"Peony? Are you sure about this?"
"Everything will be fine, Maisey."
Peony smirked as she slid her black gloves over her ring.
"But, what if you get caught?! You'd be kicked out of human society again!"
Peony chuckled and handed the fairy a small sugar cake, "It'll be all right, Maisey. Even if they did catch me and kick me out of school, mother and the others won't be in trouble if they don't know that I've been raised by fairies. Also, I won't be kicked out again if I'm not going to join back to human society completely anyway. Even if they do find that I live out here, I'll never leave them any evidence of who I am or that I am my mother's daughter."
With that, she stuffed the last trouser into the luggage before she noticed a transparent wing. With a raised brow and a smirk, Peony reached out and pushed aside her buttoned shirt gently to reveal a small blue fairy with hair slowly deformed into liquid on the ends. The fairy looked up from her huddled figure and surprise before stammering, "I-I wasn't hiding or anything!"
Pretending to believe her, Peony smiled, "Right. Sorry about that, Aqua. I didn't see you there."
Aqua, formerly the size of a seven-year-old child and now the size of her palm, frown piteously despite being in a position as one of the two aides of her mother, Queen Tatiana.
"I-I just came to let you know that her majesty is waiting for you outside." Aqua responded hesitantly.
"I understand." Peony smiled, "Don't worry. I'll be fine, Aqua. I'll try to send you guys messages when I can."
"But, are you sure you want to do this?" Maisey questioned with deep concern as he flew to her shoulder and sat on the black hood robe, "I-I mean, you're a girl! Going to a private all-boys school!"
"They won't find out as long as I have this ring." Peony responded tapping to the thin black ring hidden under her black gloves.
That's right. Peony was going to an all boys school disguised as a boy. The ring she managed to keep safely with her throughout her childhood had the ability to hide her gender and appearance to that of a boy. All she had to do was hide the necessary actions required as that of a woman and all else would be done.
"Besides," Peony said with a wide smile on her face as she brought her wheel luggage down from the single-sized bed and onto the wooden floor, "I've always wanted to see what this so-called human school was like."
"But, you're already a prodigy!" Maisey whined.
"That's an overestimating myself there, Maisey." Peony responded with a wide smile, "If I was such a prodigy, how could I have not figured out what's wrong with my own body?"
"But, why not Royal Sword Academy?!" Maisey questioned nervously.
"Silly." Aqua sighed, "Isn't it better for her to go to Night Raven College? We'll be there for the next Fairy Gala."
Peony giggled, "That'll put the staff in a bind, probably."
With that, she rolled out her belongings out of her little wooden cabin with the fairies flying about her. Before the carriage stood a golden figure under the bright sun. Peony smiled wide and reached out to give her a hug.
"I'll be going then, Mother!"
Tatiana unwilling drew back her daughter, now looking like a son with her hair tied back into a dye black ponytail, and said worryingly, "Be careful when you get there. I've heard that some of the students can be a handful. Try to be a little more lenient on them when you can and don't get kicked out before you find your answer."
Peony laughed, "Mother, your worry has no place here or there. I'll be fine. When I left that orphanage, those human adults burned all evidence of my existence for their advantage. If they knew I've taken that fact to my own advantage, their face would be no different than a tomato!"
"This child..." Tatiana sighed as she shook her head in defeat and patted her head, "I know you're thinking of your dream, but please do remember that your home is here if you ever wish to return and not to lose yourself in your quest."
Peony nodded, "I won't be able to return this year for Winter break, but I promise to have Chili send you my letters as often as possible."
Tatiana nodded back with a small smile, "I know you won't be able to send us letters till then. Do be careful and be on your best behavior. If anyone does try anything to harm you, let us know right away."
Igni, her mother's second of the two aides and a fire fairy the size of a seven-year-old child, stepped up to Tatiana's side and said, "Your majesty, Peo-"
He cleared his throat and continued, "I mean, Lotus will be fine, your majesty. If she should notify us, we'll gather the fairies on a moment notice."
Though uncertain, Tatiana finally nodded her head again, "Very well... I've packed your facial change potion into your ring a few days ago. They'll last you for two years before it starts to run out. As for your male appearance, I know your ring will protect you. If it can fool the mirror once, it can fool him again as you said. Just don't let your guard down."
"I understand, mother." Peony responded with a bright smile.
Looking at her daughter in male clothing, Tatiana finally parted with her daughter as she watched the now-boy stare at the black coffin on the open black carriage led by a black horse with a strange-looking skeletal face. Aside from the fancy carriage and the coffin, the horse itself was enough to make her mother frown in disdain and her fairy friends shudder in fear or glare warily.
