Act 1 - Chapter 6

new classmates

The Queen of Tristania, Henrietta de la Tristian, sat on one of two cushioned benches in the royal coach, her short deep purple hair bouncing about as the coach hit small ruts in the road. In the fifteen years since she had been made queen, and in the twenty since she last saw her childhood friend who was now considered dead, her body had matured greatly, as had her responsibilities. Her mother had passed on Queenhood to her before she had married, making her the ruler of Tristania, and not her husband, a situation that infuriated many of Tristania's nobles. "You look nervous." Henrietta said warmly as she looked to the young man sitting across from her, no older than her own daughter Mimi.

The young man was taller than most people his age and had a careful air about him. His dark black hair was accented with a single blond flash on the right side, and his elven ears poked clearly out from it. He wore the clothing of a magic academy student, provided for him by the academy itself. The boy looked up at Queen Henrietta and smiled, his amber eyes looking slightly worried, or perhaps nervous like the rest of him. "Y- Yeah, I guess I am. I know I was the one who came up with this because I wanted to learn but, actual being here and wearing this uniform, yeah I am nervous." the boy said with a sigh.

Queen Henrietta laughed to herself, "I can understand why you would be. Our countries may be on good terms, but that does not mean our people are, and both myself and your mother have been trying to ease the tension between our peoples. You coming here to learn about our magic is a wonderful thing to do, Isuka."

Isuka sighed and looked at the window beside him, his face painted by all sorts of emotions, including doubt and embarrassment. "It's not like I'm not doing this for myself though. My mother can use Halkeginian void magic, and my father is magic less. In all honesty I should not have magic myself, yet I'm able to use nature magic, and Halkeginian magic."

"Think of it as a gift then. You could do much to ease tensions if you wished to." Queen Henrietta said calmly, her smile never leaving her face.

Isuka groaned and sunk his head down a bit. "Its things like that that make me nervous. I hate being the center of attention, I'd much rather just help all I can while not being seen!"

Queen Henrietta giggled slightly and looked to Isuka. "I've said the same in the past myself. There were times where I despised my name and title, but we all have positions to hold and titles we must be worthy of. I'm sure you feel the same, despite our differences!"

Isuka sighed and nodded. He hated hearing this kind of speech, but he was mostly used to it. It was true of course, but that didn't change that he didn't like hearing them. "Is, that the Academy?" Isuka asked a moment later as he glanced out of the window at the stone wall on the horizon.

Queen Henrietta nodded, "Yes that would be Tristania's magic academy, where all the noble of Halkeginia learn to command their magic. It is known that you would be arriving today, but I kept my own presence a secret, so you won't have to deal with so much pomp and circumstance."

"Why?" Isuka asked, confused as to why the Queen of Tristania would hide that she was coming.

Queen Henrietta smiled, "So I can see my daughter and not be mobbed by pomp and circumstance of course!"

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"Hmmm, hmm, hrmmmmm."

"Would you quit that already, Mimi, it sounds ridiculous!" Marcus yelled as he tossed a small cracker into his mouth.

"But I'm trying to come up with a name for my familiar. It's harder than I thought it would be!" Mimi protested as her familiar sat calmly on her shoulder, its head turning to look in a different direction every few seconds, ignoring her master's situation it seemed.

"Then just pick one, it's not that hard. I already picked a name for mine, it's not that hard." Marcus stated, getting a chuckle as a reply from Devon who sat to his left, and Mimi's right.

"Well, when your familiar looks like a chunk of ice I can understand why it would be easy. Can yours do anything other than kill all the gardeners work though?" Devon said with a grin as he leaned over and handed a piece of bread to his familiar armadillo.

Marcus glared at Devon. The two of them didn't get along well, but they got along far better than their other family members had done in the past. "Yeah, he'll do what his name implies and drop you into a chasm, of ice!"

"Oh? Then I'll just have Kor bust through it!" Devon replied with a grin.

Mimi let out a sigh and looked around the courtyard, ignoring her two squabbling friends for a moment. It was the day after their familiar summoning and by tradition all of the second year students had no classes for the day to get to better know their familiars. In three days, at the end of the week, the familiar contest would be held, allowing everyone to show off their familiars to their fellow students, their teachers and, if they made it, their own families. She had no misconceptions about it though, she was the Princess of Tristania and as such the only time she would be able to show her mother her familiar would be when she returned for summer break, which was months away. It was only early spring after all.

"My familiar would beat the crap outta yours, and you know it!" Marcus growled.

