In Eldar, Velvet was wondering when their competition would be announced. Every academy needed to select a champion for the Magornis and most did it in the same way—by letting the graduates of the last five years battle it out in a friendly elimination-style dueling tournament. The one who won it all was declared the academy champion and would be representing them.
For some reason, Eldar academy didn't seem to be in a hurry to announce this competition any time soon. This struck Velvet as odd, and so she asked Loretta about it. When the elf said she had no idea, the girl went on to ask Miss Pampleton—surely she must know, right?
“We've been given orders from the king to withhold on announcing it,” the scholar explained.
This only opened up more new questions. Why would the king be doing this? Was it not in his best interest for his kingdom to be represented well at the Magornis?
Even Priscilla herself couldn't answer these questions. She knew something, though. Velvet saw in her eyes that she was hiding something from her. The question was—what?
It wouldn't take long for the girl to find out. Just two weeks later, the academy was to receive a visit from the elven king himself and Velvet had a sneaking suspicion that this had something to do with the competition.
“Does your king visit the academy often?” she asked Loretta.
“No,” the elf answered. “It's very strange for the king to announce a visit like this. Usually, it's only for important ceremonies or graduations, where he gives a speech. This is odd.”
“You think he's going to announce the academy competition?”
“I don't know, but the timing of this visit is ripe for that,” the girl replied, looking worried.
“Is there something wrong?” Velvet asked, noticing that something was bothering her.
Loretta shook her head and forced a smile. “No. I'm all right. You don't have to worry.”
“If you say so,” her friend didn't really believe her. “If there is something, you know you can always tell me—I won't judge, even if you think it's stupid or minor.”
“Thanks,” she nodded. “You're a good friend, Velvet.”
The day of the visit came around sooner than either of them expected it. Velvet trained daily with Priscilla and spent the rest of her free time with her new friend. Time just flew by.
All the students were gathered in the great hall when a luxurious-looking carriage stopped in front of the academy, a tall and just as lavishly dressed elf stepping out of it. His servant and two guards were walking with him across the park, and all the students were glued to the windows, wanting to get a glimpse of their king. All except Velvet and Loretta. They were sitting in the corner and talking instead.
“Don't you want to go look at the king?” the human asked her. “This is exciting, isn't it?”
“You can go ahead if you want,” she waved her hand. “I much rather spend the time talking to you. We will see him when he gives his speech or whatever he came here to do anyway.”
“In that case, I will stay here with you,” Velvet smiled. “My friend is more important to me than some king of a foreign land.”
Loretta returned a half-hearted smile and glanced down at the table before her.
“You're doing it again,” her friend pointed out. “Something's bothering you, isn't there?”
Just as Loretta wanted to answer, the door to the great hall flung open, and the servant stepped in while the two guards took post on each side of the door.
“His Majesty, King Varus Julian Hoshinov the third, ruler of the elven lands!” the servant announced and bowed while the man in a colorful suit and a crimson bowtie entered the room.
All of the students that weren't standing up yet did so and the ones at the windows quickly scuttled away, not wanting to appear like they were spying on their king. The headmaster, a tall elf with white hair and a short goat beard, walked down the middle of the hall to greet him.
“Greetings, your Majesty,” he said, bowing deeply and probably breaking his back while doing so. “It is my pleasure to welcome you to our humble academy.”
“The pleasure is mine,” the king smiled. His hair was as colorful as his wardrobe—a bright shade of vermillion, contrasted by the golden crown he wore. “I trust you know the nature of my visit today, headmaster Winkleshaw. You have received my letter, yes?”
“Of course,” the white-haired elf straightened himself from his bowing position. “Right this way, your Majesty,” he gestured, and they walked across the hall toward a podium at the end of it.
Varus smiled and nodded at the students on each side of the red carpet that was splitting the room across the middle. All the elves tried to stand as still as possible and put on their best smiles for their ruler. As Miss Pampleton stated, most of them were from noble families, and they wanted to look as presentable as possible to the king. The pair ascended a staircase and the headmaster spoke first.
“Esteemed students and graduates!” he started his opening speech. “As you see, we have an extraordinary guest here today! His Majesty has visited us today to announce our representative for the Magornis that will take place in the summer of next year.”
A commotion was heard from the crowd in which surprised elves were looking at each other. Announce the representative? But there wasn't even any competition held! Did they just pick someone at random? Loretta and Velvet didn't even bother to stand up until now, but when the elf heard this, she jumped up from her seat immediately. “What?! Oh no, he wouldn't!”
“Can they even do that?” Velvet was just as surprised as everyone else. “Just pick someone?”
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“Settle down, settle down,” the headmaster waved at them. “I know what you're all thinking! But I assure you, the person we have in mind is an adequate candidate and will represent our school admirably; we can assure you that! Now, I give the word to his Majesty, the king.”
