They had to cut down on Ashinago lessons as Katarina needed to be tutored for the final exams. Personally, Maria felt there was no need. The only organization who would be looking at your grades at the Academy was the Ministry, and only if you were applying for a position, which Katarina certainly wasn't. S till, Maria had to approve at her due diligence.
Maria spent the time she'd otherwise have been using to learn foreign words (and seeing Katarina twitch at every new word she proceeded to supposedly mangle, and outright start shaking at new phrases) writing a longer letter to her mother. Her mother's replies said little about the state ofthings in their town, which was to be expected. Hmm, come to think to it, Maria hadn't really gone back there since she was knighted, had she? She'd have to rectify that, take Rafael to see her mother, and broach the question of whether her mother wished to live in her manor. Maria was unsure about what the answer would be, as mother dearly loved their house…
Still, she didn't have that much free time, as final exams were approaching for her as well, and she would not give a disgraceful performance. At least she already had experience with setting up the graduation ceremony from last year, and even though the graduation part wouldn't go far into the night, she and Sophia had prepared nightflowers that would be visible even in the late afternoon. The time between events would even allow them to bring all the lofting mortars to the castle for launching.
Maria made a note to get their own wagons and horses for moving around equipment, they couldn't keep borrowing from her tenants.
Her Armsmaster Colin, the oldest and senior among her armsmen, who'd once been a soldier for the Rafael's greatgrandfather old Marquess Dieke, had reported that they'd been getting more unwelcome visitors since Countess Ascart's birthday. They even managed to capture some, and these unfortunates were being held at Raven's Nest's jail awaiting her pleasure. Or displeasure as the case may be. She intended to get to it on the weekend, but maybe speak to one of the princes about the matter first. And perhaps the mayor as well, he'd be more familiar with local laws and reasonable punishment.
If this kept up, she'd need more armsmen, maybe hired from the other two villages. She'd probably already gotten most of the reputable unemployed in Raven's Nest. King's Field and Carabas, the other two villages in her lands, probably had many young men and women also in need of gainful employment…
"They were on your land, trespassing on your property. Their fate is in your hands, within the law," the Third Prince said when she consulted him. "Theoretically, they could appeal to your liege lord, but given how you were knighted, that would be father. Even if they do outrank you socially, if they're not the lord of your lord, you don't have to obey them. Most knights would still just bend under the pressure, fearing censure and power from above but…" he smiled at her, "I doubt you're the type."
"You have much faith in me, your highness," Maria said dryly.
"I do, actually. Your lands are central enough that anyone noble trying to embargo you will have no effect and enough to affect you will actually be felt in Morpork and the capital first," the Third Prince said. "That's really the most extreme legal recourse, since tolls on roads were done away with centuries ago. And I'm sure you can handle any of the illegal ones."
Maria considered that advice. "Thank you, your highness, you've been most helpful. Have some cookies."
"What, that's it? I give you legal advice, you give me cookies?" the Third Prince said. "That seems cheap somehow. I'm not Katarina."
"Oh, so you don't want to offer these to Lady Katarina?"
"Thank you for the cookies, Lady Campbell, it's a pleasure being your friend," the Third Prince said, taking the cookies eagerly and going off to search for his fiancée.
He'd later find her in deep literary discussion with Sophia about how the pendant's properties changed EVERYTHING THEY THOUGHT THEY KNEW about the lore of Night Fall, and while she happily accepted the cookies, she was clearly not going to be lured anywhere…
Exams came. They were intensive, and Maria made sure to pace herself, lest she grow too academic and descend into madness. At least three students started screaming they were Seath the Scaleless, but after being violently tackled and knocked unconscious by faculty and student council members, they were able to ascertain that no, these weren't the paledrake reborn, they'd just had nervous breakdowns. The Lord Principal had examined them and found no trace of the dead ancient dragon's strange, fiery soul, so different from the Dark Soul of humanity.
After the exams, while there were still lessons, lectures and practicals, they were much less urgent. The most pressing issue left to the student council became the graduation ceremony. Between preparations for it as both a member of the student council and as one of the heads of the Nightflower Workshop, while she had a lot to do, she already knew how to do it, making the course much smoother for her.
It helped that since Sophia's mother wasn't involved this time, they cheerfully gouged the school for all they could get away with. After the school had decided that was too much to spend, Maria had discretely launched a petition for Nightflowers, with the students donating their own personal funds for it. That had allowed her to charge 2000% markup easily. And while the Ascarts hadn't disclosed how much her fee had been, the school knew how much had been raised and how much had been spent. It allowed for rumors of the cost to spread and narrow down initial clients to those with both a LOT of money and the willingness to spend it. They could just lower prices later to get the rest.
In this way, the name of the Nightflower Workshop spread even more.
On the matter of the trespassers, Maria ordered them fined, with half of the fee going to the village for the generous use of their jail, and half to her armsmen for their good work. She kept the fine reasonable, about a week of her own servant's wages, with a polite warning that the trespassers not try it again. Most accepted with good grace, although some, the most arrogant and the most humble and quiet, were apparently left to rot by their noble employers, either by silence or declaration. The latter were shocked, the former shocked and outraged. Some started to cry, in either fury or despair.
To the arrogant, she made it clear they were to pay their own fine. Many did, seemingly torn in anger between their employer– likely former employer– and her, even as they would languished another week waiting for friends and cronies to bring them money. Maria was tempted to use Dark Magic to manipulate their anger, directing completely away from her, but held herself. She was pretty sure her legal powers didn't extend that far.
Maria ordered the mayor to let the rest go after another week if no one still came for them. No fine, no fuss, just a strong recommendation they not come back to the area unless they had a strong, pressing, good reason. Any future trespassers her armsmen caught were to be deal with the sameway. The mayor just nodded, obviously having dealt with trouble makers before.
Thankfully, none of her armsmens had been hurt badly by the encounters, though some had bruises from subduing the more resistant trespassers. Maria used her magic to take care of them, as well as checked them over for any other injuries or illnesses. Then she ordered them to start carrying bows and crossbows and from then on to shoot to scare, at their discretion. And if they recognized anyone as trying to break in for the second time, to inform her immediately and have the mayor hold them indefinitely.
After that, she played with the children until it was time to go back to the Academy.
A few days before graduation, Maria went to visit capital to finalize the terms of her first official contract with the crown.
