Lizzy tried to keep the giddiness from her face as she and her grandfather sat at a table in the estate library. Books in neat and orderly rows filled every shelf in the grand room. Perhaps it wasn't the largest library in the kingdom, but she would bet a gold farthing that it was the tidiest.

Her grandfather cleared his throat heavily, and she realized she had missed what he had said. “As I was saying,” he said again, “There are seven schools of magic, all with their own branch of the tower.”

She quietly nodded as he spoke. Most of this would be common knowledge but she knew her grandfather would go over it regardless.

“The war magus specialize in evocation magic. The shield magus in abjuration.” The old man stroked his beard as he spoke. “These two are by far the most common and the reason Gadalfa’Va is respected by both kingdoms. A battle group of one hundred magi could devastated a contingent of ten thousand regular soldiers.

“The illusionists, summoners, and enchanters come next. Illusionists tend to work directly for nobles, often as entertainers. They may even cast a general's voice in a battle or make a king seem… more. Even an unskilled illusionist will find himself in high demand.”

“Summoners are generalists, able to fill many needs with their different contracts. Most lean toward making many contracts with weaker magical beings, rather than with a very strong one. It's been found that versatility for a those magus is key.”

“Enchanters are a tricky type. The magical ability to imbue is a common one, but you must also be able to create. A magic sword has to be imbued while you make it, and well, most magus don’t want to be a blacksmith.” He gave a small chuckle but Lizzy didn’t understand the joke.

“A small faction focuses on wards, but scripting takes a delicate hand and a fine eye. Any mistakes could be a catastrophe.” Her grandfather looked down, his face looked grim. “And lastly we have transmuters and diviners, whose gifts are much rarer.”

“Transmuters have the ability to turn the tangible into something new. Water into wine, wood to stone, it varies, but it’s also incredibly dangerous. Sometimes a mistake is made and things can’t be fixed because their power cannot be used on the inverse.”

Her grandfather gave her a solemn look. “The tale of the transmuter who turned his wife into a golden statue is not just a fairy tale.” He shook his head sadly. “Poor man went mad with grief afterwards.”

His face grew serious and he looked up at the ceiling. If she had been slightly more astute, she would have realized he was looking at the east tower.

“And you should know a bit about diviners. That’s a two sided gift to be sure.” Lizzy couldn’t see the regretful look in the old man's eyes as he continued. “Divining is the ability to see the flows of the world river. It can be incredibly useful, even more so than some other magics.”

He put a soft hand on Lizzy’s head. “You have to be careful how far you push out. Like any river, the deeper in you go, the better chance you will be swept away. More than a few mages have seen a glimmer in the depths, and not heeded the warning signs.”

Lizzy spoke for the first time. “Is that what happened to mom?”

Her grandfather nodded solemnly. “A small bit of magic for an otherwise incredibly talented young woman. She completed her mandatory one year of training in the tower and that’s where she met your father actually.”

He sat back and took a breath before he continued. “Then she went back to her life, like most with a small talent do. They had a deep connection and kept in touch afterwards, and now here you are.”

They sat in silence for a moment as Lizzy grew uncomfortable. “Grandpa?”

The old man seemed to snap back to himself as he threw on a big smile. “So, now onto testing.”

Lizzy was excited but she had more questions. “But Grandpa. What happened and how-”

“No.” Her grandpa said firmly. “I will not say more on the subject. Your father will be furious enough with me already.”

Lizzy set her jaw, but she wouldn’t let her curiosity ruin her chance at magic. “Ok. What should I do?” She asked with renewed vigor.

“First, we’ll start with the fire test since you seemed so excited about that the other day.” Grandpa said with a chuckle. “I want you to listen very carefully. Your display was ham handed. To truly conjure a fire, you must do it with will, not emotions.”

“To start I want you to feel the energy inside you. The words and gestures help with the visualization. You’re going to take that energy and will it into the form of your choosing.”

Lizzy looked around dubiously. “Should I really be casting a fireball in a library?” She asked. Her grandfather laughed, “I assure you. My shield will keep the books safe.”

Lizzy focused inward to her inner energy. Energy? Anxiety? She wasn’t entirely sure, but she took that energy and pushed it out. “Fireball!” She shouted. Well this was embarrassing.

Like the other day, nothing happened.

“Again. Will, not emotion” Her grandfather encouraged her.

She pushed harder this time. “Fireball!” she shouted again. A wisp of fire no bigger than a candle flame flared to life and died a foot from her hand.

