The Headmistress’ traditional residence and office was a gray tower that stood majestically on a hill somewhat removed from the rest of the campus. It was a jewel of a building nestled in ivy, perfectly preserved. Ancient oaks grew in a little wilderness to one side, giving the impression that you might wander into the shrubbery and end up in a forest as large and old as Forestreach. Mia guessed that it was part of the original fortification from when the City was built. The grounds around the tower were manicured and neat, but somehow wilder than the rest of the campus. Perhaps it was the ivy that gave the impression. It wound around the base of the tower so thickly that no stone was visible. The cab deposited them directly in front of the courtyard. Mia glanced at the new watch that resided in a special pocket in her uniform jacket. The golden hands indicated that the time was slightly earlier than she had expected. “Do we knock?”
Emma never had the chance to respond. The same footman who had delivered the note that morning opened the door before they had even reached the stone pathway that led to the steps. “Madam, Miss, may I show you to the sitting room?” Mia took a long look at his wig as she walked behind him. There was no way to tell if he was using adhesive by simply looking at it. She firmly resisted the urge to tug the little tail on the back to see what would happen.
He led them down the hall to a small sitting room, slightly shabby around the edges, as if the decor was original to the tower. Mia noted with shock as she passed a window that they seemed to be several flights up, but they had walked into the room from the ground floor. The footman waved them to the sofas, murmured that the Greatlady would be with them shortly, and closed the double doors behind him. The pillows on the sofa and chairs were faded, and just a bit dusty, either from constant use or because the room sat unused most of the time. A cheery fire in the fireplace and sunlight streaming in from the windows provided enough light for Mia to examine an intriguing curio case full of odd objects and the paintings that lined the walls.
The paintings were of historical figures: wand wielders who had held the post of Headmaster or Magus, including a portrait of the current Magus. His ice-blue eyes and long streaming black hair were untouched by any hint of a wrinkle or streak of silver. He was undoubtedly one of the oldest wand users in the City bounds, yet he looked no more than thirty in this portrait. Only constant spell work would preserve a person so well, though Mia suspected that he moved like a clockwork figure. Old wand wielders tended to be very stiff.
Headmistress Villanova entered with a laden tea tray floating smoothly behind her. Emma sat patiently on the sofa, but Mia was still staring at the painting. Something about the subject seemed hazily familiar.
“Hello Amelia. I am Headmistress Villanova. Won’t you join us?” Mia drifted back toward the fire. There was something about the painting’s chilly stare that made her glad of the warmth.
Mia studied her hostess as she walked toward the sofa. The Headmistress of the college was Greatlady Villanova. Her hair was so black it held hints of blue. Her eyes were deep green, marking her as something other than pure ‘old blood’ though the rest of her coloring fit the familiar stereotype. The overall impression was that the headmistress was a handsome woman, though her nose was a bit longer than it should have been for real beauty, and if one were being objective, her lips might have been a little higher on one side than the other. Her unlined face somehow gave the impression of great age and power. Her near-perfect preservation was a signal to anyone who knew anything about wand wielders: this was a woman who was accustomed to performing the most powerful spells, and had been doing so all her life. Still, there was a certain affability in her manner, and something that might have been kindness lurking in her eyes.
Mia willingly consumed the delicious tea she was served and politely answered innocuous questions about her shopping expeditions. When the last canapé was consumed and the final tea cake devoured, the lady brought up the subject that Mia believed had led her to invite them. She turned the conversation to Mia’s testing. “I don’t know if you realize how unusual it is for a student to raise all seventeen stones.” Mia had the impression that the lady was looking at her in a keen manner, but didn’t know for certain because she was staring fixedly at her hands. “In fact, my staff has searched the admissions records, and there is no other record of a student raising all the stones.”
She brought out a delicately carved wooden box, and began laying out the stones in a precise order as she spoke. “I hope you don’t mind, but I would appreciate a demonstration. As head of the college I admit a certain natural curiosity.” Mia glanced at Emma, but there was no way to object, nor any polite reason to, though it made her slightly uncomfortable. She concentrated on the stones and they rose, stopping at different levels, each glowing like a brightly colored firefly.
“Fascinating” breathed the headmistress. “I don’t know if you realize it Amelia, but each one of these stones represent an acknowledged area of magical ability. The yellow one, the citrine, is the ability to calm, a useful gift to have. The emerald is growth magic; the beryl beside it is healing. This ruby and the tourmaline: see the two raised the highest? Those are stones for creation and transfiguration. They are the most sought after gifts in the entire City, and as necessary to our survival as the air we breathe.”
“If a boy raises seven of these stones he is asked to attend the college. I’m afraid that the standard is somewhat more exacting for girls; a girl must raise no less than ten to be invited to attend the college. The imbalance happened for a very good reason, because there can be no doubt that a wanded female tends to produce fewer children, and as often as not, she might produce none. If the City were not constantly in desperate need of more wand wielders, I doubt that this institution would admit girls. As it is, most of them are here to marry a boy with the proper pedigree, with no view of being remotely useful to the City that protects us all. Their magical skills will be devoted to producing exceptional house parties and dinners for extremely important people, and of course the required heir.”
