Melody of Mana 2 E-Book

Wandering Agent

• Herausgeber: Podium Publishing
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 672

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

Magic-wielding bard Alana confronts political turmoil, mystical secrets, academic woes, and personal dramas as this imaginative fantasy series continues. Alana has not had an easy second life. Ever since she was reborn in the Kingdom of Bergond after meeting her untimely demise on Earth, she's struggled—first, as the poor daughter of a peasant farmer; next, as an orphan on the run from the war; then, as a formidable novice mage with skills well beyond most of those her age. Now, she's facing a challenge unlike any she's had to confront in this world before: school. Within the hallowed halls of the Bergond Academy of Mages, Alana must contend with an entirely new set of political and personal struggles—from understanding the mores of dealing with wealthy nobles to hiring a maid to help with her daily duties to navigating (for a second time) adolescent flirtations, romances, friendships, and puberty. And as if that weren't enough, as Alana's skill in spellcasting, magical-item creation, and combat grows, it becomes clear to her professors that she's no ordinary student. Alana must figure out how to keep her past life a secret while using her otherworldly knowledge to the best of her ability. Because war is looming ever closer—and not all the students at the academy will make it out unscathed. Filled with twisty political intrigue, clever world-building, and unforgettable characters, Melody of Mana 2 is a brilliant mix of isekai fantasy and dark academia tropes. The second volume of the hit progression-fantasy series—with more than two million views on Royal Road—now available on Audible and wherever ebooks are sold! 

Leseprobe

MELODY

Of

MANA

BOOK 2

WANDERING AGENT

In honor of my dear friend and mentor Jared, who taught me that the most important step is effort

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior written permission from Podium Publishing.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living, dead, or undead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2022 by Michael Robert Taylor

Cover design by Podium Publishing

ISBN: 978-1-0394-1598-0

Published in 2022 by Podium Publishing, ULC

www.podiumaudio.com

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1END OF AUTUMN

CHAPTER 2GETTING READY AND AN EMERGENCY LESSON

CHAPTER 3A LONG EVENING

CHAPTER 4A MONTH OF PREPARATION

CHAPTER 5A NOBLE PARTY

CHAPTER 6MANA-EATER

CHAPTER 7CARNAGE

CHAPTER 8LIGHT SPYING AND THE WALK

CHAPTER 9A RELAXING BATH

CHAPTER 10ANOTHER MEETING

CHAPTER 11THE IRRITANT

CHAPTER 12TRUCE

CHAPTER 13WINTER PASSING

CHAPTER 14COCKTAILS AND HANGOVERS

CHAPTER 15JACKSON’S EXIT AND EXAM REGISTRATION

CHAPTER 16TAKING THE EXAM

CHAPTER 17ANNOUNCEMENTS, PARTIES, AND LETTERS

CHAPTER 18MEETINGS

CHAPTER 19CLOTHES, CLOTHES, AND MAIDS

CHAPTER 20ARRIVING AT THE ACADEMY

CHAPTER 21CLASSES

CHAPTER 22THE CORE

CHAPTER 23DANCE

CHAPTER 24COMBAT SPELLCASTING

CHAPTER 25PAPER

CHAPTER 26CORE COMPLETION

CHAPTER 27THE DEAN’S OFFICE

CHAPTER 28LETTERS, DECISIONS, AND ROMANCE

CHAPTER 29WEATHER AND THE DANCE

CHAPTER 30ALL ACROSS THE KINGDOM

CHAPTER 31EMERGENCY POLICIES AND CORE DIVING

CHAPTER 32SELLING THE SECRET

CHAPTER 33STARLIGHT AND SILVER SPHERES

CHAPTER 34MAKING A LAMP AND A GROUP PROJECT

CHAPTER 35STORM IN THE JUNKYARD COPSE

CHAPTER 36PAIN AND INSANITY

CHAPTER 37THE SHIELD’S HOSPITAL

CHAPTER 38RETURNING AND BREAKING THINGS DOWN

CHAPTER 39SKY-METAL

CHAPTER 40CONFRONTATION

CHAPTER 41VARIOUS ARRANGEMENTS

CHAPTER 42THUNDER

CHAPTER 43ENDEL’S IDEA OF THERAPY

CHAPTER 44CLARISSA

CHAPTER 45MEETINGS II

CHAPTER 46THOSE WHO SHOW UP

CHAPTER 47TEACHER CONFERENCES AND FUTURE PLANS

CHAPTER 48EMERGENCY EQUIPMENT AND PINEA’S SCANDALOUS OUTFIT

CHAPTER 49LENGTHENING SHADOWS

CHAPTER 50INCOMING

CHAPTER 51THE CALM

CHAPTER 52THE STORM

CHAPTER 53MAKING TRACKS

CHAPTER 54RETURNING TO THE LOWER CITY

CHAPTER 55PROCLAMATION

CHAPTER 56TO THE TEMPLE DISTRICT

CHAPTER 57QUARRELS AND HELPING OUT

CHAPTER 58THE ORDER OF THE VINE

CHAPTER 59PALACE SHOWDOWN

CHAPTER 60REUNION

PREVIEW: MELODY OF MANA 3

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

CHAPTER 1

END OF AUTUMN

Jackson’s arrival and announcement caused what can only be described as a “significant disturbance” to that evening’s events in the tavern. He’d successfully chosen everyone’s conversation topic too. So once everyone settled down a bit, that was all I heard about for the rest of the night.

Part of the reason was that nobody had known just how bad the empire had apparently been. Sure, there had been rumors of revolts there, but nothing of magnitude. This level of surprise was not something that most people were used to. Normally, there would have been at least signs that they were about to fall, but the report from our newly arriving bard was that their army had been destroyed in one fell swoop. That was followed by city after city being taken down, ending in the fall of their capital.