She tried to overlook her grandfather’s chuckle. “Don’t push so hard. You aren’t forcing it so much as directing it.”

She clenched her fist and tried again. Focusing not on pushing but directing it. “Fireball.” She said, this time a small puff of flame came out causing her to roar in triumph.

Her grandfather gave a quick nod. “Well done Lizzy, but unfortunately I don’t think your talents lie in evocation. Let’s move on.” Lizzy’s smile faltered. She thought that had gone rather well. “Now I want you to put your hands in front of you and use your will to create a wall.”

Lizzy focused on the energy inside her, but this time tried to project it in front of her hands. “OUCH!” She yelled as something pegged her in the forehead. She looked angrily at her laughing grandfather, then looked around to see what he had thrown at her.

“You won’t find it,” he chuckled. “It's just a little compressed air. Now do it again, but try saying ‘shield’ this time.” So Lizzy tried again. And again. And again before giving up. It appeared that abjuration was also not for her.

The illusion test was to cast light, although she did about as well as she had with evocation. Summoning on the other hand was extremely exciting as well as disappointing. With the wave of his hand, her grandfather had summoned an imp! An actual imp.

He was only a foot tall with red skin and wings. Her grandfather had told her to try and create a bond with him. The imp while adorable was kind of a trollbutt. He was snarky, quickly making fun of her beloved curls.

She tried to will in the bond while the imp spewed mean gibberish. She was tempted to ask her grandfather to summon something that couldn’t speak the common tongue.

The imp had called her the scion of a treant because she was rather tall for her age, forcing her nearly to tears. Without a single motion, her grandfather banished the mean little monster away. “Well,” Grumbled her grandfather. “I don’t see summoning in your future either.”

“How can you do all these things grandpa?” A red eyed Lizzy asked. “Ah, well, these are affinity tests. Over time, and with great practice, any magus can do a little bit of everything but he will never cast every spell as well as someone with an affinity.”

“For instance my affinity is abjuration and my specialties are shields and counterspells. I’ll say I have only ever lost one duel in my life.”

“Who was that too?” Lizzy asked.

“That’s a tale for another time. Let's move on to enchanting.”

“Wait, but what about healing?” Lizzy questioned.

“Some mages can do minor heals, but healing is the affinity of priests.” Her grandpa answered grumpily. “Now enchanting.” Lizzy opened her mouth, but after a glare from her grandpa, she wisely kept quiet.

“Enchanting is imbuing an item with power. We will start with a script.” Her grandfather took out a quill and ink, and wrote out a strange symbol. “Now copy this symbol. It’s a simple symbol of light, but as you write it out, imbue it with your power.”

Lizzy took up the quill and copied the symbol. As she got to the end she slammed her eyelids shut as the world went white, dropping the quill as she reached for her eyes.

Thirty minutes later she found herself sitting idly in a chair in her fathers office while her two favorite people had a row.

“You nearly blinded my daughter!” Her father shouted.

“She’s perfectly fine. Just a little surprise, that’s all.” Replied her grandfather. They had been arguing like this for two turns of an hourglass, or, as the loud ticking of the grandfather clock said, an hour.

Her legs swung idly in her seat as she pondered her mistake. The flash of light had been incredibly bright and she had shouted in surprise. Unfortunately, a servant had been walking by in the hallway and had immediately come in to check on her and then took her straight for her father. She was otherwise perfectly fine, and if needed, her grandfather could cast a minor heal on her eyes. There was certainly no need to tell her father that.

“Joshua, she has a magic gift that is incredibly strong. She needs to be trained in the tower.” Ah yes, the other point of the argument. Her grandfather was now fighting to get her into the academy with new vigor.

“She will not attend. I have told you this before, and I won’t say it again.” Her father growled. And naturally with her father thinking she was hurt, he was even more opposed to her going. Quite the conundrum.

“That’s all there ever is to you. Magic.” Her father practically spit the word. “All my life that’s all you’ve ever cared about.”

Her grandfather attempted to defend himself, “Now son, you know-”

“No!” Her father shouted. “You don’t get to tell me about my daughter. You were never there. You never cared that she was a phenomenal artist. Or that she is practically a mathematics prodigy. You weren’t there when her mother died.”

Her grandpa looked stricken. “Son, I-”

“No. You were never there for her. You were never there for me. You were never there for mom. Magic always came first. Leave my house, and do not return.” Her father came over to her, grabbed her firmly by the shoulder and marched them out.

