To avoid political unrest due to multiple potential heirs, Prince Regent Alfonso I kept his daughter, Princess Magnolia, out of the public eye and instead let his nephew and heir apparent, Prince Lance take the public spotlight. Because of this, very little is known about the Princess.

Chad dodged the end of the staff aimed at his head by a hairsbreadth. This was followed by a swing at his legs which he barely managed to block. Unfortunately, the force from the blow knocked him off balance. His opponent took advantage of this and grounded him with a hit to the shoulder.

“Well done, Lawrenceson!” said Master Henry. “You held out against Farborn longer than anybody else.” Turning to Chad's opponent, he added. “Farborn, well done, as always. I really must meet the man who taught you before me.”

Chad's opponent was Wesley Farborn, an apprentice whom Chad had never met before and who wasn't a usual part of the group with which he trained. When he had arrived at the dueling grounds this morning there were two apprentices that he didn't recognize talking with Master Henry and Master Starling. The one was a young man around 16 or 17 years old who gave the impression that he was more of a man then a boy. He was of average height and oozed athleticism and confidence. Contrastingly, trying to hide herself behind him was a frail looking girl of a similar age. She was beautiful, despite her frailness, with glossy dark brown hair down to her waist and clothing that was obviously a notch or two above the Academy standard.

Master Henry had introduced the young man as Wesley Farborn and stated that today's practice would start with everyone dueling Wesley one-on-one. Many in the class had jeered at that, but Wesley beat them all. What surprised Chad the most was that as Wesley chose his opponents one after another, he blatantly saved Chad for last.

“Well fought.” Wesley's voice brought Chad back to present.

“Same to you.” said Chad standing up and rubbing his shoulder.

When the class had broken up into smaller groups for the rest of practice, Wesley approached Chad with the frail girl following behind at a distance.

“Chad Lawrenceson, right?” Wesley asked as he approached. “As Master Henry said earlier, I am Wesley Farborn. It's a pleasure to meet you.”

“It's a pleasure to meet you as well,” said Chad.

“Actually,” continued Wesley, “you're the reason that I am here today. I had heard that there was a new apprentice who was making leaps and bounds in magical staff and I thought I would come see for myself.

“After dueling with you and talking to Master Starling, I am very impressed by what you have accomplished in such a short time. Would you consider being my sparring partner outside of regular practices?”

“Are you serious?” Chad asked a little skeptically. “You just wiped the floor with me.”

“Yes, I am being serious,” said Wesley. “While you were not able to keep up with me, your height and brute force are something that I don't come across very often and I could learn from practicing with a person with your particular attributes. In return, I can teach you some techniques to better utilize your natural abilities. What do you think?”

“Sounds good to me,” said Chad.

Once they had arranged a time to meet weekly, Wesley left Chad to continue practicing. Over the entire course of their interaction, the frail girl had hovered off to the side and Chad was never told her name. When Wesley left, the girl followed close behind.

When practice was over, Chad headed back to the tower for his next class.

“You! Stop right there!” Chad was taking a short cut over one of the lawns when a girl apprentice suddenly pointed accusingly at him. She looked like she could be a younger, female version of Wesley. She was lean and fit with light brown hair that came down to her jaw line and framed her face. He turned towards her with a confused look on his face.

“Oh, don't act like you don't know why I am here,” yelled the girl. Chad was glad that there didn't seem to be anybody else around. “I have had my reputation sullied by you.”

“I think there must be some kind...” Chad said before he was interrupted.

“Oh, I don't want to hear your excuses. And it's not just me, you have sullied the reputation of the entire march of Nargorn. You might be from some backwater town at the very edge of the march, but your behavior has been unacceptable. If you do not turn your life around and become an outstanding citizen, I will have to send a report to my uncle, the Marquis of Nargorn, and he will judge you accordingly.

“I have said my piece, now GO,” she pointed dramatically in a random direction, “and become a better person.” When she was done, she marched off.

Chad was so surprised that he wasn't able to call after her to ask for an explanation. He honestly didn't know what she was talking about.

“You draw in the weirdest people,” Selena said after Chad had shared his experiences from the day. She added a look at Quartz and Jet across the table to emphasize her point.

“I am sure Chad has some non-weird friends,” Jet said, looking pityingly at Chad.

“Who has weird friends?” Hillary said with an expression of great desire on her face as she walked up with Mallory. Since Mallory had introduced Hillary and Marcel to their group, they had seen a lot more of Mallory, usually towing along an overly excited Hillary.

“Nevermind, I take that back,” Chad heard Jet say under her breath, causing Quartz and Jet to burst out laughing.

“Oh, are you the weird friends?” Hillary asked Jet and Quartz quizzically.

