"The Kingdom is divided up into the Royal Family, the Nobility, and the Commoners. Here are the different territories of the Kingdom, and which families run them." The professor droned on and on.
Eon and Rielen were sitting in their first lesson Geography. This was a review of the lessons they had learned at the Academy. However, they now had to learn the names of the Noble families that ruled and managed each territory, how they were ranked, and the different factions they all fell into.
Rielen was struggling. She really couldn't care about any of this. However, they were all required to memorize all this information, and attend parties and different social events as part of the Elite Academy. Each of them were urged to decide on a faction and required to socialize to earn connections.
Dealing with people really wasn't for Rielen. She would rather just sit in her room with Eon and study different kinds of magic, like she had been doing for years. Really, being an Elite was definitely not as appealing as exploding stuff and doing experiments.
Eon, however, was socializing, and making connection after connection. Rielen couldn't be bothered, but attended every event with Eon. One couldn't be seen at a party without the other also being there. Eon would stand next to her through every conversation with the Noble men that would surround her.
The parties were the most exhausting. Rielen had to defer so many invitations to dance that she would often hide behind Eon. Hyla would dress her up in such extravagant clothes that she silently begged her to put her in something plain for once.
"Miss, you are going to be a Noble lady," Hyla told her. "You must dress as a Noble woman does! I cannot have you looking anything but your best. Sit while I do your hair!" Rielen sniffed at the injustice of it all. The only reason she survived was the whispers Eon would put just at her ear.
"You look beautiful tonight." He would compliment her each time. He always noticed when she had enough, and would lead her away from the greedy Nobles. He clutched at anything that would help him protect her.
Eon had decided to align Rielen and himself with a faction known for speaking about equality amongst the mages. He avoided the arrogant Nobles, who only feasted on the chance to take his Rielen away from him. He also worked hard to get into Hyla's good graces, directing his own attendant to team up with her.
Hyla understood that the direction Eon wanted to go in would be best for her master, so she worked with Greg, the attendant of Eon, to ensure that her master only went to the parties and functions of the faction that Eon chose.
She sighed. 'All this time I have been here to keep him away, she thought, 'and now look at me. I am practically following his orders now. I must do this for my master's future!' She rolled up her sleeves, and worked through another stack of invitations.
Rielen glanced over at Hyla. 'I wonder what has gotten her all worked up?' She motioned for Tara to finish dressing her for bed. The sheer amount of events she had attended this week exhausted her. She stared in disbelief as Eon had given her the list.
"Are you trying to kill me?" she had asked him. He only chuckled and said, "I would have made it longer if I knew you could handle it." Rielen felt dead to the world. When had she started being dragged along like this? She had never seen this part of Eon before.
Climbing into her bed, she missed the days where all she had to do was study magic and history. Or the days where she could sit by a stream, waiting for her precious stone to be picked for that day. For the first time in a long time, she reached for the jar ever present by her desk.
She had had to replace the original jar with a much larger one, as the stone flowers that had been gifted to her increased. She reached in and found a stone from back in the time she was in Vale. A clear blue that reminded her of Eon's eyes.
Tara put out the lights as she left Rielen's bedroom. A sliver of light from her sitting room, where Hyla was still working, shone. Tomorrow, they had Noble etiquette, horseback riding, and tea ceremony. Rielen had been avoiding dancing, because she hadn't yet mastered the art.
Eon, however, had patiently practiced with her for days. She really wasn't a dancer. She felt bad every time she stomped on his feet. He would laugh and keep dancing with her, unafraid of her tiny feet. Her heart would flutter, and then stomp on his feet more due to her lack of focus.
In fact, Eon found this endearing, and looked forward to their dancing practice each day. Eon tossed another pile of invitations at Greg. "Pick the ones where she will shine the brightest," he announced as he left the room and settled into bed. Every function he picked was where he needed to make a connection with someone. It was all to support the woman he loved.
Somehow, Rielen had stopped being a girl in his mind. She was a woman, who had developed distracting curves. He was painfully aware of the attention Rielen was getting from other Nobles. That was why he had offered to take the lead on the assignment of finding a faction and attending Noble functions.
It also provided the perfect chance to declare to all those stupid Nobles that she was his, and he would not allow anyone to take her. He didn't care about any of the connections he had made. His only thought was to protect her. He silently thanked Greg, who had explained how all of this works.
Greg had been from a Noble family who didn't make it to the Elite Academy. He now spent his time as an attendant to those that did. He had a deep knowledge of Noble society and the different families. It was by chance he had been assigned to Eon. Greg had grown to like the young master, and chose to serve him wholeheartedly. He truly believed Eon had what it took to rise above the rest.