Excerpts from 'Bright Morningstar Princess', the official novelisation.
"Morningstar! Show me what you got for Aquilina's assignment!"
Noelle automatically cringed, then tried to stand straight. She was supposed to be equal to anyone else while she attended this magic academy, no matter how powerful or noble their family.
She knew she wasn't.
"My apologies, Lady Dromio, but you know Professor Aquilina will punish us if we're late ... " Noelle began, trying to duck away.
It was true. Professor Aquilina was one of the strictest teachers in the academy, a retired battle mage with iron grey hair and a deeply scarred face. Something had scoured all the weakness out of her, and so she didn't tolerate it in anyone else.
Dromio von Hexenwick grabbed at the scroll in Noelle's hands. It was typical behaviour from the purple-haired noble girl, who acted offended in the first place that a peasant girl was even allowed to come to the academy, and offended when Noelle did well in class or wouldn't share her notes with Dromio and her hangers-on.
I work hard to keep up because I have to! You can hire a dozen personal tutors out of your shoe budget, why bother me?!
The paper tore in Noelle's hands and Dromio successfully seized it. The noble girl yelled to one of her hangers-on to bend over. "Six-dimensional hex for question four, Morningstar? You'd better hope that's the right answer." She quickly filled in her own answers, writing on top of the other girl's back.
"Give me back my work," Noelle repeated. One of the other students that she thought of as Dromio's hired thugs, a muscular older girl, got in her way and made her reluctant to provoke a fight.
"Ink bottle, Hughes," Dromio ordered the girl she'd written on. Hughes reached in her bag for a sealed bottle of black ink. Dromio opened it with a twist.
Oh no. Noelle knew what she was going to do. She looked at the other students around them, and found a compassionate face there in the shape of her friend Argent. But he was like Noelle, a scholarship student who couldn't intervene, so all he could give her was a sorrowful look under his messy silver hair.
"Hey, Dromio, don't ruin my clothes," Hughes whined.
Dromio held up Noelle's parchment and readied the ink bottle to fly toward it. Splashed ink blots would get any student a zero in Aquilina's class.
Then suddenly a red blur sped from the second floor. He jumped from the upper stair-railing and hit the floor so hard the girls leapt back, and all at once Dromio's lavender dress was splattered with long ink drops. She shouted in outrage. Rufus, a second-year on the magical knighthood track, leapt into the fray. He must have seen it all from high on the stairs.
"You're paying for this outfit," Dromio snapped. "If I'm lucky, you'll finally be expelled!"
"Don't care. You're attacking other students again. You okay, Noelle?"
She couldn't help but smile back at him. Rufus was always impulsive - jumping an entire floor to land almost on top of Lady Dromio was about average for his daily quota of dangerous stunts - but it was endearing. He was brave and good to people. The way he acted when others wouldn't dare always warmed Noelle's heart, and made her hope that one day she too would stand up and fight for other people.
"I will be now," Noelle said. She made a mad dash for it and snatched back her homework from Dromio before the Lady could stop her. Her friend Argent caught up with her, flanking her on the right, so they rushed into Professor Aquilina's classroom just before the bell rang.
The old man with silver-blonde hair looked broken, leaning on an electrum-plated cane. Noelle felt broken, after all they'd endured. They all had the right to feel a little broken.
But they survived, they won the victory, and they were still together. She leant on Rufus' arm for support, with her left thigh badly bruised and burnt. It felt right to stand by his side, as if her hand was made to fit inside the crook of his broad arms. She stood by his side just as when they faced the dread Barrow Lord together in the Death-Mound, relying on spells and resolve and trust in each other's every move.
Argent was just as shell-shocked, his freckles standing out like wounds on his pale face as he swayed from side to side. Viridian's face was blank and he'd managed to transfigure his damaged suit into fresh clothing, but his pristine appearance had to be just a facade. Professor Amarello sat on the fountain's edge, a bandage around his head, while Headmaster Wotan kept an eagle eye on all the fighters.
