Chapter 2

The next morning, my mother spread the Royal Court Academy map across the long table. She had already circled Lirien's residence: an independent suite in Laurel Court closest to the painting hall, with a greenhouse and private bath, windows facing the inner garden.

"This one is the most suitable," she said. "Lirien has loved painting flowers since she was small. Living here will put her at ease."

Kaelan leaned over the map. "There's a magic art supply shop nearby too. If she wants to buy anything, I can go with her after class."

My father nodded. "Book it. She just arrived in the capital. We can't let her suffer again."

I sat at the other end of the table and opened the family ledger. Orders at the northern workshop were down. The woodland harvest had been poor for two years straight. The accounts could barely cover academy tuition, my brother's knight training fees, and household repairs.

My mother took out a pouch of golden vine coins and placed it beside Lirien. "Thirty per month. The capital is expensive, and art supplies cost a lot. Write home if it's not enough."

My fingertip stopped on the ledger page. Thirty golden vine coins was exactly one month of my salary as a survey assistant. It was also the entire savings I'd planned to use for a spell-resistant cloak and a surveying scope.

"The family can't afford this right now," I said. "Academy tuition, Kaelan's training fees, and my assignment equipment—"

Kaelan threw his quill onto the table. "You're doing the accounts again. Lirien has no one in the capital. What's wrong with giving her some money?"

"My assignment doesn't get family subsidies either."

My father didn't look up. "The Ley Line Bureau provides basic equipment. You've always managed. You can make do with fewer things."

"Official surveyors have to supply their own protective charms and ley line probes."

"Once Lirien is settled, we'll figure something out." My mother pushed the ledger aside. "Don't let her hear this for now. She's just starting her new life."

I swallowed what I hadn't finished saying. Everyone at the table was looking at Lirien. She kept her head down, fiddling with the string on her coin pouch, as if she hadn't heard what we were arguing about.

Elian had promised that after we each finished our studies, he'd go with me to see the aurora tree sea in the North. He'd saved for years to buy a new drafting set. I'd saved for years to buy a pair of genuinely cold-proof boots. We agreed whoever saved enough first would buy for the other.

At lunch, he placed an acceptance letter from the Royal Court Academy on the table.

"I signed up for the painting hall guard course," he told Lirien. "You're living in the capital your first year. I can look after you."

I thought I'd misheard. "What about your advanced ley line studies slot?"

"I can do that in a few years." He said it like it was natural. "She's going to the capital alone. I'm not comfortable with that."

Lirien looked up at him. "Elian, you don't have to give up your plans for me."

"I'm not giving them up for you." His voice was gentle. "I want to go."

My mother looked relieved. Kaelan praised his sense of responsibility. No one asked what would happen to the future we'd planned together.

Later, Elian contacted me through the communication crystal. He said he hoped I wouldn't misunderstand. He was just helping Lirien through the hardest first year. She was his friend. Also family.

"You used to refuse to practice ley line techniques with me, saying you had to study every night." I looked at his face in the crystal. "Now you can postpone your courses for years just to stay with her."

He was silent for a moment. "You've always been independent, Aelira. You know how to take care of yourself."

I watched those words surface on the crystal and suddenly felt they hurt more than "you don't matter." As long as everyone believed I could take care of myself, they never had to take care of me.

I didn't argue anymore. I just rewrote my equipment list. Before the assignment began, I'd use my remaining savings to buy the essentials. As for my family, I no longer planned to wait for them to figure something out.