Ellen followed her father patiently through the narrow streets of the city of Ol’Haran. She watched his feet carefully and slowed her own pace minutely. She was approximately half a metre behind the adults, as was proper for a House child but it was hard to tell as they travelled downhill. 

Her father had advised her that she could ask questions after they’d had lunch. She could join Viera, Alexia, and her father while they ate but she was to be seen and not heard until they had discussed everything. 

Ellen checked behind for her childhood friend, Wosche, again. He was still lagging at the back of their group but seemed to be happy with his decision. Ellen couldn’t hear what the adults were talking about. Alexia, Wosche’s mother, had just said something that made Viera laugh but Ellen was just a touch out of earshot to make out what it was.

She wanted to inch closer but her legs refused to accommodate her curiosity. It was the fifth time that they were walking back down the hill that day. The city of Ol’Haran sat on top of its namesake hill, Hill Haran, with roads that sloped steeply down towards the Harbourkey River. After two days in the saddle and several hours of going up and down the hill, her legs were aching down to their very core. 

She’d had a morning tutorial in the Hiford Estate and she’d spent the entire time sitting and working through her study materials. She’d hoped it would go someway to help her legs recover from her journey but given how much pain she felt heading down the hill, she was dubious. 

Not that she particularly wanted to spend more time holed up in the study. Her father had tasked her with revising her arithmetic and Old Common from the workbooks that her tutor, Shorn, had set for her and it was mind numbing work. 

Ellen looked up to take in the vista at the top of the hill again. The view was impressive. Ellen had done her fair share of travel and had seen the likes of Sanctuary in Breisachia, the shining city of Ilreana, and even travelled to a few of the Northern Isles one time. But Ol’Haran had its own particular humble charm. 

The southern town was caught between the forested regions of Weidenland and the Karitian jungles of the south. Its location had made it a battleground for millenia, so it was said, lived in by generations of humans and oruks who constantly fought for control of the Valley kingdom, so she was told. 

Ellen had not known what she would find when she first arrived that morning. She’d relished the mix-matched scattering of farmland in between the thick forests that made up the edges of the Dark Forest and she’d enjoyed the sight of the green-blue the Harbourkey River snaking out across the landscape. 

Ellen had loved the slow forming of the Central Mountains in the distance, having lived on open plains most of her life. Their blue silhouette across the horizon in front of her promised excitement and adventure not far away.

Excitement and adventure was what she had been told to expect. It was what she had hung her heart on in the recent weeks since she found out she might be able to travel to Ol’Haran. She knew the importance of coming down south for a fresh start and some time away from the capital. 

She was just hopeful that she could make her father proud. Her main goal, if her father permitted that she could stay, was to impress Viera and then return home next year to prove herself to all of the Houses by getting Lead Student in the State Examinations. 

Ellen heard her name in the conversation in front of her and looked up towards her father. He didn’t look back and she chose to risk a half-step closer.

“There are two baths inside the city gates and both have attendants to ensure propriety. And, a new theatre opened up only six months ago but has already hosted several popular troupes. It obviously pales in comparison to the capital’s theatres but I am sure that Ellen and Wosche will just enjoy a night in the red seats.” Viera laughed lightly. 

Ellen let out a small laugh from behind but cut it short when her father didn’t join in. He stalked next to Viera and glowered back at Ellen for a second before facing forward again. He was a tall imposing man and even on a good day, he was somewhat grumpy. And today, and every other day recently, had not been a good day.

In the last month, her father had made no attempt to hide his displeasure in the recent predicament that Ellen found herself in. He’d railed against the idea of her moving to the south to join the Haran Institute. Ellen was grounded in perpetuum and he had forbidden her from leaving their Estate since she’d been expelled. 

Not that Ellen was allowed to sit and rot while she was grounded, her father had created a schedule of trainers and tutors for every minute of the day that the sun was up and one of the few times he had talked to her, he had instructed that she would be working hard to prove herself again. In the evenings of the last few weeks, Ellen could hear her mother and father fighting most days as her mother worked to convince him to let Ellen join her friends in Viera’s program. 

Her mother had talked to Viera three days after the incident that had led to Ellen and her friends losing their place at the Academy. Viera had offered the three of them the opportunity to move down south so they could be tutored by her. Viera had also promised that they could study at the Ol’Haran Institute, study magic with her personally, train with the very best adventurers from the war, and be given the opportunity to complete the Exams in the following year.