Not even the messenger knew much here. Jackson knew what had happened and knew that it had been quick, but not the who or how. This was much to the chagrin of several of our patrons who’d bought him drinks in the hope of pulling out more information that he simply didn’t have.

What he did have were reports of a few people fleeing across the border to seek safety from the new regime. Most of them lived nearby or were fleeing nobles of the empire. None of those trying to get refugee status were very welcome though, and the overwhelming majority had been quickly chased away. Our people were a little less than interested in helping those with whom we had just been enemies in a years-long war.

It was also apparent that the empire had done all it could to hide just how bad their problems were, even from their own people. Their fall had come so quickly after what seemed to be minor reports that it must have been covered up. Even the knowledge that their army had been destroyed was just now filtering across the border. I suspected that they’d hidden all the information that they could in an attempt to keep order. Hiding that knowledge hadn’t helped them at all and may have, in the end, caused more issues since nobody knew what was going on until it was done.

It wasn’t until the next morning that I got a chance to talk to the bard myself. It was unsurprising that Lucien had rented him a room, or that he planned to stay for the winter. Of course, I wasn’t really looking forward to a full season of having to deal with his antics, but he could be a bit fun every now and then.

“Morning.” I waved as I came down to the main hall.

“Mornin’. So you’re here now.”

“So I am.”

“Working for Lucien?”

“Yup.”

“In the capital.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And the Shield is okay with that. I remember you were with them last I saw you.”

“Not at all, they’re livid.”

“Well, that’s … good, I guess? Any word from your folks?”

“Nothing. Don’t suppose you’ve heard about them or Mystien?”

“Sorry, no.” When the aforementioned Lucien arrived, he looked between the two of us. “Okay, how did you two end up meeting anyway?”

“She showed up at my door. So she actually is that old coot’s apprentice?”

“Oh yeah, I met her when she was just”—he indicated roughly knee height— “this big of a little monster.” He turned back to look at me. “You scared the fire out of your town or something, right?”

“Okay, yeah, but that was my brothers’ fault, not mine.” Both men snorted in disbelief at that declaration. “I was minding my own business”—another snort—“and my brothers came up and threw a bug at me, and my spell went out of control.”

“A likely story,” declared Lucien.

“Yeah, nobody’s going to believe that,” agreed Jackson.

“It’s the truth! It doesn’t matter if you believe it or not.” I didn’t even have Dras to back me up anymore. Of course, he might have sided with these two jerks; that was a daunting prospect.

They shook their heads in apparent disbelief, with Lucien even going so far as to press my cheeks when I puffed them up. An action that got about half the staff laughing. Soon enough though, I did have to get back to work. Even as winter approached, there was much that needed to be done.

I ended up cleaning most of the kitchen. The room was rather small, designed to shove out high amounts of food in low varieties. There was an oven for bread and things like pies or casseroles, a stove optimized for making huge pots of stew, and a few small spits for meat. I didn’t spend much time back here. I wanted to be alone today, and with how little food we put out in the afternoon, I could be assured of low traffic.

The cook who was working for the Starlit Sky right now was a tall, thin, and not particularly talkative girl by the name of Lude. With Lude and I thoroughly ignoring each other, we both got to enjoy the silence. So when she finally spoke while ripping up our day-old bread for stew, I was more than a bit surprised.

“You’re the one who makes this, right?” She held up one of the loaves she was breaking into bits.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why do you spend time and mana making bread. Isn’t there some better way to use it?”

“At this point, my spell for that is really efficient. So it’s not like I’m using very much mana. I’ve been doing it since I was a little kid.”

She cocked her head, and a few strawberry blond strands fell over her shoulder as she made a face. “Why would you even learn that spell though? Isn’t it hard to learn magic or something?”

“Have you lived in the capital your whole life?” Lude nodded in response, looking a bit confused. “During the war, the small towns and cities outside of the central area of the country were starving to death. There was no food, so I learned to make some. It really helped both my family and village.”

“What? Don’t they grow lots of food out there?”

“Normally, but not when too many people are called off to war; there’s not enough people to work the fields.”

“We never had that kind of problem. Sure, grain got more expensive, and meat was really hard to find, but it was never just nothing.”

“The laws here are made so that there isn’t too much scarcity around the capital. Probably because the rulers don’t want problems here.”

“Huh, I didn’t know that. Well, at least the war is over, so your village can grow enough now.” She smiled.

“Something like that.” I didn’t really want to go into all of it.

“Can you make other kinds of bread though? For a bit of variety?”

“I can change it up a little bit. Anything in particular?”

“Most of your stuff is the very fancy white bread. Having some of the darker bread would be nice for a few of our dishes. People don’t like it as much, but the flavor is better for some things.”

“Sure.” I generally defaulted to something more like white bread from back home. Here though, that was considered rather high class. The more common folk ate mostly whole wheat and “meaty” breads. Mixing a bit in would be no issue at all.

After I finished up with my cleaning, we chatted a bit more. Lude was in her late teens or early twenties and part of the group that made up a lot of the temp workers in the city. Most women lived with their parents until they married, and she was no exception. But at her age and economic level, she still needed to bring in a bit of money. Working for Lucien was her solution. The pay was fair, the job easy enough, and she didn’t really have to deal with customers. The last part was of importance to her because she was a bit of an introvert.

After work the next day, our newest resident came to join me for a late lunch.

“So, what’s this I hear about you getting a boyfriend?” Jackson leaned over the table. “One going to the academy at that? I’ll admit I was a bit surprised at first, but you did learn from the best …”

“You heard wrong. Anyway, is there a point to this?”

“All right, snippy. I’ve got a gig tonight that involves some light illusion work. Lucien said you’d been putting real effort into some of that kind of thing and might do well to have a bit of experience in the field. So, do you want to come?”

“More details please.”

“Fine, fine. There’s a merchant putting on a party. It’ll be really swanky, lots of high-class folks. A lot of those guys aren’t nobles but really like magic and have tons of cash to boot. Therefore, they often hire casters to come and put on some effects in the background. The pay is solid, and it’s the kind of thing you only really see here in the capital.”