As they chatted quietly, Mia tried not to reveal how odd this seemed.
Green eyes met golden-brown. The headmistress cocked her head to one side. “You look more like your namesake than your mother did.”
“You knew my mother?”
“I taught her. She was the same age as my youngest son. I attended with your grandmother, Amelia. You resemble her, but you also remind me of Alexandria. Amelia was exceptionally kind, but rather lacking in ambition…Alexandria…”
Emma laughed. “Alexandra had spirit, drive, fire…but she was not so kind. She always felt like she had to earn her place and she didn’t have much tolerance for those who could not or would not.”
The Greatlady covered her mouth with her napkin. “Alexandria had quite the temper. I imagine that you inherited a bit of that.
Mia blushed.
Emma patted her on the knee.
“She knows how to mind her manners Headmistress…and she’s not so angry as our Alexandria was.”
“Nor so reckless I hope. Amelia’s death at a young age was a tragedy, but to follow with Alexandria dying before she’d even had a chance to begin…the entire City mourned her death…such a bright, talented woman to die so young…” The headmistress looked down for a long moment. There were unshed tears in her eyes when she looked up.
***
Mia and Emma finished tea and escaped outside into the bright sunshine. Mia was relived. The gate guard called a cab while they sat on one of the spotless white quartz benches in the shade of an old oak. He raised a simple yellow flag to hail it while they waited. “Funny.” said Mia. “I expected that there would be a magical way of hailing a cab, here in the City.” Emma laughed. “Magic takes energy. You’ll see. That’s why so many wandless come to the City as servants and shopkeepers. Leave the wanded magic for those things that only wanded magic can do.”
Mia pretended to be engrossed in a book while Emma sat by the fire with her knitting and let h
er pretend. She would have dearly loved the opportunity to go for a long walk to think, but everyone had emphasized that the streets weren’t safe for a young girl to go wandering alone in the City. As if she couldn’t take care of herself. How many times had she met up with and escaped deadly creatures in the forest? Not every village girl went traipsing about the forest. How much more dangerous could a City, with magical protections, a City Guard, and Dragons on the wall be?
By dinnertime Mia had shaken the odd feeling from her interview with the head of the college. Her fellow boarders told her amusing stories and directed her to the best shops where she could make the most of her copper. She laughed and played a few rounds of cards with a nice old lady from Lambton who was in the City to shop.
Chapter Four
They were hurrying down the street on their way from the milliner’s when Mia saw the wand maker’s shop across the street. A quick glance at the road showed only slow moving cart traffic and she hurried toward the wand display, wondering if her wand might be in that case, waiting for her. The noise of a rattling coach and six made her look up suddenly. She stood, in the middle of the street as she watched pedestrians and carts duck out of the way of the fast moving coach. She started moving toward the street as soon as she realized that they were not slowing down, but she wasn’t going to make it.
No sooner had that thought crossed her mind than she felt a sudden lightness…she was lifted up and over a parked cart and deposited safely on the sidewalk.
She turned and a young man with old blood coloring was frowning as he put his wand away. “You have to be careful Miss. Some of these drivers are truly reckless.” An old man with a hand cart sputtered as he picked up his wares from the street. “Greatlord Strathorne races through here whenever he’s a mind to…and he sets a bad example for them young bucks that hang about him like the pestilence too.”
The young man frowned. “I’ll file a report, but I’d mind my tongue if I were you….” The old man snorted. “Aye…but if you were me, you’d have little or nothing to lose young ‘un… So would you still mind your tongue, or would you start saying what everyone knows…that the Magus himself better watch his back the way Strathorne is actin’?”
The younger man smiled a little. “Trust me old man. The Magus has nothing to fear from Strathorne, and he can keep him in line too…go file the report yourself with Mr. Ainsley, his private secretary. The Magus can still keep the other Greatlords in check, never fear.” He turned as Emma rushed up and gave a slight bow. “Ethan Fain, at your service…” No title. He must be an apprentice. Emma introduced them as the street venders worked to remove the vestiges of the reckless coach. Mia wondered why the coach had been in such a hurry.
“Why yes, I think she could use a bit of a snack…” Mia’s focus snapped back to the conversation. The young man smiled a little. “I’m a bit hungry myself, and it’s almost tea time. There’s a sweet shop a block from here that you really should try…if you don’t mind my escort?”
Emma nodded. The healer was probably wondering if Mia was going into shock…but Mia followed as Ethan showed them to a tiny shop. Emma chatted along the way about Mia’s admission into the College and Ethan threw her several reassuring glances as he let the older woman ramble on. The door was made of glass and it was covered in steam as they entered. It smelled delicious. Mia smiled. The tables were fashionably tiny, with barely enough room for the piled sweets. If the tea hadn’t been served from a cart, they would have never been able to make do.