Her father had been of the opinion that sending her to one of the boarding schools in Breisachia so she could learn how good she had it in Weidenland. He had railed at Ellen’s mother about how Ellen was spoilt and her anger shouldn’t be rewarded with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Ellen shuddered at the memory. She’d been terrified when she’d heard him yelling. 

The day afterwards, he had come into her room and yelled at her. She’d cried her eyes out as soon as he left. It had been a bizarre, heartwrenching pain to sit in her bed and see her future in tatters in front of her and she still remembered the intense pain she’d felt as she curled up and hugged her pillow and bawled her eyes out. It felt surreal to be studying at the top school in Weidenland at the top of her class one day and then waking up the next day disgraced and with her bright future stolen away. She focussed on breathing through the panic that tightened her chest and keeping close enough for her to hear what her father was saying to Viera. 

“I can’t wait to see The Cliff Crypts,” Wosche whispered as he caught up to her.

She grunted in response and tried to close the distance with her father again.

“I am not worried about her enjoying her leisure time or her learning about the fine arts. She has her Exams in fourteen months and I need her focussed on catching up to win Lead in her results.” he continued.

Ellen clenched her jaw but didn’t correct her father. She had placed top in the Academy in her class-based results. She didn’t need to catch up on anything, she just needed to be allowed to do the Exams. And she didn’t want to go to the theatre anyway, every time she’d gone with her father, it had been really weird and much too long.  

Viera looked back and flashed her a smile. She had a kind face and a gentle soul, so Ellen was told. Ellen had only ever talked to Viera a few times over the years but when she spoke to her, she was struck by how genuine and kind Viera was. 

Viera must have been as old as her mum but she floated on her feet as she walked with her father and Alexia. She had this way that she moved amongst the people travelling up and down the hill that was enchanting. Everyone would part to make way for her seamlessly with many of them whispering excitedly as they did so. 

No doubt people whispered wherever Viera went in Weidenland. She was famous. She was one of the Queen’s closest advisors and the country’s greatest mage. With all of that fame and prestige, and Viera carried herself as if she was as light as a feather. 

“Why, Reginald. Do you think I wouldn’t be rigorous enough with the education of your daughter? Or Alexia’s son? Ellen and Wosche will be not only studying at the Institute, a college that has produced students that have rivalled the Academy in the past, but my own list of tutors and trainers that will elevate them beyond anything the capital could do.” Viera haughtily told her father. 

But Ellen’s father could reply, Viera continued, “And I will be instructing them as well. I am not ashamed to admit that I am the greatest mage of our time and I will be personally moulding your daughter into one of the most influential people in the north. Do you doubt my ability to do so?” Viera said, somehow seeming playful but firm as she argued.  

Ellen’s father grimaced, “Viera, you were raised in Kudraul with annual school trips to Ilreana for your artistic pilgrimages as you called them. You earnt your way and you reached the very top of Weidenland’s court through your own merit. But your plan requires time and you are busy with so much. What you suggest is amazing but Ellen needs a firm hand if she is going to get her life back on track.”

“Almost the top.” Viera corrected him, “And I am busy but I will be in the town keeping close tabs on our wayward cherubs for the year. I am committed to instructing them every week and we will be reading the most current literature and the latest developments in magic. She will have her training at the Estate with trainers that I have selected and my personal assistant, Thredrin Shipeur of the House Ahlaf. They will experience contracts and real fighting with the likes of the Red Damnables who can equip them with the most valuable weapon of all in battle: experience.” Viera slowed to a stop and faced Ellen’s father while she continued, “And then, she will return for her Exams. A phoenix, reborn.”

Her father stood there and glowered at her but said nothing. Viera waited patiently until Ellen and Wosche joined the three of them, “Ellen and Wosche and all of the children will get an experience that none of their peers could even dream of sitting in the dusty classrooms of the Academy.” 

Ellen watched in awe as her father faltered in front of Viera. Her father had told Ellen how Viera was a force of nature. Before all of the drama of Ellen being expelled, he had complimented Viera’s vigour when they had their Sunday Family dinner and told Ellen and her mother that Viera would bring real change to their country. 

“She might even come to miss her life in Kudraul, Reginald. Absence can make the heart grow fonder as Mage Propertius said.” Alexia added from the other side of Viera. Throughout the whole day, Alexia had simply said that she was pleased to let her son join Ellen and the others down south. Wosche said that she had been less pleased when he’d told her that he’d be skipping the Exams for the year so that he could join them in the south.