“So, we’ll just be tossing out illusions during the party?”

“We get to attend the party, too, if that’s a bonus you wanted.”

“I wasn’t really thinking about that and don’t really have a fancy party dress.”

“Not a problem. I know a guy who can help. You’ll be borrowing it, but it’ll look good and so will you.”

Now that was something that piqued my interest. After a few moments, I nodded. “All right, let’s do it.”

After I told Lucien that I’d accepted the job with Jackson, we were off. The streets passed by quickly as we climbed higher and higher into the city, moving just to the edge of the nobles’ district. Eventually though, we came to a small, rather hidden shop. It was the kind of place I would have walked past without noticing. The small sign read Marcus’s Fashion, and my companion opened the door like he’d been there a thousand times.

The store was bright and clean on the inside, with a surprising amount of mirrors. In the back was an area that seemed dedicated to cutting hair, while the front was obviously a tailor’s shop. Upon hearing the bell, a man named Marcus came out to the front, looking us over.

He was tall and clean-cut, with sharp eyes that moved over us approvingly. His hair was jet-black, short, and well done. Perfectly fitted pants, vest, and shirt paired with the tape measure behind his neck gave him the look of a professional. A small woman followed after him. She gave me a bit of a frown.

“My, my, if it isn’t Jackson. You’re looking garish as always, and with a new friend this time? A bit young, isn’t she?”

“An apprentice of sorts, and both of us need something on loan appropriate for a ball. I figured I’d bring her to the best.”

“Flattery as well. You know it’ll get you everywhere. Come on then. Let’s see what we have to work with.”

He motioned us both over and quickly began taking measurements. As the tape fluttered around, checking each body part, I had to admire his speed. It only took him a few moments to get everything he needed before looking at me again.

“Janis, hair and makeup on her.” He motioned over his assistant who led me into the back of the shop while he worked on Jackson.

The current fashion, it would seem, was complex braids that pulled the hair up off of the neck. Janis didn’t bother cutting my hair for this reason and just started working it. Her hands were firm and quick, but not rough, lightly tugging and pulling things until she was satisfied, then pinning them in place with care.

Makeup was, to my relief, minimal. Janis explained that some older women would wear heavier stuff, but for girls my age, that was considered poor form. Since I was already rather pale, a bit of blush and the smoothing out of a few blemishes were all I really needed.

As I finished up, I took a long look in one of their mirrors. I almost never got to see myself in one, and it was surreal to see how I now looked. I took my time, finally smiling as I decided that I really liked the whole thing.

When I returned to the front, I got to see Jackson paying for us and popping out for some reason or another. While he did that, Marcus was bringing forward two sets of clothes. He had a pale blue dress I was fairly sure wouldn’t quite fit me. I marveled when he sang to it. The cloth subtly shifted and seams moved, pulling and expanding the dimensions to his desires.

“My family specializes in bardic magic that works on clothes. We’ve done it for generations, each learning what they can and passing down their knowledge.” He looked up as he saw me staring.

“It’s quite impressive.”

“Thank you. Now, go and put this on.” He handed me the dress, and I quickly walked over to a curtained-off area. Janis came to help me, a kind mercy as this particular garment was rather more complex than what I normally wore.

It still took several minutes to get all the layers tied down properly. When I finally returned, I found Jackson, dressed in similarly fancy clothing, waiting for me.

“I went and rented us a carriage for the night. It’s not fancy or anything, but we can’t well walk in these.” He indicated our borrowed outfits with a flourish.

I felt myself blush a bit as I suddenly had the feeling that this was rather like a very awkward prom.

“If you can keep that up all night, dear, you’ll be an absolute hit,” Marcus said as he saw me reddening. Which, of course, only caused it to turn a deeper red. “No, no, too much, a bit less dear.”

I had a feeling that I may have bitten off more than I could chew.

CHAPTER 2

GETTING READY AND AN EMERGENCY LESSON

The carriage that Jackson had rented was not great. The outside was clean and plain, with a coat of dark red paint and bare metal fixings. Inside was a bit nice, with cushioned seats and bars to hold on to while riding. I smoothed out the dress that I was wearing as I got in, looking over at my coworker for the evening.

I tried to begin conversation, but it died as soon as we left. This carriage had either no shocks, or very poor ones compared to a modern car, and talking while being shaken so was nearly impossible. I was bounced mercilessly about as we passed down the cobbled streets, internally begging for an end to the jostling.

Walking would have been completely impossible though, dressed as we were. We would have attracted far, far too much attention. I had no desire to get mugged, not that any mugger would have been able to take the two of us. It also kept us from getting dirty, something that was of great importance as we had to look presentable.

Eventually, we did arrive. It was still early, far too early for the party to have begun. Jackson was kind enough to lend me his hand as I was stepping out of the carriage and walking toward the large house. Servants were running about preparing things. Several were cleaning everything in sight; others were putting up decorations.

“So, am I not a bit young for this?”

“Certainly not. Larger events are reserved for those at or near adulthood, but this isn’t quite of that level. These merchants want their daughters to attract rich noble husbands, so they tend to start them on the lower events of the party circuit around puberty. You will be among the younger girls here, but you definitely won’t be the youngest.”

“They’re hiring us and this is a lesser event?”

“It’s being put on by a merchant, not a noble. That alone puts it far lower in the rankings.”

“Fair. Do the merchants often get their children married into noble households?”

“Depends on if the girl has any ability with mana. Lower-ranking houses or those a few generations removed from the main family may allow it. If the kid is a caster though, that changes things depending on how strong they are. Boys are almost never married into a noble household. Even if they are skilled, the best they could hope for is a position in a branch family.”

“Good to know. What exactly are we doing tonight? Something specific I’d imagine?”

