Magiana Imperial Academy - Volume 1: Path to Greatness
Chapter 2: August: Hand in Hand

Phillip was usually very level-headed and laid back. One balmy day in late August, however, he was much more nervous than usual, pacing back and forth in his room, mumbling to himself.

“What to say… what to say…? Maybe I should bring up M.I.A? No, she might not be looking forward to school like I am. School is school, no matter where you go. Compliment her appearance? Hmm… then our parents will tease us endlessly…”

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn’t realize Eli that had opened his door. The young prince looked at his older brother, an amused grin on his face. He let out a sigh, finally attracting his brother’s attention.

“Eli! Um- er- how long were you standing there?”

“Long enough. Getting butterflies in your stomach, brother?”

“You seem just fine.” Phillip said. “You have just as much a reason to be nervous as me.”

“Not at all.” Eli began towards Phillip. “It’s true that Luna’s my friend too, but,” He held up his brother’s left hand and looked at the silver ring that was on his left ring finger. “I don’t have this to worry about.”

Phillip’s face went red and he pulled his hand away. “Is it really that big of a problem? I don’t want to make myself look like an idiot or insult her.”

“No. You’re engaged, and when you’re so young, it’s only natural that you’d get so nervous at a time like this. For most people, anyway. But you, who’s usually so in control of everything…”

“Eli, please leave.” Phillip turned his brother and began pushing him towards the door.

“What’s the point of asking me to leave if you’re just going to force me out?”

Without another word, he pushed his brother out of his room and closed the door. It would a long time until he was married to Luna Welshire, a fellow noble and a childhood friend. Their engagement was nothing more than a formality, but Phillip couldn’t help but feel apprehensive when she visited the palace. Sometimes he thought that he was afraid of accidentally screwing up in front of their parents more than her. Giving his parents embarrassing stories to tell their grandchildren wasn’t something he wanted to do too often.

This would be the last time that the two saw each other until the first day of school, which was in a week. Looking outside of the window, Phillip looked up at the yellow sun. It would be several hours until Luna’s arrival, but Phillip had a feeling he wouldn’t be able to overcome his unease by then.

The sun was beginning to set and the sky was a nice shade of orange-red. Phillip, wearing opulent clothing and a short red cape with a white fur lining, was staring outside of a window on the second floor hallway. He was anxious. Luna’s and her parents would be arriving soon.

He stood there watching for several minutes as people passed by him. A jet black limousine was coming down the palace’s long driveway. As soon as he saw it, he left the window and went down to the foyer so he could greet their guests.

Eli and their parents were already there, all dressed for dinner. The luxurious clothes they wore weren’t much different than what they usually wore, though. He took his place next to Eli, who was grinning at him.

“How come you were almost late, brother? Keeping an eye out for your lovely wife-to-be?”

Phillip, glaring at Eli, was about to say something then their father spoke. “That’s enough, boys. Save your little quarrels for after dinner.”

The large doors were opened by a pair of butlers, and the three members of the Welshire family walked in. In front of the two blonde adults was a lovely blonde girl with green eyes. She was wearing a white and black dress and a pair of crescent moon earrings.

“Good evening, Duke Welshire.” Said the king, going forward and holding out his hand.

Taking it and shaking it firmly the man said, “Come on, Charles, we’re just here to eat. There’s no need to be so formal.”

“You have a point, Luke.” He looked over at the Duchess and Luna. “Good evening, Katherine, Luna. You look lovely.”

“Thank you, Charles.” Katherine replied with a bow. “You look quite dashing yourself.”

“Please, everyone,” Said the queen, Isabelle. “Like Luke said, we came together to have dinner, not share pleasantries in the foyer. Let’s go to the dining hall.”

She led the group down the hall to the dining hall. Behind her were her husband, Luke and Katherine. The children brought up the rear.

“Evening, Luna.” Phillip said. “You look really nice today.”

“Thanks, Phillip. You look nice too.”

“The trip up here wasn’t too boring, was it? I know that you live kind of far away.”

“My parents and I played Twenty Questions during the trip. It kept me entertained.”

Soon, the seven were seated and served the first course in their five course dinner. Starting with soup, they were served fish, salad, their main course, and finally desert. When they were presented with each course, they were asked what they would like to eat next, which was to be prepared while they ate. Even dishes that would take a long time to prepare were finished at the same time as all of the others. Phillip and Eli once asked what the cooks did to prepare such complex dishes in such a short time. They were always told that it was the work of magic. They had no idea how magic could speed up such a process, but it was likely to be something Phillip, and eventually Eli, would learn at M.I.A.

In the opinion of the children, their parent’s conversations were excruciatingly boring. They spoke mainly about current events happening around the world. Phillip didn’t pay it any mind, until the name Gibroar was mentioned. He was reminded of the world conquest game he usually played, with that nation always playing a crucial role.

There was some mention of political upheaval in Gibroar, spurred by the controversial actions of the nation’s Prime Minister. When Charles was asked if he knew anything of it, he said that he didn’t, but would work to fix it as quickly as possible.

“Why should the people care about your involvement?” Asked the prince. “It’s not like you appointed him. The people there voted for him.”

