Jeff was stretching in the light cold of the new morning out in front of the smaller wall of the gated houses of the academy. They had arrived late in the night and had stumbled straight off to bed. He made sure that his apologies were sent to the headmaster for not being able to meet with him personally upon their arrival. Come morning he got a letter that gave a generic welcome and understanding about their exhaustion.

He also got an eye full inside the second story bathroom of his brother with his pants around his ankles while he and an equally undressed maid went at it. From then on it was decided that Andrew would stay in one of the rooms on the first floor. Although Jeff supposed he would be in a similar situation once the paper work for the service went through.

Annie came out in a more office appropriate black suit/dress instead of the pseudo maid outfit earlier.

"Well sir, I will be heading out. If you have any questions I will be in the MPF section of the tower. We're on the first floor so if you have any concerns or needs just stop on by" She held out her hand after a stiff moment which was awkwardly returned by Jeff who gave a look into her eye's. A light cough was all she said in return and she then went off towards the tower.

Jeff looked back for a quick moment and then went towards the main gate. A series of quick steps behind him and a slap on the back told Jeff his brother was now ready to join him.

"Dude", the red head said as he quickly devoured the last bits of his morning toast.

"Just wear a sign over your crotch that say's 'Property of My Assistant' next time, just in case anyone didn't get what the tension between you two was about".

A solid punch to the shoulder and a scowl was Jeff's first response.

"Keep it down you idiot, remember your station as a son of the president." Jeff shot back in his second volley of the exchange.

A loud guffaw was all Jeff got for his correction.

Ryan was already by the gate. Judging by the small crowd accompanying him, Ryan already managed to get a large gathering of friends. As the brothers walked up they picked up on the conversation, which Ryan was naturally at the center of.

"But, if there was a dragon out here would you be able to stop it?" a girl with short brown hair about early 20's asked with wide eyes.

"I think so. The scionic people, which is our in group name for ourselves, don't fully mature until we manifest our familiars. Even then we still need to grow along with our familiars. But we are considerably stronger than other mages and have the spirits of lions, so naturally we would be at the front if any such fight broke out. You need not worry when you have me around." Ryan said, puffing out his chest in pride at his own heroic bravery.

This set of a wave of ooh's and aww's from the surrounding women. Although there was a pair of two boys by Ryan's side. Twins with short brown hair and sharp noses to match with their sharp chins. They, along with everyone else present, were wearing the school uniform.

The two brothers rolled their eyes at this display, with Andrew wondering were Ryan got this nonsense of the 'scionic' people from. This groups intentions were painfully obvious and their amateur, bumbling attempts at sycophancy would make even the most incompetent member of congress back home seem like a world renowned actor. But fortunately for them, their target seemed to not let something like authenticity get in the way of his daily recommended dose of praise.

"Hey bro, whose that lady over there?" Andrew whispered to his brother. The woman in question was the near 6 foot tall blond with a white short dress showing off thigh high black leather boots instead of the simple white sheet everyone else had. She was a beauty with red lips, sky blue eyes and soft cheek bones. Her choice of companionship was far more discerning than Ryan's with only a black haired girl with librarian glasses and another with short choppy red hair and a fierce grin to accompany her.

"Well maybe if you kept your head in the info packet Annie made instead of putting your other head in the maid, you would know." Jeff said severely. Andrew at least had the good graces to look away.

"Her name is Veronica, and she is the daughter of the MPF's leader of this region, who is also a member of the Palantia MPF council. Sadly, she is also infertile so she cannot fulfill her greatest duty but she still has a bright future as her talent with water is exceptional. The two girls are childhood friends who were with her through her gestation. Although most of the info surrounding Veronica and her friends abilities is still out of our reach."

In the mage world, letting people get too much information on what you can do is a good way to get ambushed and put down by your rivals.

Off in the distance Jeff saw an odd figure approaching from the town in the middle of the peasant masses. He had silver hair and purple eyes with a wiry 6 plus foot build. His eyes were tinged with a sense of indifference. He had the same school uniform as the others but with what he assumed had been a full helmet. But it had its top half removed leaving two steel wings on each side of the guys face with a slope of steel going down the side and back of his neck to hold it in place. This was used to hold a veil of chain mail over his face, covering him from the nose down.

"Is that the new crafter?" someone whispered behind Jeff's back.