She had just enough time to look over her shoulder and see her grandfather standing there with a look of devastation. How often does a man reach the end of a long journey only to find himself alone at a dead end?

“Father please!” Lizzy attempted again to get her father to give her grandfather a second chance. “No! I have already had enough. Even now, all he cares about is magic.”

Lizzy tried another tactic. “It's my fault. I asked to be tested.”

Her father stopped walking and looked down. “It is NOT your fault. You are a child and he is an old man that has been this way since I was a child.”

She looked at him with her big teary eyes and tried again. “Please father.”

Her father gave her a consoling look. “Come with me.” He abruptly turned toward his office. Lizzy quickly followed after. “Sit.” He waved her toward his desk as they walked in and her father went over to an old bookshelf and looked for a few moments before pulling out an old album.

With a quick brush and a blow of breath to get the dust from it, he brought it over to his desk. He flipped through the first few pages before finding the one he was looking for and spinning the book. It was a photo of her father as a boy with her grandfather and grandmother.

“This was the last photo we took together before he became full magus. It was the last time my father remembered he had a family.” The count reached over to his crystal decanter and poured himself a glass of brown liquid.

“He was never a great father, but I was allowed an education. I learned my numbers and got an apprenticeship with a local trader that was a friend of fathers. I didn’t realize at that time that I was leaving mother alone. And alone she was.” Lazarus sipped his drink and sat back.

“To father, magic was everything, but mother and I didn’t have any. So he stayed at the academy as a teacher, coming home only on Synday to visit. Mother changed. The loneliness made her hyper focused on little things that made no sense.”

“Father came even less to visit her, finding excuses to stay at the school. I would visit when I could, but I was trying to create my own future. One day I came home and she sat in her chair with her eyes staring into space. I tried to speak with her but she didn’t respond.”

Her father sighed, leaning back and running his hand through his hair. “She was dead of course. I still have no idea how or when she passed. I had to go to the academy to find father and let him know. He hadn’t been home in goddess-knows how long.”

“I found him there after one of his classes. I told him mother had died.” Lizzy’s father paused in thought. “He reached into his robes, pulled out a purse and handed it to me. ‘Give her a nice burial’ he told me, and then he walked away.”

Lazarus looked Lizzy in the eyes. “Your grandfather is not a good man. I know he has sent you gifts and dotes on you now that he’s here, but he wasn’t there for my wedding. He wasn’t there for your birth. To be honest Lizzy, if I hadn’t met your mother that day, I may have never spoken to him again.”

They both sat there in silence. Finally Lizzy spoke, she left her childhood attitude behind and she showed her keen intellect. “I don’t care.” A dark look came to her fathers eyes. “I don’t care if he’s a bad man and I don’t care if you never want to speak with him again.”

“I don’t care if you send him off. This isn’t about you and him. I want to learn- No, I need to learn magic. For me, for mom, for us. You taught me to be a merchant princess and I’ve paid attention.”

Her heart beat faster as she powered through her words “I see that we have less servants than we used to. That our dinners have slightly less spice. I know the whispers. You, father, have taken the house as far as you can.”

“Your fear, the fear of magic, has caused our company to stagnate. While other merchant houses move into the future with enchanted carriages that can travel through the night, or ships that have weather mages to speed their passage.”

She saw her fathers knuckles turn white, but she continued on. “We sit and we dwindle because you refuse to see past your prejudices. I have decided I will attend the academy of Gadalfa’Va, and mother has agreed.”

She rose from her seat. “I love you father, but I am the future of this family, and I will have a say.” She turned and stormed out. As she stepped into the hall she heard something shatter in the office behind her.

She pressed her back against the wall, her entire body shaking. She wasn’t even entirely sure if everything she had said was true, most things she had picked up from the gossip around the estate.

Normally if she wanted her way, she could bat her eyelashes and pout her voice, but she could tell that wouldn’t work this time. So she had, for the first time, stood her ground and demanded her way, perhaps that was a little immature, but she would soon find out the consequences.

An hour had passed while she sat in her solar, reading a book, when there was a knock.

As Forty walked in, she knew something was wrong, she could see it in his gloomy demeanor. “The young miss is to begin packing immediately. The carriage will need to leave tomorrow morning to make it to Gadalfa’Va in time for the spring semester.”

He turned to leave when Lizzy shouted after him. “Wait, Forty, can you send my maids in? Also, is Grandfather still here?”

