Two weeks had passed since Headmistress Thalixa Virellan turned the Valencrest estate inside out.
In those fourteen days, the house had not returned to normal.
It had grown quieter.
Watchful.
Selene Hawthorne moved through the halls like a blade hidden in silk, her composure sharpened rather than shattered. She did not speak of the Academy. She did not speak of Aurèlle's acceptance. But the silence she carried was heavier than any punishment she had ever delivered.
She pretended nothing had changed.
But everything had.
Aurèlle felt it in every room.
Beneath that tension, something else stirred.
Anticipation.
Aurèlle sat on the edge of her narrow bed in the servants' quarters, the parchment resting carefully in her hands.
It was as pristine as the day it had been given to her.
No creases.
No softened edges.
She had taken extraordinary care of it.
Where another might have folded and unfolded it endlessly, worn the paper thin with anticipation, Aurèlle had done the opposite. She smoothed it flat after every reading. Slid it back into its envelope. Stored it beneath her pillow for three nights before finally placing it inside the drawer of her bedside table.
She had treated it like something fragile.
Like something that might disappear if mishandled.
Because that was what good things had always done in her life.
Vanished.
Her fingers traced the embossed crest at the top of the parchment: the sigil of Aurelith Academy, pressed in silver ink that caught the light.
She remembered the moment it had appeared.
The envelopes had materialised in midair beside Headmistress Thalixa — pale ivory against the heavy air of the study. They had drifted downward slowly, deliberately, as though guided by unseen hands. One for Dahlia. One for her.
Aurèlle could still see it clearly.
The way the envelope had hovered just before her.
The way the wax seal shimmered faintly.
The way her name had been written in elegant script across the front:
Aurèlle Liora Valencrest.
No one had ever presented her with something meant solely for her future before.
A gift.
A doorway.
A new life.
She had taken it with hands that trembled only slightly.
Even now, remembering it made her chest tighten.
She unfolded the parchment now, careful as ever.
She did not need to read it again. She knew every word by heart.
But she liked seeing it.
Liked confirming it still existed.
The words were precise. Official. Undeniably real.
⸻⸻⸻
Below is a list of required materials prior to your arrival at Aurelith Academy.
All students must secure the following personal provisions before commencement.
• Conduit
• High-Grade Alchemical Kit
• Inkweave Quill
• Blank Academic Ledger
Required Texts:
• Foundations of Internal Magic Theory
• Emotional Resonance & Power Regulation
• Arcane History: The Age of Fracture
• Elemental Manifestation & Alignment
• Principles of Alchemical Convergence
• A Student's Handbook to Creatures & Familiars
⸻⸻⸻
The list was practical.
Grounded.
Not poetic.
And yet it felt like the beginning of something vast.
A new chapter.
No one had ever spoken of her life as something that could begin again.
Her silver roots shimmered faintly in the afternoon light filtering through the small window. They had grown more luminous over the past two weeks — not longer, but brighter. Like frost tracing the edge of dark earth.
She wondered if the Academy had known that would happen.
If Thalixa had seen it coming.
A soft knock sounded at her door.
Dahlia slipped inside, closing it gently behind her.
"You're reading it again," she said softly — not teasing, just understanding.
Aurèlle folded the parchment carefully and returned it to its envelope.
"I just wanted to see it," she admitted.
Dahlia smiled.
"That it's still real?"
Aurèlle nodded.
For so long, hope had belonged to other people.
Now it bore her name.
"Mother has agreed," Dahlia said, barely containing her excitement. "We're leaving for Erindor tomorrow morning. We're going shopping."
The word felt foreign in Aurèlle's mind.
Shopping.
Not errands.
Not household purchases.
For herself.
She pressed the envelope briefly to her chest before returning it to the drawer beside her bed.
Erindor.
The capital city. The heart of trade, magic, and noise. The place Aurèlle had walked countless times before — but only to fetch and carry.
This time would be different.
This time she would not go as a servant sent on errands.
She would go as a student preparing for Aurelith Academy.
Two promises.
One from her past.
One from her future.
Tomorrow, she would step beyond the estate gates for herself.
And though Selene's silence had grown sharper in recent days — though tension coiled through the house like a drawn bow — Aurèlle held onto the memory of that drifting envelope.
The way it had descended toward her as if chosen by fate itself.
For once in her life, something had fallen from the air—
—and it had been meant for her.