jared & Katie Met = True}You immediately recognize him as the man you encountered with his girlfriend earlier, and you shiver at the memory.{elseif Jared & Katie Seen = True}You immediately recognize him as the man you saw fooling around with his girlfriend earlier.{else}He's a dark-haired man with a prominent jawline and an easy look of confidence as he takes the podium.{endif}

"Greetings, freshmen!" he declares in a ringing voice. "And welcome to Ephesus. I look forward to seeing you all compete with the rest of us for the Ephesian scholarship - a competition that is central to our way of life here at Eph. This scholarship awards a complete, 100% scholarship, including living expenses, to two dedicated students each year. And all of you - no matter your financial or family status, no matter your nationality or anything else - are eligible for it." He raises his hands like a preacher. "We come to Ephesus not only to learn about science, about literature, about whatever we choose - we come to practice for living a godly and upright life. And few things are more important to such a life than a proper relationship between the sexes. And for that reason, this pair-bonding process was instituted. As the good book tells us, wives must submit to their husbands, and husbands must care for their wives. Katie, come here."

{if Jared & Katie Seen = True}The girl he was with earlier{else}A dark-haired, buxom girl in a conservative blouse and a knee-length pencil skirt{endif} comes forward and, to your surprise, kneels on the stage at Jared's side, facing him with eyes downcast. There's a murmur of surprise at this behavior, but Jared raises his hands for silence.

"Obviously, no one is expected to get married while at Eph," he says cheerfully. "But that doesn't mean that we can't rehearse the proper way of behaving between man and woman. These bracelets," he continues and raises his own arm so you can all see the flash of silver on his wrist, "are the system by which you will be tracked on your path. Gentlemen, as of this moment, all of you are masters. And women, you are all now maidservants. Look at the person sitting next to you. They will be your partner for the year."

You look automatically and meet Jenny's horrified, furious gaze. You give her a weak smile and a shrug. Jared, on the podium, continues.

"Now, all of you agreed to this system when you signed your acceptance packet and returned it. If you don't like it, you are of course free to leave - though that will upset the balance between men and women here on campus, so we hope that you don't. The roles are simple, as they have been from the beginning of time: men, you must care for, protect, and cherish your maid; maids, you must obey your man in whatever he says. If you do not obey, your man may chastise and even punish you, within limits - those limits are spelled out in an email that you have all received to your school accounts in the last few minutes. If you are still recalcitrant, your man may request additional disciplinary support from the school. I assure you, it's best to avoid that."

"But!" he continues, "Lest you think that this system seems unfair or sexist, let me reassure you that nothing could be further from the truth. Let me explain the power that you hold, ladies. You'll note that you and your partner have the same charm on your bracelets." That's true, you note; Jenny's bracelet, you can see out of the corner of your eye, also has the elephant-head charm. "These charms are votes of confidence, and you may rescind them at any time. However, you may only take them back from your man to give them to another; becoming a 'free agent' is not allowed. But if you feel that another man is doing a better job of taking care of you, of disciplining you, and of being present for you, you may take the charm from your current partner and give it to the person in question. At the end of the year, the Ephesian Scholarship will be awarded to two students: the man with the most charms on his bracelet, and the woman of his choice from among those on his bracelet. If you request a charm back and the man refuses to give it to you, notify the administration immediately. He will be expelled. I should note, too, that you've been randomly assigned to your partners over the summer. If you change partners during the year, you will receive a new one next fall; only those whose partnership proves durable are allowed to repeat partners year after year."

There's a rumble of muttering in the crowd now, as everyone turns over what Jared has said. Some of the couples are blushing and looking away from one another; others are talking animatedly. You and Jenny regard each other warily. This is quite the setup they've put you in, you realize; the way things are arranged, it's in Jenny's interest to stick with you and make nice to you, and you can't be too nasty to her or she'll simply give your charm to some other bozo. If you didn't have to worry about money at this school, you wouldn't give a damn about this silly (and deeply weird) contest, but as it is...well, a full ride, even for one year, could be life-changing.

Jared's voice rings out again. "As I say, any of you are free to leave this place if you wish!" A few people do get up and do so, shaking their heads or storming away angrily. The vast majority of students remain seated, though. "For those who will stay, stand and face your partners."

Uncertainly, you stand and turn to face Jenny. For a second it looks like she's going to storm off, but then she slowly rises. Jared calls out: "Now, ladies, kneel before your gentleman."

"This is such bullshit," you hear Jenny mutter angrily. Still, she lowers herself to her knees on the grass of the lawn, glaring up at you resentfully. The sight of this blonde on her knees in the grass in front of you, even with her glaring at you through her glasses, stirs something inside you that you weren't aware of before. Maybe there is something to this old-fashioned religion, after all.

"Gentlemen, place your hand on your maidservant's head!" Jared declaims. Awkwardly, you reach out and gently rest a hand on top of Jenny's head.

"Is this ok?" you ask quietly.

"Yeah, whatever," she mutters.

"Now repeat after me, gentlemen," Jared calls out. He seems to be enjoying this. Mumbling, you repeat every phrase as he says it, along with all the other men in your class.

"I hereby take thee as my maid and my servant, O blessed one...to hold and to ward...to guide and to discipline...throughout this, our forthcoming school year."

You hear a squeal of feedback, and look up to see that Jared has pulled the microphone from the podium and is holding it in front of Katie's face (certain lewd parallel images are inevitable). "Now, ladies, repeat after me," the girl says. Her voice sounds raspy, and she clears her throat. "I promise to serve thee, O blessed one, as long as you are just...as long as you are kind...as long as you provide the structure I need. If you are cruel or unjust, or if you do not satisfy me, I shall leave; I shall go to the tents of one who will please me, and I will leave you alone." Jenny, you notice, does not repeat the words. She just glares at you. As the little ceremony finishes, you drop your hand to your side and Jenny - along with most of the girls - climbs to her feet.

"Well done, frosh," Jared says with a grin, up on the platform. "You've got a couple hours to get to know one another before there are any more orientation events scheduled. Welcome to Eph, and go with God!"

He re-racks the microphone and pulls Katie to her feet, walking off the platform arm-in-arm with her. There's absolutely no applause, this time - there's just a hubbub of conversation as everyone tries to figure out what's going on. Jenny glares at you.

"Well. All right then, 'master,'" she practically spits. "I'm going to be honest with you, I find this whole idea disgusting, and if it weren't for the fact that I need to be here and I need the money, I'd be gone. So I hope you won't take it the wrong way when I tell you that I want nothing to do with you at all. Let's just get through the year, hey?"

"We won't get the scholarship that way," you say with a frown. She scoffs.

"Yeah, but I have no interest in being your servant, so..." she shrugs. "Tough luck, I guess? I'm gonna look into other scholarships. They must have some here that are based on actual merit...in any case, I'm gonna head back to my room. If that's all right with you, m'lord." She sweeps an exaggerated curtsey to you, made all the more ridiculous by her utter lack of a dress.