Ria of Shadewood [Fantasy, School Life/Magic Academy, Tournaments]

Morning had already arrived.

Ria refused to open her eyes. There was so much going on this week that she barely had any time to think, and she wasn't going to waste this moment of peace.

Ana was sure to arrive any minute to help her get ready for her Spellcraft class. For now, all she wanted was to just lay there like the spoiled noble she apparently now was. This was just her exercising her noble privilege. Like a noble.

Not quite ready to do any important thinking, she lazily moved her internal energy through her body in a cycle as it mixed with the external energy breathed in by her horns.

So far, hiring Ana was going great. She now had someone to help her in the mornings and evenings. Someone to run errands for her. Ria did feel bad about making Ana live away from her family and friends. Sharing a room with Iselyn's maid should help, but she would have to be careful to watch the girl's mood and try to give her days off from time to time.

A quiet double knock was followed by the sound of the door opening and a quiet swish of fabric. Aww, her 'Ria time' was already up. Ria scooted to a sitting position and stretched some more, slipping free of the silk-soft bedding.

"It is morning, Young Lady Celestria-"

"Ria," Ria insisted, pulling the bed's curtain back to meet Ana's eyes. "I want us to be friends."

"…Celestria," Ana tried.

Good enough, and maybe for the better. Ria still needed to accustom herself to being addressed with her real name. "Only when we are alone, though."

Being a noble was tedious, but presenting herself properly in public was important now that she was 'no longer pretending to be a commoner'. She was now competing with people who lived the etiquette all their lives. Just adopting an act when needed wouldn't be enough for her to catch up.

Ana smiled and nodded, happy with the compromise, but a frown quickly found the girl's face. "Did you sleep well?"

"I did!" She really had slept well.

Her maid looked relieved and the smile returned. "Should I ready a bath?"

Ria waved off the idea. "I am fine. I have things to do and want to get an early start to the day. You can braid my hair if you like."

"I would be happy to… Celestria," Ana readily agreed and rushed off to the armoire, almost skipping with eagerness. "Let me quickly gather your clothes for the day. Unless…?"

"Whatever you pick is fine," Ria confirmed and slipped out of the bed, kneading her toes on the conveniently-placed fur rug.

The hair styling was another well-timed compromise and successfully raised her maid's mood after declining the bath suggestion. Ria was feeling pleased with herself. Her skills at managing a household were improving! She might even be good at this!

"Is your room okay?" she asked as Ana brought her usual Goldday clothes over to the dressing screen and mirror.

"The bed is soooo soft!"

Ria laughed. "I thought the same thing my first night in the tower."

"You did?"

"Sure did! I even asked Knight Arella if the beds in the castle are this soft."

Ana stopped hanging the clothes on the changing screen and turned with wide eyes. "Are they?"

"She made the funniest face before hesitantly admitting they might not be."

"No way!"

"Yep. So, just a bed in your room?"

Ana deftly pulled off Ria's nightgown and shook her head. "Tabimi and I have floor chests, storage closets, and writing desks for our use." Clean underclothes with their complicated ties went on next. "We don't have a bath attached to our room. But there's a shared bath for maid use."

"Oh? Not the fancy shared bath adjacent our floor's library?"

Ria reached her arms back one at a time so Ana could slip the embroidered shirt on enough to drape over each shoulder and turned to make the buttons easier for the young maid to reach.

"We can use that one, too—when it's not busy. The maid bath is attached to the laundry room."

"And you have to keep both clean every day?" Ria asked. It sounded like a lot of hard work.

"We do. It's not too bad though. The tower has magic tools that make the work easier."

They chatted like that until a comfortable silence settled. Ria relaxed on the stool Ana had placed in front of the mirror. The girl happily worked her maid's magic on the faintly glittering strands of light-absorbing hair.

Ria had to suppress a random grin as she reflected over the past day. Ana coming to the academy wasn't the only good thing that had happened.

The prior day's Games practice had been crazy fun and her best result yet! Who would've thought she could actually breathe dragonfire! Hahaha!

Though…

The after-practice meeting…

Resulted in more lecturing.

She grimaced.

Weren't the Sages supposed to be misfits known for doing crazy things? How should she know the lesser arenas weren't rated for that kind of dragonfire?

Ulren didn't look too happy about the difficult-to-heal burns or his arena gear getting damaged, so that was admittedly less than optimal, and Aldri, maybe, did have a point about the damage to the dimensional boundary and local spatial integrity. She could admit that much.

With efforts still ongoing to contain and close the planar rifts opened during the cataclysm caused by the Great Starfall almost a millennia ago, she could see how that might be a bad thing…

Just a bit.

Ria, Ender of Worlds.

Yep, probably should avoid that.

Really, if it was that easy, the world would have ended already! Do mages go find dragons and lecture them about the safe use of dragonfire? Aldri was almost as alarmist as Lestina was about Soulkeeper techniques.