Mia focused on not spilling her tea as Emma carried the conversation. “So Ethan, I’d guess you are in your last year as an apprentice?” The young man smiled. “Yes ma’am. I’ve spent two years as special apprentice to the Magus…but this year he’s loaning me out to Headmistress Villanova.” He took a large bite of his pastry. He wasn’t kidding about being hungry. Emma took a delicate sip of her tea and beamed at him. “That’s quite an honor. Do you know what you’ll be doing for the headmistress?”
Ethan nodded. “I’ll be teaching actually. Finding teachers with the proper talents who aren’t desperately needed elsewhere has been a real struggle…particularly in the area of Creation. The Magus decided that my talents were better used at the college.” There was a lot of pride in his voice…and no wonder. He was effectively getting to skip his final year of apprenticeship.
“Have you picked up your schedule Mia?”
She nodded and dug the parchment out of her old brown bag, wishing suddenly that she had bought something a little nicer to haul her books and things around in. Ethan’s eyes widened as he read the parchment. “That’s a full schedule. You’re going to have to work hard to keep up. You must have gotten top marks when you raised the stones.”
Emma beamed at her. “She raised all seventeen.” Mia tried to sink into her chair to hide her blush. She really wished that people would stop looking at her like that. Ethan seemed to sense her discomfort and took a large bite of his second piece of cake.
The subject turned to other things as Ethan quietly kept Emma’s attention while Mia managed to stop blushing. Tea time came and went as they discussed art and then history, where Mia found herself able to hold her own in the discussion, though Ethan did make some points she was unfamiliar with. “You need to read Gothart’s The Dragon Hunters and Mayard’s Requiem if you want to know what I mean. They originally only printed a couple hundred copies of Requiem before the Guildmaster in charge of printing was stopped …but one of the press boys smuggled out a dozen copes before they burned the lot, and Requiem has been circulating underground ever since. One of the underground movements made thousands of copies.” He chuckled lightly. “And since it’s banned, everyone has read it.” He smiled wider now. “It’s a lot more popular than Yammering’s work, that’s for sure.”
Mia laughed, but noticed that she’d had so much tea that she felt sloshy inside. If they stayed much longer she was going to have to excuse herself to use the ladies’ room.
Emma finally ended the conversation. “Ethan, I have to say it’s been a pleasure. Thank you again for pulling her out of the way…” He interrupted. “Anyone would have done the same.” Emma nodded. “But you are the one who did.” She stood up. “Come along Mia. We need to get back to the boarding house before dinner.” Ethan smiled at her as they were walking out. “I’ll bring those books to Creation.” She bobbed her head nervously, thinking about facing all those other students. Emma huffed as she glanced down the road and at the setting sun. “I think we’ll call a cab. I’m a bit too full to favor walking as far as the boarding house!”
The next day Mia snuck another look at her brand-new wand out of the corner of her eye. Emma was having trouble keeping a straight face, but Mia couldn’t help herself. It was just so pretty. The wand maker had really done an outstanding job on it. She picked it up again just to hold it in her hand. It fit perfectly of course; wand makers used the blood gathered at testing to sync the wand to the wielder. Everything about it was balanced perfectly as far as Mia was concerned. Mia liked the low hum of magic that she could sense when she held the wand. It wasn’t like hearing it; it was more like a low vibration that she could feel in her bones, but that wasn’t exactly right either…
The shopping continued until the final day before class began. They ate breakfast for the last time with the landlady and their fellow boarders. Then they slowly packed Mia’s new possessions in a cab for the trip to the dorms.
The goodbye between Mia and her guardian was emotional, but quick. Emma didn’t see any reason to draw things like that out. Mia was installed in the dormitory and Emma boarded a stage coach back to Forestreach. Post was delivered every second day, and Emma had bought a large bundle of parchment for the express purpose of keeping Mia up to date on all the goings and doings in Forestreach. Mia had promised her guardian full details on her life at the college, but Emma shook her head. “Just be sure you drop me a note at least once a week so I know you’re still breathing. You’ll have much too much to
do to write me every day.”
The dorms were something of a shock to Mia. There were six beds in hers, each with a nightstand, wardrobe, trunk, and magelight at the head of the bed so you could pull the curtains and study quietly after your dorm mates were sleeping. She’d never actually seen a magelight before she’d come to the City. The streets used them, and Mrs. Sullivan had them in the drawing room. She’d never had the opportunity to turn one on and off before. This one had a full range of light: six levels of brightness, red, blue, and yellow lights to read encrypted spells, even a night-light setting, of all the absurd things. She played with the magical orb for a good fifteen minutes, tapping with her wand to change the levels.
The dorm included a semi-private bathroom, with claw footed tubs in little cubicles and four water closets with modern flushing facilities. It would make a nice change: she’d spent most of her life hauling water to bathe in, and dreading the chilly outhouse all winter. Emptying chamber pots was a task that was only bearable since her powers had developed enough to levitate them.
Seventeen Stones Page 5