Ellen’s father said that Alexia had been thin long ago before she met Wosche’s father, Hult. Ellen’s father laughed at how the life of nobility had fattened the both of them up. Discipline was what set the Houses apart from the rich was what he told Ellen and bragged that Wosche’s family were evidence of that fact. 

Ellen tried not to look at her father as he huffed and stalked away down the road and away from the group. He had taken her to Ol’Haran personally and he had agreed to meet Viera to discuss the idea of Ellen moving south. Personally. But he hadn’t promised to be happy about it and now Ellen’s mother was a few hundreds of kilometres away, he let his anger show completely. 

Viera followed Ellen’s father with Alexia close behind. Ellen stood with Wosche and tried to focus on her breathing. It was a good sign that he would come down and he was negotiating with Viera. It was in Filliene’s hands now and Ellen had faith that he would come around. 

“If I stay, I am going to buy some looser clothes. Mother gave me some coins to buy new clothes that suit the weather better.” Ellen brought up off-handedly before starting to make off after the adults.

Wosche caught up with her again and walked quietly next to her. He was a head shorter than Ellen and still in his lanky teenager phase, even though he was twenty one. He had an absent look on his face while he walked next to her but it wasn’t an unusual expression for him. He was a dreamer and a layabout and maddingly brilliant when he wanted to be and, most importantly, one of her closest friends. He always told her he loved how she grounded him and she, on rare occasions, admitted that he lifted her up. 

He had curly sandy brown hair and golden brown skin that matched a lot of the light green and yellow that he preferred to wear. Most of his clothes were tight fitting to show off his impressive size and he wore several gaudy rings on his hands, several being his tournament champion rings that he swore he just liked to wear because they were pretty. 

He was a scamp and he drifted through their schooling at the Academy all year, with little regard that he was getting high scores despite sleeping through some of the classes. And he’d keep getting away with it because of the simple fact that he was so damned naturally talented. 

He had skated through  his first studies at the Academy and received some of the highest marks of his year in the Exams, then he became a tournament champion at nineteen, picked up the guitar well enough to play at First House of Thenfeld’s End of Year celebration, and then dropped everything to join the Academy once again so he could do the Exams a second time. Ellen had been worried when he’d first returned to the Academy in her final year. She was already having to contend with Teon, Riu, and Rean with all of her studies and then to have him suddenly come back for a redo made Ellen very nervous about her chances of getting Lead Student. 

He’d then proceeded to sleep through most of his History classes and distract Teon when he could instead of studying. And she and him became fast friends outside of class.

When Ellen pressed him on how he could be so casual about his studies, he told her that his path had been paved by Daelos. And he paved it in gold, Wosche bragged, and who was he to move against Daelos’ wishes. 

Wosche mucked around in the classroom and breezed through the martial lessons in the training grounds. He was decent with most weapons but truly incredible with the rapier and the instructors at the Academy had lost to him several times. He told her that duelling was great fun but that he found the tournaments to be unnecessarily stressful. Ellen could feel him only half-assing his sparring with her until it was the final bout and it drove her insane. 

“He’ll come around, Ellen. He wouldn’t have dragged you all the way down here with all your luggage if he wasn’t going to let you stay.” Wosche responded flippantly.

Ellen barked a laugh and whispered back, “He’d be fine with me carrying my bags all the way home and on my back too. That or he said he might just take me straight to Breisachia after this.”

“Oh,” Wosche responded and then frowned, “I hadn’t considered that.”

The knot in Ellen’s stomach tightened again. Her mother had put her foot down last week in front of the Family to make her father finally relent. She’d caused quite a scene at the High Garden and Ellen’s father had been advised by several of the other House members to let Ellen join the others in Ol’Haran from what Ellen had heard. 

Ellen didn’t want to move to Breisachia. It was said to be the holy lands for humans but she’d heard such horrible stories of how depraved the Breisachian nobility were. The idea of her being taken away from her friends and family to be sent to the jaws of their high society sat like lead in her stomach.

The idea of travelling there was especially galling to her considering her other option was to join Viera. Ellen had to pinch herself at the idea of Viera herself coming to her rescue. She could remember the day when she’d spotted the gold laced carriage coming up the driveway and Viera stepping out to her parents in front of Ellen’s own home. The talk of adventure and redemption when Viera had pitched the idea of Ellen and her friends coming down south had lit a fire deep in Ellen. Even the thought of her moving to Ol’Haran filled her with energy. If Viera could just get her father to let her stay, Ellen knew she could show Viera that she was the Academy’s very best. 