"Oh, yeah? Want to test that!" Devon growled as well.

Mimi could feel herself becoming fed up with her friends bickering. It was a normal thing, but they often took it too far, and this was one of those times. "Both of you stop arguing before I sick Talos on you!" She suddenly yelled as she turned back to the table and her two friends.

Both Marcus and Devon became instantly silent and looked at Mimi, shocked looks covering their faces. Mimi almost never yelled at them, but when she did they knew they had screwed up, and this was one such time. "Sorry," both of them said simultaneously as their heads sunk low, instantly feeling bad for making Mimi raise her normally quiet voice.

"Wait, did you just, did you just decide your familiars name?" Marcus asked, suddenly realizing what he had heard.

Mimi looked at the two of them and her face filled with happiness. "I, I figured out my familiars name! Do you like that, Talos?" Mimi asked as she looked to her familiar, the Hawk made entirely of Opal now named Talos. Talos spread his wings and let out a quick chirp before settling again on Mimi's shoulder.

"I think your familiar is a rather quiet one it seems!" Devon said with a chuckle that Marcus joined in one.

"All of ours are it seems!" Marcus added as Mimi, puffed up her cheeks angrily, feeling silly for yelling, and feeling like they were picking on her.

"That's not funny."

"Sure it is it's,.. is that a royal carriage?" Marcus suddenly asked as he looked past Mimi and toward the school's main entry, where a large ornate carriage was pulling up to the doors of the school's great hall.

Devon and Mimi looked to where Marcus pointed, and almost instantly Mimi stood up from her chair. "I don't believe it!"

Before either boys could say a word Mimi began running toward the school, and the carriage that had just now stopped in front of the main hall, Talos hopping off of her shoulder and flying behind her casually.

"You don't think that it's-?" Devon began to say as Marcus got up from his chair and nodded." Yeah, let's go say hi, shall we?"

Devon said nothing as he and Marcus ran after Mimi, catching up to her just as she got to the edge of the stone pathway, just in time to see Headmaster Jean Colbert step out of the main hall and stop at the bottom of the stairs, a few other teachers right behind him. A second later the doors to the carriage opened and its recipients stepped out. The Queen was first, and wore a normal dress suiting one of her stature, though it was not overly frilly or regal, showing that she was not here on business. The second person to come out was who the teachers had been expecting, though the student body had known nothing about it, so the students nearby were shocked and began talking amongst themselves as they noticed his ears.

The queen smiled and stepped up to Headmaster Colbert and Curtsied with her dress as the young elf walked up beside her. "Good afternoon, Headmaster, how do you do today?"

Jean Colbert nodded and returned the queens greeting by bowing to her. "I am fine, My Queen, but I was not expecting you. I apologize for the lack of appropriate greeting.

Queen Henrietta shook her head and smiled. "No it is quite alright. I came only to accompany your newest student, and to say hello to my daughter. There is no need for proper greetings as I am not here on official business."

Jean Colbert nodded looked to the young elf. "You would be the son of General Saito and High Priestess Tiffania then, yes?"

Isuka nodded "Yes I am. My name is Isuka, and I am here to learn and help bridge the knowledge gap b- between our nations."

Jean smiled when he heard Isuka stutter, it was proof that he was still a young man, and still nervous. It made him happy as he had been seriously worried that he could be some insanely serious elven warrior child. "I see. Then, as the Headmaster of the Academy, let me give you a warm welcome to our Academy. I hope you will be able to learn much while here, and that you find your stay enjoyable."

Isuka nodded, unable to verbally reply for a moment. "Um, when will-?"

"Class for second years is out today for the students to get to know their familiars, and as you will be put into the second year class, you can get to know some people. We'll have your personal possessions brought to your room in a few minutes!" Jean said as the Queen walked behind Isuka and placed her hand on his shoulder, beckoning him to follow her.

Walking to the side and toward a small group of students the queen stepped up to Mimi, who stepped forward and hugged her with a smile, "Hi, mom!"

"Hi, Sweety, is this your familiar?" Queen Henrietta asked as she noticed the opal hawk that landed on her daughters shoulder.

Mimi nodded, "Um, yeah, Talos is my Familiar. Um, who's that?" Mimi asked as she looked to Isuka.

Henrietta smiled. "This is your newest classmate, the son of the elven General Saito, Isuka. He's here to join you in classes and learn about Halkeginia!"

Mimi, Devon and Marcus all looked at the Queen for a few seconds until her words finally kicked in, and when they did their reaction was all the same. " What!?"