When Julien Camille Élie Cotonnet is twelve years old, his family moves from a town outside Isarn to the city of Ostenso. It means better jobs for his father, who writes contracts for merchants (but there's plenty of river trade in Isarn), and for his mother, who is an accountant (but people in Isarn still pay taxes), and that Julien himself can stay at home for school (he – didn't like his old school, in Isarn, but living away from home suited him just fine).
His new school is probably very good, because it's for kids who are tracked to be wizards. He won't be behind on the work, because all such schools in the empire teach the same things. He doesn't expect to make friends, for the same reason he didn't have any at his old school. But – he's the new boy, the boy from the provinces, the boy with the pronounced Eastern accent, and on top of all that he's the boy who's going to be holding the whip after the next exam. They say that kids are cruel. Julien doesn't think that's true everywhere, but it sure is in Cheliax.