Jessamine

The blonde did not let herself fall behind as she chased the intruder down the hill and towards the hidden cove where couples would go to be alone. She suspected that some means of escape was lying in wait for him there, so she had to hurry.

She had caught him snooping through her society's clubhouse just after lunch, looking for classified documents and access codes for various Academy facilities. He was dressed like a student, though he was definitely anything but; he was far too old, had little of a magician's aura, and had the scarred face of a career criminal. The intruder had tried to distract her with a homemade smoke grenade, but failed, and now she was rapidly catching up to him.

She heard him chanting quietly—a fire spell?

Suddenly, he pivoted and place a wall of fire between himself and his pursuer, before resuming his escape towards the cove.

She called forth a quick-cast counter-magic: "Magia discutiantur!" and continued running, passing through the wall just as the flames flickered and died.

But she was too late.

As she reached the path leading down into the cove, she heard the telltale roar of a speedboat engine turning over and getting into gear. A few seconds later, as she slowed her pace in recognition of her defeat, she saw the craft heading towards the mouth of the cove with the intruder at the helm.

Jessamine remembered her mother's instructions: "I'm leaving the Academy in your hands, my dear. Use whatever means necessary to secure that island."

Jessamine frowned and raised one hand towards the retreating speedboat, forming a finger gun and preparing herself to cast magic.

I didn't want it to end like this, she thought. But you leave me no choice.

It would have been better to capture you alive, but as it's unlikely I'll ever get this chance again, I need to take a piece out of play.

And here I thought I would get a chance to play with him beforehand.

I'll need to blow off steam some other way.

I need to keep myself under control.

She cast Temperature Shift on the air in front of the boat and watched as several gallons' worth of liquid nitrogen and oxygen doused the craft and its pilot. The liquid reacted explosively upon coming into contact with the significantly-warmer elements, first freezing and then shattering the intruder like a piece of unwanted glass along with his speedboat.

Satisfied with this outcome, Jessamine turned and started making her way to the Academy Keep.

***

The first day of the new term was always busy, Jessamine reflected, though this particular instance seemed perhaps more so than usual.

She had arrived at the island's quaint airport two days previously due to her position as Vice Chairwoman of the Societie Royale, the most prestigious of on-campus organizations and one which was regularly called upon to assist Academy management. The Societie was easily the most influential social force within campus culture, but much like a Greek house, it also served to connect Academy alumni across Britannia. In doing so, it provided one of the main unifying forces of magical society within the Kingdom, as many of the leaders of the feuding Blessed Houses had been Societie members during their time at the Academy.

In many ways, it's the direct foil of the House of Blackstone, thought Jessamine.

The Blackstone family had demanded much of her attention these past two days, and she doubted that this coming term would be any better.

Her morning had been occupied by various meetings with other organization leaders, preparing them for the influx of new students and the inevitable battle for new recruits, as well as assuring them that the Blackstone family's influence at the Academy was minimal at best.

"As far as you're concerned, she's a regular student. Please treat her as one."

That line had become so familiar to her that she didn't need to even think about the words anymore.

Do I believe it, though?

A Blackstone, a regular student?

Jessamine grimaced.

As if. She's bound to cause trouble.

There had been something that piqued Jessamine's interest as she was making her morning rounds, though with her brain consumed by politics at the moment, she didn't care to remember.

Then, of course, there had been that trouble at the Societie house in the afternoon. She'd have to brief the Societie on the potential threat they were facing.

Jessamine now began recognizing faces as she strode through the upper halls of the Academy Keep in the golden twilight of late afternoon: friends and acquaintances from her previous year, all Societie leadership, all heading to the same location as her.

The small classroom was arranged to feel more communal than instructive, and as she entered, Jessamine saw the Societie chairman, Henry, sitting at the far end of the room.

Henry was perhaps the closest thing to a true friend that Jessamine had, but it was a friendship of convenience more than anything else. The House of Cahill, the tenth-ranked Blessed House, often cooperated with the di Cadenza family: there were many Cahills in the upper echelons of Britannia's military, and the di Cadenza subfamilies worked almost exclusively for MI7. A strong bond of trust between the two houses had been formed over the past half century, one result of which being the similar relationship between Jessamine, the next inheritor of the di Cadenza title, and Henry, who had already inherited his family's dukedom with his father's passing nearly twenty years prior.

That is to say: they were allies, comrades, brothers-in-arms—but not true friends.

Friends are a luxury that I cannot afford.

Not yet, at least.

Henry nodded to her solemnly, and she returned the gesture before taking her seat at his side.

They waited for the remainder of the Societie's leadership to sit before starting the meeting.

"Well, thank you all for being here," began Henry. "For those of you who are new to this Executive Board, welcome, and let me say that the best training you'll get is by observing the Board and volunteering for tasks. Beyond that, this Board will not go out of its way to train you to uphold your responsibilities. I will not say this again: become who you want to be, who you need to be.

"Now, with that out of the way, let's get started. This is our triannual State of Britannia meeting, held at the beginning of every new term, in order to recognize the challenges currently facing our kingdom and how the Societie Royale can assist in overcoming those challenges. Our first order of business is a report on the state of the Blessed Houses. Ms. Masterson, if you would?"

Hope Masterson, beginning her second term on the Societie's Executive Board, thanked the Duke for his introduction and stood.

"Again, thank you all for being here. I know we all want to proceed to our evening activities, so I'll keep this brief."

Never heard that one before…

"The general status of the Blessed Houses has not changed since the conclusion of last term," said Hope. "However, there are a handful of events of which we should take note. Rumors are swirling around the House of Pendragon naming an heir within the next few weeks; we should be prepared for faction-based conflict between students based on which heiress is selected. The House of Marshall has been spending an exorbitant amount of money recently and is due to be audited by Revenue & Customs. And, finally…"

The young woman sighed.

"…as I'm sure you're all aware, the House of Blackstone has revealed a member of their family: Elisabeth Blackstone, daughter of the Viscount Robert Blackstone. It is presumed that she is his heir, but due to the lack of information on the family, that presumption cannot be verified. Elisabeth will be attending this Academy, and she arrived earlier today.

"There is speculation that this is a ploy by the Blackstones to obtain influence within the walls of Camelot, due to the family's presumed weakness in the area of magic and magic-accelerated combat. However, others argue that the Blackstones would not use such overt tactics. I hesitate to reference rumors in this report, but I have provided these as examples of the gossip that is fast spreading among the student body. While we cannot control the rumor mill, we should be prepared for a possible conflict between students. This concludes my report."

"Thank you, Ms. Masterson," said Henry. He swiveled in his seat to once again face the gathered Board. "I have an additional comment as to that last point. Ms. Blackthorne has been recommended for a place in our Societie by the Academy's administration."