Lady Liliana Thoarn was going to school!  She was going to the Royal Academy of Villarosa!  It was the best school in the country - the best finishing school, and the best magic school too!  And probably also the best school of history and natural philosophy, but she didn't care so much about that.

And on top of that, it was just a few weeks since her betrothal!  She still remembered the ball so happily.  She wished her fiance Florian could come with her to school - but then he had business of his own to do.  But he was there to see her off.

Liliana walked through the manor gate, her ornate blonde hair waving slightly under her stately crown of braids.  The sleeves of her red gown were midway up her arms, of course, showing off the Elf-sigle birthmarks on her wrists proving that she was a mage; and the Elf-peaks on her ears were sticking up around her braids to prove it for people who wouldn't see her wrists.  Florian was by her side, his hand in hers, and a small smile on his face as she kept glancing up at him.  Her parents were behind them.

And then - a few dozen people from the nearby town had gathered around the coach to see her off as well.  She waved to them merrily.

Oh - even young Jamie had come too.  Liliana's smile thinned for a moment as she remembered the dark day.  Jamie had ruined her display in the town pageant she'd had her heart set on, so she had stolen Father's locked-up magic book from his library and gone straight to put a curse on him.  Father had quickly found out, of course, and - after lecturing her and pointing to the warnings she hadn't read - had gone to break it.  But it'd turned out that he couldn't fully break it; her magic had been too strong for him.  She still remembered the wonder with which he'd stared at her then, and how he'd told her she was going to be one of the strongest mages in the kingdom.

(Then he'd reminded her to be discrete, done what he could for Jamie, paid him and his family to keep quiet, and gotten her a magic tutor as soon as possible.)

But all that was behind Liliana now.  She was going to the Academy!  She'd be making new friends, and meeting her old friend Kiribeth again - they'd written each other, and they'd even be meeting on the road to travel together!  And she'd learn so much magic, and have so many people looking up to her!