Melody of Mana

I filed Dietrich's letter, as well as those from the boys I didn't know under T, or in my case F, for Fireplace, and got on to reading Troy's. It was fancy and floral and he had really rather nice calligraphy, surprisingly so for someone as into combat as he seemed to be, but I supposed that was likely part of a noble upbringing. I kept that for the moment, as while I didn't really know him all that well, he seemed like a genuinely decent guy.

It was unsurprising that most girls got multiple invitations. In our school there were certainly more boys than girls, nearly a two to one margin amongst the wizards. While we bards had an all girl class that was a bit odd. The priests were nearly equal in their makeup, but both they and we made up a small minority of the school.

My understanding was that the pressures were very different for men and women in noble society. Everyone wanted more magic, but to inherit a noble title one was almost expected to attend the academy if they were a caster. This was because of the hardcore education that went on (Compared to the rest of the country) and the connections one could gather. The magic was important, but political power was no joke either, and being able to potentially find a marriage partner from your peer group was a big plus.

While the boys wanted the titles, and were encouraged to go get them, girls had very different pressures put upon them. It was well known and established that if the parents were magical their child had a much better chance. Having both was not needed, but if both were able to use some form of magic then the chances of their child being so as well went through the roof. Women were the limiting factor in the equation, and as such were heavily pressured to get married and procreate.

This wasn't to say that noblemen were disparaging to their counterparts. Few boys in our school would have the gall to tell one of the female students to 'know her place' because of her sex or something like that. From what I gathered from my classmates though a girl's mother was far more likely to try and steer her towards things like financial and household management, or learning about the complex web of merchants they'd need to deal with. Since the academy focused mainly on magic and it's associated crafts that led them elsewhere.

Commoners tended to be a different story, depending on their level in society. It wasn't as bad as most of Earth's history was depicted as in movies and the like, but it was there. Magic though, changed things; if a girl could set you on fire or throw you bodily through a stone wall you'd do well not to be too discriminatory to her.

I thought about all this as Kala and Pinea joined me for breakfast. They both seemed rather pleased this morning.

"So, how many did you get?" Pinea opened with.

"Four, though two were from boys I didn't know."

"Dras and Dietrich then?" Kala asked. "Obvious choice between those two."

"Not one from Dras."

"He's one of the commoner boys from the year above us right?" Pinea leaned over looking at us. I wasn't sure they'd ever met.

"Yeah, specializes in fire magic mostly," I informed her.

"Mmm, I think he's in one of my classes. Seems nice."

"Eh," Kala still didn't seem to think much of him.

"So Kala, how about you? Any good invites?"

"I'm passing on those for now."

"Um... then who are you going with?"

"Myself? What about you Pinea? Get lots of letters?"

"Only one important one, but a couple others too."

Pinea had other things she had to do, so after eating Kala and I walked to class ourselves.

"You really not going with anyone then?"

"I'm going with me. To be honest I'm not all that interested in spending time with boys."

"I understand. They won't give you trouble at the temple though will they?"

"There are many kinds of love Alana. Sexual, parental, that between friends, romantic, all of these are love, and our order supports all of them. Even if we mostly focus on the sexual stuff when helping others. They might care if I told them I never wanted children, romance, sex, or friends, as we're supposed to experience all types of love we can, but I do at some point, so it's no issue."

I think I understood Kala well, but this was something I'd never learned about her before. We just didn't talk about romance and that kind of thing very often, there were far more interesting subjects.

"Would you like to come by my room after classes? We can study or something, and Emma's got the afternoon doing some of her own business, so it'll be quiet."

"Sure, see you then."

We split to go to our respective classrooms. I had a busy day today and looked forward to having some time at the end of it to relax. That thought would carry through the afternoon with no issues, and since I'd finished my core I didn't have to worry about working on that at the moment.

At least that's what I thought until Professor Rooke asked me to have a word after class.

"Alana, how are things coming along? I'm well aware of your progress in classes, but otherwise."

"You're aware of my progress in my classes?"

"I am your guardian, as well as a member of faculty. Your grades and the opinions of your teachers are no mystery to me. You still have not answered my question."

"Well enough I guess. I haven't gotten to all of the things I need yet, but I'm making good forward progress. Still need to ask Professor Magnolia about weather magic, but otherwise, well."

"You always seem to forget about making connections. Is that to irritate me intentionally?" The man looked hard at me.

"That's going well too. It's slow, but it should be shouldn't it?"

