Requisite Author's Note: Ahem. I appologize for not keeping up with the whole updating thing...past few weeks have been a bit insane, but I'll try to be better about it from now on. Really. As always, feedback is very much appreciated.
"Baron, I don't suppose you know the underlying causes of the Tusaine War, do you?" Caelin looked up wearily from the book she currently cradled in her lap and stared longingly at her feathered friend. Baron was sprawled on his back in the windowsill, his feathers comically ruffled from the slight breeze drifting through the open window. He looked quite ridiculous, and was apparently completely content.
Why should I concern myself with your human problems? You fight too many silly wars for immortals to keep track of.
Caelin blinked and shook her head ruefully. Hearing a bird, although admittedly a very special bird, speak definitely meant she had been reading for far too long. Shutting the book carefully and standing up, Caelin wondered what she could do. Sunday afternoons were the only time the busy palace students had any time off; mornings were dedicated to learning how to work with the other students, but the teachers had graciously decided to give the students the afternoon off to rest and reflect on their day. Or, as was usually the case, bemoan their injuries and wonder why they had ever come to the palace.
For Caelin, her first two weeks at the palace had been monotonous. Despite her early hopes and fantasies, life at the palace was not such a vast improvement from her old one. Every morning at breakfast, she sat by herself and tried to ignore the scathing comments and rude jokes the boys directed to her about commoners. Then she faced the humiliation of learning subjects with boys several years younger than she was, and in most cases, still feeling ignorant. The only class she did moderately well in was Sir Myles's class, and he had the ability to make even the stupidest students understand the concepts of war, diplomacy, and espionage. Her afternoons were spent under Siryan's tutelage, learning how to cast mundane spells such as lighting candles and calling light to her palm. She had mastered such spells on her own before she even knew what the Gift really was, yet because it was her first year at Magewinds, Siryan insisted that she couldn't move up to the next group of students. Caelin wished she could ask Lord Pyrmon for help, but she knew no one would respect her if she went to the teacher for help; she had to learn to survive life at the palace on her own, or it would never improve.
The worst part, she decided, was being ignored. Aside from Baron, who couldn't respond to her chattering anyway, she had absolutely no one in the entire palace to talk to. Salma was always busy organizing something or another, and she couldn't even talk to Daine and Numair; they had gone visiting Lady Alanna at Pirate's Swoop, and wouldn't be back for weeks. And as Dom had complained about, Lord Raoul kept him so busy chasing after bandits and spidrens that he was rarely in the palace at all. Caelin felt like she was going to go crazy if she didn't find someone to talk to.
Acceptance, for both her place in life and the inherent unhappiness that always seemed to accompany it was what she needed. That, of course, was easier said than done. Most of the people in Harowyn Caelin had known were relatively happy with their lives. As long as they had food and basic necessities, they accepted their status and position in the kingdom. Caelin had always wondered what it would be like to be something more, someone important. Her girlish dreams had faded as she hit puberty, but she had still sometimes let herself wonder about lost opportunities. Now that she had come to Corus, she lived daily among the luckiest people in Tortall, yet she herself was an outsider looking in on their charmed lives.
"I'm going to the library, Baron. You'll have to hunt for yourself tonight, and remember to at least try and not scare the sparrows, all right?"
I won't wait up for you.
Caelin shook her head at her own silliness and let herself out of her room, checking for any surprises. Usually Salma managed to have the messes the boys left cleaned up before Caelin noticed, but she had stepped into enough piles of horse muck to learn wariness and caution. As she walked down the hall, she whistled a tune that had been her favorite back in Harowyn and let her mind wander. There was a book on sorcery in the library that she had a feeling she wasn't supposed to know about, and so she was planning to study it for the rest of the evening. Siryan would have a fit if he found out.
"Ouch!" Caelin cried as she walked into something extremely hard. Blackness interspersed with bright stars filled her vision, and she sat down gracelessly with a loud thump.
"I'm sorry! Here, let me help you." Cool hands touched the lump forming on Caelin's forehead, and immediately soothing warmth filled her head. The blackness and stars disappeared, and Caelin felt able to open her eyes. As her eyes focused, she saw the most beautiful girl in the world crouching next to her; she was about Caelin's age, with milky white skin, a tumble of black curls that fell in exquisite ringlets to her shoulders, brilliant green eyes, and full lips. She was wearing the green robes of a healer, which unfairly seemed to perfectly match her eyes, and carrying a heavy stack of books. Caelin suspected they were responsible for the slight knot developing on her head despite the girl's efforts. And, to Caelin's annoyance, the girl was naggingly familiar, but Caelin couldn't place where she had seen her before.
