Rielen's head was spinning from the lessons she went through yesterday. She had spent the whole day with a woman named Charla who taught her very embarrassing, and very important, things.
Once a week she would be spending with this woman from now on. The worst thing about it? Apparently there were multiple ways with being physical with the opposite sex. Things she had never wanted to know or think about were now a part of her studies.
Apparently, some King a few generations ago thought that it would be better if young potential brides to the nobility knew how to please men. 'Disgusting, is all she could even think. At least they had the sense to allow a woman to teach the subject.
Trina patted Rielen's hand with a knowing smile at breakfast. "The first lesson is always the roughest." She didn't continue the subject, and became engrossed with the other girls on a new romance novel they had been passing around.
They were just cattle being passed around. Rielen washed the bad taste from her mouth with the fruit water Hyla had poured for her. She wasn't allowed to speak of her lessons to anyone. Even though she burned to tell Eon of this injustice, she knew that it would never be allowed.
'They don't expect any of us to ascend to the throne,' Rielen thought. 'Our only worth in their eyes is to sell us off to the highest bidder.' She was distracted in her studies. The professors didn't scold her, because they knew the day after the 'special lessons' were given, pupils were often distracted.
In fact, it was when she was in her special chamber that she used to train that Rielen felt something red hot emerge from within her. A red hot fire covered her body. Alfred dropped the book he had been reading. "Take a deep breath," he warned her.
The injustice was too much. She tried to calm her feelings, but it was too difficult. She barely noticed when Alfred backed out of the room with all the books he could carry. She let the mana burn until she had nothing left. She felt herself slowly descend from where she had been inside the burning inferno. Her legs collapsed underneath her.
Alfred had been waiting for this, and slowly walked into the room. His pupil had graduated her nature studies, had discovered a lost power for teleportation, and now somehow developed fire powers? He began to wonder just how many affinities she had.
Fire mana was in direct opposition from nature magic. It was not unfounded, just rare. Her other more rare mana would keep her out of the military. Nature magic alone would have been her ticket to being well treated in the Kingdom. Teleportation magic would put her in protected status. Fire magic? Alfred knew that she would never escape the Palace.
It would allow his pupil to have many benefits. However, he couldn't say what kind of treatment that the King would place on her. Perhaps her only way of being free was to become the next Ruler? Alfred made an oath in his heart that he would help his pupil to this extent. In the little time that they had spent together, he had watched her grow up.
It had been two years. At first, he wasn't sure how he would feel having a pupil. Nature magic was rare, so there were not many options for a teacher, as nature mages were often deployed as soon as they finished their education. He had thought that his time at the Palace would be over now. Rielen was special.
He picked up his pupil in his arms, and slowly made his way to the Healers Area. She had surely burned through her mana. Fire magic was unyielding when first awoken. He knew she had the discipline to control it, but the emotions were just too much for her to deal with.
Rielen awoke again in the Healers Area. She sighed. The healer who had been assigned to her was Karla. "I see you have found your way into my sight again, Rielen." A disapproving look came over her face.
She was an older mage who specialized in Water Magic. Water Mages were often recruited as Healers. She had served in the Palace for 30 years. After the incident of fainting, an official healer had been assigned to Rielen from orders from the King.
This often happened to talented young mages who showed promise. "Fire magic this time? As if you weren't in my presence enough. Here, this is a balm that will cure most burns. Do not go practicing without an observer. Last thing I need is to be woken in the middle of the night from you pyromaniacs!"
Karla left Rielen to get dressed. Fire magic had been swirling in the well of her stomach where her mana was. 'Why do I keep getting more gifts?' Her thoughts went back to the Spirit. 'Choosing you was a good idea,' the Spirit said in Rielen's mind. She had thought that she was chosen to simply receive mana.
However, the lectures from Charla reached her ears. How mana was heavily influenced by the maternal line. She also remembered her studies of history.
'Perhaps mana is in all of us,' she thought, 'but the gifts given are different.' If anger brought out fire, and her sense of being imprisoned brought out her teleportation magic, what other gifts had she been given? Whatever it was, though, she knew that her future was not going to be as simple as she wished.