Nova went back to being her cold, silent self after the incident with the thief in the hallway. Beatrice especially noticed the way that the tech witch would purposefully look away from her roommate, or answer her questions simply. It even took another couple of days for her to offer to eat lunch together, and even that was spent in a strange, awkward silence.

After lunch one day, Nova excused herself to go to the library, citing some deadline on an essay that she had to catch. The earth witch could only nod and wave sadly as who she thought was her new friend left. They shared all of the same classes and Beatrice knew full well that Nova had no upcoming essays to do.

Instead of moping though, Beatrice gathered up her satchel and headed out to the school grounds on the east side of the campus.

Towards the east of the Ravensburl property were more residential dormitory buildings, but a large field was its most prominent feature. It was a vast, flat expanse of short grass used as a training area for spells that needed a large open space, or for sports. Usually, though, students used it to try to charm inanimate objects other than brooms to fly. The most popular options were flying carpets, of course, but rumor has it that a student once stole a shopping cart from the city, carted it all the way up to Ravensburl, and rode in it as it flew around at high speeds. The flying shopping cart wasn't a problem until its rider accidentally crashed into one of the stone raven statues and clipped a large chunk of stone from its wing.

Beatrice stepped out onto the field and found a spot that was a polite distance away from a wizard that was attempting fireball spells, and trying desperately to conjure one that didn't fizzle out in a second after casting. The earth witch set her satchel on the ground, drew her wand at the ready, and held her breath.

How magic was taught in Ravensburl was vastly different from how she was taught by her family. The Gaias, much like most traditional magic families, had tome after tome of meticulously recorded spells, each with their specific wand movement and activation word. Usually, it was in Latin, and it took a while for her and her older brother to memorize them. She could flick her wand at a lock and say "aperta," and it would spring open.

But in Ravensburl, she was introduced to a whole new world of possibility. The professors took the core concept of how magic worked and found ways that were more accessible to the witch or wizard, no matter where they were from. Now, she could wave her wand at a lock, say "open," and it would still spring open. She even saw Felix practicing the unlocking spell, and when he struggled to unlock the practice chest with "open," it sprang open eagerly at "abrir."

Now, Beatrice wanted to test if she could change up the spells she had learned from home, to make it her own and add her own personal spin to it. To make something a spell of Beatrice, instead of one passed down by the Oakendale Gaias.

The earth witch held her wand at the ready, with her free hand slightly in front of her in a cautious stance. It was the way her father taught her to be ready to answer any danger but to try for a peaceful and placating path first. She took a breath and drew a swirling motion in the air with the tip of her wand.

"Vineis!" She intoned clearly. In an instant, a multitude of thin vines burst from the earth by her feet and crept quickly along the grass for several feet. They grew rapidly and spread so far that a small tree nearby was met with a burst of vines clinging halfway up its trunk before Beatrice stopped her spell. She nodded, pleased with how her spell went even as she worked to coax the vines to wither and return to the earth.

Next, Beatrice flicked her wand towards the tree and with a quiet "Helianthus," a couple of sunflowers popped out of the ground to keep the tree company.

The sound of clapping behind her made the earth witch turn, and Beatrice saw the braided, barefooted upperclassman that met her and the other first-years when they got off the bus.

"Catherine!"

"Hi, Beatrice!" The young witch beamed. "Hope I'm not interrupting anything! I just wanted to say that your plant magic's pretty good."

"Oh, thank you! It was a few spells that my family taught me."

"Are all the spells in Latin?"

Beatrice chuckled, "They are, and they've been a bit of a pain to memorize."

"I hear you! Hey, have you made any of your own spells yet? I know you're just a first-year, but can't help being a bit curious you know." Catherine giggled and whipped off her large hat. She sat on the grass and beckoned for Beatrice to sit too.

"What do you mean 'make my own spell'? If it's like changing the language of the activation phrase, well, I'm still working on it." Beatrice gathered up her skirt and sat beside the other witch.

Catherine looked over at Beatrice, and she had a mischievous twinkle in her eye. "No, I mean like making your own spell. From scratch, words and movements, and all."

The earth witch looked shocked. "You can do that?"

"Of course! First-year is to usually to get everyone up to speed, you know. Make sure you know all the basics, get the foundation laid so that you can build up from there. And that's where Ravensburl is seen as the weird school." Catherine chuckled and smiled at Beatrice's bewildered expression.

One can just make a new spell? Everything she knew was passed down from generations of Oakendale Gaias because it was the way it was done. They were tried and tested spells, proven to work time and again. But one can just...make a new one?

The upperclassman got to her feet and offered her hand to Beatrice. "Come on, I'll show you! Do you mind walking to the pond a bit? If you're best at earth magic, my forte's water. That, and Catfish wants a swim." At the mention of her familiar, Catherine's bright blue and purple cat-mermaid familiar flew through the air, holding her hat in its little jaws.

Beatrice couldn't help but giggle. "Your familiar is adorable!"

"Why thank you! And Catfish knows it, don't you?" Catherine smiled, looking over to her familiar. It threw her lilac hat into the air, did a flip, and then let the hat land right on its little head. The hat was so large that it hid the familiar completely and looked like it was floating in the air alone. Both witches laughed at the sight.