“I’m not actually sure on the specifics. The job explanation was for two mages able to do basic illusions. We’ll find out when we meet the customer. Which should be right about …”

As we entered into the main door, we were quickly greeted by what I could only assume was the customer. His eyes moved over us with joy first, but his brow furrowed as it settled upon me.

“Ah, you must be the caster I hired. I am Ulbert of the Minhousen Company, and you brought …” It seemed he believed that I was here for pleasure instead of business, something that would need to be corrected with haste.

“An apprentice. She is being trained by my teacher and comes highly recommended. She’ll be helping me tonight.” Jackson seemed to understand my feelings, and his words put the man slightly more at ease.

“Ah I see, follow me please.” He led us to a rather extravagant ballroom, easily large enough for two or three hundred people.

I was surprised at the display of money here. Building something like this in the middle of the capital had surely cost a fortune. Even if it had been around for some time, I could imagine that even maintaining it would be very expensive.

The floors were well-polished marble, white with scattered small lightgray inclusions. On the wall in brass sconces were lamps burning some kind of oil, odorless or very near, from what I could smell. The ceiling was high for buildings I’d seen in this world, perhaps thirty feet. The chandeliers though were dark, and I saw no place for candle holders.

“The first thing I need you to do is to put enough mana in the chandeliers to keep them active for the party. After that, our theme for the night is the coming of winter. If you have any ideas, I’d love to hear them, but I was thinking something snow- or ice-themed along the ceiling.”

It took only a moment for us to find the recharging location for the chandeliers, and I filled them. Not much but enough certainly for a day. Jackson stood back while I did so, looking up and around. That alone seemed to mollify our employer.

“Any thoughts on what we should do, Alana? Surely, snow.”

“We could do some lightly rolling light clouds or a night sky on the ceiling. I could also probably modify a sound suppression bubble to mimic how snow muffles sound.”

“I would prefer a mix if possible,” Ulbert declared.

“Very well then. Alana, handle the snow and the muffling, if you don’t mind.”

“Certainly.” I quickly hummed a tune to start up the spells.

Expanding the soundproof bubble and weakening its effect to just a muffle wasn’t that hard, nor was the actual snow illusion. Snowflakes always have been sort of indistinct unless you’re very close, so mimicking them is fairly easy, even in a large area.

After examining how I had them moving, Jackson brought in the clouds. It was a lightly rolling bank above us, with a few openings to a dark night. He even brought in a small faux moon that shone down upon us. It was like being outside on a snowy night, except warm and dry.

“Oh yes, yes, this will do perfectly.” He bounced on the balls of his feet slightly, his voice dying as it hit the walls of the room and my bubble. I was quite pleased with the effect.

Another man approached us. He wore the formal attire I would have associated with the rich but stood very rigidly.

“Let me introduce the master of ceremonies for the night, Hugh, one of my most trusted retainers.” Ulbert nodded to the other man. “Alas, I’ve other things I must prepare, please consult as needed.”

Hugh seemed a nice enough man, if a bit rigidly formal. He gave us a list of the dances planned for the night and led us to a small room to the side where we could rest until the festivities began. We had a couple of hours to rest now that we decided on our spells and the chandeliers were charged. It was important for us to have lots of mana so we could keep the illusions up into the night.

Jackson looked over the list of planned dances. “These are all fairly standard group dances. Looks like he mixed in about half for couples.” He froze and looked at me. “I don’t suppose you know how these go?”

“Oh … no, I don’t.”

“Okay, well, that’s not the end of things. We’ll run over them all real quick. If you’re unsure, just follow the directions and what others are doing. We’re lucky you’re young. If you were even a couple of years older, we’d have real problems.”

He started with the dances for couples, since there were more of those than anything else. These were mercifully simple, owing to the fact that many of those present were likely to be either young or inexperienced. The style was sort of like a Viennese waltz, though the order of steps was slightly different. I hadn’t had much experience here but could at least process what I was doing. It took only a few minutes before he nodded, apparently satisfied.

“That will do for now. We’ll work on these later if you want to join me for any more of these jobs, but for now it’ll pass. Let’s see …” He picked up the list, quickly going over it again. “When they call for Summer Flowers or Winter Flowers, excuse yourself; those are too complex for me to teach you in the time we have. That leaves us with the Diamond, a Couple’s Arch, and Twin Circles.”

He had to lead me through these rather awkwardly, as they were truly dances for large groups, some of it just didn’t work with only two people. Again we were lucky that this particular party was not from a noble house, as they would put on some truly complex dances.

The Diamond, as one might suspect, started out in a diamond formation of eight, with pairs moving in and around one another to move the whole group in a clockwise direction. It was repeated for the whole song and was one of Jackson’s favorites as far as ballroom things went.

A Couple’s Arch was mostly walking elegantly, something I could at least passably do, and involved a lot of following those in front of me. It was the easiest, being that I wouldn’t be leading. I just had to follow the leader and keep an eye on my dance partner. The couple who would lead would already be chosen, so there would be no issue.

Twin circles would take up most of the dance floor. Couples would form into concentric circles, moving outward from the center. The first would be small, and partners would face each other. Then another pair of rings would form outside of that, and another until all were involved. There was again a lot of walking, though the timing of steps and their length were important to keep organized.

Merchants liked to act as if they were of the higher classes, and some had astounding fortunes. But when it came down to it, magic was just too powerful. This meant that the nobility had far, far more time to practice overly complex social interactions. A merchant couldn’t do that; they just had too many things to do. That meant they had to limit the types of dances they put on, a mercy in our case.

There were a few more rules that we had to go over as well. I was not to accept an invitation to dance more than once from a given man. I was unlikely to be asked, but to do so indicated a rather more than casual link between us. Only those near my age or having just reached adulthood should ask me to join them, but I was told to deny any older men who did. I was to try and socialize lightly with the other girls near the front of the room when dances were not being held, but the topics were to be inane, like dresses and weather.