"I'm sorry, miss," Caelin muttered, as the girl watched her with inquisitive eyes. No doubt in a few minutes the girl would realize she was the revolting commoner come up with another inventive insult to go onto Caelin's list. It was a very long list. "I wasn't watching where I was going. I'm sorry for delaying you."
"Not a problem," the girl replied, still watching Caelin. Caelin was about to leave, when suddenly the other girl sighed and threw her hands in the air. "That's it! I'm tired of watching you slink your way around the palace every day like a dog waiting to be kicked. You have just as much of a right to be here as any of the other students; from what I've heard about you, probably more! My name's Lianne, and I would like to formally welcome you to Corus and the royal palace."
Caelin blinked, stunned beyond belief. Whoever this girl was, she was unlike any noble Caelin had ever come into contact with. Looking at her outstretched hand, Caelin hesitantly accepted her grip, and was delighted to find out that calluses from hard labor covered the girl's hand. "Thank you, Lady Lianne, for your kind welcome. I really should be going though."
Lianne dropped her hand and looked curiously at Caelin. "Go where? You were certainly in a hurry to get somewhere. I think you may have dented one of my books!"
"Not nearly as much as they dented my head," Caelin retorted dryly without thinking. Then, panicking because she was in no mood to insult a touchy noble, she added quietly, "I was going to go to the library and study for a while."
"Really? I was just going to meet up with a few friends to study. We have a separate room that we like to go to, since the library is always so noisy. The little ones just don't understand how to study quietly, bless them. Would you like to come? We always help each other with our work, which makes it go faster, and I can introduce you to my friends."
"Me?" Caelin squeaked, her voice rising about five octaves. "I could never.they wouldn't let me come, miss. Really, if you invite me you're just asking for trouble, and I don't want to cause you to fight with your friends. Trust me, the library is good enough for me."
"Nonsense," Lianne replied firmly, taking Caelin's hand. "And stop calling me miss, or lady. Lianne is my name just as Caelin is yours, and I don't want or need any titles. It's about time the nobles at the palace got a little awakening on the way the world works; where would they be without commoners and tradesman, anyway? It's just luck that they were born rich nobles instead of starving peasants. It may take them a while, but eventually they'll come to accept you. Once they do, I can guarantee that the rest of the students will follow. Now are you coming?"
"I suppose I don't really have a choice," Caelin muttered as Lianne led her down halls that were slowly becoming familiar. "I just hope you know what you're doing."
Lianne stopped in front of an oak door and flashed Caelin a brilliant grin, which made her already beautiful face shine from the inside out. "I always know what I'm doing." And with that, she opened the door and stepped inside, keeping a firm grip on Caelin's hand.
The room was large and lavishly furnished, with red velvet chairs, couches, and cushions. A fire crackled merrily in a large fireplace, since Tortall was beginning to move into late fall. Lights encased in globes lit the room perfectly for reading and studying, and each piece of furniture was equipped with a hard slate for writing on. Someone had thought long and hard about everything students would need for a comfortable study environment, and then went ahead and created the room.
Sprawled on almost every available piece of furniture were boys, ranging in age from ten to eighteen. Most of the members of the group were over fifteen, and the younger boys only allowed in by sufferance, or because older pages, like Lord Thom, sponsored them. Thom was in the corner of the room, avidly reading a huge book, while his young friend looked over his shoulder and tried to keep up with his reading pace. In the opposite corner on the largest couch, a group of girls giggled with each other. Caelin was surprised to see that the group, besides containing a few healers, also included the two female pages.
With Lianne's entrance, almost every occupant in the room looked up and called out greetings, particularly the older boys, who were all transparently in love with the beautiful girl. When they looked past Liane to see whom her companion was, their expressions immediately became guarded, and the look of welcome disappeared. Lianne pursed her lips and frowned as she said, "Excuse me everyone. I would like to introduce you all to Caelin of Harowyn, who is studying to be a mage. She'll be joining us for the afternoon, and I hope all of you will do your best to make her feel welcome, since she has only just arrived." Lianne's words had the ring of command in them, and no one in the room was likely to openly defy her. Again, Caelin felt a flash of familiarity, but pushed the matter to the back of her mind as one of the youths reluctantly moved so she could sit on a footstool near Lianne.