Ellen’s hand brushed past the hilt of her sword and she felt a shiver of excitement. She hadn’t trained for several days, and she was starting to really feel the itch. She had trained every day from when she was young, being pushed to learn not only the shield and sword but spear, lance, and bow during her years at the training grounds. She and all of her friends had been brought up to not only succeed but excel and their parents had encouraged them to stick close together as they prepared themselves for the Weidenland court.

Ellen unclasped and then reclasped her sword scabbard out of habit. She’d have to wait until the following morning to get her practice in, realistically. Her father told her not to expect to be home until supper and he’d want her back working through her arithmetic work to make up for the last afternoon as soon as they returned home. 

And then, she’d only get to really train if Wosche managed to wake up and make his way to the Hiford Estate before her father called on her. Ellen frowned at the idea. There was little hope of him getting up early when he wasn’t in the Academy and whenever their sparring was self-imposed. 

“After training tomorrow, we can try that restaurant we walked past before or we can visit the River Markets if we start early enough,” Ellen brought up casually. 

“I don’t think I will be at training tomorrow. Too tired from the road.” Wosche stifled a yawn, “if I wake up feeling better, I will stop by maybe.”

Ellen tried to stop herself from rolling her eyes, “You said we’d get some training in. Why don’t you head to bed early tonight and then we can get an early start?” 

Training by herself meant she’d be limited to conditioning and stretching, both being a far cry from real sparring. And if he made it to sparring, he would enjoy himself.

“We’ll see,” Wosche replied unphased. He walked alongside her, gently gliding over the weathered steps and his gaze fixed on the southern neighbourhoods of Ol’Haran, “We could also go for a bit of a walk around the city and learn about merry old Schlupunt.”

“I wish,” Ellen let out a resigned sigh. What she would give to be able to explore the city with Wosche. The history of Ol’Haran was fascinating and the southern province’s bloody history was said to be written all across the city. Ol’Haran had once been the capital of the previous kingdom, the Kingdom of Schlupunt, that ruled over the Valley of Shadows, and learning about it had always been fascinating to Ellen. It was a hotly contested region in the north and several of the greatest battles in remembered history were fought there. 

Since Weidenland annexed the Kingdom of Schlupunt, it had brought only strife to the Houses that tried to control it. Ellen’s father would talk of the issues that plagued the south when they talked and scorn the Houses foolish enough to try and manage the unruly southerners. Ellen had tried to block out their conversations about what he would have done if he were the Head of House Hiford.

To her father’s credit, his opinion was shared with many in Kudraul. Ellen’s teachers in the Academy would lament the issues that the south brought to their country and Ellen had heard many Family members from different Houses bicker and complain about the constant hostilities that arose between Karitia and Weidenland. The issues that arose were constant and the southern Houses struggled to do much about it. 

“It will be interesting to spend time in the Hiford province. Once it is just us, we might be able to get some time to sight see.” Ellen slowed her pace to keep with Wosche’s smaller gait. 

“When we go on contracts, we should be able to see a lot of the south. Camping under the stars and eating coal-cooked meat and potatoes over the campfire.” Wosche replied dreamily.

Ellen brimmed with excitement at the idea of contracts. The idea of working with adventurers had captured her imagination when she was young but only ever as a passing fancy. She’d heard of their heroics in the Northern War and marvelled at what the adventurers were meant to have done. The army had battled tooth and nail to hold the ursa tribes back and the adventurers of Weidenland had been at the very forefront of the war, doing what others could only dream of. Many agreed that the actions of the adventuring parties like the Reeth Walter Party, the Red Damnables, and the Golden Hour had changed the tides of the war for Weidenland.

And, at some point in the future, Ellen would be meeting the Red Damnables according to Viera. Viera had told her that she’d get to learn from them first-hand. Ellen was devastated to lose her chance at her final year prom and her Exams but the idea of real adventures and a tailored tutelage from the Red Damnables had gone some way to soothing her wounds.

Ellen increased her pace to catch up to the adults again. Her staying in Ol’Haran was dependent on if her father gave his permission. Her mother had left it up to him at the end and she would be no further help back home.

Her father had rejoined Viera and Alexia and they were in a heated conversation once again, only this time at a crossroad on the corner of the street. Ellen hovered close by the edge of the group but made sure not to get too close to draw attention. 

The idea of her father saying no to Viera was doubtful in Ellen’s mind. The fact Viera had come to visit them and now met with them personally in Ol’Haran meant a lot. It was the Viera Courfelt. No one said no to Viera. 