I was not, under any circumstances, to reveal that I was a caster keeping the illusions going. We were too highly ranked by parts of society to be considered servants, so everyone pretended that we were guests, and a guest wouldn’t reveal such. Everyone knew we had been hired, but that was considered rude to actually acknowledge.

Finally, there was a room to the side reserved for women and girls that would have some water, bathroom facilities, and a place to fix any hair/makeup/wardrobe issues. I couldn’t hide in there all night though, because my spells would start to falter if I didn’t keep mana flowing into them at least periodically. It was a good place to retreat to when the dances I had to avoid were announced though.

We finished up with these basics about the time that Hugh reappeared, telling us that the guests were going to arrive shortly and we needed to reestablish the magic. We arrived just before the Ulbert family, both direct and extended. It was considered good form for a few people to be in place before guests, and all was ready when the moment arrived.

The first wave of guests arrived in a large group; several of the girls let their eyes sparkle as they saw the illusions. One or two even tried to catch a snowflake on a daintily extended hand. It was good to feel appreciated.

CHAPTER 3

A LONG EVENING

There was still a good amount of time to go before the beginning of the party, and I was expected to spend it socializing with the other girls who had arrived. Those who had come in already seemed to gravitate toward those they knew. The room had separated almost down the middle, with men on one side and women on the other, and a small area between the two where light conversation and introductions were being made.

I meandered over to several girls who were marveling at the snowflakes. The spell was drawing a small trickle of mana from me, but I could keep it up for practically forever. They gave friendly smiles as I came closer.

“The snow is amazing! How is it not melting and making a mess do you think?” one asked.

“Perhaps there’s some sort of drying enchantment going on?” another commented, following a flake with her eyes.

“Father said something about warm snow once, but I can’t remember the details.”

“It’s probably just an illusion, isn’t it? I can’t feel any snow touching me, and if you look at the ceiling, the sky definitely is one.” I decided to give up the secret easily; these three obviously knew nothing at all about magic.

“I suppose that might be true, and the fake sky is lovely,” the oldest of our little group commented, looking up.

I nodded, along with several of the others. Eventually, they did look back down though, the leader settling her eyes on me.

“I’m Quinta; these two are Julia and Armina.” She pointed to her friends in turn.

“I’m Alana. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” I tried to fall back into the tone and mannerisms Mystien had me study all those years ago, but it was a bit difficult since I hadn’t really been practicing.

Quinta was perhaps two years older than myself, with flaming red hair that draped down the front of one of her shoulders. She stood just a bit taller than the rest of us, perhaps owing to the small heels on her shoes. Beside her the other two looked like they could have been sisters, their hair chocolate brown and features quite fair, as was common among the wealthy.

“I don’t believe I’ve seen you at any of the balls I’ve been to before, Alana.” Quinta looked me over for a few moments as if trying to recognize me.

“This is my first in the capital, I’m afraid.”

“Oh, that would explain it. Are you coming to the one hosted by Lord Johannes next month? I hear he’s trying to find a wife for one or two of his sons. It would be best to be noticed early if you want success there.”

“I’m afraid neither I nor my guardian have received an invitation as of yet. Perhaps I’ll meet them here or there though.” I needed to be as noncommittal as possible when it came to this subject. I had no desire to get invites to parties thrown by the merchants and weaker nobles.

Julia had a keen eye for fashion and started pointing out the new trends in the dresses of some of the older girls. One, in particular, had managed to find a stunning violet piece that incorporated a few frills along the sides, which were gaining popularity. Other trends like overlarge padding on the bustle were now falling out of favor quickly and were only being seen on older women. I was thankful that my new dress seemed about average for what was expected, probably something Marcus had thought of.

As we stood back looking at the various people as they came in, one group threw me a bit. A man and three boys who could only have been his sons came in the door. The man was decidedly a magic user of some kind, as was the oldest of his sons. They were both quite a bit weaker in aura than I was, and the two younger boys had barely a flicker. I could see it, just barely, but it was one of those that meant they probably couldn’t do anything.

The man’s eyes scanned the crowd quickly. I could see when they fell on Jackson, and immediately I began suppressing my own aura. Not quick enough though, it would seem. The oldest son was already looking in my direction with wide eyes. He quirked his head a bit as he and his father exchanged words I could not hear. The other boys then perked up and looked over too.

“That’s Lord Johannes; he’s looking at us!” Armina excitedly whispered as a slight blush worked its way up her face.

As I internally cursed, the other girls around me began squealing in excitement. All of them were here in the hopes of being noticed. I, on the other hand, had no desire to be noticed at all. In fact, it took all of my effort to keep my face neutral as I had an across-the-room staring contest with the young noble boys.

Eventually, their father got their attention, pulling them away toward … Jackson. Naturally, he’d go straight to the other caster in the room. In the middle of their conversation, I felt Jackson’s eyes flick over toward me too. We really needed to work on his poker face.

“Who’s that man Lord Johannes is speaking to? I don’t think I recognize him,” Quinta asked.

“And what in the world is he wearing? It’s the loudest thing I’ve ever seen!” Julia added in a small scandalized whisper.

Julia was, in my humble opinion, right. Jackson dressed like a man who puked and decided to dress in the colors that emerged. It did kind of work for him though. I dreaded seeing he and the small group of nobles move toward the area for the genders to meet, his eyes on me.

“Are they looking this way?” Quinta whispered.

“I suppose. I’ll be right back.” I groaned internally as I moved toward them, feeling like I was walking toward my death.

“Alana, this is Lord Johannes, and these are his sons, Dietrich, Rieg, and Armond.” He turned to the nobles, “This, my lords, is Alana.”

“A pleasure to meet you, my lords.” I curtsied as we were introduced, even if it was absolutely the last thing I wanted to do to attract the attention of people at this party.