“Thank you, headmaster Winkleshaw,” the pompous-looking elf stepped forward. “My dear graduates! I realize this may come a bit unexpectedly. I apologize for doing things differently this year, as is the norm. Usually, we would hold a competition and have you all face off for the glory of representing this prestigious academy—arguably the finest in all of Rumerra—at the Magornis. This year, as most of you know, there is a special someone among you. A person of great importance both to me and the elven kingdom.”
“Hey, where are you going?” Velvet whispered. Her friend was slowly, quietly, moving toward the exit, pushing through the crowd. She decided to follow Loretta. “Wait for me!”
“That someone is, in my opinion, and the opinion of many teachers, the one who should carry the elven flag this time around!” the king continued. “Please, allow me to call to the stage the pride of Eldar academy and my personal pride and joy, princess Loretta Hoshinova!”
All heads turned to the back of the room, where the green-haired elf was standing with one foot on the window, almost successful in her sneaking-out attempt. She stopped in her tracks in this awkward position and glanced back toward her friend. Velvet alternated between looking at her, the other students staring at her, and the king on the stage.
“You…you are,” the confused girl stammered. “You're the princess?!”
“What are you doing, honey?” the man behind the podium waved at her. “Join me on stage!”
“L-like hell!” Loretta shouted and jumped out the window, earning gasps from the audience. Velvet dashed after her and jumped out as well. “Hey! Wait up! Where are you going?!”
They ran across the park and around the academy, the human chasing the elf, who turned out to be much more athletic than Velvet thought. When Velvet finally caught up with her, she found her sitting on a broad branch of a large yew tree, hugging her legs and crying. Velvet climbed the tree and sat next to her. “Hey, Loretta…”
“Don't say anything,” the elf quickly silenced her. “I'm sorry. I know what I did was wrong.”
“What do you mean?” the other girl asked.
“I lied to you about who I am,” she buried her face in her knees. “I am a terrible friend.”
“Oh…that,” Velvet said. “Don't worry; I’m not upset about that. Well, maybe a little. You know you could've trusted me. Why did you do it anyway?”
“Exactly because of what happened right now,” Loretta looked up, her emerald eyes filled with tears. “Because I don't want to be treated differently.” She sighed. “When I learned that a student is coming from Ardor, I was excited. Not so much because I would be fascinated by humans—I find all races interesting in their own way. I was excited because I knew whoever came would not know who I was. Here at the academy, everyone knows. That's why they all treat me like I'm someone special. They're all super polite and friendly and want to hang out with me and talk to me. But all of that is fake. They don't want to hang out with me. They want to hang out with the princess. You, however, saw me for who I am and not for my title alone. You were my first true friend. Not someone who just wants to be friendly with me to get closer to my father or to raise their status. You actually cared about me as a person. And I was afraid that if you found out I'm the princess, that would change.”
“Oh, Loretta,” Velvet smiled and scooted closer to her, putting her hand over her shoulder. “Nothing will change because of this, I can assure you. I don't care who you are or what your title is. To me, you are the kind, helpful, and a bit clumsy girl who showed me around town.”
The elf hugged her around the waist and leaned on to her. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
They sat like that for a while until they heard voices approaching. “Oh no. Here they come.”
“You will have to talk to your father at some point,” Velvet reminded her. “You can't hide up here forever. Why don't you just tell him that you don't like what he's doing?”
“Believe me, I've tried,” Loretta said quietly. “He always thinks he knows what's best for my sisters and me. And he's the king—his word is the law. He's not going to let me back out now that he already announced to everyone that I will represent our academy at the Magornis.”
“Ah. I see. Well, you still need to talk to him. They are looking for you.” The voices were getting closer now. They would find them at any second, no doubt.
“I'd like to be up here and talk to you for a little longer,” she looked at her with pleading eyes.
“Say no more,” Velvet grinned and held her hand. “Just be quiet and sit still. Light Veil.”
A guard came looking around the tree but saw nothing when he looked up. “I could have sworn I heard voices coming from here! But there's nobody here! I must be hearing things…” He shrugged and walked away. A second later, the pair appeared again.
“That was…harder than I thought,” Velvet panted.
“I thought Light Veil can only be cast on yourself,” the elf was surprised. “How did you…”
“Practice,” the young witch replied. “Lots and lots of practice. Years of practice.”
“You're amazing. Wait,” Loretta suddenly remembered, “shouldn't you be representing your academy at the Magornis? Why did they send you here instead?”
“They don't need me,” she smiled in turn. “Arianna can represent us just as well. I just got her letter yesterday. Haven't had time to write a reply yet.” She pulled out a folded piece of paper.
Thank you for reading this part of the story! May the following week bless you with good fortune!
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What did Arianna tell Velvet in her letter? Find out next time!