The train ride from the Alpine-Union was long and kind of lonely for Sofia. She sat close to the window, and for the first thirty minutes or so she didn't even pull out one of her books. She wanted to look friendly, and whenever someone opened the door she'd smile at them. But at some point they'd realize who she was (either the combination of green eyes, glasses, and lightning bolt scar would give her away or she'd tell them her name after they told her theirs) and they'd bow/curtsy and hurry off with an apology before she could tell them she didn't mind. Even the other noble kids on the train weren't sitting with her. Most of the ones she'd played with were either a year or two older and had made friends at Durmstrang that they were already sitting with, or a year or two younger and not on the train. She hoped this wouldn't stay true for the whole school year. She didn't want classes to be this lonely.

After half an hour people came by less often, settling into their compartments, and she gave up on getting anyone to sit with her. So she pulled out a book instead, one on the history and art of magical crafting. She couldn't start making anything for a couple more years, she'd need to get a grasp of magic before that, but it was interesting to read about. There'd been an idea in her head since she'd gotten her wand, and while she hadn't quite hammered out the details, she wanted to keep pursuing the thought. And her parents certainly weren't going to say no when she asked for books besides, though she'd gotten a lecture on not trying to recreate anything until she was at least thirteen and had begun taking classes on Runes. Not wanting to cause a disaster, she'd readily agreed.

Still, it was a lonely way to pass the time. Sofia didn't have a lot of friends, exactly. She liked the other noble children, but even with magic facilitating travel she didn't get to see them more than a handful of times a month. Both she and they had lessons, plus there was the need for chaperones and all their parents were rather busy. Hers with running the entire country and overseeing relations with other countries, theirs with running their portions of the country. There were the House Elves, the guards, and the portraits, but none of them were kids her age. Making friends had been her big goal when her parents had told her she was going to Durmstrang, but she was starting to worry. Though maybe kids not from the Alpine Union would be less shy around her? She could only hope.

Five Hours Later

The linking up of the various trains of the Durmstrang Express at the station in Poland-Lithuania was quite a sight. Each train stopped in a different port, a massive radial structure not unlike a wheel in design. Once they came fully to a stop, the engine would disengage from the cars and vanish, sent back down the line and facing the proper direction to return to its station of origin. Magic in the tracks would then propel each chain of cars forward, one by one, while the radial rotated, connecting each to the single, massive chain that made the complete Durmstrang Express. It was an impressive sight, made possible almost entirely through magic. No train this size could have moved at the speed necessary to get the students to the Durmstrang Institute in time for dinner the day of departure. Not safely, anyway.

And thanks to extensive stabilizing and cushioning charms, the only way for the students to even tell what was going on was to look out the window. Sofia, entirely engrossed in her book as she was, failed to notice that they'd arrived until there was a knock on the door. She looked up to see a tall, rather fit young woman (older than a student, but younger than her parents) with short hair dyed a mixture of bright yellow and bright blue, in dark red combat robes. "Hey, you're Crown Princess Sofia Aurora Ricci Bellarosa, right?" She asked in Italian. Sofia blinked and nodded.

"Yeah but you don't have to call me that all the time." She said. "Sofia's enough. Who're you?"

"Nah, gotta at least include the Princess." The young woman said, scratching her head. "Maybe the Crown too. Having a Princess Consort in the Alpine Union muddies the waters a bit there." She shook her head, then quickly bowed.

"Sorry, manners. I'm Amelia Nowak, of the Varangian Guard. We're the guards Durmstrang employs to protect the children of royalty, nobility, and heads of state while you're students." Sofia blinked. She'd heard about the Varangian Guard, technically descended (organizationally, membership wasn't bloodline based) from the Guards of the Byzantine and Anniad Emperors and Empresses, but expanded and made independent and international in recent years. She just hadn't realized they'd be on the train. Or that they were allowed to have such brightly colored hair. "I'm here to escort you up to the Royal Car." Sofia blinked, then quickly nodded.

"Oh, okay." She said, standing up. She quickly pulled her trunk off the rack, glad her parents had gotten her one with the weight reducing charms built in, and stowed her book in it before putting it on its wheels. Then she blinked as she registered the nature of the young woman's name. Namely that it was Polish. "You speak Italian?" She asked, a little surprised.

