The Skyhome Academy

Rose waited outside the lecture hall, trying to keep her worry in check. Her concern was not over her recently completed final exams—she may not have scored highly in some subjects, but she was confident she had at least passed everything. Rather, she was obsessing over tomorrow’s Winter Formal. Over the previous weeks she had turned down the invitations of a number of boys…but Prince Robert still had not asked her to the dance.

Cadets gradually exited the healing class after they finished their exams. Finally, Avice walked by quickly, having apparently failed to notice the other noble.

“Avice,” Rose called after her, hurrying to match her pace. “Do you still want me to help you pick out your dress?” The aspiring mage then belatedly noticed that her friend’s make-up was streaked from recent crying. “…⁠Did your exam go that badly?”

“Oh, Rose!” Avice suddenly stopped and hugged her. Rose stiffened in surprise. “It’s awful. Lord Jame is going to the formal with Alice! How could he?”

“I’m sorry that happened. It’ll be okay though.” Rose returned the hug. For her part, she would prefer a debilitating illness to a dance with the baron’s son—but her friend’s distress was no less real regardless of her atrocious taste in romantic prospects.

Avice finally stood away from her before she answered. “What could he possibly see in that feeble-minded cow?”

“…⁠I know you’re upset, but she is your sister,” Rose reminded her gently. “You shouldn’t let a boy come between you.”

“You just don’t understand—I know in my heart that Lord Jame and I are fated to be together. I’ve lost the first battle for his affections, but not the war.”

“I think you might be getting a little too worked up over this,” Rose said. But Avice looked at her furiously. “I just mean…that you wouldn’t want Lord Jame to think you lack composure, right?”

Avice sighed. “Of course not. I shouldn’t be acting this way in public. …⁠My face must be a mess. Excuse me.”

The nobles went into the nearest restroom, where Avice washed up. She then looked to Rose. “Let’s go to our room so I can have one of my girls reapply my make-up.”

The pair started toward the building’s exit. “So, how are your handmaidens doing with their classes?” Rose asked.

“That’s hardly my concern—if either of them can’t earn the Crown’s payment, my father will deal with it.”

“Right…” Rose sometimes forgot how apathetic her noble friends could be toward their servants.

“Have you had any thoughts about what style of dress I should choose?”

“You’re still going to the formal?”

“Of course. I intend to look as radiant as possible, so that Lord Jame will realize his mistake. I may even dance with another boy to provoke his jealousy, if I must. …⁠I forgot to ask, who are you going with?”

Rose laughed nervously. “I’ve kind of been hoping Prince Robert would ask me.”

“You haven’t heard?” Avice asked in concern as they walked out into the courtyard. “He asked Princess Mei again this morning, and she accepted. The nerve—a foreign girl playing games like that with our royalty.”

Rose barely heard that last sentence, as her hopes for the Winter Formal suddenly came crashing down. Avice continued. “You don’t have a back-up date? Prince Robert wasn’t a likely prospect for any girl besides the princess and Lady Susanna.”

“I…didn’t really think ahead,” Rose admitted.

“I’m sure that peasant boy who always follows you around would ask again—just let him know you’re available. Showing up to the formal with a well-to-do citizen isn’t too much worse than going with a landless noble.”

They both fell silent as Rose considered this. Once the two nobles passed through the spire’s gate and into the sparsely populated mess hall, the aspiring mage caught sight of Simon having a late lunch with a few of his roommates.

“I’ll catch up with you later,” Rose told Avice before veering off toward Simon. She passed by Margas, who was seated at a different table talking with some other prominent cadets. It was easy enough to pretend she had not noticed him.

“Simon, hey.”

The citizen had a newspaper resting beside him with a large headline. THE WARLORD’S ADVANCE: Middle Kingdom in Peril! He looked to her. “Lady Rose. How did your combat exams go?”

“I got through them, though I still needed my wand for Elements. You?”

“Same. I saw Emma, and she did okay.”

“Great. …⁠Can I talk to you for a minute?”

Simon looked to his roommates. “See you later.” They acknowledged this, and Rose led him a short distance away before stopping.

“So…I don’t have a date to the Winter Formal,” Rose explained awkwardly. “I was hoping you might ask me again.”

“Wouldn’t it have been simpler for you to ask me?” Simon asked in confusion.

“A noble girl can’t ask a boy out. There are social conventions. …⁠But you got me—I’m asking you to the formal, even though I turned you down before. Sorry about that, by the way.” Rose managed a weak smile.

“I hate to do this, but I can’t take you to the formal. I asked Emma to go with me a little while ago, and she said yes.”

“Emma? Like, Emma Emma?”

“Your handmaiden—you might have heard of her,” Simon told her sarcastically.

“I get it. …⁠Could you un-ask her then?”

“What?” Despite his sudden anger, he kept his voice down. “That would be a horrible thing to do to her!”

“Fine. If you’re not comfortable handling it, I can just order her not to go.”

“Don’t do that! How can you be so inconsiderate?”

“What are you talking about?” Rose tried to keep her frustration in check. Why was this going so badly? “I’m so much kinder to her than most nobles are to their servants.”

“You might be less cruel…but you’re not kind. You keep sending her on errands when she’s already so busy with academy chores.”

“But that’s her job!” Rose did not realize that she was raising her voice. “Emma’s great and all, but she’s still my handmaiden—she doesn’t get to have anything I don’t!”

“I’m not a thing for you to have! Neither is Emma. …⁠This is exactly the behavior you made fun of Lady Avice for.”

“That’s completely different!” Though she was not sure exactly how.

“And I didn’t want to say anything, but as long as I’m getting stuff out in the open… I wasn’t comfortable with how you pressured me to fight that traitor.”

“You agreed with me!”

“I agreed to follow him, not to get into a battle! You didn’t even ask if I wanted us to retreat after he attacked.”

“You should have said something if you felt that way.”

“…⁠I didn’t want you to think I was a coward.”

“Well, that’s on you then,” Rose said triumphantly.

“I’ve had enough.” Simon looked disgusted with her. “I don’t even want to go to the formal with you anymore. And if you order Emma not to go, our friendship is over!”

Rose stepped back in the face of his anger. Then she heard the last voice she would have wanted to hear. “Trouble in paradise, Lady Rose?” Margas called out. His companions laughed. Rose realized she had been so loud that she had the attention of dozens of cadets.

Simon turned away from her and started back toward his roommates. She fought back tears as she stormed off to the elevator.