He even had a magic ready for mending the minor damage done. How would he know something like that if he hadn't needed it to clean up his own messes?

"Thinking about yesterday's team practice?" Ana asked, her fingers only pausing briefly.

"The meeting afterward, but yes," Ria confirmed.

"You were very impressive, my lady."

Ria smiled at Ana's reflection. "Hmm? What was your favorite part?"

"I really liked the way you were able to blend in with the people of the illusion, but the fire you conjured that burned air and illusions, even Tabimi couldn't believe what she was seeing! I had no idea that you and Lady Iselyn were such powerful mages!"

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A big grin stretched across Ria's face. She was a little miffed that Iselyn had been included, but… This! This blind admiration. This was the reaction she had expected and not received from Keira's cute little brother. "You haven't seen anything yet, Ana. I am just getting started."

The proclamation was smug and playfully arrogant, but achieving her goals would require her to prove it true and then some. And, not just for herself. She wasn't the only one increasing her power. She was competing with all her friends who were also growing their strength.

Answering Ulren's 'What the hells kind of fire burns reality?' and the ensuing argument with Aldri had led Rialle to declare she needed to meditate on new truths and leave the meeting early. Ria had given the third-year fire mage an enthusiastic thumbs up. From her own void and radiance inspiration, Ria had become more aware of just how important moments of inspiration were and how breakthroughs in understanding could lead to improvements in attunement and significant increases in the truths and power of one's magic.

With Ria proving she was now strong enough to take out a tough fourth-year like Ulren, she had impressed Hulle and Welkin enough that there was discussion of her replacing Orlisi on the Beast Battle team so Orlisi could do the Hunter's Challenge or the Spy's Escape. The Beast Battle was a different event than Ria had thought she'd be competing for. The two events practiced this week were great fun, and battling beasts together with a team did sound fun, too. Really, she was happy just getting a slot for any of the events.

Not just in consideration for the Grand Games but overall, Ria thought she was doing well progressing her goals—well enough that she was beginning to wonder how her brothers were doing in Revant. Checking on them would give her an excuse to meet with High Priest Vernon, but it would mean coming up with another relevant and worthy sacrifice. She didn't have anything left from Revant other than her mother's comb and the items she had taken from Jeni's house, so she'd have to make something… maybe a painting?

She also wondered how Phaelys was doing. He had sent a letter to her during her stay at Healer's Hall but had yet to meet with her. She really hoped he wasn't angry with her about what happened. Things between them had been going well…

"Done!" Ana pronounced and watched Ria's reflected eyes for a reaction.

Ria stood and twirled to view Ana's work, giving a pleased grin through the mirror when the rotation completed. "It helps me look intimidating."

Maybe Phaelys would appreciate the effort even if he seemed more impressed when she looked like a warrior, she chuckled to herself.

The too-serious Vesali battle-enthusiast had offered to teach her Crystal Grip. Between that and dangling a chance to discuss the offered adventure, Ria was hopeful that it would be enough to meet him again.

She went to the enchanted chest and took out the jade and silk map of the under-castle and unrolled it onto her bed. Thankfully, it hadn't been discovered when the chest had been moved to the tower. Or at least, no one was saying anything.

"Wow, that looks expensive. Like something you'd see in a royal library," Ana breathed out in surprise at the sight of the scroll.

Ria chuckled. "That is not far from the truth."

The curious young maid leaned closer to get a better look. "A map?"

"A map of the under-castle," Ria stated before smirking to coyly add, "And its secret passages."

Ana blinked with a blank enough expression that Ria couldn't help a further laugh slipping out. Playing as a mysterious noble girl really was fun.

"It's a secret though. One that only a few of my close friends know about," Ria cautioned, keeping eye contact with the young maid as she said it.

The serious nod of acknowledgment and responsibility Ria received back was too adorable.

Shadwich let out a sigh and rubbed his forehead with a knuckled finger after listening to Ria's request. "I understand why this would be important to you, Ria, but Irelyni is already squeezing me about the resources we've been spending for your improvement. Acquiring such valued resources for a member of another tower? He won't approve that. Get the boy to switch to our tower and it's a different story."

Ria lowered her gaze, disappointed. The result wasn't unexpected, but she did have to try. Finding an alchemist capable of making effective affinity-improvement elixirs was the bigger problem.

"Haha, don't look so dispirited. Hmm… Phantasmic Stalker Mushrooms could be used to do what you're looking to do. The spores take the form of a feared creature and mimic the imagined creature's capabilities and attacks. The young Yurrin elf missy may know where the mushrooms or something similar that meets your needs could be acquired. You'll want to be quick though; I'll need enough time to make an elixir of sufficient quality before the event. By tomorrow morning should be doable."

Blinking in surprise, Ria's gaze snapped back to the portly researcher, but the last part of what he said caused her to tilt her head in confusion. "By morning?"