“I know, Phillip, but since I’m king, and Gibroar is within my domain, I’m responsible for it. It’s my duty to see that something’s done if there’s a problem, no matter how little I actually did to contribute to the problem in question.”

“You knew him, didn’t you, father?”

“I did actually. Before he was the Prime Minister; just in Parliament. I never would have thought people would be complaining about him the way that they do.”

“So, what’re you going to do? Are you going to try to be lenient since you two have a history, or will you be putting the people before him, even though they’re strangers?”

Taking a drink from his wine glass, Charles took some time to answer.

“I’m don’t know right now, but I do know one of the things the Royal Council and I will talk about when we meet next. I have know why you’re asking, though. It’s about M.I.A, isn’t it? Those two options you gave me reminded an awful lot of that survey I took so long ago.”

“Y-yes, actually.” He meekly replied.

The conversation had suddenly changed from the serious subject of a civil unrest to school with Phillip’s question. No one tried to change it back.

“Well, I was a Sloane myself, but in this case I’ve a feeling that I’ll favor the people. What’s this about, son? Thinking about where you’ll end up?”

“Well, yes. It’s not like any of the houses are better than the other, right?”

“Well, there’s House Lychester.” Luke said. “The people in that house are known for being quite ruthless. No matter what they need to do to get what they want, they’ll do it, regardless of the price or people’s opinion of it. Plenty of people view this as a negative thing, but you could also say that these people are strong; they don’t let anything get in their way. Reminds me of that old Oslenite Lord, Kristoph the Cruel. I prefer his new title, Kristoph the Reformer. At the time, he did a lot of unpopular things in the name of reform, but by today’s standards he was a model politician.”

Isabelle, noticing her son’s nervous look, said, “There’s no need to worry, Phillip. If you’re anything like your father and I, you’ll end up in House Sloane as well.”

“Which house do you want to be in, Luna?” Eli asked.

“I don’t exactly have a preference.” Luna said putting a spoonful of strawberry ice cream into her mouth.

“You don’t?” Isabelle asked. “I suppose it makes sense. You don’t get to choose, so being open minded about the whole thing is ideal.”

Like how the conversation shifted from the rebellion to M.I.A, it shifted once more from the children to their parent’s days at the school. All three of them learned quite a bit about their parents; things they’d have never thought about.

Once upon a time, Charles and Katherine were a couple, yet they somehow ended up with different people even though they were still together when they graduated. Luke was quite the jokester, often getting into trouble and having letters sent home constantly warning his family of his impending expulsion. The most normal of the four, that is, the one with the least crazy stories, was Isabelle. She sat quietly, listening to the others along with the young ones.

“H-hold on!” Phillip interjected after on particular story. “You made a bomb in your Potions class? How?!”

Charles and Luke both guffawed. Charles told the table the story. “Well, we didn’t mean to have the cauldron blow up in our faces. We weren’t listening to the professor and just throwing things inside. We were mixing it and everything was fine, then- BOOM!”

“A cauldron shard flew at me and would’ve got me right in the gut if I didn’t move out of the way.” Luke sighed contently. “The scar is a constant reminder of that amazing class.”

“Amazing…?” Luna and Phillip both looked at him in utter disbelief.

“I’m sure that the two of you will make similar memories while at M.I.A.” Luke said.

“No thanks, sir. I’d rather not blow up a classroom.”

“It wasn’t that bad! It only took them, what, a minute or so to fix it? Used Caster Magic to fix everything we broke.”

“Took a bit longer than a minute. We were only second-years, but there were twenty of us. Twenty-one, including the professor. Speaking of the professor,” Luke chuckled. “I remember that when prom came around at the end of our seventh-year, she-”

“Hold on, Luke.” Charles called, also laughing. “Not now. We wouldn’t want the children to hear.”

“Why? What happened?” Eli eagerly asked.

Charles stood up from his chair. “I might tell you when you’re older, Eli. But for now, just go and have some fun with Phillip and Luna.”

As Katherine got up to follow her friends she said, “Enjoy your time with the boys, Luna. We’ll come by the game room when it’s time to go home.”

“So, what do you guys think happened?” Eli asked, watching the other two play a fighting game.

“Just forget about it, Eli.” Phillip said. He cursed under his breath as his character fell over in slow motion, the letters “KO” appearing on the screen.

“But don’t you want to know?”

“I’d rather not actually. Whether she danced and looked like a fool or not, prom stories are things I’d rather not hear.”

“Why? What sort of stories are Jon telling you that are scaring you? He’s only two years older than you!”

“Phillip, you lost. Hand Eli the controller.” Luna said, completely ignoring their words.

Eli excitedly took the controller from his older brother and began playing against Luna. He put up a much better fight than Phillip did. The three of them passed the time playing both competitive and cooperative games, but they mostly played the former. Even though Luna’s collection of games was much smaller than theirs, she tended to do better than them. Even so, they enjoyed themselves, Phillip getting more upset than Eli at his losses.

Some time later, there was a knock at the door and Luna opened it to see her father. Phillip and Eli followed the two to the foyer. There, the two families said goodbye to each other, and the Welshires were on their way. Just like how Phillip watched them on their way in, he watched as their limousine left.

It’d be a week until the two saw each other once again, but it’d be at M.I.A, something the two of them were very excited about.