Forty turned and looked at her, giving her a disapproving look. “Your father has decided if you are old enough to make your own choices, then assuredly you are old enough to do everything else on your own.”

“You will receive no help from the staff in this endeavor. and your grandfather left not twenty minutes past.” He paused briefly. “I’m sorry miss.” Forty then turned and left.

Pack herself? Tomorrow morning? “Neptia’s tits!” She muttered as looked around her room with dread.

The next day came faster than she could blink. She had been up all night packing, something normally taken care of by her handmaidens. In the morning she had been woken to a knock, with no one there to take her chamber pot or help her dress, but she stayed firm with her choice.

As such, she was exhausted and lost deep in thought as the carriage rumbled along the road. She absently twirled the new amulet hanging from her neck, golden curls bouncing with the rough road. This had been an emotional and sudden change for Lizzy. While permission to go to the mage academy had been exactly what she wanted, she had pictured it going differently.

Her father hadn’t spoken to her before departing, nor had her mother been lucid. She held back tears until situated in the carriage and on the move, but it had hurt. The carriage driver Darwin, along with two of the household guards, rode atop the carriage. She had left behind everyone she had known for the past thirteen years.

Her caring tutor Ms. Myers, the boisterous cook Maggie, and dependable Fortescue were only a few of the many household staff that were as much family to her as her own parents. Now she was off to a new place, a new school, with new people, frankly it was all too new.

A small scared part of her was very tentative, another part incredibly excited, while the largest part was an unsolvable knot of anxiety. Lizzy put her hand down brushing the supple leather cover of the book that sat next to her on the bench, it had yet to be opened.

Her grandfather seemingly appeared out of nowhere as they exited the city, it had been quite the surprise. She heard some shouting and the carriage stopped before she knew it, her grandpa sitting across from her on the opposite bench.

“Grandpa, what are you doing here?” She had asked.

“I wanted to catch you before you left for the academy since I won’t be able to join you there. I have things that I must look into.” He spoke as he reached into the bag at his side.

“I’m sure if you go speak with daddy he will let you stay there again, he was just angry.” Her grandpa smiled as he pulled a leather bound book out of his satchel.

“No my dear, I was upset at the academy and what they are changing into, but my place isn’t sulking with your father. I have left some things undone for far too long.” The look of determination on his face made Lizzy gulp.

“Before I go, I will leave you with some things to help you.” He held the book out to her. She took it while running her hand along the red leather bound tome. “This book is a magical journal. It has many uses and I'm sure a bright shining star like you will find them.”

He pinched her cheek after he passed her the journal. As she was still looking at the silver rune on the cover, he pulled out a charming necklace. It was made of what looked like silver with a small black gem caged in the center of the chain.

“And this you must always wear, but first,” Her grandpa then had pulled out a dagger. She didn’t flinch, she trusted him, but she was certainly skeptical when he asked for her hand. “This will be quick and shouldn’t be painful,” he said.

That didn’t stop her yell when the dagger’s sharp point had poked her in the finger tip. She yelped and went to put the bloody finger in her mouth when her grandpa had stopped her.

“No, you must touch a drop of blood to each item that I have given you. Then push the barest amount of power into each item, like when we were enchanting.” She felt uncertain about that but her curiosity was greater than the skepticism. When it was done, she felt a small, faint connection with each item, almost as if she’d possessed them her entire life.

“These are soulbound now, unable to be taken from you while you live.” Lizzy gave a small gasp... Soulbound items were incredibly rare. “Never tell anyone about it,” he said firmly. “Once the amulet is on, you will not take it off, no matter what. Promise me that.” She clasped it around her neck.

“But grandpa, what about when I bathe? Or if I’m sleeping?” She teased. Grandpa pulled her hand, passing a subtle healing magic to make the wound on her finger disappear. Then he locked eyes with her, looking deeply into her eyes.

“Never take it off, you must promise me.” She just nodded realizing her grandfather was serious about this.

“All right grandpa, I promise.” He nodded and sat back, the relief on his face palpable.

“I may not be able to be there, but I’ve done what I can for the time being.” He leaned over and opened the door, stopping for a brief moment to give her a quick hug. “I love you granddaughter, be safe.” As suddenly as he came, he was gone.

Gathering her nerves, she lifted the book onto her lap and opened it. She felt confused, this was simply a blank book with her name emblazoned in silver on the first page. Slightly annoyed, she set it back upon the bench.

Suddenly realizing that there were a few more days before they reached the academy, she gave a deep sigh, set the book in her bag and lost herself in thought.