"Ah, was wondering what you'd be hearing." Amelia said, nodding. "No, not really. A bit, but not well." She stepped back, and began leading Sofia through the other cars, towards the front of the train. "The Durmstrang Express has some translation enchantments built into the line." Sofia blinked.

"I thought that had to be used on something big, like a castle or city." She said, confused.

"I never said they were good enchantments." Amelia chuckled. "The tracks are entirely carved with runes, as are the walls of the train itself, underneath the padding on the walls. And every adult here is carrying a runestone to help support them besides. It's not the best of systems, the train has a lot of other magic and can only draw from so much of the tracks at once, so it's prone to failure, and strange glitches, but it works enough. Everyone figured it'd be better than making it so you kids could only communicate with people from your own homes outside of the school grounds and the village. Defeats the purpose of an international school at that point." Sofia nodded slowly. She supposed that made sense. She just hadn't realized it was possible to do something like that, even if it was a mediocre result.

Eventually they stopped at the end of a car and Amelia grabbed the handle, tapping it with her wand twice to unlock it before sliding the door open. The car wasn't all that much different from the ones they'd walked through. It was nicer, but not a lot nicer she didn't think, though she knew she was biased. Sofia thought she could feel the hum of magic from all directions though, in a way she hadn't in the other cars. "Alright, bit further now, this is the noble car, they'll be bringing those kids up soon but royalty and the children of heads of state get a different car." Amelia urged, leading her on. "I'm sure I don't have to lecture you on manners Princess, but still, keep in mind that you're going to be sharing your dormitory with these kids for the whole time you're at Durmstrang, so y'know, long term planning and all that."

Sofia blinked again at that. She had been doing that a lot recently. But it occurred to her that she hadn't actually done much research into Durmstrang itself. She'd been too excited by magic and her textbooks to read about the school she'd be learning those things in. So she hadn't realized there'd be a special dorm for kids like her. Well, hopefully she wouldn't be alone in her lack of research, and she'd learn what she needed to soon.

"What happens when the kids of heads of state...don't have parents who are heads of state anymore, but they still take the train?" Having been too young to really process or understand politics when she lived with her Mama and Papa, she hadn't internalized the politics of Muggle Italy. So it was rather strange to her, to think there were countries where the leader just...stopped being the leader. There was a process, she knew, for the removal of a bad King or Queen in the Alpine Union, but that wasn't the same as replacing the head of state every seven years.

"They get to stay if they like, or move to the noble car." Amelia said calmly. "This isn't about privilege or luxury, really. It's about safety and security. Easier to keep you lot safe, if you're all in two cars. Same reason there's a special dorm for you all." Sofia nodded in understanding. It was like the VIP Floo Ports. Yeah, they were nice and convenient, but it made the main Floo Ports less of a target as well. Amelia repeated the unlocking process from before on the door at the end of the noble car, and guided Sofia in, shutting the door. "Last royal, coming in!" She called out as they entered.

Sofia looked around. The car seemed more spacious than the other ones. Then again, she supposed a car designed specifically for royalty and the children of heads of state didn't need to hold as many kids as other cars. Wizarding nations trended towards being larger than Muggle ones (for the most part) and even at Wizarding Europe's most fractured there'd never been more than thirty. Less countries meant less kids qualifying for the royal car.

"Hey, Fritz! What's the proper address for the Crown Princess of the Alpine Union?" Amelia asked cheerfully, grinning at an older man with silver hair and dark glasses with one hand on a staff who was sitting on a round bench in an open alcove between compartments.

"Princess is fine, 'tis shorter and easier, wastes less time." The man sighed. "Unless you're in a formal setting, then you add Crown. Otherwise you can stick to calling her Princess Sofia."

"Even with one of her mothers being the Princess Consort?"

"...you do realize that if she had sisters they'd be called Princesses too, right?" Fritz sighed again before standing and bowing. "My apologies Princess." He said formally. "Amelia's...irrepressible. And newly graduated from the training program besides."

