After handing the still suspicious boy into the trustworthy hands of Annie and Drake with an ample amount of food and on the way to take a long due bath, Titania dressed for school.
It might seem ironic but mother valued education. She herself never got a good education, but she made certain all her children had the best money could buy. This included the Rivesi Private Academy, an Academy for the magical elite. The entrance requirements were a birth order higher than three and more money than they could spend in a lifetime.
Since Orders dictated power, skill and potential and there were only ten of them, being born with innate third or above order was exceedingly rare and usually only occurred in Families that had a long magical legacy. Few fulfilled those requirements and from the exactly seventy five students, the ones monopolizing the top five ranks ever since their first year were members the Tarajan, the Lumiere and the Zhang Family.
The Tarajan were counted as upstarts, freaks due to their origin, some even categorized them as temporary occurrences. But still their power was real; her mother 's diverse marriages also made certain they had a long line of titles and a lot of nominal prestiges to match the others. Upstarts they might be but they were equal when it came down to the hard facts.
Drawing in a breath of air, she closed her slightly tight trousers. She might have to get a new pair in a while, or lose a few kilos. Slipping into a white blouse with black embroidery at the edges of her shirt, a black phoenix embroidery wandering up her arm with a green sapphire eye announcing her allegiance. Finally, a black tie on her neck and a small handgun fastened to her side; both hidden underneath a long black coat. She slipped into her sneakers, grabbed her secondary weapon; a small throwing knife, put it into her pocket for immediate use and took her favorite hat from the clothing stand. After a last smile in the mirror, she took her bag and headed down the stairs. At the door she turned around.
"Bye-bye, I am off to school!" she shouted into the room before closing the door behind her and left, skipping, she headed off the pathway through their gardens. Left and right the greenery was flourishing, here and there a rosebud peaked out; soon they would be blooming. The birds were chirping and the sun shining, this was really promising to be a nice day. She ran till she was standing in front of the big iron gate that announced to the world who lived here. A gigantic stylized Phoenix was raising its head, the wings slightly spread and a gleaming green eye made of glass stared down at the world in defiance.
A sign of their identity, mother once said she liked the Phoenix because according to legends no matter what setbacks it had it would always rise more glorious than before from it’s ashes.
She knocked at the gatekeeper's small cabin and waved at him, smiling. The old man smiled back, his wrinkled face lit up from his usually grim expression, and waved, the small side gate was opened for her and she stepped outside to look to her left where she saw a small flash of silver hidden away.
The confirmation letting her take a relieved breath.
A wave at her always invisible bodyguard, Lyle, that she knew he was there. The man was truly an invisible guardian who took out most dangers before they got dangerous. The constant companion ever since she was a baby signaled another flash of silver back.
There was a bus to school but she preferred walking the two kilometers; there were a few shortcuts and small pathways she enjoyed. The small walk to school and the fresh air through the half wilderness did wonders for her concentration in class.
Their house was close to the noisy city, well accessible and in walking distance of the Academy, but since the land was owned by them it was mostly left to itself; it acted like a small oasis, a natural barrier towards other people.
She heard of things that happened here in the beginning of their rise, entire massacres, if one were believed but it was before her time, Chry started laughing at such rumors and once told her the only thing that ever happened in those woods was a few policeman getting lost in their mothers illusion magic and walking in circles.
There even was a video feed of how they walked around in circles for days always ending up back at their entrance, it was admittingly hilarious to watch.
Enjoying the fresh morning air, the slight moisture around her from the first signs of spring fully springing into gear. The greenery around her was blooming, lush and shimmering in brilliant colors, she turned around and spread her arms enjoying the feel. A small tree with white bark and purple leaves grew not too far from her and she stopped seeing her acquaintance.
"Hello, hope you’re fine." she muttered while crouching down and taking out her lunch box from the bag and opened it.
Fishing out the bacon from it she put it in front of the tree. "This is for you."
The small purple leaves trembled and one thin breakable rank twisted itself around her finger, swaying and giving her their thanks.
