Melody of Mana

Spring rolled on into summer and one day Jackson made his exit. He didn't say anything to me personally. He was just there one day, and gone the next. It was my understanding that he had some words with Lucien before his leaving, he did have to pay for his room and the like. Lude joined me at the bar that evening after we both finished up for the night, she seemed unbothered.

"How're you tonight?" I asked, keeping an eye on her mood.

"I'm great. How about you?"

"Fair enough. So... um, you and Jackson then..."

"Yeah, he's got some things he needs to take care of. Then he's coming back."

I seriously doubted that. "Yeah... he does seem to come and go doesn't he?"

"Mmm, yeah. I don't care though. I don't even care if he goes for other girls, so long as he returns to me." She had a dreamy look in her eyes. It was honestly a bit creepy.

"Well, he'll come back here eventually. If nothing else he and Lucien are friends."

I left her to her daydreaming to prepare for the inevitable tide of angry husbands and fathers. We even took bets on how many would show up. Several of the bar staff made a pool for betting and chose numbers. Based on previous experience I chose five, putting up a small jar of sugar as my wager.

To everyone's surprise Lude won. Not a single man showed up to complain about Jackson's behavior, nor to beat him for cavorting with their wife/daughter/friend. To say that both Lucien and I were surprised would be an understatement, perhaps he had really changed.

Around mid-summer Kala sent me a letter asking if I'd like to join her for going to register for the academy. I responded with a fervent yes, as we'd not had nearly enough time to hang out recently. I'd been lain down with work, trying to build a bit of a cushion of money and she'd been slammed too with making preparations.

Late summer and early fall were the busiest time for The Lovers, as many women would, if able, choose to give birth as near as possible to one of their priests. It was considered good luck. It was also rather smart as they tended to be highly trained in midwifery and able to heal injuries dealing with births unlike any normal person could. While infant and mother mortality might be horrific in many parts of the country, the presence of one of their priests dropped that number to near zero.

When the day came Kala and one of the older members of her Order stopped by the bar to pick up Eleanor and myself. It was considered proper to have someone acting as your guardian apparently, though not an absolute rule.

The two of us hugged and then began our normal chatting.

"How's things?" I began.

"Oh, you know. Marks, babies, the works. You?"

"We had a couple of good bar fights recently. Let me tell you about them..."

The walk up to the academy was rather uneventful. I wasn't overly surprised to learn that Eleanor knew who they'd sent with Kala, the temple district wasn't all that populated when it came down to it. They talked behind while Kala and I held hands, leaning in to spread what little bits of gossip we'd been gathering.

Eventually though we had to split up, as registration for the exam was done by caster type. I was surprised that they had a section for physical magic. Apparently they didn't come to the academy for much, but attended a few classes, with formal training in a nearby barracks. The arena that we used for entrance exams were part of the facilities that had been built partly for their use.

Eleanor had to split from me to go do some paperwork on her end, something about finding me a guardian when I got in. I was glad to see her go as I walked down the hall towards the bard area. It was a small hallway with a line on the floor leading to a door.

The room was a bit on the opulent side. It had thick green carpets and a number of couches we could wait on. There were perhaps a dozen of us in total of various looks. Most were rather fancily dressed, obviously nobles or some shade thereof. Some of these were clearly wealthier than the others and all of them seemed to have a servant attending them. There were also a few who looked rather less well off, though still rich if I had to guess.

I'd worn my nicest dress. It was the one that I'd gotten from my work saving Prince Lief, though I'd had to have the seams extended to their very maximum length to keep it properly fitting. Even now I doubted that it would be long enough for too much longer. I still felt far under-dressed for the occasion.

"A servant? Why are you here? And not even in uniform." A boy with a frankly uninteresting aura asked. He looked both weak to me, and like he was glowing a dull gray.

Maid outfits seemed to be a multiversal truth, as all those here were wearing one. The male servants had on similar clothes of black and white one might expect of a butler. I could only assume that was what he was referring too.

"I am here to register for the exam." I explained simply.

"Pfft, you've no aura, begone commoner."

"I'm simply suppressing it. That is to my understanding common practice."

"Completely?" The boy began to laugh, which spread to several others.

I was happy to see the little bits of practice I'd slipped into my daily routine after the incident at the ball had paid off. I could still detect it, but it seemed this little idiot was having a hard time.

I considered letting it loose and giving them all a real showing. Honestly though, who cared? I was going to ace this test. I was going to slam their fat little noses into the academic grindstone that was this school and teach them a real lesson about learning. I'd been through more formal schooling than all the little noble prats in this room could even dream of, and I knew the materials for this test like the back of my hand.