Conversation was slow to start up, but after Lianne glared around warningly a few times, they gradually shrugged and went back to their own affairs. Two of the oldest boys made room for Liane on the couch and offered to help her with her mathematics assignment. As soon as Lianne's attention was elsewhere, Caelin felt something wet and sticky land on her neck. Suppressing a yelp, Caelin picked off the piece of paper that had been spit from someone's mouth and reminded herself sternly that she wasn't going to cry.
She ignored the displeased murmuring of the group of pages nearest to her and concentrated on Lianne's cheerful discussion with the two handsome young men wearing the colors of their knight masters.
"So when do you suppose Liam will be coming home?" The blond boy asked as he wrote rapidly on Lianne's paper. "I can't believe they called them out again. Do they ever stop working?"
"He knew he was in for a lot of work when he agreed to be Raoul's squire, but you know my brother, he never backs away from anything. It really is a great honor that Raoul picked him; everyone thought that once Keladry was knighted he would go back to being without a squire like he used to, but as soon as Liam passed the big exams, Raoul snatched him up. I think my father was actually disappointed; he wanted Liam to serve as his squire."
"Well, hopefully they'll finish dealing with those giants in time for the big tournament and all the balls. Liam would never forgive Raoul if he missed the tournament, although I suspect he wouldn't mind being called away before the balls." This time it was the youth with dark brown hair and eyes who spoke, wearing the colors of Queenscove. His statement merited a burst of laughter from the three, which made Caelin wonder why the Liam hated balls so much. Perhaps he couldn't dance? That was the only reason Caelin could think that anybody would want to miss a ball.
"Try to stop Raoul from being at the tournament," Lianne said merrily once her laughter had subsided. "One of the foreign knights was silly enough to question his jousting skills, and now Raoul is determined to draw him in the tournament and deliver a severe pummeling. You know how he can get when his pride is wounded."
The rest of the boys laughed, and Caelin wondered who Lianne's family was. Because she was in her training outfit, and hadn't given her family's name, Caelin had no idea which noble family she belonged to. Probably an important one, to judge from the crowd she had gathered around her. Of course, anyone who was as beautiful as Lianne would have plenty of male friends.
"Caelin, how have your studies been going? It must be so exciting, being a mage. I always wanted to be a mage, but beyond healing, I'm fairly useless."
Caelin gulped as dozens of eyes focused on her, waiting for her response. "It's.not very exciting yet. We're still learning the basics, like lighting candles and calling light. I hope we move on to something else soon; it gets repetitive doing the same spells over and over."
"Some peasants think they're right high and mighty now that they're at the palace, don't they?" A voice behind Caelin's back and to the right muttered. "Questioning our noble instructors like they know what they're talking about."
Lianne was about to respond, her eyes flashing, when a knock sounded on the door. A servant entered and bobbed a curtsy. "I'm sorry to interrupt, princess, but your mother would like a word with you."
Caelin gasped and suddenly realized why Lianne looked so familiar. With her black hair, green eyes, and flawless face, she could only be Queen Thayet's daughter. Lianne gathered her books and followed the servant out, giving Caelin an encouraging smile that barely registered before disappearing. Caelin knew her mouth was open and she probably looked like a deranged cow, but she couldn't believe a princess had actually bothered to talk to her, to even care, about Caelin of Harowyn.
"Just because Lianne likes you doesn't mean we have to." A harsh voice cut through Caelin's thoughts. Turning around, she realized it was the same voice who had been whispering the worst insults and throwing the sticky bits of paper at her. He was tall for his age, with black hair and black eyes. He was at least half Bazhir, handsome, and probably in his last year as a squire. "You aren't welcome here. You're just a common slut who slept her way into the palace. And you probably did murder Lord Panen and his family, no matter what the panel ruled!"
Caelin's blood went cold as she stood up, and she could feel a murderous rage spreading through her body. Several of the boys backed away when they saw she was glowing a pale blue. The young man wearing Naxen's colors said nervously, "Leave off, Paen. She didn't do anything to you. D'you want to cause another accident?" Although it wasn't an order, the tone in the youth's voice was enough incentive for Paen to step away.
