Aliari returned to Gringotts with Elican, the blood magic instructor. The gruff lycan had simply shaken his head when he learned where the interview was to be held. The two were met in the foyer by a goblin in dark red livery.
"Headmistress, Professor, welcome to Gringotts. Their majesties await." The followed the goblin through a labyrinth of hallways finally halting at a door like any other. They were announced in the goblin tongue and the reply was in the same. The goblin motioned for them to enter. As they entered the occupants rose, King Peter she recognized, the others she was not sure. They all looked so young; the two brunette boys who were vastly different in appearance and three girls of differing ages. But none looked over 50 - not that Peter looked that old. Aliari curtsied.
"Your majesties, Lady." she saw Elican bowing in the corner of her eye. Peter returned their gestures with a nod.
"Headmistress, Professor. Welcome to Gringotts and our thanks for agreeing to this testing. Please be seated." he gestured to one of the settees. She settled herself on one, well aware of their watchful gazes. "Please allow me to introduce my companions." Peter reseated himself as did the others in the room. "My royal siblings, Susan-" the eldest girl nodded gracefully. "Edmund," the thinner brunette boy inclined his head, "and Lucy." the redhead grinned as she nodded. "Our royal cousin Eustace." the other boy nodded seriously. "And the Lady Jill." the thin girl gave a respectful nod. As they were introduced Aliari watched observed them, well dressed, poised and proper.
"Thank you for your hospitality. It is my pleasure to meet you."
"And mine." Elican added in his gruff voice. Peter nodded with a slight smile.
"Of course. Perhaps we should move on to the testing?" Elican nodded.
"Very well. There are two ways of testing. The simplest is to use a mind probe."
"And the other?" Peter's voice was deceptively mild, but Aliari hid a smirk - mind probes were not an option.
"The other is a detailed blood scan."
"Hm," Peter looked thoughtful. "And the wording of the blood scan is?" Aliari's smirk showed when she saw Elican was surprised - she had told him they would choose the blood scan.
"You have to do the ritual yourselves, it won't work otherwise." he spoke in Latin for a short while and Peter nodded.
"That is acceptable. Inishik informed me that there is a ritual circle in the adjoining room." He gestured toward the rear of the room. "Lucy, why don't you begin. I will order refreshments." The auburn haired child rose gracefully and glided to the adjoining door.
"Professor Elican, please come." he rose and followed her. As they left Susan brought Aliari a cup of tea and began to ask about the school.
Elican wasn't sure about these royals. Aliari had said they would choose the blood ritual - not many did.
"You do realize this is dangerous." he addressed the girl she turned her gentle brown gaze on him with a soft smile.
"And life is not?" she asked with a smile and he frowned. "Come professor. This is a ritual - how do I proceed?" with a sigh Elican described the runes to draw in blood on the parchment. When he finished she nodded, removed her shoes and stockings before entering the circle. "In the name of Aslan - Activate." a glowing golden dome appeared as the circle activated. His eyes widened - it took a lot of power to activate a visible dome. Half an hour later the dome fell and the girl stepped out handing him the parchment. He accepted it and looked down - the blood runes glittered golden as did the runes detailing her skills, her name and her seal. He blinked at the skill runes - life, death, healing, war, justice, mind, transformation and the list went on. "Is everything alright?"
"Yes." he nodded. "Very interesting results. Send in whoever is next." they came and went glowing domes of gold and silver with parchments full of runes.
"Well?" asked Aliari when they returned to Zarri.
"Very interesting, with training they could do anything." she raised a brow.
"Is that so?" He nodded. "Is the full rune set on each parchment?" he re-examined the parchments then nodded. "Are they in the same order?"
"No. Shall we take the first few as their talents?" the headmistress nodded.
"Yes, I will write to inform them of our decision."
Mrs. Penvisie frowned at the letter before her. All four of her children had been invited to attend Zarri academy. According to the letter it was an exclusive invitation only school that took all ages. The list of famous alumni was long and illustrious. And of course there was the scholarship. 10,000 pounds and the school would arrange transport. She frowned at the parchment as her thoughts drifted to her children. They had all been very restless since the war, restless and uncontent. Despite their attempts to hide and mask it, she saw. She saw it in Peter's dedication to history, Susan's fascination with boys and makeup, in Edmund's academic prowess and Lucy - she sighed. Her bright, friendly daughter had no friends and disliked both her school and her classmates. But she had noticed that something had changed when she had returned from America, and she would bet that it had something to do with the invitations. She looked up as her husband entered.
"Well?" she asked and he shook his head.
"They applied. Peter didn't say where he learned of it but he submitted the applications for them. They had the interviews 2 weeks ago; Peter said he didn't want to say anything because it was a long shot that they'd actually get in." he lifted the pamphlet that had come with the letters. "He also submitted applications for Eustace and a friend of his. What do you think of this?" She sighed and stared at the letter for a long moment.
"I knew something was up when they were so happy and excited when we got back from America." she flipped through the pages, "Greece - it is so far away."
"America is farther." she looked up to meet her husband's eyes. "They'd be together; you know Peter will look out for the others."
"I know." she sighed again then nodded firmly setting the letters on the table. "they can go. They want to quite badly." her husband nodded.
"I agree, not that we could stop Peter or Susan." he chuckled and she smiled.
"True, but they would not have been happy if we prevented Edmund and Lucy from joining them."
Similar discussions were occurring in the Pole and Scrubb residences.
Jill Pole was sitting across the table from her parents who were reading the pamphlet.
"What do you know of this? Her father asked sternly and she shrugged.
"Scrubb's cousin came up with the idea - we didn't know if we would get in but it sounded interesting." she looked between her parents. "I would like to attend." they did not look convinced.
"Why? You already attend a coed school with a good reputation."
"Father, Experiment house doesn't have as illustrious a history, or the same resources. Their library contains some very old documents. And the students want to be there," she shrugged, "It's more of a college than a school really. May I please attend?" She was tense as she watched her father - waiting for him to decide. "And you'll even save money what with the scholarship." she added quietly. Her father gave her a hard stare then nodded with a frown.
"Very well."
Eustace was having a bit tougher of a time. He couldn't mention his cousins or his parents would refuse outright. He took a deep breath and entered the kitchen carrying the letter.
"Father." the slightly rotund man looked up. "I have been accepted at Zarri academy in Greece and will be attending in September." he handed the older man the letter his expression slightly insolent.
"Zarri?" his father frowned as he accepted the letter.
"Yes. It is a prestigious academy of arts and sciences dating back to ancient Greece. Of course they went underground during the dark ages, but as you can see some of the most brilliant politicians, scientists and mathematicians have attended Zarri academy." He drawled. "I thought it was worth applying and as you can see, "he waved his hand at the paper "They are impressed with my abilities and potential." his father nodded and handed the letter to his wife.
"10,000 pounds? They are awarding you a 10,000 pound scholarship!" His mother exclaimed, her voice incredulous. Eustace merely gave a bored nod.
"Yes. Term starts on the 1st of September; I will be leaving on the 25th of august." His gaze was calm, tone carefully insolent implying that he didn't expect them to say anything but 'yes'. which is of course what they did.
On the 25th of August Eustace's father dropped him off at the train station on his way to work. Eustace watched him disappear before hailing a cab to head to the Leaky Cauldron.