"Aren't you asking because your Exter boy is being awarded an honor tomorrow?"

Wha-?!

Shadwich laughed at her obvious shock. "Well, lucky I recognized the name from the event announcement! Normally, I wouldn't be interested in such things, but it isn't often that one of our order-members gets honored these days. Should I expect to be busy with making the elixir tomorrow?"

Ria nodded vigorously, not wanting to lose the offered assistance.

"Good. Better get started on sourcing me the mushrooms or at least something equally interesting. You don't have long before class starts."

Ria was out of the office like a shot, Orlisi's com-stone in hand before she reached the elevator platform, joining a pair of boys already getting on—boys she thought she recognized from the welcome party.

"In a hurry?" the taller of the two asked.

"Yeah-"

"Morning, morning, my princess, what can this humble elf do for you oh so early in the morning," a voice sing-songed from the com-stone.

Ria had a minor panic attack, but she didn't really have any time for damage control. She quickly spun up a shadow barrier to dampen the sound. Sir Rigonni's disinterest and the amused smirks from the boys probably meant it was fine.

"Ah, Orlisi! I need help! Researcher Shadwich said you might know where I can get something that can be used to make an affinity-enhancing elixir."

"Oh? You're not dragon enough yet?"

"Not for me! For Tensley. I owe him a life-debt and…"

"Tensley Exter? Smoke boy? With the Silver Lions?"

"Yeah, I was thinking something that would help him give his smoke physical attributes. Shadwich suggested Phantasmic Stalker Mushrooms."

"Hmm… you know, you seem to be helping people from other teams a lot lately. I wonder how the others would feel if they found out…"

A groan slipped out of Ria at the complication she hadn't considered, and Orlisi laughed, enjoying Ria's distress before relenting.

"I suppose it would be about the right time to harvest them. They are a bit hard to find. How soon do you need it?"

Ria braced herself. "By tomorrow morning."

"Ah, tomorrow, huh. I might not be able to pull that off."

Again, Ria's hope for timely solving her debt crashed.

"...but, you might know a certain swordmaster protector who could."

She couldn't mean… "Jarrel?"

"That would be the one!"

Stunned, Ria blinked. Lost for words.

"Still there, princess?"

"Really? How?" was all Ria could condense her spinning thoughts into.

"Oh? You don't know, huh. Well then, I'll just leave you to it. Best of luck!"

The connection ended.

The heck.

The boys waved as they stepped off the platform.

Ah! This was where she wanted to get off, too!

Ria hurried to follow. She still had some time before class, but… what just happened to her peaceful start to the day?!

No. More importantly, what did Orlisi know about Jarrel and why did she know it? Did his current secret mission involve the elven Houses?

Ducking to the side of the hallway to be out of the way of other students coming and going, Ria swapped Orlisi's stone for Jarrel's.

"Everything okay?" Jarrel's concerned voice came through the stone.

Thanks to Orlisi's cryptic words, Ria had an ore-cart full of questions she wanted to ask but she really didn't want to mess up or miss the chance to resolve her debt with Tensley, especially now that she would have to face the boy when she attended the award assembly at the castle.

So with a deep breath, she gave it a try, "I need to acquire some Phantasmic Stalker Mushrooms from the Reserve by tomorrow morning. My friend from House Yurren said you might know someone who could help?'

Silence met her question, then a sigh.

"…I might."

Aliceille watched as the most promising of her grandchildren approached with his manservant following and joined her small entourage of servants and guards that had gathered outside the airship tower, a swagger in his fancy-booted step and cape fluttering behind.

"I am surprised you wanted to come on this trip, Zoven. I would've thought you'd be busy with classes or preparing for the upcoming tournament," she greeted with a raised eyebrow.

With affected wide eyes and a dismissive wave of a stylishly gloved hand, her grandson denied the concern as if unimportant. "The recognition of a new House member and potential heir is an auspicious event. Of course, I would want to meet my dear cousin!"

She snorted. "Scope out the competition and make sure she understands her place, you mean."

Zoven exaggerated a clutching of his chest. "Ah, I am wounded."

Though still a teen and prone to amusing himself with these ridiculous performances, he had proved already exceptional for his age and, through her testing, that the House would be well managed in his hands. On that front at least, little could be found to complain about.

Even his choice to hide his true seriousness and capability behind an excessive facade could be viewed as a prudent deception for one who was secretly the leading candidate for heir to a hidden House's power and resources.

From what she had read in the reports and seen in the holocubes sent, her newest granddaughter was rather raw and rash for one who would carry the role of being a very public face for the House's name, and as such, she was fine with the use Zoven had provided himself for. "Seeing her tested is not something I am opposed to."

"What is this? A miracle. It seems my wound is healed."

As the lift's platform reached the top of the tower and they stepped out onto the pier at which the airship was docked, she couldn't help a small laugh. "I am always happy to see my grandchildren in good health."