Professor Rooke grinned. "Sometimes, have you decided who you're attending our ball with?"

"I'm working on that. The person I thought would ask me has not, but I don't know why."

"Interesting. If you need any advice do feel free to come to me. Now onto the meat of the matter." I felt my stomach drop as his face fell to a much more serious expression. "Hern is getting more and more irritating, he seems to think you should have well finished your core. Have you?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. Do you feel you still need to learn more? If so, please tell me specifically what you need to make your decision."

"I do not. From what I saw in the last bit I'm fairly sure that it's not possible to do too much damage to a core, and if you did, it wouldn't work would it?"

"No, at least not as far as I or anyone else know."

"You could have explained that at some point to me."

"Would you have believed me? It was easier to let you see for yourself, to let you achieve a more visceral understanding, like all of us who make one do. All it took was a bit of time." He smiled slightly. "Alana, patience is a virtue that it is important to learn, both for you and Hern. It will improve your work quite a bit."

"I think Professor Endel had a lesson sort of like that... He said I wasn't lacking power, only speed."

"Professor Endel knows his business, and he's right. Now, back to the subject at hand. Will you teach your method for core construction?"

"I will not. I had this conversation with the Dean last night."

"His view on you refusing?" He seemed genuinely curious about that, and sharing that wouldn't hurt me at all.

"He laughed, said I'd make a proper noblewoman yet."

I could see Rooke's eye twitch, his voice dripped with sarcasm. "Certainly that would be his opinion. Very well, I'll inform Hern of your decision."

"Will there be problems from that?"

"Perhaps, but it is best to deal with that when it comes." He shrugged, taking this better than I could have hoped. "That done, we can now work on advancing your core. If you continue at your current pace you might well have all three levels by the time you graduate. It would not only be a first for our institution, but would be a good mark for your future."

"I'll have to sit in that room for the next several years?"

"Hmm? No, you now have everything you need. That array is simply to help those without a core. If you concentrate your core should have everything you need, though having another example on your person will be useful. I'll have an example core sent to you."

"Thank you sir." He nodded and dismissed me.

Classes for the rest of the day were rather less eventful, and after we'd finally finished Kala joined me in my room. We sat around going over some of the basic things we'd had to do this week in our more general courses and chatting about our plans for our next actually free day. Eventually I made my way back over to my desk and Troy's invitation.

I looked at it and considered. I didn't really want to go with him, but it was expected by most of my classmates that I'd go with someone. Then I looked over at Kala, and I remembered that first morning after we'd met. Had I actually been telling people to shove off with their expectations? Well, not always. I was getting better at it though, my interaction with Rooke being some evidence of that.

"You know what Kala. Screw going with any of these idiots. Who wants to wake up early just to go on a date anyway, that's just annoying."

She began laughing, "Decided to join me on the 'no boy' list then?"

"Yup. I will say though, look at Troy's handwriting. I'm jealous, it's just too pretty."

She came over and looked at the letter. "No lie." Once we'd both had our fill I chucked it in the fire like the others and the two of us found a comfy spot to sit.

"So, what's the plan for that day? I'm completely free now."

"Wanna hang out? Oh, we can watch all the people who're doing their dates. Put on our most comfy clothes and laugh at all the fancily dress folks who woke up too bloody early."

"Sounds fun, I'll get some sweets."

"Oh, yours are the best."

"It's practice Kala."

"And ready access to dumb amounts of sugar."

I crinkled my nose at her for a moment. Then she surprised me by leaning in and pressing her lips to mine. I froze, startled.

She pulled back and looked at my shocked face. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to... I just thought maybe..."

I looked at her, she seemed like she was about to bolt from embarrassment. "Kala, I like you, but... I don't really think of girls... sexually?"

"Well, mostly I just want someone to... be with. I think I'll get a husband one day, but when I do..." she seemed to consider her words. "It'll be more like a business transaction, and sex too. I care for you though, I thought you might be the same?"

She moved to get up but I pulled her back gently. I didn't kiss her, but I did hold her, and she held me. We stayed like that for a long time, wrapped up in each others arms. It was nice, if a bit different from what I'd done before. Kala was warm, and soft, and comfy.

Eventually though we did need to talk. It took a few hours for us each to go over what we thought. It was a whole thing I was a bit new to. Kala though felt that romance and sex were two vastly different things, and I couldn't say I really disagreed. Eventually she proposed that we pursue the former without the latter. A suggestion I happily agreed to.