The old blonde man wavered forward, to Noelle, as if he couldn't believe what he saw. And Noelle saw in him, as well, something she had searched for a long time.
You're none of mine, you're another's foul-borned brat, her stepfather told her back on the farm, trying to wound her. When Noelle looked in still waters, she'd see flyaway silver-blonde hair unlike either her stepfather's dark brown mop or her mother's ripe-corn curls. In looking-glasses on rare occasions in town, Noelle saw a pale face, wide-set green eyes, a long narrow nose, and a pointed chin that looked like nobody she'd ever seen in her life. She always wondered where her real family was. Sometimes she even imagined they would come back and take her and her mother away from their lonely life of endless chores.
Now she saw this man for the first time, and yet she'd caught glimpses of him a thousand times already. For part of him was already inside her.
"I am ... " An aristocrat to the end, the Duke of Ivonne and Merewen, Caius von Hexenwick, gave a formal bow and twirled his cane. "Lady Noelle von Hexenwick, in the circumstances allow me to introduce myself. It appears I am your father, and you ... you, my only true daughter. I must apologise for our many years of separation."
The Silver Fairy had already told Noelle the secret of her mother's flight, of the mad evil Duchess who'd tried to murder both her husband's mistress and baby Noelle deep in the forest. Yet Noelle had thought and still thought: Why did my father not protect us?
And from what little she'd known about her classmate Dromio - who'd died so suddenly, still gloating confidently that she was going to win the battle - her father played his role in creating the bully who made Noelle's school life so miserable. She wasn't just my classmate and my enemy. She was almost my sister, Noelle thought, sickened by all she'd seen.
Noelle didn't relax her hold to Rufus. She lowered her head and let her skirt briefly sweep the ground. She sounded like a ghost to herself when she spoke. "Finally I meet you. I wish it were under more favourable circumstances."
The Duke came closer, raising his shaking hand as if he wanted to touch her. "It can be more favourable. It will be, in the future. My only daughter will live as the heir to Ivonne and Merewen, and of course become the Princess and later the Queen in due time. My child was always destined to marry the Prince, even before she was born."
Noelle felt Rufus' arm tense up. She felt he wanted to speak out, but he was trying to restrain himself because he knew she wished to lead this.
"Father, I want to get to know you. But to marry a man I've never met - so suddenly? No, only let me complete my studies and live in peace. And then ... " Noelle said.
And then Rufus and I will take the knighthood test, and then ...
Her friend Argent stepped forward, running his hand through his silver hair. "Not exactly a man you don't know, Lady Noelle." His fingers parted the silver strands, darkening them as they passed through, and when his palm left his face his freckles had gone and Noelle saw a different man.
Dromio had treasured a heavy gold locket set with pearls that she wore most days at school, and in it was the painted portrait of her fiancé. This man. The same friend who'd helped Noelle with her homework, fought by her side, and sacrificed himself in battle so she and Rufus could move forward. Her fellow scholarship student, passing as just a normal boy who kept to the background. The Crown Prince. Argent.
Only his hazel eyes were still the same. And his gentle expression wasn't so different. "We're friends, and even more than that, you're brave and kind and good. You're the most brilliant magician to enter the Academy in three hundred years. All I've ever wanted was to help this kingdom - " And that was true, Noelle thought, Argent always tried to do good behind the scenes and kept talking about public service, though I thought he meant just working for the Crown as an employee ... "So it would be my dearest wish to have a companion like you. I am your friend. I understand that you've never seen me as anything else, but I know we could work together for the best. And ... And of course you don't have to decide now. Sometimes I talk too much. I'm sorry."
"You do me great honour," Noelle said. "But ... " I want to be the kind of person who acts honestly, and speaks up for what she believes in. "No."
A single word, rudely spoken to a future king. Talk about lèse-majesté! But if Argent was the man she thought him ...