Breathing deeply as Lord Pyrmon had taught her, Caelin managed to gain control over her rage, although she still glowed blue. With eyes that matched her glowing magic, she regarded the boys around her and spat, "You make me sick, all of you. Where are the manners you nobles always boast of? Without people like me, you wouldn't have your fine clothes, or your fancy weapons, or your books; or did you think it was nobles like yourself that created such fine works of art? Unlikely. It's not the knights that protect your fiefs from being overrun and your families from being killed. It's the foot soldiers who bleed to death on lonely fields because the healers are too busy tending the nobles with little scratches! Put you out in the real world beyond your sparkling palaces and fancy balls, and not one of you would be able to survive. Did you know that a pretty boy like you, Paen, probably would have ended up in a children's brothel before you were ten years old? I suppose that didn't occur to you, or anything else, for that matter, because your vaunted brain contains nothing but useless fluff. It may not have occurred to any of you, but the world doesn't revolve around your lives. So please, continue to call me names, spit on me, and insult my honor. I'm just a commoner and a woman, what do I know? The only thing I'm certain of is that after spending just two weeks at the palace, I'm grateful that I won't ever have to call myself a noble!"
Caelin panted from the force of her diatribe and glared around at the stunned faces of all the boys around her. Not one made a noise as she gathered her books and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Only when she had reached her room did she let the tears she had been holding back leak out. No matter what she did, her words couldn't be unsaid. Before, all she had to deal with was their animosity. Now she would become the enemy of every noble at the palace for what she had said. And worst of all, when Lianne, who had the noblest blood in all of Tortall, heard what she had said, she would never want to speak to the commoner again.
She didn't even notice when Baron flew into the room and curled up comfortingly against her side.
"Another perfect start to yet another wonderful day at the palace," Caelin muttered as she ran down the hall, awkwardly trying to lace up her tunic as she went. She didn't even care about the curious stares of the servants wondering about the half dressed girl running rampant down the hall. All she wanted to do was get to breakfast before she made the rest of the students wait any longer. She was already ten minutes late, and everyone would be waiting to see who had made them wait to eat and lose ten minutes of their precious breakfast time. Of course, if she hadn't spent all night crying instead of sleeping, she probably wouldn't have slept right through the bell.
By some miracle, when she finally reached the dining hall, Caelin had managed to completely lace her tunic and was in some semblance of order. She hadn't bothered to pull her blond hair back, which now hung wildly about her face, but there was nothing she could do about that now. Gathering her courage, she pushed open the door and walked into the dining hall, aware of all the angry eyes turned on her. She was slinking to her seat when Lord haMinch called, "Being on time is a virtue, Caelin of Harowyn. Report to me before your first class of the morning."
Her face flushed to the color of a ripe apple, Caelin slipped into her customary seat and waited for the food to be passed down to her. As she accepted the bowls from the nearest seated mage student, she was surprised to find that the worst parts hadn't been left to her for once. Someone must be sick, then, she thought as she eagerly took a bite out of the freshly baked bread. And for once, none of the usual comments about commoners and women without virtue reached her ears. Something was definitely odd today, Caelin decided, but she wasn't going to ask questions. She would just enjoy the brief respite and wait to see what new torments they would come up with the next day.
Once the bell had rung to signal the students to go to class, Caelin walked up to Lord haMinch and bowed. She had decided after her second day that it was silly to try and curtsy when she didn't know how to properly, and her etiquette lessons had taught her how to bow reasonably well. Lord haMinch looked her over for a minute before saying, "I understand life hasn't been easy for you here, Caelin, but do please try and respect the rules set down for you. Report for a bell Sunday afternoon to the armory, and you will be taught how to care for weapons. Doubtless as a mage you won't be using many weapons, but you never know when such skills will come in handy. Dismissed."
Caelin bowed and trotted away, not giving herself time to ponder why Lord haMinch had been so reasonable. The morning classes went by quickly, and before she knew it, she had finished lunch and was entering the magic room with the rest of her classmates. Lord Pyrmon was sitting in his customary position behind his desk, and Prince Roald was off to his right, but for the first time in the two weeks she'd been at the palace, Siryan was nowhere to be found.
"Because Instructor Siryan is sick today and unable to teach, Prince Roald will be taking over the younger students, and his usual students will sit in on my class."
Caelin could barely contain her excitement as she and the younger boys followed Prince Roald into the second practice room, where they usually studied with Siryan. Once all of them had arranged themselves on the floor around him, Prince Roald said, "I'm not sure what Siryan has been teaching you, but I think you're probably all ready to learn a little summoning magic. Summoning is an important technique to learn. Pretend you're in a battle and either don't have any magic left, or are facing an opponent with superior magic. You can summon weapons to you so you aren't completely defenseless until someone comes to your aid. If your Gift is strong enough, you can even summon other people to you, although I can guarantee you'll have quite a headache after you do so, and they may not be pleased at being dragged around by an invisible hand."
