    It can be difficult to plan things at the last minute from so far apart. If I have some free time and the opportunity to make it out to Old Sanctville, I will be sure to send a magical message to you. Don’t be alarmed if I do. It’s just like speaking a short letter through the air. Wait until I state the word end. You’ll have 25 words to reply. Anything you say out loud after my message finishes will be transmitted, so speak carefully — no promises as to when or if I will visit anytime soon.

Tony sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He’d always lived at the Hansina Estate. Even after his parents died, along with Pingo and his grandfather Bronco, when he was only two. He was raised by his great Uncle Brandondo and great Aunt Matilda. Tony may be the oldest of his group of cousins, his father the count’s eldest grandson of his eldest son, so the countship should have eventually passed down to Tony. Instead, his Great-uncle Santorini is already working closely with Countess Trombina to manage the family affairs since Count Deavon has prematurely retired. And it won’t ever revert to him; that’s just not how things work. Once Santorini takes the count’s place one day, not so far away, he will pass it down to his son, Trenton.

    I’ll be awaiting your magical summons, my lovely Lady. As a side note, if we could just be sending instant letters, magically, through the air, why are we bothering with letters that take a week to go back and forth? The anticipation is killing me!

    Will I hear the letter in your beautiful voice or some mystical voice? It sounds better than a regular letter. I suppose there isn’t a piece of paper to keep around and revisit later, but that also means there’s no evidence, doesn’t it? It probably costs you something, though — either money or magical essence.

    I’ve also seen some instant two-way letter books that people can use to write back and forth with each other or take notes that both parties can see. Some businesses might use them, so they’re probably expensive, but they could be worth it. If I bought them, do you think we could use a set? Is that something you can create? I heard you make Magical items, but I don’t know if that’s the sort of thing you make. I’ll be eagerly awaiting your reply.

Francine was up earlier than usual to get a chance to talk with Azure. It’d been so busy, and there were so many people around, mainly Matt, that she hadn’t gotten to discuss her meeting with the Arch Duke properly. So she went before Cobalt Coda on Firstday since that was Azure’s day to teach it for the week. Gerdie was surprised she was up so early but had no trouble getting her ready and out in time.

Azure sat at her desk while Mazy was in the corner, working on paperwork at a smaller desk, with her back to Francine.

Francine’s eyes broke contact with Azure and rested on Mazy.

Francine pulled a crystal perfume atomizer out of her purse. It was identical to the one that used to be on the table of her mother’s things, the scent was the same as well.

Mazy shook her head and sucked her teeth though she was still turned around.

The room started spinning. Francine grabbed the sides of her head; it was throbbing. It had been such a long weekend; so much had happened: the ball, the duel, Azure’s promotion, the lunch and meeting with the Arch Duke, and now this.

Francine was overwhelmed by the horror of what Azure was saying. She knew plenty of politically arranged marriages were exactly what she described, but after watching her father pine away for her mother her entire life, only recently even considering the idea of taking a new wife in an attempt to bear an heir that would keep the line alive, but with little enthusiasm, she was a firm believer in love.

Isabella had been madly in love with Pingo, and even if Maria and Rolo were the most traditional-looking match, she knew they still had passion in their marriage. She couldn’t stand the idea of marrying where there was no love. She didn’t want to argue with Azure but was adamant about not breaking her match with Matt over this. She counted herself lucky her betrothal had worked out the way it did.

Francine fled the office, terrified Azure would try to present her with more convincing evidence and ease her into the idea of marrying Dresden Fontain Jr. She seemed to have an easy answer for everything, and hearing that her home had been renamed didn’t help the situation.

She arrived on the field, one of the first for Cobalt Coda training, and as people started arriving, the barrage of questions about the Caller’s Ball and Azure’s promotion to Marchioness Netherby rolled in. They didn’t end when Azure arrived; they just shifted to Her. She answered a few but then moved on to the task at hand.

They were refining their interview skills. They would ask classmates for permission to interview them to get into the practice of it. If someone said no, they weren’t to press the issue; they had to move on.

Tristan asked, thinking intimidation was usually the way to go.

Abbie ran into Hosting at the last minute, and she looked riled. After a class spent listening to whispers and giggles from Priscy and Amalie behind their backs, Francine finally found out what had Abbie so upset. She had finally caught up with Lulu for real.

Abbie looked around to make sure Lulu wasn’t crouching behind a bush, writing everything she said at that very moment.

They both laughed at that as they headed off to different classes. Lulu was sitting in the front row of business basics when Francine walked in. Even though the class was just about to start, and she was barely keeping up, Francine sat next to Lulu, Intent on getting a few more answers.

Lulu happily popped up with pencil in hand.

But Frannie didn’t learn anything new from Lulu and trudged through the day with a smile plastered on her face. Lunch with Matt was rough. He kept asking what she talked to the Arch Duke about, but she knew he would fly off the handle if she told him the truth. Matt has been so stressed out lately. She told him he’d just asked questions about her mother, and she felt awful because she couldn’t answer most of them.

After her last class, Francine went to the fine arts building of the Performing Arts campus and found out that they would be doing portraiture for the next several weeks. They were assigning each student in class A this week to a model, and class B would get one two weeks from then since there were limited models to work with. Madame Torla, the director of fine arts, had worked very hard to match models up with artists based on schedule availability due to the extended nature of this project.

When Francine opened her envelope, it contained instructions on what to wear, her artist, and where to go. She was to wear a nude leotard or equivalent. Her artist was Rolf, and she was to meet him at his apartment starting Secondday! Matt wasn’t going to like this, Frannie thought as she absentmindedly wondered where she could get a nude-colored leotard. In the end, she headed over to Priscilla’s to ask her.

CH25~ Cold Hard Facts

An Imperial Education

Dear Tony,

It can be difficult to plan things at the last minute from so far apart. If I have some free time and the opportunity to make it out to Old Sanctville, I will be sure to send a magical message to you. Don’t be alarmed if I do. It’s just like speaking a short letter through the air. Wait until I state the word end. You’ll have 25 words to reply. Anything you say out loud after my message finishes will be transmitted, so speak carefully — no promises as to when or if I will visit anytime soon.



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CH25~ Cold Hard Facts

An Imperial Education

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CH25~ Cold Hard Facts

An Imperial Education

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