Each of the men nodded in greetings. There was a lot of hierarchical things going on here: who had to be introduced to who based on gender, rank, and all kinds of other rules I was only barely aware of. Regardless, after that, the lord and his sons quickly moved on.

As soon as they had, I hummed up a silence bubble around Jackson and myself.

“What was that about?” I asked as the sounds of the party faded, trying to keep my mouth as still as possible.

“Now that you’ve been formally introduced, it is not impolite for his sons to speak with you later tonight. It would also be quite rude of you to refuse light conversation or an invitation to dance.”

I groaned loudly, knowing that it wouldn’t escape the bubble.

“Be as noncommittal as possible. I’ll have to give you some very basics on the etiquette of these events should you wish to continue working with me at them. We’ll handle that later though.” With that said, he left my little silence bubble, moving across the room.

I returned to the group of girls I’d been speaking with earlier, a rookie mistake. The three kept bright smiles on their faces as they all but demanded an explanation on the events. The simple answer that Lord Johannes realized he hadn’t met me and arranged an introduction did not sit as well as I thought it would have.

All three had been introduced to him and his sons, at some point. They all also knew that he cared not at all about them; it had just been a formality. That kind of thing would be handled later in the evening by those who knew both individuals. The fact that he saw, was interested in, and acted to actually speak to me pretty much ousted me as a caster, though if I had to guess, only Quinta truly understood it.

I was saved by the dancing, which began before too many conversations and questions could be had. Everyone began to intermingle for a few moments before, choosing partners as they did. Armond came up to me at this point.

Armond and Rieg had to be twins if I was any judge, as their heights were almost identical. Both were close to my age, perhaps a year or less younger than me. They had dark brown hair. Armond’s fell over his eyes, while Rieg had his cropped short.

“Miss Alana, may I have this dance?” His voice was smooth and kind as he offered his hand.

I lightly took it and quickly moved with him to the dance floor, a few moments before the master of ceremonies had called out Couple’s Arch as the first dance. It was a group one, so talking would be minimized, and I knew it, so I was confident.

Armond made light conversation as we moved into place: the normally permitted subjects, how the weather was looking to be especially cold this year, a compliment on my dress. It wasn’t until we were nearly in place that he started asking what I felt were the real questions.

“It is a shame I haven’t seen you before, Miss Alana. Did you just move to Lithere?” He actually used the name of the capital, that was a bit unusual among my normal crowd. I’d only heard it in lessons with Mystien and in conversations where multiple countries were involved.

“A while ago actually, but I prefer to keep mostly to myself.”

“Where from, if I might ask?”

“Out east, ah, it seems we are beginning.” Using that excuse was magical, and soon enough we were working through the many motions needed for this particular piece.

It ended soon enough, and I managed to go back to join the chatting with the other girls. The fact that boys could and did now join us ended with me getting introduced and subsequently dancing with several others. Quinta’s brother came by for one of those, as well as one of Julia’s cousins or something, the relationship there was a bit unclear.

Rieg came by shortly after to ask me to join him for Twin Circles. That went much as it had with his brother, him trying to pry information out of me after small talk. I made another attempt at avoiding too much of that as well.

“It is surprising that your parents were not here with you today, Miss Alana. I should hope to meet them.”

“Perhaps in the future they shall be, but they are unfortunately unable to be here tonight.” That was technically true. They were unable to be here because well … they were out of contact.

“Oh, I see. Do I know them?”

“I find that unlikely, Lord Rieg.” Again I’d managed to delay until the dancing started and postpone my suffering.

I hid for Summer Flowers, going into the room reserved for ladies as I’d been instructed. It was a good opportunity to grab a drink of water and use the facilities anyway. The latter part was a bit of a chore in a formal dress, involving a chair, several minutes, and a rather more fancy chamber pot than I was used to.

Following that, there were several more rounds of dancing. I again fled at the announcement of Winter Flowers as I saw Dietrich trying to approach me. I did all I could not to literally run, the idea of having to tell him no and violating some Byzantine rule of etiquette speeding me along.

Irritatingly, some girl of about eighteen, who I didn’t know, approached me shortly after my arrival in the ladies’ room.

“Are you quite okay? I believe Lord Dietrich wished to dance with you. You should hurry before they begin.”

“Sadly, my history with Winter Flowers is poor”—because it doesn’t exist—“and I was told by my dance instructor that I was, under no circumstances to dance it tonight. Had he chosen almost literally any other, I would be happy to join him. I can’t well turn him down though, and I’ve no clue how to explain the problem.”

I could have died right there. All I wanted to do tonight was make a bit of money, maybe have a bit of fun along the way. I had been woefully unprepared for what I considered my second worst disaster in the capital. Frankly, I might be willing to go fight the golem again if it kept at this rate though.

The girl suppressed a giggle and turned. “No worries, I’ll take care of an explanation for you.”

I didn’t know if I should be relieved or more afraid. “Thank you.”

When I returned, after hearing the call for an upcoming dance for couples, I was met by the young Lord Dietrich before I’d even made it all the way back.

“One of my cousins tells me you had a bad experience with Winter Flowers?” he asked as he neared.

“Something like that, Lord Dietrich.” I could feel heat creeping across my cheeks as I tried to properly explain myself.

He seemed to take it in stride. “Ah, my apologies, I thought you were avoiding me for a moment there.”

“Not at all. I merely wished not to publicly embarrass myself and you.” That got a chuckle.

Of the three brothers I’d met, he seemed to be the most charming. He had a warm smile and his hair was longer, pulled back into a simple ponytail. If I had to guess, I’d say he was around a year my senior. Most of all was his confidence; he exuded it from every pore. This young man knew his place in the world and he fit there perfectly, moving past people with perfect grace.

“Well then, would you do me the honor of joining me for a couple’s dance?”

“Certainly, Lord Dietrich.”

“I don’t believe I’ve seen you at the academy. Are you not planning to attend?” he asked after the standard handful of small talk questioning.