The students laughed and listened attentively as Roald explained how to summon. The principle was much the same as lighting candles, Caelin mused, except it took more concentration and pure power. Once he was sure all the students understood their tasks, Roald let them practice. They started by summoning small objects, like pieces of paper and writing utensils. By the end of the afternoon, though, every student had managed to summon a large book, and Caelin had been halfway through summoning a desk over to her when the bell rang.
Students groaned when the bell rang, and clamored around Roald, begging him to teach them again tomorrow. The prince laughed and promised to see what he could do. Caelin smiled happily, feeling like she had actually learned something useful. She was so preoccupied with thinking about the lesson that she didn't notice a form that had crept up behind her. A gentle tap on her back grabbed her attention. Whirling around, she came face to face with Roald himself.
"Sorry to scare you," the prince said, steadying her. "I just wanted to congratulate you on your work today; you're a fast learner. I saw that desk floating over at the end of the class," he teased, since they had been told not to summon anything larger than a book. "I actually have a message for you from my sister, Lianne. She's expecting you to be ready for another study session this evening."
Caelin stopped herself from groaning at the last minute; after all, Roald was Lianne's sister, and probably wouldn't like to hear that Caelin thought his sister was a busybody, albeit a well-meaning one. "Thank you for the message, highness," she responded instead.
Roald surprised Caelin by laughing. "I can see you've never met anyone like my sister before, have you? Let me give you a warning; Lianne doesn't like to throw her rank around, and if she could, I think she'd like to forget she was ever born a princess. She knows she's lucky to have the freedom she does; my other sister, Kalasin, truly wanted to be a knight, but because she is the oldest princess, she had to go study elsewhere in the kingdom, and now she's empress of Carthak, a position she never wanted or looked for. I think she's happy, but she would have preferred another path," Roald explained, eyes a little sad as he thought about his other sister, so far away. "Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, Lianne really does want to be your friend, whatever you may believe now. Don't think less of her because she's a princess; she didn't have any more control over her birth than you did. Now go on, I'm sure you'll need time to get ready for tonight. And don't forget to practice your summoning."
Caelin bowed to Roald and walked out of the room, her head whirling from the events of the day. Perhaps the water was soiled this morning; everyone's acting crazy. I'm actually having a good day!
Roald was right about one thing though; if she was going to have to crawl into the lion's den again, she at least wanted to look presentable. Once in her room after the evening meal, and after giving Baron his meal of bloody meat, Caelin dug through the closet and came up with her nicest outfit. It was a dark blue skirt embroidered with lighter blue patterns, with a light blue over-tunic that matched the pale embroidery of the skirt. Even though most of the students would still be in uniform, yesterday the other girls had been wearing normal clothes, so there was nothing wrong with Caelin wearing something new. She decided to keep her hair down, but made sure to brush out all the tangles from the morning so that it flowed in shiny waves down her back.
She had just finished gathering her books when a knock sounded on her door. Caelin opened the door to find Lianne standing there, a slightly apprehensive look on her face. "Oh good, Roald did give you my message. Look, I'm sorry for yesterday. I could see what the boys were doing to you, and have been doing since you got here. But I do want to be your friend, if you don't mind."
"Me? Mind? Highness, you have some odd notions in your head, if you don't mind me saying so."
"I don't mind; I've heard that before, and doubtless I'll hear it again. Please, though, treat me like anyone else, or I may have to dunk you in the palace pond. It's Lianne."
"All right, Lianne," Caelin replied, loosening up a little. She still wasn't entirely comfortable with Lianne, but the girl seemed to be friendly and willing to have fun.
"Much better. Are you ready to go?"
As they walked down the hall, Lianne chattered about her classes that day, Caelin listening attentively. Her nerves returned full force once they reached the study room, and she prepared herself for another day of slights. However, no one made any comments except those of welcome when they entered the room, and this time, one of the boys left a space for her on the couch next to Lianne.
It has to be the water, Caelin decided as she opened up her latest reading assignment from Master Oakbridge. The man was determined to stuff as much useless knowledge about the proper behavior at balls and feasts as possible in her head; it seemed silly to Caelin, since she would be the last person likely to attend an event like that, but Master Oakbridge would hear no protests. 'What if you were to perform an important service to the Crown, and a feast was thrown in your honor? Obviously, such a thought never occurred to you.'