"Yeah I heard he actually tried to leave the academy when he heard that he had to attend."

"Well, I was hanging around the office and the student attendant said he was actually concerned about the money which is why he stays in the town"

A third gossip huffed at that. "Oh please, anyone with enough money to get him to crafter level wouldn't blink at the money to send him to the academy."

Eventually he made his way to the group and just leaned against the wall ignoring everyone. Which was fine with Jeff and Andrew, while Ryan seemed a little miffed at his lack of interest in his tremendous future deeds. Veronica was maintaining her usual disinterest in everyone around her.

Things continued like this for a few minutes until a squad of troops came to escort them to the classrooms. A walk of 25 minutes on a well worn path through the forest brought them to a large circle of stone like a large fort made of one whole building. It was made in the same white and seamless style of the dorms. A clearing of several yards surrounded it with bare grass. The height was nearly a full third taller than the dorms walls with a wide round roof covering its top like a embellished mushroom top with gold inlays and red tiles as well as dotted with windows on various parts of the roof and wall.

It had a smaller version of itself near its back attached by several open air walkways with guard rails. The major distinction it had from it's bigger cousin was that its roof was nearly hollow with, a metal framework outlining a similar mushroom shape. Eli could see a few odd bouts of fire, water, and rocks coming out over the sides of the roof.

Coming into the building through a large metal double door, they were partially blocked by a work crew doing something with the doors inner side.

"Whats the problem here?" Andrew asked.

The crew stopped, surprised that a scion would deign to notice them.

"Milord, there is a problem with the enchantment that helps open the doors for students. We think it got hit with a winding air spell from the practice tower" said the man wearing a hardened foreman helmet typical to the academy's maintenance department. The rest just had regular work clothes in the same white and blue color scheme as the rest of the staff. Andrew nodded and went to catch up with the rest of the group.

The main hall looked like a library with a large circling staircase around a massive central pillar of smooth grey stone in the middle that could let 4 or 5 people move one way. The dark oak of the tables and chairs against the dark grey stone of the floors and walls contrasted by the deep red of the carpets lent this place a more classic medieval look. Although the lighting here was provided by mana stones of varying brightness similar to the churches.

However a lot its younger denizens did not seem to hold the place in equally stoic terms. The various arguments could be heard throughout the multiple open air floors. Some of them leaned casually against the wooden guard rails on each floor.

A middle aged woman came up to the group. She rather plain with faint lines around her green eyes and short brown hair which was just a few inches lower than the soft plush hat that all the faculty wore. Aside from that, the robe was the same as the students except their under coat was a two piece of a light blue upper jacket and white pants.

"Excuse me dear children, If you would follow me. There are some special circumstances that will be surrounding your tutelage this time around. " She motioned to a huge table which could hold the 13 members of their group as well as the three other people sitting at it. Eli noticed that the people already at the table had the same hollow circle pin he had.

"As you all no doubt know there are 3 scions in our academy now. While Veronica is close to finishing her basics, she still has a few subjects left and master Tansen thinks having all 3 scions getting to know each other and people in other tiers of magic will be the best course of action as opposed to the sole self study we typically do. You will have group study session until lunch after which you may study anywhere and in any way you wish."

Ryan and Veronica frowned at this. The rest of the class was excited to make connections with the scions, although Eli was still unmoved.

"But for the new students, know that just goofing around and blowing off work will still have consequences. We have 4 month semesters, at the end of which students are tested on the subjects they have studied. The end of this one will be in 3 weeks. It culminates in exceptionally performing students being recognized. People who are determined to be lacking in their studies are put on strict schedule to get back on course, and then some." The stern look on her face left no doubt as to the fate of those unfortunates.

"John and Wendy go with Veronica's team, so you can work on history and etiquette while the new comers do basic magic concepts." A portly fellow of around 19 years and a skinny red head with freckles all over her cheeks and nose got up and went with Veronica's team to the main stair case, their room apparently on an upper floor.

"Ryan you seem to have a little group already, so lets have the twins make up a group with Andrew, Jeff, Joey.and.." She motioned towards Eli, apparently not as phased by his decision to wear the chain veil as some of the other staff. Some of whom were quite content to stare openly until their curiosity was sated.

"Eli"

"Eli, will head over to the room" She pointed to a room off to the left.