"And Fritz is absurdly polite...well, to me anyway, he's the right polite for you Princess." Amelia said cheerfully before pointing down the car. "I think I saw the other first years heading towards a compartment towards the end." She told Sofia. "Might be your best place to sit." Sofia nodded. She rather thought Amelia would get along rather well with her mom. And cause her mother to despair even more than she usually did.

"Thank you." she said politely, nodding with a smile before carrying her trunk down to the end of the car. She glanced in the different compartments as she passed, but everywhere seemed either full or had kids too big to be first years. Eventually she found it though. Three kids, like her parents had said. Two girls and a boy. She knocked on the door, and they all looked over at her. "Uhm, hello." She said tentatively. "My name's Sofia, can I sit with you? I just...would rather sit with other first years is all."

The boy, fair skinned with light brown hair, smiled and slid down a bit. "Sure!" He said cheerily. She glanced at the girls. One was an equally fair skinned girl with blonde hair, the other an olive skinned girl with hair more resembling Sofia's own in shade. Neither seemed upset at the idea of her sitting with them, so she smiled shyly and entered the compartment, securing her trunk on the rack above the seat the boy had been in before sitting down herself.

"Sofia…" The fair girl said. "You'd be the Crown Princess of the Alpine Union then?" Sofia nodded quickly.

"Yes, that's right. Who are all of you?"

"I'm Crown Princess Lina of Nibelungenland."

"I'm Arch Duchess Talia of the Anniad Empire." The darker girl offered, nodding, and flashing a small smile to Sofia. The boy chuckled and rubbed the back of his head.

"I'm just Jakub Dabrowski. My father's the Governor of the States in the Magical Confederation of the States and Territories of Poland and Lithuania. He's up for reelection in five years though."

"...you can just say Poland Lithuania here." Talia said dryly, raising an eyebrow. "We're not exactly in a formal place, and we'd all know what you meant."

"Sorry, I'm just not used to being around actual royalty." Jakub said sheepishly. "Wasn't sure how far to take it." He paused, then leaned in. "How does that work, actually? Do you really not have to listen to your people at all?" That got him a trio of looks from the girls of the compartment.

"Yes, we've managed to entirely avoid the revolutions that rocked the Muggle monarchies by behaving exactly the same as them." Lina said dryly.

"But if the people can't have a say in who represents them in government…" Jakub began.

"They do in the Alpine Union." Sofia said. "All the cities have elected mayors, and the country is divided into districts overseen by noble families. Occasionally a noble family dies out, and in those cases an elected District Governor is put in charge. And I think the Goblins are like the Norscan Union, but they're still a bit secretive about how everything works, since they feel it's none of our business." She knew it was a bit more nuanced than that, but she was still trying to wrap her head around all the details, and this wasn't a class anyway.

"In the Anniad Empire we have something similar." Talia confirmed. "Only there is no elected option if a noble family dies out. If that happens, then a branch of another family is created. The people they'll oversee are allowed to vote on which noble daughter will take over, but they often have no strong opinions on the subject."

"Oh yeah, the Anniad's a matriarchy, isn't it? How's that work?" Jakub asked curiously. Talia eyed him.

"Did you not learn about the government of other nations at any point?" She asked dryly. Jakub flushed.

"My father just got elected recently." He said defensively. "And it's different for me besides. I'm not expected to get into politics if I don't want to, I can go into business or play Quidditch or whatever and nobody'll care."

"Sounds nice." Lina murmured. Talia let out a hum.

"Fair enough I suppose. Well no, we're not a matriarchy. We're matriarchal. The Anniad Empire broke off from the Eastern Roman Empire when the Squib Emperor Alexios I Komnenos elevated his non-magical son to the throne over his first born Anna Komnene, because she was a witch. He wanted magic out of the Empire, and she obliged. Empress Anna attempted to set the Empire up in a more egalitarian manner, and named it the Alexian Empire in honor of her father, but when she died her people chose to honor her instead, and reject Alexios in every way. It's worked out so far." She added with a smirk.

"For Nibelungenland it's similar. The government style, not the matriarchal element I mean." Lina said smoothly. "But when a noble family dies out, their lands are simply added to another family's, and duties are shuffled around as needed."