“Among others,” Quartz answered with a mischievous grin.

“Chad met some very... interesting individuals today,” Selena said, trying to prevent another bout of laughter on the part of the siblings.

“Is there a story behind this?” asked Mallory. “I do love a good story. Have I ever told you about the time last quarter....” she stopped when she realized that everybody was looking at her strangely. “Oh right, my bad. Chad, do you have a story?”

Chad told his story again to Mallory and Hillary.

“No way! I am so jealous!” Hillary said as soon as Chad was done. “Those have got to be Salise May and Susan Frost!”

“Wait, who is trying to put a curse on Susan to freeze her?” asked Quartz.

“Idiot!” said Hillary as she glared at him. “Nobody tried to do anything to anybody. Salise May and Susan Frost are two of the people who could be the Princess in disguise. Salise May is the quiet one that was with Wesley Farborn this morning. It's obviously her because she practically has Wesley on a leash. The theory is that he is a royal bodyguard joining her undercover.

“The second girl that you met, Chad, sounds a lot like Susan Frost. She is known to be authoritative, rich, and from who knows where. This is the first I have heard about her claiming to be the niece of a marquis. That could explain her origin or the marquis could be part of the ruse to keep the Princess hidden.”

“You do realize that they can't both be the Princess, right?” asked Jet.

“Well, there is also the theory that there is more than one princess,” Hillary replied. “They could be fraternal twins, or triplets, or even quadruplets and they all go by Magnolia to keep it a secret. Very little is actually known about Princess Magnolia.”

“I think that theory might be stretching it a bit,” Chad said. “The two girls I met today didn't look like they were the same age, much less related.”

“Mallory,” Quartz said, pointing at Hillary, “where did you find her?”

“Quartz!” said Selena, “That is not...”

“Chad Lawrenceson,” a loud voice suddenly interrupted Selena, “I hear you are to thank for putting Viscount Lesterly in his place.”

Chad turned around to find a young lady looking down her nose at him. She was tall and elegant with light skin and blond hair. While officially she was following the dress standard for apprentices of the Academy, her outfit was blatantly not Academy issue. She was wearing a black formal dress accented with white ribbons and lace.

“As I am sure you know,” the young lady continued, “I am Tiffany Cardinal. To thank you for what you did to Viscount Lesterly, I would like to offer you the privilege of better society.” Here she stopped to give the Miller siblings, Mallory, and Hillary scornful looks. Chad was guessing Selena was passed over because of her family's position among the Render. “I am in need of a shoe shiner and would like to offer you a place in my entourage.” Here she nodded her head in the direction of four apprentices that were standing a few meters behind her and looked ready to answer her beck and call.

“Um... thanks...” Chad replied, “but I think...”

“Bug off, Cardinal!” yelled yet another voice. By now, half of the people in the dining commons were looking at their table where a decent sized group was forming. “Leave him alone, he doesn't want to be another one of your pawns.”

Another young lady approached their table. She looked both very like and very unlike Tiffany Cardinal. She had the same rich and elegant look about her with a similar over-the-top dress on. However, she didn't look down her nose like Tiffany did and seemed to own her appearance in a way that Tiffany did not. She had black hair and tanned skin that indicated that she actually stepped outside occasionally, unlike Tiffany.

“Chad,” she said turning to him, “feel free to ignore her.”

“How dare you!” interjected Tiffany. “Just because you are...”

Tiffany stopped talking as an imposing young abecedarian blazer stepped between her and the new young lady and glared at her. He was very nondescript but held himself in a way that radiated authority.

“Fine,” said Tiffany and she started to turn away, “but I have a score to settle with you, Forester.” She walked to her entourage and the group of them left.

“Thanks Cal!” the young lady said to the abecedarian. Then, turning to Chad she added, “My name is Courtney and this is Cal and I know that you are Chad Lawrenceson. Both Cardinal and I have had some trouble with Lord Lesterly in the past, for different reasons, and we found out about you because of your involvement with him awhile back. I would like to thank you for what happened to him, by the way.

“We actually need to be going, but if Cardinal ever bothers you again, feel free to ask us for help. She is a conniving little bug who does whatever she thinks will put her ahead of the other nobles. I am not really sure what she had planned for you, but if she bothers you, just let us know. See you around.” When she was done, she and Cal left, leaving Chad and his friends staring awkwardly at each other trying to figure out what had just happened.

The silence was broken by Hillary. “Chad, I don't believe this. You met all four princesses in one day! I am so glad that Mal introduced us.”

“There is no way those two are sisters,” Quartz said under his breath as he gave Hillary a look that said, “you're crazy.”