After about a half an hour of dancing with various two faced nobles, and countless men trying to curry her favour, she slipped away and fixed herself a plate of food. Not too much, or else rumours will fly about her being a glutton while people in their land starve. Then her eyes spotted a woman helping herself to everything that was available.
Exactly who she was looking for. Madam Grueska, an aged woman with brown hair permanently in a bun, too pale a face and a permanent scowl etched on her face. She was the kingdom's resident herbalist, a master in medicines. And poisons.
Walking over to her, the lady only glanced up before briskly saying "I assume you want some poison aye. I can get you some good ones, if you do something for me." Katrina adored the simplicity of talking to the woman, no hidden messages or hidden agendas, just direct conversation.
"What is it?" She asked, despite being the princess, the woman was too important to be rude to, many nobles learned that the hard way.
"If your father finally agrees to waive that silly law, not letting any'ne touch Knollgrass, you never know how useful it could be." She spoke out. The herbalist had petitioned her father relentlessly for it over the years, it's the only reason Katrina knew of its existence.
"I can get him to waive it for you, as long as you supply me with a generous sample of course," She bargained with her.
"Hmph, I like you girl, witty but not annoying. Get his word and you'll have a sample of every poison I can muster by the end of the week. Properly contained and all." Madam Grueska promised, not caring or noticing that she had insinuated she would send people poison in unsafe conditions.
"Deal." And with that, she walked away picking at her plate. Behind her, a hand covered her eyes as a voice squealed "Guess who."
By the voice Katrina could tell it was Lucy. The daughter of one of the most influential nobles in Aurora, and one of her best friends. Despite her feminine appearance, Lucy was one of the best upcoming knights due to her father's strict training and her natural skill with the sword.
"How are you Lucy" She asked the girl. Turning around to see her beaming smile, she wore a simple velvet dress with her blonde hair fully down. Which was unusual to see for her since she put it up when she trained.
"Not as good as you, it seems. A mage huh." The young knight replied to her.
"I suppose so." Katrina said back.
"When will you be leaving?" Lucy asked her.
"Sometime next month, it is quite a trek to the academy." The princess asked, spotting her father talking to a group of nobles near the west wall.
"Well it is on the other side of the continent. Do you know what I still can't believe!" The young knight said.
"What Lucy?" The silver-haired girl questioned.
"That the Fellen Family allied with the Yurians, what traitors." She answered. The Fellen family was a group of wandering merchants which settled down in her kingdom a couple of dozen years ago, and benefited greatly from their trade of exotic sea resources. Their wealth tripling since they became citizens.
Yurians were the name of the people from a neighbouring kingdom called Yuria. It was a slightly bigger kingdom but lately they had been encroaching on their territory and trying to exploit them for trade. Her people worried for a war, but with the rate of the Yurians greed it seemed inevitable.
"Yeah, unbelievable. Anyway I have to talk to my father." She spoke dismissively, since it was old news they all knew and she had to discuss the deal she had made with the kingdom's best herbalist.
"Okay see you later." Lucy replied, Katrina took her leave and headed towards her father. Whispering in his ear, she asked to speak privately with him where he accepted the terms of the deal and promised to inform Madam Grueska. Hours passed where she partied, spoke meaningless conversations with nobles who wanted to gain the favour of their future queen and avoided countless men who seemed intent to entice her.
Finally when the celebration ended, she excused herself to her room so she could read more of the magical tome. As she read through the warnings, she fully understood how lucky she was.
'When creating your first construct, you must keep a focused and steady mind. Any deviation from your intended result could cause devastating damage as your inner world is not resilient enough to be able to handle any element that you do not have an affinity for. As your power grows, your inner world will begin to incorporate natural elements such as the passing of time, but until then do not visualise any other element else your path as a mage will end before it truly began.'
Thanking the gods that she did not do so, she began reading ahead to the beginner spells. In this book, it detailed how to craft and create spells on the whim which you can use once your inner world's voice accepts it. Most importantly, she was looking for anything that would help her only use one singular element at a time, as her previous attempt she combined two.