Cateline tossed, her hands grazing over the cotton sheets of the bed that was stuffed with feathers and layered with smooth sheets. When she woke, a feather tickled her nose and earned a sneeze. All around her were stone walls, lanterns accenting them with a flickering flame inside. There was a standing mirror in the corner, right next to an armoire and chair. Cateline carefully set her feet onto the wooden floorboards, a loud creak earned as she stood upright.

Approaching the window, she saw a stretch of green grass as far as the eye could see, a dirt path paved from the wheels of a horse-drawn wagon stretching to the horizon. To the right, Cateline could see a collection of houses near a pond, to the left were the edges of cornfields and other patches of farmland. In the middle of it all, surrounding the region like a natural barrier were ranges of mountains so tall and grand it made her hold her breath. The sun was rising, rays peeking between the pointed crests. Trailing her fingertips along the stone, Cateline moved to the armoire.

Opening it, the doors hinges ached and screamed, silencing when she stopped moving it. Looking over her shoulder, she made sure nobody entered the room from all the noise before removing one of the gowns.

It was a simple thing, made of lilac cotton and white lace at the heart-shaped neckline, accented with a pure white bow at the waist. There were a few others that followed a similar premise, most of them gray or red. Returning the gown to its home, she closed the door quietly and looked at herself in the mirror.

Her skin still pallid, the bags beneath her eyes were dramatic and dark. She leaned closer, tracing her fingertip along the surface, and pouted at the puffy skin. Her cheeks normally had a rosy complexion to them, but this time she was left sickly. Her long black hair was knotted at the ends. She looked like a disaster. Moving her hand to her neck, she outlined the tiny puncture where the chisel had pressed against it. Her chest felt naked, the amethyst pendant she typically wore missing. Thinking back to her experience in the woods, she wondered if it was lost there.

That pendant was supposed to protect her against the instinct to use magic. Her parents told her magic was rooted in evil, and the necklace would keep her from it so long she wore it.

Looking back towards the bed, she walked over and grabbed a brush and began to slave away at the tangles. She was getting used to the feeling of not knowing where she was, but she was forever grateful this bedroom felt like home.

She slipped out of the gown Petunya had loaned her and into a fresh one, one that wasn't stained with the memory of that fight. Closing her eyes, Cateline recalled the voices she heard before falling faint. They were kinder than the drunkards who nearly raped and killed her, she found herself yearning to know who they were. Even if it were only to thank them.

Flashes of one of the attackers came to the forefront of her mind quickly, his gut and arm bleeding as it was stabbed with shards of ice. Her bottom lip trembling, she pinched her palm to resurface herself in reality and took a calming breath. She had no control over herself, but the idea she was able to harm a man so easily, possibly killing him, made her queasy.

At the door, there was a set of flats and a note on parchment paper stuck in the crack. Taking it between her fingers, she rubbed the velvety smooth surface before unfolding it.

Princess Cateline,

We have awaited your arrival for quite some time. We welcome you, and apologize you found yourself here in such trying ways. As you see fit, please find your way down to the foyer where we will introduce you to the headmistress. We welcome you to Lighthelm.

Sincerely,

Jaspar

Humming quietly, she set the note down and slipped the shoes on. Before opening the door, she glanced down at her palm and rubbed the spot where it should be raw and injured. Although it was smooth and seemingly untouched, the skin stung with every graze of her fingertip. Furrowing her brow, she dropped her arms to her side and found her way into the corridor. There were large, stained glass windows shedding rays of light through the stone walkway. The same rock from her room covered these walls, stretching up into tall, vaulted ceilings. The floor was white marble instead of wood, golden leaves in the center of black circles. Her shoes tapped against the flooring, a soft echo bouncing into the air as people talked further down the hallway. As she approached them, she held her hands together in front of her, waiting patiently for them to take notice.

They were twins, hair as red as a fiery sea and eyes as black as charcoal. Their skin was pale, but had the strangest tint of red to it. They didn't look human, and before Cateline could back away and pretend she never approached, they turned to her at the same time.

When they smiled, their canines were sharp. Their beady little eyes dragged from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet before they hummed simultaneously. "A newcomer," one of them said. This one was slightly taller than the other. "I am Percyphoni, and this is my sister Melydi."

It was like watching a mirror, both of their arms raising at the same time to wave. The sleeves of their shirts fell, revealing an illuminated rune marking their arms. This could have possibly been the only difference between them, because one had a rune in the shape of a vine, whereas the other looked to have a rune of fire.

"What is your name?" Melydi asked. Her dark eyebrow lifted up in an arch.

"Cateline," she responded in a whisper, curtsying before them, earning a chuckle from them. These two terrified her. It could have been their emotionless eyes.

"And what were you looking for, Cateline? You seem a bit lost." Percyphoni asked.

"The foyer? I was told to go... there."

They both clapped energetically and waved, urging her to follow. Cateline figured if she survived following a floating ball of light, she would survive following a set of twins. As the two of them bounced down the stairs, Cateline held onto the railing and looked in awe at the grand scale of this place. There were golden columns spread about the entryway, the vaulted ceiling cast with stained glass windows allowing light to rain down from the sky above. There were a handful of people walking around, talking amongst each other and disappearing out a back door. She caught sight of what looked like a courtyard before the doors closed her off.

