“Rumours are just that: rumours, one should take them with a grain of salt”

“I will not! The rumours are not only more frequent but coming from more reliable sources. I personally welcome the introduction of a rogue, it could make for some decent entertainment for once.”

“I wouldn’t say that aloud again my friend, I’m fairly sure that is treason.”

“Don’t you worry, no one can hear us...”

...

“Oooooh, is that so, am I no one then?”

...

“I think you may have misheard me, Mrs. Saunders. I said - 'Don’t be funny, Mrs. Saunders will hear you.'”

“It matters not what you said, what matters is that you spoke. Zip your lips before I do it for you.”

“Yes Ma’am”

The one about to have his mouth forcibly sealed is Matthew, while the less talkative and slightly higher class character is Christopher. The teacher that has already been introduced is Mrs. Saunders. These people are only slightly important. The important one is the one sitting in the middle of all this, due to the layout of the desks, Marianne found herself right in the middle, on the right of Chris and the left of Matt. Her friend Jessica was seated directly behind her. They were at the front row.

She was quite a studious person, from a noble family but not a hugely high ranking one. She was modest and polite and never caused trouble. However, right now, she felt like ripping Matt’s head off and hitting Chris with it.

She had counted herself lucky at first to be at the front but after the two days of classes they had already gone through, she could not believe how wrong she was. At least Mrs. Saunders was a good teacher.

Magic Institute is attended when you reach 18. It is the most prime age for learning magic, and Marianne was going to spend it jammed in between the class jester and the know it all. She couldn’t have chosen a worse spot if she had tried.

What was vaguely interesting was the rumour they were talking about as she had heard it too on the first day of school from her previously mentioned friend, Jessica. Mrs. Saunders wrapped up the class and coincidently, the day. She left them with a piece of news, or a warning, which left the students dumbfounded. “The MCR have reported the existence of a rogue magician in Bath. All trainees are advised to stay within the safety of your house over the weekend. Rogue’s have been known to mostly target trainee magicians. Please keep your wits about you.”

Matt nodded to Chris after Mrs. Saunders finished he bounded into the air exclaiming to Chris. “He answered my call! Looks like it could get exciting around here, finally...”

Chris only shook his head as he headed out the classroom, “You had better hope for your own sake that it is not your call he answered.” Matt blinked and shivered slightly, but got over it just as quickly.

“Don’t be so serious Chris!”

“Don’t call me that! Actually, do... Or not...” Matt carried on laughing. Chris used to be and still is a very proper mannered boy. So much so that Matt just could not leave him alone. He was always called Christopher and believed Chris to be too crude and impolite, however, he knew that friends should address each other accordingly so he was having a bit of a crisis.

Marianne sighed as she watched the two boys leave the classroom, Jessica who had already prepared to leave was waiting by the door. “Another noisy one for you, I wonder if Mrs. Saunders will allow a change in the seating position.”

“I highly doubt it, not after all that stuff about magicians being equal, whether they are male or female, common or noble.”

“That is true”

Marianne sighed, “I can deal with it for now, do you have any plans for the weekend. I know there’s an opening of a new beauty palour on Westgate Street. Fancy wondering down with me?”

“I’d love to, I shall be free tomorrow, let us meet at the potion shop near our houses, I need to stock up as well.”

“Good idea, sounds delightful, let us go home then.”

Magicians cannot fly, but they can teleport. Teleportation circles were extremely complicated, the student also had to alter the circle each time to make sure they teleported to the correct location so there were usually large queues, even still, it was the fastest method of transportation available.

Marianne and Jessica continued their idle chatter until their turn at the circle came, Marianne waved goodbye to Jessica, then edited the circle to port to the town centre, she had something to do today.

So as to make sure everyone's location stays a secret school employed workers to come in after every student and erase the code for their location.

Marianne swept the street with her two green eyes, they looked like jade against the pure white background. The colour complemented her dark blonde hair perfectly. She stood at around five foot three with a relatively slim body. She did not so much stand out amongst the crowd but she definitely did not blend in either. She found the street she was looking for and headed towards it, a fair amount of horse and carriages trundled along, after all, it was the city centre.

