Disclaimer- the realm of Tortall was created by Tamora Pierce. I have made up a few of the characters. Mostly the noble girls. However, First Test does mention Neal's sister who is Kel's age, and Lord Wyldon does have a wife. I also gave names to people mentioned in the books but were not named, for example, Neal's sister.
Shauni of King's Reach sighed loudly. Her history teacher, Mistress Anita, continued to drone on about a battle fought who knows when? Well, that's what finishing school is all about, thought Shauni, boring you to death so that marrying a complete stranger sounds great. The girl sitting next to her slipped a piece of paper onto Shauni's desk. It said " To Shaun", it was from Shauni's friend Kyleah of Queenscove. Shauni read:
Hey Shaun!
Does this lesson have a point? Mistress Anita is so dumb! Who cares about a battle fought two hundred years ago? What do you say you and me sneak into the village tonight? G2G.
Lark (Kyleah's nickname)
Someone cleared their throat. Shauni looked up to see Mistress Anita glaring down at her.
"Well, what have we here? You know the rules Miss. Give me that note so the whole class may know what is more important than the lesson!"
So, Mistress Anita read the note aloud. Shauni could see the anger rising in her face from the tell-tale redness of her cheeks.
"You two shame your families and to this school! March yourselves down to Headmistress Lady Cavall's office this instant!"
Shauni and Lydi stifled laughs as they walked, heads down, to the headmistress's office. They entered the office, and handed Headmistress Cavall the note they had written and the note Mistress Anita had written. Mistress Cavall glanced up.
"Back again you two? What is that? The second time this week? Well, lets have it."
Headmistress Cavall gave them 2 hours of history homework, and shuns for 1 day. Shuns meant that you couldn't talk to a certain person or persons for however long the Headmistress deemed necessary. In this case, Shauni and Lark weren't aloud to talk to each other at all the next day. Shauni knew they were getting off easy. Once when they had been caught sneeking out they couldn't talk to anyone for a whole week. When Headmistress dismissed them it was time for the evening meal. Shauni and Lark trotted off to the dining room.
The dining room was filled with about 15 noble young ladies. They sat at small round tables covered with lavender table cloths. All wore the standard uniform, a lavender colored dress and lavender hair ribbons. Shauni recalled when she had first donned the uniform.
Ch.2- Shauni's history
Shauni's mother, Eileen, had died when she was only two years old. She had been raised by her father, Hamrath, and her nine brothers. The eldest 8 were knights. The youngest brother, still a few years older than Shauni, was a squire, a knight in training serving another knight. His name was Faleron. When her eldest brother had married, his new wife sent Shauni to Lady Cavalls' Finishing School. Marylyn, the new wife, had wanted the household of King's Reach all to herself. Shauni did not begrudge her the position. Shauni had never liked being the mistress of King's Reach. All the responsibilities of supervising the servants, planning meals, and tending the other problems of a noble household. Shauni had dreaded finishing school. She had no love for sewing, singing, or learning courtly manners. Unlike Kyleah, who was good at dancing and bad at all her other subjects, Shauni was good at all her subjects but not particularly graceful. Shauni could always be quoted as saying "My brothers taught me to play with daggers, not dolls."
Shauni and Lark sat down at their usual table. They joined the other members of their little gang: Princess Kalasin of Conte, Miranda (Randi) of Hollyrose (Shauni's cousin) and Lydian of Hannalof.
"You guys are in trouble again? Honestly, I bet you couldn't go one week without getting into trouble!" scolded Randi.
"What would the fun in that be?" asked Lark pertly.
"What difference does it make whether it was fun? The point is you wouldn't get in trouble! Can you be serious for once Lark?" Randi reprimanded.
"Come on Randi! That would go against the laws of nature. Everything would be thrown out of balance! The world would fall into chaos!" wailed Shauni. Randi glowered.
Servants brought their food on large platters.