Her father looked horrified. "Your Highness, my daughter is confused and emotional from the battle, this is not the right moment to discuss future plans. I will bring her into a better state over time."
Argent's voice was suddenly steel. "I disagree, Duke. Lady Noelle will marry when and whom she chooses, free from coercion. And for such an incredible magician the Crown will fund a fitting dowry even if her father is unwilling."
Argent was kind and good. In different circumstances, perhaps things would have been different. But standing here, knowing in her heart what she wanted to say to Rufus as soon as they were alone together and knowing her knight felt the same, Noelle believed the path she'd chosen was right for her with no regrets.
While none of her magic allowed her to see the future like the Silver Fairy in her portals, Noelle finally felt as if the way before her was a shining ribbon of light. She was ready to stand up and fight for other people. The road to knighthood wouldn't be easy, but she would not be alone. Rufus' warmth seemed to pierce her skin and fill her heart.
"Father," Noelle said, "I'd love you to meet Rufus. He'll be a great knight someday."
Meanwhile, in an internet chatroom not so far away ...
Th3_QUEEN: Anyone got scans of the Bright Morningstar Princess official novelisation? I neeeeed it to be my boy Argent.
SwordGirlFanBoy: I got a copy. Spoiler alert, Rufus is male lead, Argent is in it but just as a friend to Noelle.
Th3_QUEEN: nooooo that sucks. Give it anyway.
SwordGirlFanBoy: Check the link.
PrincessNoelle: Spoiler: It's a good adaptation. Choosing Rufus is solid because it plays into the theme of Noelle choosing her own destiny. She discovers that she's the Duke's real daughter, so she's the heir to the dukedom. Then her father wants her to choose Argent because he's the Prince, but it's really cool she decides to be a magic knight instead. It acknowledges the ways her dad failed both her and Dromio, he wasn't as awful as Dromio's mom but he was still very neglectful and selfish. So our girl Noelle gets to go her own way and be free with Rufus!
Th3_QUEEN: lol nerd
SwordGirlFanBoy: Can you not be rude?
SwordGirlFanBoy: Princess, I think you are right. What was your favourite part of the novel? Mine was the final battle scene.
PrincessNoelle: It's a bit geeky of me, but my favourite was the part when Dromio made her dark magic deal with Puck o' the Death-Mound. It added lots of worldbuilding details that weren't in the game and I want to use them for my fan story! Spoiler alert, the novel uses the ending where Dromio dies in battle, then Noelle acknowledges her as her sister when she visits her gravestone.
Th3_QUEEN: no. Dromio is a bitch who needs to SUFFER. wish Argent went medieval on her ass. rip out fingernails, burn her skinny butt, crush her in the iron maiden. good stuff.
PrincessNoelle: I don't agree. Dromio's horrible, but you can see how she got that way because of her dad giving her everything she wanted except for love and attention. She's only about seventeen so I wish the game didn't include the endings where she gets executed, she didn't deserve that. I know some people say she's a sociopath or a psychopath, but you actually can't diagnose people with a personality disorder until they're adults, and I think it's obvious in the story that Dromio could have turned out differently if she had a different upbringing.
Th3_QUEEN: lol nerrrrrrd
SwordGirlFanBoy: Th3_QUEEN, if you can't be constructive, don't say anything.
SwordGirlFanBoy: Princess, I just read the latest chapter in your fan story. As always, your fight scenes rock! Can you read mine and let me know what you think? :')
Th3_QUEEN: Shut up white knight. she's not gonna do you.
Th3_QUEEN: lol i bet you get bullied at school white knight lol
Th3_QUEEN: hey SwordGirlFanBoy do you get bullied at school by all the girls who won't do you
SwordGirlFanBoy: Fuck you
*** HerModlyModliness has BANNED Th3_QUEEN ***
*** HerModlyModliness has BANNED SwordGirlFanBoy ***
HerModlyModliness: PrincessNoelle, I'm giving you an official mod warning for participating in a flame war.