The Royal Mage

The sound of pens scribbling on paper could be heard in the classroom as thirty students sat quietly working on the last test for their exams. A pale skinned woman with dark red hair that flowed down her back and bright hazel eyes that flicked around the class as she sat on her desk keeping an eye on her young students as they focused on their exams. She was quite happy to see this because she had told them that if one of them was to get less than b grade on any of their exams she would request that they redo the entire last year and being the granddaughter of the Arch mage meant she had such perks.

She got off from her desk picking up her cup of hot tea as she decided to go around the class, her black heels clicked on the white tiles as she went along. She stopped in her tracks as she reached the back of the class giving a mental sigh at the sight of one of her students sleeping peacefully with drool running down his face and nearly hitting his paper. Before it could make contact she stretched her hand out and just like that the paper was in her hand, she braced herself to see what utter nonsense the student had written.

To her pleasant surprise when she looked through the papers all the answers were filled out, she turned and hurried to her desk sitting down to flip open her teacher's journal where the answers for the various test were kept. Of course with a lock spell so the students that liked to play they were smart got no help from her, she flicked to the last section where the answers for the Herbalism exams were kept, she had to look because that wasn't her class to teach, in fact she was the spell caster teacher.

A bright smile curved on her red painted lips, all the answers were correct and written with in depth information as the teacher, her cousin, would like it. She wondered who the student was but before she could look at the name she heard one of the students yell "Cheater!" her head snapped up and like the wind she appeared right next to the student who had yelled out.

The girl with the most perfect twin braids she had seen with perfectly circular glasses turned and pointed to a student behind her. "Professor Daeya he was looking at my paper!" the girl yelled folding her hands over her lacking chest.

Daeya turned her head to face the boy that was shaking his head while giving her a look of apprehension. "No, I wasn't looking at her paper... well I was because an answer she put got me very curious but, I didn't look to copy it, no I finished my work an hour or so ago, it's just ... well I seemed to have misplaced my paper." The boy spoke nervously slowly lowering his head as he did.

Daeya covered her mouth to stop herself from laughing, not at the boy but at the little snitch, who was looking a bit embarrassed as she quickly looked through her papers to find the interesting answer. She took a deep sigh and looked back at the boy "It's okay little one, you didn't misplace your papers I have them so stop freaking out and take a seat the test will be over in a few minutes."

The boy looked at his desk before looking at her "but I need to check over my answers to make sure I didn't get anything wrong."

Daeya shook her head "that won't be necessary, just relax until the bell sounds."

She gave the boy one last look before heading back to her desk, she sipped on her tea for a few minutes and stood up when the bell went off. The students all sat back and looked straight ahead and she stretched out her hands just like before, the pages slowly floated into the air and then one by one begun to stack up in her hands. When she was finished she set the pile down in a box and tapped it and the box vanished on its way to the exam markers.

"Okay Little One's your results will be posted by the end of next month but until that time enjoy yourselves because depending on your score you will either have rigorous training or rigorous studies ahead of you, so enjoy the peace while you can, now little ones you may be on your way." She gave them one last smile and just like that she vanished from the class room and appeared in the teachers’ lounge, she dropped into the nearest couch and instantly fell asleep.

^^

The boy sat in his desk feeling a bit nervous, was that Professor messing with him, why would she take his papers away from him and then refuse to give them back when he asked? He still had enough time to check his answers for the last time but she took that option away from him and now he would have to wait until the end of the month to know if he had managed to pass the most important test he had to take for his exams.

He felt a surge of anger pool in his stomach, he wanted to find that pesky professor and ask her who the hell she thought she was. But he knew nothing would happen she was the granddaughter of the all-important arch mage and that made her think she was above everyone else. Well he was the son of a farmer and if he knew which vegetables were taken to her house he'd poison every one of them and watch her oh so youthful looks deteriorate, no one messed with him when it came to his studies.

He was very much aware of everyone moving out of his way as he fumed while heading down the hall, he was always told that his eyes gave him a dangerous look. He didn't quite like them but they ensure he was never late to a class and never had to wait in the cafeteria line for long, people would just move out of his way without him doing anything. He walked out the exam building for Leiri's Pathway College, it was a sort of school where children from the small villages would attend and it was just a step for him to get to the Royal academy and then in three years’ time he would be able to start his practice and look after his family.

He threw his bag strap over his shoulder and ran to jump on one of the carriages that was passing and heading in the direction of his village. It was an hours ride away a small farming village tucked next to one of the kingdom’s largest rivers, so at least he could say he was one of the kingdoms village children that got to take a bath everyday ignoring the freezing water.

The Carriage stopped a mile away from his village and he decided to drop into a bakery on the way and bought a few meat buns and sugar buns. When he was finished he took his time to walk the rest of the way, ignoring the heat of the summer sun bearing down on him. He took off his shirt and tied it around his waist, his silvery white hair kept falling into his face so he pulled it back and used a clip to hold it in place, and he would totally look dangerous now.

He soon reached his village ignoring the cold looking buildings and headed for his house where his mother was no doubt at work on their small farm. He sighed at the thought of that cough she had had for the past several months that refused to go away no matter what medicine she used. He had researched on what it might be but to confirm such a thing would cost a lot of money all of which was going into his schooling. Hopefully he'll be able to score a part time job working for a herbalist when he went to the capital and that would take some pressure off his poor mum.

He quickly got to his one story brown wooden house, it wasn't much to look at but it was home and more than enough for three people. He didn't waste time getting to his room and changing into his house clothes, he folded the bottom of his pants and pulled on his worn brown leather boots that would need replacing very soon. He used a string to tie up his hair that was shaved at the sides in a style that hunters were known for wearing. His mother once told him that his father kept his hair like that so just to make her smile he kept the style.

He walked through the kitchen setting the paper bag on the small counter and pushed aside the shutter like doors. He was met with the sight of a tiny girl with unruly light blonde hair bouncing around on the back porch with blue paint on her hands singing a strange song. She had probably heard it from the drunkard that lived a few houses from them; it wasn't exactly the type of song a child should be singing.

She spun around and let out a squeal as her bright blue eyes caught sight of him she excitedly ran up to him her feet way ahead of the rest of her body. The boy shook his head at his little sister's awkwardness and picked her up when she reached him. She squealed as he hugged her closer and placed a few kisses on her face, ignoring the blue hand prints that now covered his vest and tanned skin. When he set her down she took off heading through the tall green stalks that stood in their yard.

And he could hear her screaming "Mama Rime is home!"

Rime shook his head and followed his sister finding his mother drinking from a jug, her auburn hair was pulled up in a wickedly messy bun and her dull brown eyes looked over at him. As she held a soft smile on her face she dropped the plow and took a few steps before collapsing in the mud. With a scream he ran over to his mother and held her against him as his little sister broke out into a painful cry.