4 Stella

For the first day of class Stella was up with the sun, with plenty of time to get ready before class. She'd chosen her outfit a week ago and changed her decision four times to make sure it was perfect. A spring green top and orange skirt with a belt hung with metal charms embossed with a Solarian sun emblem. Something to show her home realm, but understated.

When Stella emerged into the common room she found most of her roommates already gone. Wendoline had decided to attend her first class wearing all-over squirrel print fabric, including a newsboy cap that would have been quite cute if not for the squirrels. "Good evening, Stella!" She said cheerfully.

"Good morning." It was morning.

"My first class is potions. Would you like to sit together?"

Stella froze. The squirrels. If she sat next to the squirrels nobody would ever take her designs seriously! They were squirrels of doom! So she stuttered, "Let's wait and see the open seats."

They did walk to the potions lab together, since they were going to the same place. The tiered seats in the potion lab were mostly full of girls, the second- and third-years chatting and most of the first-years nervously getting out their notebooks and mini cauldrons.

Amily and Solveig waved to Wendoline, but there was only room for one more person on their row. They made apologetic faces at Stella and she waved cheerfully and went to sit with some other first-years. Who were already talking to each other so Stella busied herself getting out her supplies: notebook and pen and a copy of Best Beginner Brews and her potions kit, a nice box that contained a portable cauldron, some stirrers, and bottles for ingredients. They probably wouldn't be making any potions on the first day but Stella checked that she had everything.

"Ooh, nice cauldron." said her neighbor, a redhead wearing a little diamond crown. "Is it designer? So's mine."

"Yes! My mother insisted and it's so pretty." Stella's cauldron was decorated with a swirly gold sun. Not real gold, it was paint, but it was a nice upscale look.

The redhead's cauldron was decorated with an ornate painted letter V. "I'm Varanda. Princess of Callisto.'

"Stella. Princess of Solaria."

Varanda turned in her seat to face Stella. "A fellow royal! I'm trying to meet every royal in our class! I'm starting a club. We'll get together and talk about the politics of our realms! I want to learn all about the treaties, imports and exports…"

The door opened and Varanda stopped talking as Professor Palladium came in. the whole class went quiet except for a few titters. Because Professor Palladium was an elf. Adult elves were tall and slim and dreamy looking but Palladium was a young elf, still short and awkward. He might've been a teenager among his own people but he was an old man in human years. Stella had met plenty of elven visitors to the Solarian court but some of the first-years were obviously wondering if this boyish figure was really their teacher.

Palladium didn't notice, or her pretended not to, just magicked the class plan onto the board and started outlining what they were going to study in the year ahead. Basic properties of ingredients, the history of potion making, expeditions to gather magical plants, practical brewing. Stella most wanted to brew cosmetic potions. Her friend Nova had this glitter eyeshadow that sparkled with its own light and it was super expensive. Stella's parents might be broken up but they agreed their daughter should have a normal girl's allowance. So Stella had a lot of princessy stuff but but if she wanted to pick it out for herself she had to save up. If she could make her own makeup she wouldn't have to worry about it!

Daydreaming about brewing up her own shimmer lipgloss Stella tuned out part of the introduction. When she drifted back, Professor palladium was talking about safety measures. They'd have to wear goggles while brewing! Of course Stella would because she didn't want to get her eyeballs inconveniently enchanted, but there was no way to make those goggles look stylish!

Unless…

The idea struck and Stella started sketching in the margin of her notebook. She could decorate the goggles in a way that made them even better at protecting you!

The next class was metamorphosymbiosis, which was exciting! Stella wanted to learn to transform into other creatures! Only, in the first year they probably wouldn't manage to actually transform. "The 'symbiosis' comes first! Symbiosis is a relationship in nature where two organisms work together for mutual benefit. You can't become part of nature until you are a part of nature. So first we will be studying how ecosystems function, then exploring the wilds around Alfea and getting in touch with the Voice of Nature. Only then can you connect with an animal to metamorphose into. Now open your textbooks and we'll look at the food web…"

Professor Wizgiz looked really eccentric and fun, but learning the food web and water cycle were a snore!

Then came lunch and Stella ate with Wendoline and Varanda who told stories of their summer vacations. Wendoline had spent a lot of time in the Resort Realm and Varanda had gotten a job in a shop to get to know the needs of her subjects. The royal family of Callisto was a lot less high and mighty than the royal family of Solaria. So Stella felt embarrassed that she'd spent her summer keeping up with fashion and learning to sew a ruffle trim and gossiping with Nova. She wouldn't have been allowed to work in a shop even if she wanted to.

If only Nova was here! But Stella's bestie had a scholarship to a Solarian school for sun and fire fairies. She'd promised to write.

After lunch were two more classes: History of Magic and Arithmancy, which everyone except teachers called mathemagic. Stella was good at math. There was a lot of geometry in pattern making.

Then, freedom! The other classes would start the next day. Each day the fairy students attended four out of their seven classes, in rotation. Stella was not looking forward to Literature, Physical Education, or Arts of Rulership. Reading was fine but not when your books were chosen by teachers, physical activity was fine in good weather, and Stella knew she had to learn to budget for palace upkeep and address diplomats but it was so dull!

Stella grabbed a bottle of juice from the cafeteria and went back to her room to work on her safety goggles. The main danger with uncontrolled magical reactions was big splashes or puffs of smoke that could get in your eyes but there could also be discharges of magical energy and clear lenses couldn't protect against those. So Stella added coils of wire to catch any tiny lightning bolts and let them run down harmlessly. The goggles would have the added benefit of keeping the wearer's hair from standing on end in high magical fields. And it meant a bunch of sparkly wires. Stella was proud of the finished product, it was wild and original. She wanted to show it off to someone.

In the common room Solvieg and Amily had pushed all the furniture up against the walls so they could zap magic at each other in a mock duel. Solvieg used a magical fan to send cold wind around the room and Amily countered with a swirl of phantom flowers and ducked behind a chair. They looked like they were having a lot of fun. A faint haze of leftover magic hung in the air.

Perfect! Stella held out her new goggles and watched the magic spark on the wires. It worked!

Amily said, "What've you got?"

"Protective eyewear—with style!"

Solvieg coughed. "Very creative."

She said it in a nice way but Stella could tell. They thought her goggles looked silly. And now that Stella thought about it, they did look silly. She went back into her room to take her creation apart again.