This was no palace, but the accents and luminosity of it all was enough to make her pinch her palm and mistake this as home. The castle she grew up in became familiar to her, more familiar than it should have been. If Cateline closed her eyes, she would be greeted with lifelike images of her bedroom, of the balcony overlooking a meadow kissed with frost and rose mallows, of the gardens where she would pick vegetables with her favorite servant.

Out of all her recollections, Cateline cherished the memories of her picking plums, lettuce heads, and tomatoes with Alleyn. It was not because she enjoyed intensive labor, but entirely because he fed her knowledge. Of the stretches of moors that housed ogres, cyclopes, and dragons. Of the woes of battles and wars he would only tease at explaining. Of life outside a castle nestled in the heart of Axulran.

Alleyn was an elf; in fact, he was the only elf she had ever come to know. He had the whitest hair that fell just beneath his chin, a beard always so well-kempt and groomed. His ears pointed and eyes angular, Cateline would compare his irises to the sun; golden, radiant, and wise. Stare too long, and she'd go blind.

"Cateline," the duo called and tore her from her reverie. She smiled towards them and picked up the pace. "You have yet to meet the headmistress, correct?"

Nodding her head, Cateline held her hands behind her back and bit her tongue. She found it odd hearing people refer to her so casually. It wasn't a bad oddity, but one that struck her each time they simply said Cateline. The formalities were growing tiresome in Axulran, so she considered it a good change.

"You are in for a treat," Melydi said with a wide grin. "She's tall, you see. Taller than these columns, it seems."

"Exactly." Percyphoni agreed. "She is this harmony of old and young... I envy her for that. You know, it is rumored she ought to be one-hundred-and-three years old..."

"Percyphoni, do not lie!"

"I am only sharing what has been told to me!"

The two nodded towards each other and kept on their merry way, nearly forgetting that Cateline was trailing behind them. Eventually, they turned into a large corridor with breezeway windows on one side, and large double doors on the other. Each handle crawled up and around the door like a vine, the metal finish coating the wooden door in artistic brilliance. They both held a handle in their hands, looking at Cateline with mischief in their eyes.

"Are you ready?" Melydi asked.

"I do not think she is!"

Cateline made an awkward noise, her mouth parting just before they pulled the doors open wide. Inside was a grand library, one that was full of multilevel bookshelves made of deep brown oak and smelled of parchment paper. There were a few tables lined in rows, people sitting quietly with books stacked nearly to the ceiling. As she entered the room, she saw one of the encyclopedias turned on its own as the scholar grabbed at its spine.

At the end of the library was a grand stairway leading to two wings. The twins led her up the flight, hardly paying mind to the crisis the poor scholar was having as the book soared. Cateline couldn't help but stare for a moment, this type of magic was unseen and unheard of in Axulran. It was almost beautiful to her, the idea of a book having a mind of its own, outwitting the human who stared upon its all-knowing verses. Brilliant.

They brought her up the rightmost side of the stairwell, and as Cateline turned over her shoulder to look at the left side she saw a set of double wooden doors that read: Alchemy Room.

Just as they approached the entryway on the right-wing, the doors opened and a frantic man greeted them with a scowl. He had long, graying hair, black strands sprinkled throughout to signify he was, at one point in time, dark-headed. He had brown eyes, olive-toned skin, and wrinkles lining the corner of his mouth and eyes. A droplet of sweat trickled down his temple, falling onto the shoulder of his wrinkled shirt.

"Girls, what are you doing--" he paused, his eyes landing on Cateline. Straightening his shirt and pushing his hair into place, he bowed towards her and sighed shakily. "Princess Cateline, my deepest condolences. I was not expecting you to wake so early."

Cateline pinched her palms which were still held behind her back, looking between the twins who eyed her with bewilderment. She didn't bother to question how long she was asleep. "It's perfectly fine, and you are?" she asked, returning her stare to him.

"Jaspar, one of the alchemy instructors here. Please, come in. The headmistress has been awaiting you."

Jaspar moved to the side and gestured with an open hand for her to enter, his foot holding the door open as the twins moved out of the way. They still stood side by side, their eyes wide and mouths parted. Cateline figured royalty coming to a place of this grandity would have been a normal occurrence, but their awe made her doubt that ideology.

Moving into the room, her eyes trailed up the tall walls, deep-set windows climbing from floor to ceiling and ending in a pointed arch. At the point of the arch were three circles filling the area, stained glass flowers scattered throughout, green bordering the rest of the window. At the center of the room was a large, mahogany wood desk with a tree on either side of it. The trees' leaves were spectacular, luminous orbs floating at the leaves and shedding light onto the table.

Sitting at the table was a woman with her hair tied back into a braid, hair as white as snow that looked as soft as silk. Her skin, although dewy and blemish-free, had the smallest lines around her nose, mouth, and eyes. She lifted her eyes to look at Cateline, golden irises trailing from the trim of her skirt to the top of her head. With a subtle eyebrow raise, the woman stood and took a few careful steps towards Cateline, her physique slender and long. Her cheekbones ended at an exaggerated point, her ears just as striking and eccentric. An elf.

"Princess Cateline," she said with a wise and gentle smile, "I have waited a very long time for your arrival. I am the headmistress, Leolina, and I wanted to personally welcome you to Lighthelm academy."