"You’re welcome." She said to her small young and still fragile friend, it trembled again and she put her box back into the bag, “Be careful and have a nice sunny day.”
The leaf closed itself tighter around her finger and silently the tree started to devour it’s meal.
Well it is still young, at this rate it might even become my first real friend.
Most people were either trying to lick her boots or they just hated her; detesting her for being Tarajan and making no secret out of it. She almost preferred the latter the most in her surroundings since she at least knew where she was with them. Blatant hatred was more comfortable than sly words, talking behind her back or even polite smiles.
"I have to head to school now, goodbye.", she said and stood up waving the purple leafed monster tree goodbye as it hesitatingly let her finger go . It was one of few monsters that lived this close to the city and the reason why it hadn't been killed was that only Tarajan people were active this close to their house and everyone knew she liked the velvet leaf tree. It was a carnivore tree so it only consumed meat but was not restricted to what kind of meat it ate, thus the beacon feeding it also had the additional effect of keeping it from hunting other things, especially human beings like it’s relatives who lived elsewhere.
The rest of the way was as usual, silent and peaceful, only the last few hundred meters the sound of people and civilization became hearable. Breaking out of the green, the small pathway led her almost directly to the school's entrance. She walked over the cobblestone pavement towards the ancient building that was the academy without worries. The other students made a way for her as soon as they saw her, whispering in the back; she ignored them. Other girls were mostly wearing skirts and eyeing her for the fact she wore pants. There were also a few uniforms she didn’t recognize.
Walking through the gate, she opened the door and went upstairs to the second floor where her class was.
Class A stood above it and she entered, "Morning." She greeted and discovered that again she was the second one to arrive.
The other person already present was Amita Lumiere. As usual her grayish hair bound in a ponytail, wearing a uniform with a knee length skirt, all in all being a perfect model student, painting a great contrast to Titania who wore pants and her long dark brown hair open.
"Good morning." She said back, "Tarajan.”
Titania forced a smile, "Lumiere." she greeted back, and was thankful mother had been lured away successfully from pursuing this girl's father. It would have been a pain if they ended up together, and Amita became her adopted sister.
The two silently glared at each other a while before Titania took her place on the last row as far away from Amita as she could get. Slowly, the remaining students trickled in, and eventually class began.
First thing up today was magic theory. Since it was almost at the beginning of the year they were still doing recaps of the last one. It was boring since they had been doing the same stuff for three years now. Taking out her slightly ancient tablet with keyboard she put it up and leaned back. Everyone used Holo Screens today but she preferred the good old feeling of hacking on her keyboard for letters instead of them being saved by an autonomous Program that recorded and summarized the important things.
Their Teacher walked in, behind her was a boy; he was blond and a bit taller than the others in class, "Good Morning." The teacher said, In response, everyone stood up saying their canon: "Good Morning Teacher"
"Take a seat." The teacher said, "Before we start lessons today I'd like to introduce you to a new classmate of yours." She gestured to her left. "This is Mikael Connor, he is a bit older than you and comes from the city of Rieta. The reason why he is here is because he is not used to speaking our language and still needs to learn."
"Teach." Someone called out and raised their hand. "What order is he?"
"Ask him yourself, Talon." She said and Talon moved his expectant gaze to Mikael.
"I sixth Order, mental branch."
Talon let out a sigh. "Great… another Mental guy; more work for me during the next hunt."
Titania knew that their class was imbalanced in that regard but it was a bit much for Talon to act like this, especially since the new one looked slightly lost at his words.
"He-" she tried to say.
"Talon, we do not condone such thinking. Mikael, you can take any seat you want." She told him and Mikael nodded at that. He walked up to Titania and pointed at the seat next to her, "Can I?" He asked her.
She nodded at him,"Go on ahead." She spoke to him while being quite aware of the fact that tomorrow, he would know who she was and move away.
"I Mikael, call me Mikki, you?" He leaned his head to the side.
"Titania. I am also a mental branch by the way. Seventh Order Oath Mage." She said, speaking a bit slower than usual.
"Oath Mage, seventh?"
