-To Mango Sam: Yes, Mitzi and Roald will probably meet in a few chapters...

-Chapter Five:

Lessons started the next day for Princess Mitzi; too early in her opinion. She had not slept well the night before; despite the scented sheets of her bed and the portrait of her family on the wall...she still longed for her regular room in her aunt's palace in Norwestia. Kel had to wake the princess up the next morning to make sure she didn't oversleep. Mitzi was not taken to sleeping late...but she found it hard to wake up at around dawn.

So it was that Kel dragged a sleepy Mitzi rather late into the cafeteria for the morning meal. Kel was aware of the fact that now given a day for news to spread, more and more boys were watching them as they passed from getting their food to their regular table. Mitzi had no time to scold any of the more offensive boys because before she was half-finished with her meal the bell rang and it was time for her first class. Because of their different years, in the archery class Kel and Mitzi were separated and Mitzi was acutely aware that she was surrounded by many boys, several of them hostile.

Most of the boys in her class had had some experience in combat despite being only first-years. However Mitzi had had no need of any fighting skills, being a princess and not expecting to be sent to the Tortall Palace. Her teachers, well aware of this fact, tried to make it easier for her by pairing her up with a smaller boy for staff practice. But Mitzi was timid and shy and though her staff partner was small, he was cynical and thought it funny when Mitzi flinched at the sound their staff's made as they hit each other.

Her Shang lesson went even worse. Mitzi did not have the height advantage Kel did nor the determination Alanna had...and because she did not have to work in the fields or in the household she was not very strong. She was timid about touching another person (as in trying to punch them) and when another person touched her (say as in blocking her punch) she became ruffled and angry.

The boys did not make it any easier for her either. They right away noticed the not-so-subtle favoritism the teachers were showering on her by order of Lord Wyldon. They became very indignant and even Mitzi was able to understand their resentment of her. But by the end of the morning lessons she was only feeling sorry for herself. She had never felt this dirty, tired, or sore. And she, who had been brought up as a confident princess, was feeling very doubtful if she was going to survive many more morning classes. This was how she was feeling as she went over to her table to eat lunch with Kel and her friends. Her blank, stormy, face was enough to stop all but Merric - who was not very good on picking up subtle emotional hints - from talking to her.

"Did you enjoy yourself?" he asked her with good enough intentions.

Mitzi looked at him with a very queenly, very crushing, glance. "It went fine...just fine," she said airily.

The talk went on around her, but the boys and Kel were careful...very careful...not to disturb her.

So Mitzi was glad when afternoon lessons began. She had been very well-educated not only in womanly arts such as cooking, embroidery, and drawing, but also well-educated in arithmetic, geography and other such schools of learning. It was because of this that she was able to skip these classes in the afternoon and instead work with Numair on magic.

Mitzi was the only magical one in her family; at least only the living ones because her great, great grandfather had had an impressive Gift which was how he had won the throne. His gift had been totally absent in his descendants until Mitzi came...and in her it was particularly strong. But she did not have much training in it; she was basically self-taught except for a few years when every day a mage came to teach her self-control so that no longer did she set tapestries aflame when she was mad or make plants wilt when she was sad.

Unfortunately Mitzi was late to her first magic lesson because she insisted to Kel that she stop by her room to clean up a bit. Kel, knowing how difficult it must be for the princess, agreed and waited patiently for a couple of minutes expecting Mitzi to just clean her face and change her shirt. But to Mitzi, who had heard so much about Numair - one of the most powerful mages- and his lover Daine -god-blessed with a gift of wild magic- she had decided she needed to put on the best image of a royal princess of Norwestia.

So she was dismayed when she heard the afternoon bell rang and realized she was only half-dressed in her silk brown dress. Kel was surprised too, and a bit exasperated when Mitzi poked her head out of the door with the laces of her black bodice still untied

"What are you doing?" she asked the princess.

"Getting dressed," she answered. "Was that really the bell?"

""Fraid so," Kel replied grimly, she was not happy about the prospect of being late to class. Her first class was with Sir Myles and it was one of her favorites. "Are you done?" She tried to keep the impatience out of her voice.

"I...I still need to do my hair..and-"

"You don't have time for that! You don't need to dress up!"

"But I'm meeting Numair and-"

"He won't care what you're wearing," Kel said gently, pulling the girl out of her room and helping her tie her bodice. At first the princess looked flustered but then resumed her normal attitude and once again her face was indifferent.

"Go off to your class," Mitzi ordered. She knew that Sir Myles classroom was far away from where Numair worked and she didn't want to make her sponsor any later. "I know where Numair's room is."

Kel didn't need any persistent and ran off. Mitzi felt like running too, -lateness did not make a good impression- but her princess lessons were still embedded in her mind and she walked down the hallway briskly but gracefully. Unfortunately Mitzi was not as familiar with the palace as she believed and several times had to humble herself and ask palace servants for directions.

But she did find herself before Numair's door and before entering quickly smoothed her dress and hair. Daine actually was the one who opened it for her, and Mitzi was surprised to find the wild mage dressed in a dirty tunic and breeches.

"Hello," she welcomed the girl. Behind the brown-headed and gray-eyed girl was Numair, a tall, brown man. Mitzi swept into a well-practiced curtsy.

"I apologize for my lateness."

"Don't use any of those formalities, girl," Numair said cheerfully, beckoning her in. Mitzi immediately felt overdressed as she saw that Numair was shoeless, just wearing a casual pair of breeches and shirt.

A silvery dragon waddled up to Mitzi curiously and sniffed the hem of her dress. Startled, Mitzi drew back with a small shriek. Her quick motions startled the young dragon and she in turn fell back, her wings outstretched and neck extended.

"Don't be afraid of Kitten," Daine said, scooping the chirping reptile up into her arms and cuddling it.

"I wasn't afraid," said Mitzi rather sheepishly, feeling she needed to preserve some of her dignity.

"Won't you sit down?" Numair invited, motioning to several comfortable chairs around a small table with a tea-tray on it. The chairs looked inviting enough to the tired princess but birds and all sorts of small rodents were perched on cushions or hiding behind chair legs. She stiffly settled down on the edge of a red chair, sitting straight up, trying to keep her back far away from the large crow perched on the rear of her chair. She accepted a cup of tea from Daine and tried to ignore a white- footed mouse that was nibbling her new -very expensive- shoes.

"You can talk freely here," Numair said as he positioned his long legs and arms so that he was sitting comfortably. "I have spells protecting against eavesdroppers and other similar scrying spells. No one will overhear anything that goes on in this room."

Mitzi loosened visibly, but if that was because of what Numair just told her or because the crow had just flown over to Daine, no one knew.

"Do you have any training?" Numair asked her.

"Not much," Mitzi replied, settling several napkins over her skirt...she had just seen a sparrow leave droppings over a near-by chair cushion. "But I am able to control my magic. I won't blow up anything unless I want to." The princess did not mean to be humorous but a smile crossed Daine's features. "And I can do small things that don't need complex spells to them...I had to teach myself and don't know any larger spells."

"Well that's a start," Numair said and placed his cup back down on the table.