“Oh, I’m just a sliver too young to attend this year. Next year, I plan to apply.”

It was at this moment that the music began. He wrapped one arm around my waist and led, quite a bit better than the other young men who’d joined me earlier in the night. This particular dance involved us being extraordinarily close, pressed together as we moved in circles around those older than ourselves.

“Oh, I see, I see. I shall look forward to it. There are several lovely places there. One particular nook is perfect for watching the sun rise. I hope you’ll let me show it to you over breakfast one day.”

Um, what? I mean, I liked breakfast as much as the next girl, but that was kind of a weird invitation.

“Perhaps, my lord. That does not sound unpleasant.” Being noncommittal seemed best here, since I was a bit put off.

“Ah, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Is there anything you would like to ask me?”

“Why are you and your brothers paying so much attention to me?”

“That’s quite simple. We know most of the magic users in our age range. Both our rivals and potential allies. A new individual is of great interest.”

“Oh, I see.”

“I don’t suppose you’d be willing to join me in a bit of mischief?” he whispered to me, causing me to grin a bit.

“That would depend on what that is, Lord Dietrich.”

He chuckled. “You see, I saw you before my father. Before you began suppressing your aura. He thinks, from what he can see now, that you might be interesting as a potential candidate to marry one of my brothers in the far future, and that I’m wasting my time by even speaking to you. I’d rather like to get one over on him, as I seldom manage that.”

“And how do you propose to do that?”

“All you would need to do is stop suppressing yourself. I really would appreciate it.”

I knew it was stupid, that what he was requesting of me was an absolute fool move. At the same time, the way he spoke, it was so kindly and warm. Even his aura was warm; it looked like leaves floating in the wind around him. In a snap moment, I let my suppression go, flooding out a trail of ethereal bubbles behind me, just for a few moments as we turned. The huge widening of his father’s eyes was something to see as we spun past.

“Thank you, Alana, I really do mean it,” he said shortly after I pulled my aura back in. “Will you be joining us at our ball in the near future?”

“Lord Dietrich, I haven’t even received an invitation, much less considered it.”

“Well, I will have to see that that changes then, won’t I?”

After that display, the rest of the party was rather less eventful. I enjoyed a bit more until it was time to go and I joined back with Jackson.

“Well, that was wild,” he said as he slid into the carriage after me.

CHAPTER 4

A MONTH OF PREPARATION

The day after the ball, Jackson woke me up by pounding on my door. We’d basically gotten back to the tavern, coming in through the back door, and crashed. My rented dress was put to the side, since it was supposed to be returned later this afternoon. It wouldn’t be a bad trip, and I had the day off anyway.

I yanked open the wooden door with all the viciousness that a thirteen-year-old could muster. Someone awakening me so early on a day otherwise reserved for rest and relaxation was likely to get screamed at.

“What did you do!”

“What?”

“WHAT DID YOU DO!”

“Jackson, it’s way too damn early for riddles.”

He waved a folded bit of parchment in front of me angrily. “It is also too damn early for me to be getting invitations to a noble’s house for the both of us. Now, what did you do!?”

“Lord Johannes’s son asked me if I was coming to their ball. I suppose he sent it upon learning I hadn’t been invited.” I tactfully left out the part where I’d told him I hadn’t been invited.

“Which son?”

“Dietrich? The older one.”

“Did he say anything else of note? Invite you to do or go anywhere else?”

“He suggested we have breakfast some time. I don’t know what that has to do with anything though. I was noncommittal as you told me to be.”

Lucien had appeared by this time, and I considered it rather fortunate that we were currently the only people staying here. A guest shouting at one of the workers early in the morning would look bad.

“What’s all this about then?” the old man asked as he came over toward us.

“Some noble’s son is trying to court Alana, and it seems she’s TOO DENSE to realize it.”

“He invited me to a public party and breakfast. It’s not like that’s a big deal or anything.”

At this point, Jackson actually bonked me on the head with a closed fist. “He invited you to his house and on a date. The second of which you at least didn’t accept.”

“How is breakfast a date? Shouldn’t that be dinner?”

“What kind of an idiot would invite a girl to dinner as a date? She’s just going to go home and sleep. Isn’t it better to wow her in the morning and have her thinking about it all day?” I had apparently missed some cultural stuff here, constantly forgetting that some things were just going to be weird. “And how are you going to attend a ball hosted by a noble family, Alana? You’re going to need to be far more dressed up than you were for our little job last night.”

Lucien looked like he had a headache. Jackson had a vein pulsing just above one eyebrow.

“Let me see the dress you rented,” the older man finally declared.

I went and got it. It had been hung up, and I was fairly sure that it was nice enough.

“This will do, but you will need at least a necklace, hair decoration, and a bracelet to go along with it, all of good quality. Take this back to Marcus, and speak with him on the subject.”

“How long do we have to deal with this?” I hesitantly asked.

“About a month.” Jackson looked down at the invitations, handing me mine.

“You’ll need to go today to start getting her ready. Alana, do you have more of that sugar?”

“Erm, yes?”

“Good, take it to market and sell the lot. You’re going to need the money to pay for this mess.”

“I mean, I could just not go …”

“No, no, you can’t just not go. It will lead to some absolutely unacceptable social repercussions for me.” Jackson was more than a bit irritated.

“All right, you two need to go and take care of this as much as you can today. Lad, since you’re the one who took her there when she had no clue, you can take her to the market today and back up to Marcus’s to talk with him. You know him better anyway. See what you two can do about accessories for her, too, so she doesn’t look awful.”

Jackson was pissed but went along with it, packing up our clothes in cloth bags and leading me off. Our first stop was the market, so I could sell the sugar I’d amassed over the past bit. I hated to see it go, but I really needed the funds. The price that I got was excellent, as it was more than most people could get and of higher quality. My familiarity with pure crystal sugar from Earth had really paid off.