"Discipline is important." I simply shrugged and sat down, causing those who'd been laughing to bristle a bit.

The boy in particular seemed to take this a bit personally. He clenched his jaw as he rose advancing towards me with a few stomps.

"I'll teach you to respect your betters." I could see him breathing in to scream at me as he came.

Unfortunately for him I was quite a bit faster. With a hummed note I threw a bubble of silence all around his throat and mouth. I practiced my spells every day. I used magic as much as I could. His little show, it was a joke. I could have responded with something significantly nastier, but just shutting the little shit down was enough for me. Technically he could still cast, but without hearing himself sing, I doubted he would realize that fact.

He tried and failed again and again. I didn't say a word as I watched him breathe in and scream himself hoarse. It was dead silent. Those who'd been laughing before had shut up in a hurry as they saw that display.

"Well, I can see you don't have anything to teach her then. Best if you sit down isn't it?" A masculine voice uttered from one corner, out of which strode a man in rather formal looking robes.

I hadn't seen this man before, and wondered if he'd been using some form of camouflage or invisibility. It was possible he'd just been really good at remaining unseen too. I looked him over, and then the corner. He was tall and dark haired, and moved as if everyone in the room were already his students, giving us each a hard glare. The corner I saw had some kind of weird optical effect going on. My guess was that it was either something he'd done, or something about the room itself.

"I am Professor Magnolia. I also happen to be the nominal head of the bards here at our most esteemed institution. Allow me to point out that if either of you had actually managed to harm the other you'd have been instantly rendered unsuitable as a candidate. Magic, particularly combat magic, is not something to be used lightly."

Professor Magnolia moved to one side of the room. He sat down at a desk there and began to take out bits of paperwork. "I'm going to need you to come up one at a time to answer a few questions. Don't worry I'll put up a muffling spell to keep your answers private. Miss, I would appreciate it if you took whatever you'd done off of your fellow prospect."

"Yes sir." I nodded and dropped the spell.

We were called forward in order of status. I suspected he knew what nobles were here, or could tell by their clothing their rank. I would of course go last. The idea of equality was completely foreign in this world, and I could understand it. Either you could do magic or you couldn't, there was no equality in that, and magic was a powerful tool.

Eventually it was my turn though. When it was just myself and the professor left in the room he looked up, motioning me over to the desk.

"Name?"

"Alana."

"Place of birth?"

"Orsken on the Forest. It doesn't exist anymore as far as I know though sir."

"Not a problem. Parent's names."

"Verren and Amara."

"Very good, if you had any teachers I would like to know their names."

"My first teacher was a wizard by the name of Mystien," the man's brows rose at that, "followed by a bard named Jackson, and another named Lucien." He gave me a hard look after I'd finished.

"Normally at this point I'd ask you to demonstrate some small spell, but I think you taking the little lordling down a notch will more than suffice. That was a good response by the way, what did you do?"

"Um... zone of silence around his mouth and throat. Nothing terribly complicated there."

"Ah, it was just localized. There are a handful of ways to get a similar effect, but I can see that working quite well."

After being dismissed I returned to the main entrance. Several groups were forming here with a few of what I could only guess were current students filing among them. As I found Kala and Eleanor a familiar voice greeted me.

"Hey there, figured you'd be in today. Long time no see." I turned to see Dras standing there in what must be his favorite robes. They looked terrible, if rather comfy.

"Oh? A friend of yours Alana?" Kala asked as she came over to stand right next to me.

"Yes, this is Dras. I told you about him. Dras, this is Kala, we met awhile back and she's a good friend."

The two looked at each other for a few moments. While Dras had come up to join us it was Kala who seemed to be staking her claim as my best friend right now. I liked them both, but it was true that there were some things Dras would just never get...

"Yeah... anyway. We don't have classes today, so I thought you might want to... get some lunch or something after you'd registered for the exam..." Poor Dras seemed at a loss on how to deal with Kala.

"Let's all go," I suggested, forgetting the constant pain in my neck who was nearby.

To my relief Eleanor waved us off. Leaving us to what had to be one of the most awkward lunches I'd ever been to. The place was one near the school, and a popular hangout for the students. The food was good. Also, neither of my current companions said more than three words at a time to each other, they'd apparently decided that rivalry was the way to go. I felt like that would get tiring in a hurry, but that would be a problem for another day.