The Evocation School practice room was still a few minutes away from class.
A month had already passed since the start of term, and the new students were no longer as reserved as they had been at first.
They gathered in twos and threes, excitedly exchanging insights from their recent practice. Faint blue glimmers flashed among the crowd from time to time.
Yet on the other side of the classroom, there remained one quiet exception.
Aislin sat with her head lowered, flipping through the spell notes in her hands.
Her long silver-white hair hung down, and her profile in the morning light carried a trace of icy aloofness.
Ston Ironcrown stood expressionlessly behind and to one side of her, thoroughly discouraging the occasional new student who worked up the courage to go over and greet her.
"Say, do you think Her Highness the Princess might choose a companion at the academy?" Not far away, a boy lowered his voice, his gaze drifting in that direction now and then.
"Stop dreaming, man." His companion ruthlessly shattered his fantasy. "Last week, some guy tried to use asking about spells as an excuse to chat her up. Later, Lord Ironcrown gave him a little instruction in combat techniques. He's still limping."
"But if the rumors are true, and the court mages confirmed at her birth that she could master the inherited frost spells, why did she come all the way to Fernandez to study these standard spells?"
"Who knows? Maybe the royal family of the Kingdom of Winter has some ancient trial tradition. Whatever the reason, it has nothing to do with you."
"Damn it, I want to take a shortcut! I want to spend the rest of my life squandering her territory's tax revenue in a castle on the northern frontier!"
"Stop