Their image now was no different to when she had told them that an acceptance letter was sent to her from Night Raven College. When she talked about the situation with her mother at first, Tatiana was strictly against her leaving the forest to a human school they do not approve of, much less Royal Sword Academy. Both were private schools that were the most prestigious in magic and, though she did initially received an acceptance letter from both, Peony ended up deciding to go to the Night Raven College to find the answers to her questions.
When she was a child, she had often been plagued with nightmares of the past life. So much so, that her mother was able to see it riddle on her face and finally got her to confess to her the details of her dream. Of how a Peony flower fairy was stripped of her power and pride and thrown down by a human queen who tried to force her to bloom. How the peony stood her ground till the very end when the queen stomped on her to prevent her from raising back.
The details of the dream were so vivid to Peony that Tatiana was certain that it was a dream of her past life because all of it was from one point of view of her dream. She had been told how there had been incidents of reincarnations in the past and that this may just be a remnant of such. Yet, reincarnations should only occur within the world. Very rarely has it ever caused transmigration to another.
These were thoughts her mother would not tell her till the year when she had just turned thirteen. Before then, her mother often pondered whether she should speak of this to the girl she had raised amongst the fairies. However, she knew that the child was never a fairy from the start and would have to venture away from her nest eventually.
With this in mind, Tatiana finally relented and supported her only daughter to attend the school.
If only she had known that what her daughter recounted wasn't just dreams, but real memories that the girl had retained after her rebirth. Would she let her go then?
"A coffin?" Tatiana heard her daughter note in bewilderment.
Maisey nodded, "The school has their new students enter the school inside a coffin."
Tatiana walked over and patted her daughter's back, "When you descend into the coffin, you'll fall into a deep slumber and reawaken within the school halls."
Peony nodded as she recounted the contents of the letter, "Then, I'll have to wait till we're escorted to our dorms. Interesting..."
Peony smirked, "I wonder what the mirror will do when it discovers he can't evaluate my heart?"
Tatiana and Igni both shook their heads as the latter wore a trying smile. Having raised the child themselves, they've come to learn that she had taken on such a sarcastic and curious personality that was similar to that of a real fox. However, they continued to trust in her more so because she did not hide her personality from them and had always thought for her foster family who refuses to leave the forest as often to avoid outside human contact.
Tatiana, however, stated, "If he does discover, you may return if they kick you out. We'll think of other ways to get you into the library."
Peony, however, just shook her head, "It'll be fine, mother. Besides, I can always get myself in there. You don't have to go out of your way to do something this risky for me. If something does happen and I get kicked out, I'll come back home."
Hearing this, the mother finally listened to what her daughter said and gave her one last hug before she watched Peony get into the coffin with her only luggage stored into the ring she had hidden under her glove.
After lying down in the coffin, Peony could feel a sense of weariness slowly overcome her as she closed her eyes and her consciousness slowly drifted away.
Watching the carriage slowly move away from the cabin in the woods, Tatiana slowly let out a sigh.
"Your majesty..." Igni noted with slight concern.
"It's been ten years since I've found her in the forest that night..." Tatiana recounted that day she had stumbled across the reckless scrawny child, "She could barely reach my hip when she was younger. Now she's sprouted and has reached my shoulder."
"I remember that their youngest student was still sixteen when they entered the school." Maisey recounted as he twirled the blond side bang he had braided, "If she makes it, she'll be the first fifteen years old to do so."
"And the first female student." Aqua recounted with a firm nod.
Tatiana frowned in deep thought before noting, "Peony can no longer be treated as a child. She's growing at a frightening speed and I fear that she can still continue to grow. I believe she'll come to leave our nest when the time comes. Carry our my word that till Peony graduates, word of her acceptance into the academy, much less her gender, can not leave our mouth without permission."
"Yes, your majesty!" Maisey saluted before fluttering his transparent wings and flew back into the forest to the other fairies.
Once gone, Igni noticed the strange expression on their queen's face and called out to her, "Your majesty?"
"I've always felt from the day my eyes rested on her that she was a unique child." Tatiana stated as she continued to stare at the direction the carriage had left, "I did not sense the repulse to that of a regular human. Perhaps it was due to her past life as a fairy or her affinity to magic. Whatever it had been, now that feeling has only grown deeper and I can feel a clean warmth to the child. I wonder just what change will she bring to the world. It's the first that school had mistaken our child as a young lad. What else would happen now?"