"Wouldn't everybody be trying to kill each other then?" Jakub asked, wrinkling his nose.

"That was a problem in the past, but magic helps mitigate such behavior." Lina said easily, shrugging. "Potions to force the truth, spells to determine what spells a wand had cast, wards that declare exactly who was in a castle at any given time, among other things."

"I guess." Jakub admitted. "Sorry I just...it's all really weird to me. Poland-Lithuania's been a democracy for...well, centuries."

"Well, we share Quidditch at least." Sofia offered brightly, hoping to steer the conversation away from history and politics. She understood, of course. Talia and Lina had probably had politics driven into their heads as often as it had been driven into her's growing up. Maybe more so, since they were born royals rather than adopted. But she wanted to get away from that, at least for a while. Fortunately, Jakub rather readily took the hint. Or at least was happy to talk about Quidditch.

"That's true! The Iron Wolfs are doing pretty good this year!" He said brightly. "Gods but I'd love to play Quidditch professionally." He grinned. "Do any of you play?"

"Of course." Talia said, equally brightly. "One of my favorite things to do!" Lina shrugged.

"I do. It's not something that I really love, but I'm a decent Beater at least." Sofia wilted. She'd hoped they'd talk about teams, not personal life.

"I'm...not allowed." She admitted sheepishly. "I know how to fly, I love flying. But my parents say Quidditch, with all the other players and the Bludgers, is too dangerous." She'd argued about that rather strongly, pointing out that her mom was teaching her how to fight. But Vittoria had rebutted that she was teaching her how to survive fights, not how to get in the dueling circuit. And Sofia...really hadn't had an argument for that, though it remained a bit of a sore point.

"Ah...yes, you're an only child." Lina said with a sympathetic wince. "And your mothers are…well." Sofia nodded. There was a long precedent of homosexual kings and queens in the Alpine Union, so the adoption and elevation of an orphan was not without precedent. But she was special in that the nature of her Mama and Papa's deaths was the fault of the Alpine Union itself, and thus the fault of the Queen and Princess. In the past adoptions had gone through noble surrogates, but it was rare for there to be more than one child in this way. It muddied the waters of succession too much, among other things, letting other noble families techncially get a foot in the noble dynasty. So Sofia wasn't likely to get a sibling. That, along with their genuine love for her, meant her parents could get rather overprotective.

"That's too bad." Jakub said, nodding and fortunately not pressing the point. "Well, if you're allowed to fly, we can always do that next year! First years aren't allowed their own brooms, but next year we can. I hear Durmstrang's got an amazing enclosed pitch." He sighed and slumped back in his seat. "I'm going to miss my family, but I can't wait to start learning magic. It's going to be so cool when I cast my first actual spell, rather than just accidental magic." There was a long moment of silence from the three girls, and he huffed. "You three get to cheat and start learning early, don't you?"

"Of course not." Lina said with an innocent smile. "First time's going to be at Durmstrang, just like the International Confederation of Wizards states."

"Everyone knows you can't safely use a wand and magic until you're eleven." Sofia agreed. Jakub narrowed his eyes.

"Unless you turned eleven this morning that doesn't mean anything." He pointed out. "You guys totally practiced already, didn't you?"

"Lies." Talia said solemnly. "Vicious, vicious lies and rumors." Jakub looked at them all skeptically, then shook his head, muttering under his breath about cheating royals. "Chocolate Frog?" Talia asked, pulling a bag of the boxes out and offering one to the boy. He eyed them, then took the sweet a little petulantly, then grinned.

"Y'know, even if we did learn, it's not like there'd have been much time for us to learn anything important or special." Sofia pointed out kindly. "I mean, we didn't, but if we had, it wouldn't have been all that much." Jakub eyed her, then smiled.

"I guess not." He agreed. "And hey, at least our Quidditch teams are better than any of yours." Talia threw another frog at him with a shout, and Sofia sat back with a soft smile as the compartment devolved into a heated, if friendly, argument about whether a nationwide losing streak was worth discussing or not. She rather thought she might have made some friends.