‘Now, let me tell you some basics about Ash House. Firstly, we’re sitting on the water so it does move about, and while it may take you some time to enjoy the gentle rocking, most people find it soothing. Some people don’t adapt to that as quickly as you’d think, so if you feel queasy, there is a medic located beside the main commons, where you can get some tablets. You’ll be fine though, I’m sure of it.’

Unlike Elder House with its hallways and individualised rooms, Ash House was open. The main commons, as Miss Ghirstwen called it, ran exactly through the centre of the House. The wings flowed off to the sides from there, and blue-cloaked students came and went from their respective sides of the house. Ash House had a lovely appeal to it. The floors, like most surfaces, comprised of roughly polished wood or marbled stone, and someone had gone to great expense to fit glass into the roof, allowing natural light to fill the vaulted ceilings.

‘As you go farther back, you’ll encounter some teaching rooms and the Masters’ rooms which are naturally off-limits. They have the best views out over the water,’ she smiled. ‘Now, I take it you don’t know anyone from Ash House yet, but it’s okay. Common meals mean everyone gets to know each other quickly and you’ll make friends in no time with the other first-year students.’

‘I met a nice girl earlier; her name was Rilla.’

‘Rilla, of course – a lovely girl. Quiet as a mouse sometimes, but lovely nonetheless. I wonder… Fortune might favour us, as I don’t think she has a roommate at this point. Would that interest you?’

A grin lit Elvie’s face. ‘Very much.’

‘Let’s go see what she thinks about it.’

Ghirstwen led Elvie into the left wing of the house, and through a more enclosed corridor. She came to a nondescript and tapped lightly until Rilla responded.

‘Hi Rilla, I’ve promised you a roommate for such a long time, and it looks like I finally have the chance to settle that pledge.’

Rilla was instantly agreeable. A pleased smile crept across her face like a slowly dawning sun, and she pulled the doorway wide to reveal a small room. Twin beds and writing tables rested against the wall on opposite sides of the room. A burgundy mat with no specific pattern and frayed corners sat on the floor. The temperature was cold, but the quilting on the beds looked thick enough to compensate.

‘I’ll leave you to settle in, shall I?’ Ghirstwen asked rhetorically, as with a small wave she closed the door behind her.

‘Hello again,’ Elvie beamed.

‘Hello again,’ Rilla laughed in reply.

Thankfully they’d already met, or this moment would have been painfully awkward, like so many of those movies where students went to a boarding school.

She put her lonely bag upon the bed and said to Rilla: ‘Thanks for walking me today. I’m sorry you didn’t get the chance to come in, but that might have been a blessing. I’ll tell you what, Alistar is an unusual sort.’

‘That’s okay. What was it like? I sometimes try to imagine what all the different houses are like on the inside, but Elder is particularly intriguing.’

Elvie broke into an exaggerated tale of the buildings interior and her wandering adventures, although she studiously avoided talking about the doorway into the next room. She painted Alistar as a crazed genius in his maze-like lair, describing how he’d almost run away in his haste to escape showing her around. She played up the dust and hollow hallways, the empty bedrooms and the black hole of cold that had descended. She made it mystical, intriguing and a little bit dangerous.

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‘Thank you for letting me stay with you,’ she said when she finished.

Rilla shrugged. ‘That’s okay. It’s been kind of lonely by myself.’

‘It will be nice to have a friend here,’ she smiled, genuinely meaning it. After staying at Eldridge’s for so long, having another girl around her age would be a pleasant change. ‘There are some weird people here, apart from Alistar… I hadn’t made it through the door when a guy called Larcen was already being a bully.’

‘He’s not very friendly to anyone.’ By her tone, she’d experienced his stupidity before.

‘He took one look at my cloak, and huffed up like a puffa fish!’

Rilla blinked at the simile. Did she know the species? ‘Jealousy amongst magicians isn’t uncommon, especially around the physically skilled houses. You’d think people would be happy learning any sort of magic, but magicians in Ash House can be bitter. They feel like they’ve lost a branch of magic because Ash sits beside Elder. Larcen always talks about his ‘wasted’ talents.’

‘It feels like I’ve heard this all before.’

‘What do you mean?’ Rilla queried.

‘It’s sad,’ Elvie began. ‘It’s sad these troubles are the same even if you travel through…’ She trailed off. Even if you travel through time. Best not to say that part. ‘Even if you travel through different countries.’

Rilla only nodded. ‘I do my best to avoid them, but sometimes you cannot.’

They turned out to be prophetic words.

Elvie wanted to be discreet, but the moment she went to dinner, Larcen was quick to point her out to his friends. She walked into a hostile world, where people stared and frowned – many grimaced when she walked by. A purple cloak made her stand out like a sore thumb, and apparently, this wound about ‘lost magic’ made some magicians quite resentful.

She looked to Rilla questioningly, but she was watching the floor and refusing to make eye contact with anyone. Indeed, the only person to offer a welcome was Flynn, who she met at the counter where food was heaped onto plates and collected by the students. They made their way to him and then to a table.

‘So you made it out alive?’ he asked, as she plonked herself down with a sigh.

‘Was there doubt?’

‘From what I hear… The tales some of these people tell.’

Elvie frowned. Was he talking about Elder House, or about her? ‘Are you sure you want to sit with me?’ Elvie asked them both. ‘I won’t hold it against you if you want to sit with your other friends. I do kind of…’ she waved her hand down at her cloak, then vaguely in the direction of surrounding people.

‘I’ve never been one for crowds,’ Flynn smiled self-deprecatingly.

Rilla didn’t say anything, she just sat.

‘Will it always be like this?’ Elvie asked.

Flynn grunted. ‘They’re fools. What’s the difference between some of them and you? You can cast Elder, so can they. You can cast Ash, so can they. It’s one house difference, that’s all. Arrogant fools – not all of them though – some are just willing to listen to whoever is speaking the loudest. Many men and women don’t think for themselves, and believe everything they see or hear.’

His words were right, but they didn’t change the looks she received for the entirety of dinner. She pushed her dinner of potato, bread, and a slice of dark meat she didn’t recognise, around her plate in thought. It did seem that no matter where you went, how people behaved was always the same.

That night, as Rilla curled up in bed with a book to read by the light of a small candle, Elvie wrote a letter to Eldridge. She hoped to find out more about Elder House and the possible tension directed towards it.

Dear Eldridge,

I’m not sure when you’ll receive this letter – as I have no real idea how the mail system works, particularly if magicians are involved.

I hope your trip to see the Prince was nice, and you, Mrs Thistle, and everybody else on your estate is well. I’ve settled into my new House, and guess what? I was in Elder House after all. But I’m staying at Ash House for now. It has been a little difficult, at the start – people don’t seem to like Elder House, but I’ve made some new friends. You would like them. Their names are Rilla and Flynn.

Do you know what has happened to Elder House? I cannot get a straight answer from anybody here. Right now, I feel like nobody is going to be able to teach me how to use my own House’s magic. Alistar, the sort of Master, doesn’t want to know me – he says he has no spells to teach and I think he was happy to see the back of me.

I hope things get easier!

Much love to everyone.

Elvie.

Hopefully, a nights’ sleep would reveal some answers.