"So, here's the pond! I'm usually here after class because Catfish likes the water and the fishes, and I find it nicer to study outside than in the library." Catherine explained as she picked a spot by the pond's side and hiked up the sleeves of her lilac hoodie. The pond itself was a large and carefully constructed and nicely decorated one with a clean line of white rocks encircling its perimeter. A small tree gave it shade, and a rocky outcrop made a good shelter for the little silver fishes Beatrice could see breaking the water.

"It's lovely! I can't believe I never noticed it before." The earth witch remarked, coming closer to the water. The water itself was clear, and a fallen leaf or two made gentle ripples dance across the surface of the water. "I suppose I should visit this courtyard more."

"Not a lot of students come out to the east field, especially when midterm exams are due," the upperclassman explained. "The field usually sees the sporty and scrappy students or ones like me. The misfits among misfits." Catherine laughed as she took her hat back from her familiar. It went off to play with the fishes in the pond.

Beatrice's brow furrowed at the comment, a bit worried. When Catherine saw her expression, she just smiled and waved it off.

"And that's perfectly fine! I have my own thing going on and I'm happy with what I have. Besides, you won't find a better study spot than right here. You can even see the whole east field from here, dorms and all!"

The earth witch looked, and the view from the pond showed a surprisingly large area of the east field. On one side was the east courtyard and its raven statue guarding the area, and on the other, at the end of the stone pathway, was the other dormitory building. Beatrice had a good view of all the students sitting at benches around the raven, the students trying to fly enchanted furniture, even the rough soccer team that had formed and were kicking around a ball.

"There are still a lot of students out here though," Beatrice said.

"If you think this is a lot, you should see the west field when the Inter-School Games are on." Catherine pulled a wooden wand from the sleeve of her hoodie and held it at the ready.

"Wait, what? What Inter-School Games?" Beatrice spluttered, but Catherine had already started to cast a spell.

The upperclassman chuckled as she flicked her wand towards the water of the pond. "Let's make a splash!" She said playfully.

The water of the pond suddenly sprayed upward, as if something large and heavy had just hit the water. Beatrice yelped in surprise, and as she watched the water crash back into the pond, she thought about the fish. They might have gotten hurt!

Even as she leaned forward to check, she saw Catherine's familiar at the other end of the pond, holding the school of silver fishes away from the blast zone.

"Did you like that one?" Catherine chuckled. “That was just the first wave. Let me school you on a few more!” She flicked her wand through the air, tracing invisible patterns that swirled here and there, and Beatrice was struck with the realization that Catherine was moving her wand like how a fish swims!

Suddenly, wave after wave began to appear on the surface of the pond, rising up from one end and gaining in height and intensity till it traveled the full distance of the pond and crashed against the opposite shore. Then with the spray kicked up by the waves, water hung suspended in the air and began to take on the form of a school of fish. A hundred small, feisty fish made entirely out of water clumped together to form a school that then swam quickly through the air above the pond according to Catherine’s wand movements.

The upperclassman glanced to Beatrice, who was watching the school of water fish with her mouth agape. The fishes caught the strong sunlight which refracted rainbows through their water bodies, and they danced through the air in perfect sync. Catherine smiled and flicked her wand again. “And that’s not all. Sometimes, you need to chill out, you know?”

The water fish began to grow opaque as Beatrice watched. Their swiftly moving tails started to still and they started to fall back into the pond, completely frozen over. Catherine had turned the water to ice in seconds. Satisfied, Catherine released her spells and the chunks of fish-shaped ice melted back into the pond water. She put her wand back in her sleeve, and the cat-mermaid familiar let the resident fishes go back to their activities.

“So!” Catherine turned back to her stunned underclassman. “That’s what I mean by “make the spells your own.” What do you think?”

“That was amazing!” Beatrice had an excited sparkle in her eye. “How did you do all that? And how did you make all the activation words water puns?”

Catherine chuckled. “That’s not all I’ve come up with, but I’m still working on the other spells. To be honest, you can make activation words out of anything. Really, once you get a hang of the concept behind how spells work, you can make almost anything happen.” The young witch smiled and jauntily tilted her head. The baubles that hung from her lilac hat jingled with the movement. “I’m looking forward to what you can come up with, Beatrice! I’m sure you’ll do some pretty awesome things! Maybe even smash the competition at the Inter-School Games.”

“Right! Those!” Beatrice said suddenly and with such excited enthusiasm that her upperclassman blinked in surprise. “What are they?”

“You don’t know?” Catherine looked surprised. “I think Professor Grace just put up posters around the castle. It’s a yearly friendly competition against Hawkswood. It’s usually spell-casting, potion-making, stuff like that. Whatever we learned in class, but make it a competition.”

“Against Hawkswood?” Beatrice repeated, and before Catherine could really reply, the earth witch turned on her heel and ran off. “Thanks for the tip and demonstration, Catherine! Bye Catfish!” She waved briefly before running full speed back to the castle. Behind her at the pond, Catherine gave a small confused wave, while her familiar happily waved back at her with its paw.

