A wave of relief flooded through Sharna's brain as she marvelled at her success.

She tried to listen as Myra explained how the house ran, their work for the palace, the sleeping arrangements and chore schedules but was only paying attention with half of her brain.

She was pulled back to the conversation as Anna stood and pulled something from a nearby container to show her. It was a rectangle of fabric. The border was beautifully decorated with a fairly basic repeating floral pattern in three colours, but contained nothing like the level of intricate work that she had put into her piece. Her confusion must have shown in her face.

“This is the level of work that is expected of us, as women, our levels and understanding of magic are understandably low, and one piece a day is all that is expected of each of us.” Anna smirked and continued. “The rest of the day is our own, and the palace pays well for our toil, but we may have to do something about the piece you made just now.”

Anna looked to Myra with a question and then back to Sharna. “We don't want to increase expectations, are you able to form something simpler like this as well?”

“Of course.” Sharna assured her. “I just wanted to show you my capabilities and was worried that even this wouldn't be enough.”

Myra’s face softened again. “It's a lovely image, have you seen something similar before? I know the sea around Atoll becomes green as the Light Rays return to lay eggs but I have never seen it around the Dragon Cliffs - I would recognise that oddly balanced cottage anywhere.”

“Is it a real place? I have dreamt of it many times, always with the green sea and stars, and the sky swirling and strange.”

Sharna had dreamt of it again last night, the first dream she’d had since her grandmother had died, and the image had stuck with her throughout the morning.

Anna shrugged. “Maybe you went there as a child, or saw a picture at some point, dreams can mean anything or nothing.”

Sharna didn't reply to this but internally questioned Anna's comment, her grandmother had always stressed the importance of dreams and she wondered if Anna actually knew anything about the magical field of precognition.

Sharna had known for a long time that many people only looked at their small area of magical skill without thinking about the broader magical umbrella that it fell under. Her grandmother had been teaching her magical theory since she was a child, but this was not information that she readily shared with others, as many people felt that it was inappropriate for women to learn too much about these subjects.

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Myra continued. “We are only allowed to sell these images to the palace, it is a part of our contract, but we encourage you to work on projects in different areas in your free time. For example, Anna has a preference for cartography, her maps are sought after by many individuals, while I specialise in refinishing dresses. We'll let the other girls explain their individual interests and projects with you, if you don’t already have an area of interest - maybe you can get ideas to extend your own practice.”

Myra stood so Anna and Sharna rose as well.

“Let's go and speak with your uncle and cousin and give them the happy news.”

Her uncle and cousin were waiting where she had left them, both looking relaxed, leaning on the wall of the carriage in the shade and both had a carefully neutral expression as the three exited the house.

The fights had been going on for weeks, with each other, other family members, lawyers, but in the end, if Sharna wasn't granted a chance to enter a respectable women-led apprenticeship in her chosen area of image-materialisation, then all of her grandmother's considerable estate would be gifted to her favourite charity - The Pillars.

The Pillars supported women in difficult situations to get back on their feet. During her life her grandmother had done much for the charity and ensured there would be a place there for her granddaughter if it was ever needed, but neither of them had expected her death to come so soon.

Sharna’s grandmother had discussed her will with her several years ago. She would have left everything to Sharna if she could - this was what everyone had expected - but both of them knew that with a large estate and without her grandmother’s protection, Sharna would be forced to marry whomever could get to her first. Luckily, no one but her knew the truth about her father or she would have never been allowed to leave.

“So?” barked her uncle.

Myra didn't look surprised at his rudeness. “We would be delighted to have Sharna stay with us, I think there is much we can learn from each other.”

Her uncle scoffed and looked away.

He thought little of their branch of magic and was comfortable showing this disdain.

“Sharna?” Her cousin pushed off the carriage to come forward and catch her hand. “Are you sure that this is what you want?”

His concern for her was genuine, although misguided.

“We've already talked this to death Jarrah, grandmother thought this would be an important experience for me. If it doesn't work out then I will come back home.” She was lying but he didn't need to know that.

His face fell but he moved to help her collect her luggage and Anna took him upstairs to show him where it was to go.

Once that was done her uncle grumbled something about having wasted enough time and Jarrah gave her an uncomfortably lingering kiss on her cheek before joining her uncle in the carriage.

She was relieved to see them leave.

She knew her cousin harboured a crush on her, and many women found his classical looks attractive. However, while magical power was partially genetic, and many marriages in her grandparents’ generation were formed specifically to increase the powers of their potential offspring, marriages between family members were now luckily out of vogue. She personally found the thought of dating a cousin repugnant, they had the same grandparents for goodness sake!

Myra, Anna and Sharna stood, shading their eyes from the sun, and watched until the carriage was out of sight before making their way inside. Sharna felt for the tug that showed her which direction Quinn was, and discretely scanned the area until she spotted brief movement in a large flowering tree in the garden.

Her attention went back to the two women as Anna headed to the kitchen to check on lunch while Myra guided Sharna upstairs to show her where she would be staying.

Sharing with a roommate would be a new experience for Sharna and she nervously hoped that her roommate would be someone with whom she could become friends.