"Yeah, Promise mage." She repeated herself in other words and he seemed to understand, "And seventh order."
"That high." he said with wonder and she nodded. Seventh order was high, she was purely by rank higher than anyone else in class, higher then even Amita; just her ability was so specific that it was basically useless outside her speciality and even more useless during battle. Nothing more than a hindrance in a fight.
"Ladies, Gentlemen, may I have your attention, today we will be repeating the ranking of powers and the mastery levels." The teacher said and a general annoyed groaning erupted; it was such a basic thing and everyone had heard it so often it was annoying. "Does anyone want to explain the basics?"
Amita raised her hand and on principle Titania followed, no way in hell she would pretend not to know or to be too annoyed to not know an answer when Amita raised her hand. The two of them were enemies in more than Family name or personal dislike, they also stood right next to each in the rankings as the best students. Amita more a proper model student, Titania more an individualist.
"Amita.", the teacher called her and they both put their hands down.
"Yes, Magic abilities are divided into three types, physical, elemental and mental abilities. The physical ones include super strength, speed and weapons mastery. Elemental, as the name suggests, are abilities based on the six elements: water, fire, air, earth, light and dark. Mental ones are abilities like telepathy, oath magic, and illusions."
Amita took a breath, "Magic strength and skill is divided into ten orders, the potential of a person is decided by birth order, origin, and status." Amita looked at Titania with a cold expression, "A capable person is born with a birth order rank above the third and has a fitting background, meaning they are of ‘high born’ blood. Only this way will they will achieve greatness on the long run. The more skilled the mage, the higher the order they will be. Order one and two are low level mages, from order three to six someone is categorized as a mid level mage. Finally, Orders seven, eight, and nine are considered a high level mage; and level ten is an elite mage. Of course, your maximum potential is affected by your lineage.”
Titania rolled her eyes at the smug expression on Amitas face. God now she is just feeling proud of herself, probably forgetting she just insulted half of the people in class, not all of them were nobles like the Lumiere and the Tarajan the latter not even being birth nobles but just nobles in name from their mothers conquests. The majority of students came from either middle class families, and in some cases from even lower birth.
It was an advantage when someone was born into a high blood family, to be sure, but not a necessity to becoming a good mage. A skilled enough fourth rank mage could defeat someone of seventh rank depending on their abilities.
At least she could openly admit to the fact she didn’t even stand a chance against a third order mage without weapons if they were a combat category; her magic sucked at fighting. Miss high and mighty tough was a combat mage to the bone with her air manipulation.
Since it was what it was, Titania stayed silent and did not listen anymore; instead looking out of the window getting lost in thought. Next to her Mikki scribbled into his book and he smiled at her when she looked at him.
Do you want eat later on with me.
She was a bit surprised by that. Quickly, she scribbled a response.
I am Tarajan, you do realize that no? Are you sure about it?
He read through it and scribbled into his book again.
I know, Tarajan known but seem nice you do, name not determined who are you.
Titania was more than surprised and she couldn't help but be a bit excited, almost happy about his words. Even if he was to only do so for a bet. Having company once in a while during lunch was nice.
Then, yes why not.
"Tarajan, stop distracting our new student and pay attention!" the teacher growled at the front, "Please tell me about magic beast ranks."
Titania sighed, "...Magic beasts are divided very much the same as humans. First and second order are low level, third to six mid level, seven to nine are high, and then everything above is legendary. Their crystals are ranked the same and bring respective profit." she briefly explained and the Teacher nodded satisfied.
"Alright, then let us proceed.”
Titania proceeded indeed at ignoring her Teacher, who was doing the same thing they did at the beginning of every year; even grade schoolers knew this kind of stuff, much more the elite A classes.
The lessons were almost finished when the teacher announced, “For practice reasons the first hunt of the year will be happening in two days; tomorrow you don’t have class but please prepare anything you may need. If there is anything you are unable to get your hands on, but need, please submit a list to me by the end of this day.” She stated, before returning to work. Almost as an after thought, she added, “Oh and Lumiere, Tarajan. I wish to speak with the two of you after class.”