Beatrice sped back to the castle, and just as she suspected, a crowd had formed around the entrance from the east field. A large poster had been stuck to the wall beside the door, but the human traffic around it still prevented passage. The crowd was so thick that Beatrice had to settle for standing at the fringes of the crowd and straining her neck to see the poster.

"Hey, what's going on?" A cool voice said from behind the earth witch.

"I'm not sure, but Catherine said it might be about the Inter-School Games," Beatrice answered without looking around. "I want to see what events they'll have."

"Why, are you planning on joining?"

"I don't know, maybe. If there's a potion-making contest, I might have a chance there."

"I'm surprised, I never really pegged you for a competitive person, Bea."

The earth witch finally looked at who she was speaking to, and standing there was her roommate. Nova's long straight hair fell around her shoulders, and she wore a simple shirt with an asymmetrical pattern of black and white. The fitted black pants and knee-high boots that she usually wore to school were replaced by black track pants and sneakers. Beatrice wondered how on earth it was possible that Nova could look so good and so stylish when she wasn't even trying.

Beatrice cleared her throat. "I'm not, but my dad always said that you can learn a lot from testing your skills against others," she said.

Nova tilted her head curiously. "Weren't you healers?"

"And protectors too."

Nova tilted her head the other way. "So you can fight?"

Beatrice gave a little shrug. Nova's sharp, observant gaze made her feel like any lie she told would be immediately ripped apart. "I know a few combat spells, yes."

"It's weird to know that you're such a soft, kind, healer-type, but you also fight."

"I believe we all should know how to defend ourselves, just as much as how we should all know how to heal."

Nova stared back at her roommate, and while her expression was unreadable, Beatrice had the vague feeling that she was being sized up.

After a moment, Nova smiled. "Well, if you're up for fighting, seems there are some duel events at the Games. I saw the poster earlier when Professor Hope was putting up the one in the west courtyard."

"Oh, there are? Thanks!" The earth witch beamed. "I'm not sure if I want to join the duels, but they are fun to watch. You should definitely attend, we can watch together."

Nova put her hands in her pockets and shrugged noncommittally. She was about to turn away and go about her business when Beatrice spoke again.

"Wait. Our dormitory is in the west courtyard. Why are you over here?" She asked.

Nova pointedly looked turned her face away from Beatrice. "Just wanted to let you know about the Games. Thought it might be something you were interested in since it does have potion-making and trivia contests."

Beatrice blinked. "You thought about me?"

The tech witch glanced back at her roommate. Beatrice must have imagined that she saw a hint of a smile on Nova's lips as she turned away.

"I'm going for a jog," Nova said simply, giving a jaunty wave as she started walking away. "See you in the room later."

Beatrice stared as she watched her roommate walk away. All around her, the crowd of curious students continued to surge and the sound of excited chatter seemed to fall away. Nova's dark hair, like a curtain of night, began to sway side to side as the young witch's walk broke into a jog and she moved on to the east field. Was she imagining things?

Gathering her things, and her wits, Beatrice clutched her satchel close to her and pressed past the students to get back into the castle. Her glasses had started to fog — it must have been from the heat of the crowd, — and she stopped by the short hallway leading to the front yard to clean her glasses with the end of her skirt.

Once she had cleared her glasses and put them back on her face, she realized the three blurry figures discussing animatedly in the hall were The Witches Three.

"Hey, you three!" Beatrice greeted them, approaching quickly and hoping her cheeks weren't visibly burning. "What's happening?"

"Darling, there you are! You must have heard about the Inter-School Games by now, right?" Adeline beamed. The young witch rotated the image of the poster Beatrice saw earlier, but it was now hanging suspended in the air: an illusion of the real thing that they could all look at up close.

"Yes! Catherine told me about it and Nova thought I'd be interested in the potion-making and trivia contests." Beatrice answered. Adeline rotated the illusion over so that it faced Beatrice, and she took the opportunity to read through all the details.

"Exciting, isn't it? There are races, duels, speed crafting, obstacle courses, board games, all sorts of things!"

"Are you three planning to join anything?"

Hanan nodded excitedly. "There are individual and team categories, so we were thinking of joining something as The Witches Three!"

"We're not sure what to join yet though." Sascha sighed. "There's lots to choose from."

"Wait, wait." Beatrice peered closer at the bottom of the poster, where the print was much smaller. "It says here that individual and team slots are limited...And that Hawkswood students will be coming to stay here for the duration of the Games!"

"We'll get to meet Hawkswood students, isn't that great?" Hanan hopped from one foot to another. "Maybe we can make some friends, get their numbers. The Games aren't for another month, so we have time to prepare. Beatrice, is something wrong?"

The earth witch's brow was furrowed with worry. "My brother and my whole family went to Hawkswood. They're very strictly traditional, and from what my brother said, they're snobbish and elitist. They don't like how Ravensburl is run." She looked at her three friends.

"So they're going to judge us," Sascha stated, downhearted. "I'm used to that."

"They will, but that just means we have to beat them at their own games." Beatrice smiled. "Show them that there's another way to study magic, no matter who they are."

The small group of friends began to talk about which games they would join, and while they did, Sascha could barely hide their worry.