Luckily, her reading assignment for the night was quite short, so she was able to finish it and then move on to mathematics, easily her least favorite subject. They were studying something called algebra, which involved numbers that didn't exist and other confusing details. Caelin hid a laugh when she noticed several of the first year pages in her class toiling over the work as well. She turned her attention reluctantly to the problem that had been giving her so much trouble that morning, and because it was incomplete, had earned her four extra punishment problems from the priest.
Caelin groaned and hit the paper in exasperation as yet another of her attempts at solving the problem failed. A quiet laugh sounded behind her, and someone peered over her shoulder. "Oh joy, algebra. It took me ages to make any sense out of the stuff. Would you like some help? I'm all done with my work for the night." Caelin turned around and found herself face to face with the boy who had cautioned Paen the night before.
Suddenly, Caelin decided she didn't want to play the shy, modest girl anymore. That was fine for nobles, but as they had all been so kind in pointing out, she wasn't a noble. Among people of their own class, commoners were the most talkative, and at times, blunt people she knew. They had no reason to flatter anyone, after all. Caelin had never had any reason to reprimand anyone before, but now that she was at the palace, she had reams of things to say to the cocky young nobles. Sizing the young man up, Caelin boldly demanded, "Why should I think you won't just give me the wrong answers to get me in trouble, or rip my paper as soon as I give it to you? Thank you oh so kindly, noble sir, but no thank you."
The young man startled, his blue eyes clouding over in confusion; he was obviously not used to being talked to that way. Then he grinned. "A day has done nothing to soften your tongue, Caelin. I suppose you have every right to talk to me that way, but honestly, I was being serious when I offered to help. I'm the math genius among the squires. You really don't want to refuse my help." His tone was honest, and he stared directly into her eyes, without wavering, which would have indicated that he was lying.
"All right then, but I'll curse you beyond all recognition if you're lying."
"Duly noted. My name's Aremin. Now let me see that problem."
With Aremin's help, Caelin was able to see where she had been getting confused, and soon all of her math problems had been completed. Once her guard was down, she was able to admit to herself that she liked Aremin; he was witty and friendly, and didn't seem too self-involved. His companion from the night before, the brown haired boy wearing the colors of Queenscove, introduced himself as Orrin, Aremin's cousin and best friend. He helped Aremin tell a hilarious story about Sir Gareth the Younger of Naxen, Aremin's knight-master.
Caelin found herself laughing along with the two big squires, but out of the corner of her eye she noticed a first-year page that was in all of her classes trying desperately to reach the last book on the highest shelf of the bookcase. After a moment he sighed in defeat and returned to his footstool, every once in a while glancing up at the book sadly. Caelin only debated for a moment before reaching for her power. Concentrating carefully on the book, she sent out a slim line of blue, which grabbed the book and then placed it on the surprised page's lap.
"Bravo! That was brilliant," Aremin said as he clapped along with Orrin and a few of the boys sitting near them. Caelin blushed, suddenly glad that the pages and squires didn't know that summoning was only a beginner's trick as she accepted the young page's profuse thanks. Lianne caught her gaze and winked solemnly, letting Caelin know that she knew how easy summoning was, unlike the boys, but she was still happy for her new friend.
The rest of the evening passed without disruption, as the students buckled down to finish their work. None of them wanted to get punishment on a Monday, since they would then be trying to catch up for the rest of the week, and undoubtedly pick up even more punishment work in the process. Even the prospect of working in the armory Sunday afternoon couldn't dim Caelin's spirits as she hesitantly waved goodbye to Aremin and Orrin and followed Lianne down the hall towards her room.
Once they had reached Caelin's room and Lianne was saying goodnight, Caelin finally blurted out what had been bothering her the entire night. "Lianne? Why are they being nice to me all of a sudden? I don't understand. Yesterday they hated me, and now they're helping me with my assignments. I thought maybe the water supply was a bit off, but it hasn't seemed to affect me at all."
Lianne's eyes glimmered with amusement as she responded, "Caelin my dear, yesterday you did something that nobles rarely have happen to them; you shamed each and every one of those boys, and quite neatly, may I add. You reminded them of all the qualities nobles are supposed to exhibit, and that they most often don't. Even if not all of them like you, they won't harass you anymore, because it would make them wrong, and nobles hate being wrong. Aremin and Orrin are my closest friends; for my sake, they tried to get to know you, and they've decided they like you." Lianne waved away Caelin's protests with a delicate hand. "Trust me, I know them practically better than I know myself; they find you refreshingly different from all the court ladies they're starting to deal with."
Caelin laughed at that and said goodnight to Liane, realizing that for the first time since she had arrived at the palace, life seemed to be more bearable.