"I'm wondering how being a magical girl will affect college. Are there scholarships, are there colleges with classes aimed at magical girls, anything like that?"

"There are scholarships, there are some schools that do have tracks specifically intended for magical girls. UMass Amherst aims to fit the niche, if you want to stay in state."

"In state would be good. What's their program like?"

"They have a few flight sport teams, they offer a bachelor's degree in magical studies, and they try to accommodate schedule needs associated with joining emergency service patrols. They have a sufficiently large magical girl population that there are multiple active magical girl student organizations, though I don't have a list handy."

"I'm not interested in flight sports so much, but the accommodations for emergency services work sounds good, as does the possibility of taking some classes on magic. If their engineering program is good I should definitely apply there."

"It's all right, I don't think if that were all you were looking for it'd make the top ten."

"My priorities are engineering and somewhere I can keep up with emergency services work, basically. I've also thought about going into emergency work full-time instead of college if I think I can make a Paladin squad, but I could also do college and then try to get on a Paladin squad."

"You've got plenty of time," he says. "College is a good idea even if you want to be a Paladin. Sometimes they lose their powers in the line of duty and they want fallback options then."

"Yeah. Or I could have kids and decide I wanted something safer, or just retire and want a second career with less flying around. As long as college won't actually make it harder to go into swarm-fighting afterward and I don't end up in lots of debt over it I don't have too much to lose."

"I don't think college will make it a bit harder, nope. And there are magical girl scholarships, do you want to start looking at those now?"

"Yeah, that would be good, what kinds are there?"

"You a Thaumatologist? They have some. There's also the usual kinds you write essays or display grades or demonstrate financial need for which just happen to be earmarked for magical girls."

"Not a Thaumatologist, but I can get grades and write essays."

"I can get you the application packets printed out if you want to swing by after school."

"Excellent, thanks!" And she will hurry off to World History and answer a classmate's question about the homework with a prophecy about today's homework and take notes on both that and the Incas. After school she'll pick up the papers to look over in the truck during patrol.

They are scholarship applications; they want to know who she is and why they should give her money.

They should give her money because she's magic and smart and getting straight As. (It turns out It's really easy to study a lot when you're a naturally studious person who spends hours every day sitting in a truck with your textbooks, who knew.) She starts drafting an essay on her hopes and dreams for the one that wants an essay on her hopes and dreams.

After a while she looks over at Vanessa.

Vanessa is reading a book on the Vietnam war.

"Vanessa, do you have a minute?"

"Mm?" She sets the book aside.

"I'm thinking about the next few years, and about what I should do as a career, and one of the things I'm considering is full-time emergency services work. How well do you think I could do, if I went pro? Do you think I could get on a Paladin squad?"

"Not right now, no, but with more experience, a little older, if you demonstrate the grit for it and get your third spell to work more than twice a week."

"Experience, I can do. Grit, I can probably do. The spell . . . I can steer the topics some, but for sheer frequency I think I might need to go to a style consultant again."

"Well, you're clocking enough hours with us to rack up some bonuses."

"Yeah, I should have enough saved up to see a pro by now."

"Valenti."

"What do you want to bet there's a pro stylist around here named Valenti?"