Dani was rather glad to note that the two other children in the compartment with her accepted that she wasn’t upset with them.  She had met people who didn’t seem to find it possible that she could not be offended by their offhand remarks about how quiet she was or something, and their subsequent attempts to make it up to her had always gotten on her nerves.  Hopefully, they weren’t the only two people like that in the school.  It would make things a lot easier.

Dani shrugged in response to Pearleane’s apology with the intent of conveying that it really wasn’t a big deal while the boy put his stuff into the little storage area above, standing on his toes to reach.  Knowing that she herself would have been unable to reach the storage area even on her toes, Dani kept her backpack next to her on her seat.  Even though they were sitting down, it was rather obvious that she was particularly short.

Pearleane’s response to the question on her board was surprising, until she laughed and gave it away as a joke that was, becoming a little more serious.  Dani nodded as Pearleane explained that she really wanted to learn, which was something that Dani could relate with considering she was new to the whole magic thing.  The boy answered the question almost immediately after Pearleane finished, chuckling a bit at her joke answer.  Dani listened while he answered the question, taking one of the jelly beans that Pearleane offered and popping it into her mouth.  Almost immediately upon biting into it, her mouth was filled with a sharp spice that made her want to throw up, though she swallowed it to keep from being rude.

Eyes watering, Dani tried to focus on what the boy was saying as he answered her question by saying that he was looking forward to the food, which he had heard was superb.  After answering the question, the boy introduced himself as Peter, and Dani began writing her own response on the board to share.  [b]“I’m excited to learn as well.  I’m new to this whole thing.  By the way, what was that… thing I ate?”[/b] is what the whiteboard read when she flipped it around for the others to see.  Based on how they held themselves, she had a feeling that they weren’t nearly as new to the whole thing as she was, which was somewhat reassuring.  Hopefully, they would be able to help her out.