Marianne worked to dodge them as she crossed the road to a small shop, the sign read: Madame Morrison's Wands and Staffs. Wands or staffs were not required to use magic, however, after doing a lot of tests they found that specific types of wood could channel your magic, this allowed for a lot better control over the output, so for people that specialise in delicate magic, they are a must.

“Welcome my dear, I’m so glad you made it.”

“I’m glad to be here Madame Morrison.”

“Oh please darling, Sheila is fine.”

“Thank you, Sheila.”

“Come round the back so we can put you in uniform, I must admit I am very surprised and humbled, for a noble such as yourself to come and work in a shop, even working under a commoner. You have a strong heart.”

“I just want to do my part.” She sweetly smiled at the old lady and went to the back to fit her uniform.

While it was true that she wanted to help the lady at the shop, there were a variety of other reasons, some, of course, selfish. The first being so that she could stay out of the house for a bit longer each day. Her family was driving her mad and with the added stress of the clown duo at school she really needed some quiet time. Another being that she wanted to get special treatment for her future wand purchases. The last being that wand and staff construction was one of the subjects she had chosen at school so this was a very relevant job.

She came out of the back room wearing the shop uniform. The shirt was a light wooden colour, similar to her hair, meanwhile, the skirt, which went down to just below her knees, was a jet black. She looked gorgeous.

“You look gorgeous!”

“Oh Sheila, you flatter me.”

“I merely describe what I see, now, come. Let me show you the ropes.”

The shift was coming to an end, it was only a few hours so there was not a huge amount to do, it was mostly cleaning. Marianne had no problem with that.

She waved goodbye to Sheila after changing out of her work clothes and back into her loose dress. She took a step outside and paused, realising, finally, that it was going to take a while to get home. There were no teleport circles in the town. Luckily she did not live too far away and the streets were safe around this part of town. She hesitated though when she recalled the warning her teacher had given them before leaving class today, but, shrugged it off. ‘What are the chances?’ Is what was going through her mind at that exact time.

While the streets were not packed, they were not empty either, Marianne could see four people walking in front of her. A couple and then two individuals, one of them was a tall fat man in a suit and top hat, the other was difficult to make out. It was a man, that she knew, however, she could not determine his age or looks. He was wearing some sort of hat, the weird thing was that it covered his face as well. He was around six foot tall, maybe a little shorter.

As she was trying to figure this man out she noticed his hand climb out of his pocket and fall to his side. A sharp but small blue light started to appear in his palm. Marianne hesitated for a second unsure if it was actually magic or not. Then instinctively rushed forward and grabbed his left shoulder, the same side that was casting the magic. “What are you doing? You can’t cast magic here!” She was so worked up she had spoken way too loudly. The couple in front turned with questioning looks but the man had extinguished the magic as soon as she had spoken, little did she know that if she had spoken half a second slower she’d be dead.

The fat man in the suit and top hat looked around too, but it seemed like he did not hear what she had said. The man breathed a sigh of relief then turned towards the girl. This was where she saw that he was wearing a dark grey fedora and a solid white mask that covered his face, she saw two blue eyes looking at her through this mask.

“What was that?” He inquired, tilting his head in a very whimsical way.

Though his mask was relatively terrifying, she had calmed now and had properly assessed the situation. There were a few possibilities, the most likely one was that she just interfered with a rogue magician and was definitely not going to survive this, the other was that she was mistaken and it was not magic at all. Of course she knew it was but she would happily feign ignorance if it meant her life.

“I’d appreciate it if you don’t go shouting things like that so loudly, little lady.”

“Sorry, sir, I must have been seeing things, it’s been a long day.” She stammered, sweat practically pouring from her forehead.

“Must be that! Hahaha!” He exclaimed, way too loudly, then dropped down to a whisper. “Get away from me little lady, while you still can.”

His exclamation at the start had grabbed the attention of the couple again, this time Marianne nodded in agreement with the strange man. She was not about to go against the will of a rogue, not unless she wanted to live. She walked a little too fast away from the man and nodded to the couple as she walked by.

They had begun to get nervous about the whole situation and walked into a shop. When Marianne was far enough away she turned back around. Neither the weird man nor the fat man in a suit and top hat remained on the pavement.

She shivered, maybe due to the cold evening or maybe due to the endless scenarios her mind was coming up with of what just happened behind her back. Safe to say she ran the rest of the way home.