Viera pointed to the left down a side street and coaxed Alexia and her father forward. Ellen checked on Wosche behind before following the adults. When she checked back again, Wosche smiled warmly and gave her a little wave as he turned the corner.

Ellen caught up and began to shadow her father again. She had a similar stature to him by the age of sixteen and in the last few years, she’d only continued to put on mature muscle from her training. She was stronger than most of her peers and relished in how much she was able to lift and the power she had in her body. 

It hadn’t been easy for her to get to where she was, she’d had to work ceaselessly since she was young to be the best and she refused not to be the best. Her father agreed. He didn’t care what his children chose to do with their lives, so long as they were the best at it in all of the kingdom. 

Her dream to be the Queen’s Guard fit nicely into his aspirations at least. He had asked her to change her goal to be the Lead of the Queen’s Guard and she happily complied if that was all he wanted. 

To get there, it required her full focus. And since that day, she’d performed her duties, trained tirelessly, and worked her ass off to prepare herself to win the position of Lead in her final school year Exams. She had conditioned herself to deal with stress and excel in it to be great not only through the grace of the Good Gods but through their own determination and resilience. 

When he heard about her expulsion, he had gone ballistic. She had been there when the attendant had brought the principal’s letter to their home and shrunk into the corner of the room to avoid his ire. He had screamed at the attendant for half an hour and then dragged Ellen to the Academy to yell at Principal Ade in person on the same day. He swore up and down that she would lose her job for expelling Ellen and she and her father hadn’t left until the sun went down. 

To Ellen’s knowledge, he had not talked to principal Ade or contacted the Academy since that day. He had erased the day from his memory and not discussed it unless it was absolutely necessary.

Even on the trip to Ol’Haran, he had not spoken to Ellen unless he’d had to. He rode ahead and refused to acknowledge why they had made the trip south with Wosche and his mother. 

Ellen pulled at her shirt’s collar and undid her top button. She dabbed her forehead with her handkerchief and gave the back of her neck a once over. She had changed her shirt before they started their walk but she could already feel her back starting to become sweaty again. The street began to curve and slowly descend down the hill again, with one of the town’s gates coming into view. 

In the neighbourhood below, Ellen could see the crowd waiting at the gate as the traffic brought everyone to a slow grind. Peaking just over the gate, the expansive green jungle spread out before her.

“It should be to the left from here. This is the street, I believe.” Viera had a finger to her lips and was deep in thought. Alexia and Ellen’s father waited patiently, watching the crowd bustle around them. 

Viera had assured them that they wouldn’t need an escort nor guide for their trip to the Silver Spoon Tavern. She’d waved away a guard who offered to join them. Her father shook his head as he watched Viera try to orientate herself and Ellen had no doubt he was fuming about it internally.

Ellen checked her belt again and watched the crowd pass them by disinterestedly. To them, they were surely just some wealthy travellers. That was unless someone recognised Viera.

“Let’s have a little look see. It seems as if we should have got that guide.” Viera crossed the street and went down one of the smaller streets. She walked confidently and the rest followed her. 

“I agree. That’s why I suggested we get the guard to join us. You told us you know where we are going, Viera.” Ellen’s father grouched next to Ellen. He took a few steps forward and looked up at the street sign for the narrow street they stood in front of, “Diawent Alley.”

Ellen mouthed the name beside him and felt a tinge of familiarity. The houses on the side streets of Ol’Haran were tall and skinny with most having at least two storeys which she found fascinating. Despite only being an hour after noon, the shadow had begun to encroach on the narrow street again and the tall houses helped to block the sun from the street they walked on. People crowded around them and pushed them along the little alley packed with activity. Ellen tried not to stare as she passed through the crowd, conscious of the people hurrying on both sides of them. 

There were so many oruks down south, it had been a bit of a culture shock for her. 

Not that she had anything wrong with oruks. The Academy had had a few oruk students and she had worked with them in class and they were lovely. It was just seeing so many of them in the city was strange. It was no wonder the south had such issues with Wild Magic. 

“Would it help to ask someone for directions?” Alexia suggested next to Ellen. She was breathing heavily from the walk and used a large ornate fan to cool herself down.

“We will if we need but I think it is,” Viera paused and walked quickly ahead into another busy crossroad before she continued, “right here.” She pointed across the crowd to a busy four-storey tavern on the corner of the street and let out a bated breath. A large sign swung overhead with its name, The Silver Spoon Tavern.