After that, we returned to Marcus’s Fashion whose proprietor met us when we entered the shop.

“So, how did everything go?” he asked as we handed over the clothing.

“The girl went and got herself invited to a noble’s ball. Any advice?”

“Don’t do that.” The tailor answered quickly with a smirk.

“Any real advice?” I chimed in.

“You can get some decent jewelry from a place down the road for a reasonable price. I’ll keep the dress in your size for now, and you can use it again. I would go for lapis in silver if you can afford it.”

“And if I can’t?”

“Definitely something blue. It’ll match both the dress and your eyes. I advise silver or something silver-colored as well, for similar reasons. You could go with brass as well since it’ll match your hair, but you would need a different dress.”

Our trip to the jeweler was spent with Jackson glaring daggers at me. He was very stressed about this whole thing, and I was personally a bit tired of it. I was the one having to spend all the money to make this actually happen.

We took our time looking at different jewelry at the store Marcus had recommended, until I found some sets tucked in the back corner. The necklace was a simple pendant with a few small glass beads that were a lovely blue held in a silver wire. It included a pair of bracelets as well, some additional more dainty pieces that were almost too large in the same style, and a hairpiece that had small pins with little blue balls on each end.

The whole set looked almost like bubbles in light silver wire, or in other words, absolutely perfect. It would complement the dress and myself and had the added advantage of being one of the cheapest sets in the whole shop. Most people liked stones instead of glass. But in this case, it went so well with my aura that there was no issue at all.

When I worked it all out, I was actually a bit up on money. With the sugar I sold and the pay for the previous night’s job, I had a hefty sum. Rerenting the dress was no small expense, though much of that was the cost of the deposit, which I would get back except in the case of disaster. The other expenses were comparatively small to what I had feared.

I walked through the market with Jackson and headed home; until that is, I was distracted by a flutist standing beside a small cart. It appeared he was advertising the pieces the man who owned said cart was trying to sell.

“Hey, Jackson, I’ve been thinking I need a hobby.”

“Can you even play a flute? Anyway, for the next month, you need to focus on learning every dance I can force into your head.”

“Oh, come on, you can’t tell me you’ve never made flash decisions. As for playing, let’s find out.”

I watched the player for a bit, looking at his fingers. My first set of parents had decided when I was still in elementary school that I needed to learn an instrument. Pianos were large and expensive, and a violin was not only expensive, it tended to sound like someone was skinning a cat when played wrong. They had settled on the recorder as the safe option to force me to learn, the poor fools.

What had followed was a couple of years of pain for the entire house, though I did learn. Eventually, I traded it out for an ocarina and a concert flute at school. I’d not had a replacement ocarina since coming to this world, and I knew their making was a bit difficult—the holes had to be just right.

These flutes, on the other hand, seemed to be set up almost exactly like a recorder, and I was pretty sure I remembered enough to make it work. So I walked over to the merchant.

“How much?” I leaned over a few of his pieces, pointing out one that looked a bit more reddish than the others he had laid out.

“Two silver each. I’ve got three sizes.”

“May I?” I asked. It would be impolite to not at least request permission and might get me in more than a bit of trouble.

“Go on.” The man nodded.

I picked up one of them, the reddish one that I liked, and played through a scale. It was pitched in D if I still had any ear for that and made quite a nice sound. The fingering was ever so slightly different, being shifted just a bit upward, but it was easy to make the adjustment. I ran through one of my practice songs that I’d probably played a couple thousand times.

“One and a half?” I offered to the seller.

“You know, I’ve never heard that tune before. How about one and a half and you teach me that song?”

“Deal.”

Jackson waited not so patiently as I ran through the tune with the merchant a few times, even letting his assistant come over and look. It was short, only a couple of lines, and catchy as well. As far as I knew, it didn’t even have a proper name, just “Irish Jig.” That was all that had been written in the book I had.

The days that followed involved me being forced into dance lessons for a couple of hours daily after my shift. Jackson would drill me until I could do it perfectly, often using the cook as his example and assistant. Lude seemed to enjoy this to no end, smiling happily as he twirled her around the floor. After that, I would spend the evenings doing some light studying and playing my flute. I wasn’t nearly as good as Lucien was with the mandolin he brought out around the time I’d previously headed to bed, but I was passable.

Often, after all the kitchen work for the night was done, we would get together in the common room. It was kind of odd. I’d seen Jackson flirt a lot, chase skirts, invite women to his room to varying degrees of success, and generally sleep around while in Istlan. Here though, he seemed to actually be enjoying just talking to and sharing a laugh with Lude, a girl I think he wouldn’t have given a second thought to just a few years ago.

For my part, I wished those two the best. I’d never thought of Jackson as one to settle, either in one place or with anything close to one woman. I remembered the lines of angry fathers and husbands, the long list of onenight stands, the fact that he openly admitted he’d happily knock a maid up if she just wanted that. Perhaps I was wrong though, or perhaps he and Lude could work something out, I didn’t know. Lucien seemed to share my opinion, communicated through looks and nods only.

The time passed both too quickly and painfully slowly, and soon enough the evening of Lord Johannes’s ball had arrived. We returned to Marcus to prepare and rent a much nicer carriage (which I was eating a bit of the cost on). He’d made a few additions to the dress to fancy it up a bit and quite approved of my choice in jewelry. His assistant again fixed up my hair as part of their service. All prepped and everything in place, we were ready, or as ready as we could ever be. I was nervous, excited, and a bit exhausted as the carriage pulled us into the evening light, hoping I was ready for what came next.

CHAPTER 5

A NOBLE PARTY

The initial differences became obvious as we moved toward Lord Johannes’s manor. First of all, we were going well into the nobles’ section of the city, and the traffic around us showed it. People were finely dressed as they came in and out of shops, and few were walking. Some rode horses, particularly young men, and some were using carriages

much like ours.