cuzn
lucid luciel
Introduction
Hello! I'm the author, Ciel, and in this introduction I'll just be giving small bits of context before you start reading.
For one, all author's notes you'll see will be in pink text - I try not to use author's notes very often, so I'm sure you'll only be seeing them at the top or bottom of chapters, if at all.
And, as far as story-based context goes, I'll include a brief synopsis:
Jasmine Pétalle is a young elven girl living on the continent of Celtia, a fantasy world where humans live alongside countless other species and races. Her mother is known as the Elven Queen of Magnolia Pass, a title that Jasmine will surely inherit come Gloria's passing; until then, she has been sent to live with her human father and elder sister in the southern town of Bassion in order to receive a proper education in nature, alchemy, and the mystic arts.
The Golden Gate Academy is a prestigious school of no age requirement; as such, Jasmine is the youngest to have ever been accepted into the advanced course of education, and as of today, she begins her first day of classes. For the first time in her life, she has lived somewhere other than the secluded isolation of the northern mountain pass, and finds herself having to deal with social struggles on her own, completely ignorant to the dark secrets that lie in the Academy's administration.
I hope you enjoy reading!
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Prologue
Hello! I'm the author, Ciel, and in this introduction I'll just be giving small bits of context before you start reading.
For one, all author's notes you'll see will be in pink text - I try not to use author's notes very often, so I'm sure you'll only be seeing them at the top or bottom of chapters, if at all.
And, as far as story-based context goes, I'll include a brief synopsis:
Jasmine Pétalle is a young elven girl living on the continent of Celtia, a fantasy world where humans live alongside countless other species and races. Her mother is known as the Elven Queen of Magnolia Pass, a title that Jasmine will surely inherit come Gloria's passing; until then, she has been sent to live with her human father and elder sister in the southern town of Bassion in order to receive a proper education in nature, alchemy, and the mystic arts.
The Golden Gate Academy is a prestigious school of no age requirement; as such, Jasmine is the youngest to have ever been accepted into the advanced course of education, and as of today, she begins her first day of classes. For the first time in her life, she has lived somewhere other than the secluded isolation of the northern mountain pass, and finds herself having to deal with social struggles on her own, completely ignorant to the dark secrets that lie in the Academy's administration.
I hope you enjoy reading!
-
Prologue
Jasmine looked upon the last glimpses of her homeland with an insurmountable longing. The mountain peaks were dyed an amber-pink on the western face, and on the east remained a cool purple-blue, where the setting sun due west cast half of the range in a vibrant hue and left the other half bathing in shadows. Night would fall soon, and only two lanterns on the front of the carriage would provide the horses with any light as they travelled further away from her beloved Magnolia Pass.
This northern mountain range was her kingdom, it was her home; while her mother did not rule over a single man, woman, or child, the animals instead served as subjects to the Elven crown, and the only few humans who chose to venture into the pass were required to leave an offering of silver on the branch of a tree upon entry. Such was the will of the Gods, and such was the tradition for longer than even her own mother could recall. Leaving this place with only the few belongings in her satchel and the dark, velvet forest green cloak hiding her figure, a type of emptiness began to root inside of her chest, leaving Jasmine to only watch with hollow despair as the carriage grew further and further away from the forest and alpine peaks of her calling.
It was the voice of her elder sister to bring her out of her trance.
"I hope you aren't going to mope around the entire time. We're going to be on the road for a week, the least you could do is talk to me while we're riding." Holly Patel, the mostly-human teenage girl who held their father's surname (while Jasmine held their mother's) sat on the opposite side of the carriage, next to their father, and watched Jasmine with an impatient curve to her lips. When Jasmine gave no signs of responding to her sister's complaints, Holly only rolled her eyes with a scoff and made another attempt at conversation. "Well, what are you looking forward to the most when we get to Bassion?"
Jasmine considered her answer for a moment, and made one last glance out the back window of the carriage only to find that the mountains had already disappeared almost completely from view, and the sky was beginning to darken considerably with the coming of twilight. Feeling a bit safer now that her Dark Elven complexion wouldn't be harmed by the sun, she slipped her hood back and laid down on her cushioned bench with a sigh. "I want to go home."
"You're so melodramatic." Holly didn't seem to be catching the hint that Jasmine wished for peace and quiet, since even when Jasmine turned for her back to face her sister, Holly continued jabbering on. "I mean, really, being miserable about leaving is only going to make you more miserable. Just try to be positive! Bassion is one of the biggest cities in Celtia, it's sure to be home to some interesting people! I've heard that the Karzakkians that live there are incredibly handsome --"
Jasmine found it easy to tune her sister's chattering out after a little while, and before long, she allowed her eyes to close and her mind to wander.
She was fully aware that leaving home to attend the academy was absolutely necessary for her to become a successful queen in the future, and of course, the idea of entering an academy to learn was a thrilling idea to her, but... The comfort that she found in that secluded cottage with only her mother and the animals as her company, without having to deal with her father or her sister, would be gone for a very long time. Her mother was patient and kind, with beautiful umber skin and eyes crystalline blue. From a young age, Jasmine had spent her time studying her mother's habits and mimicking them; over time, she learned to approach animals with a gentle caution, and she had also learned to care for the plants and survive on her own in the forest should the need ever arise. Since her father and sister had spent that time living in the town at the mouth of the mountain pass, they had both been exempt from this learning process, and so Jasmine couldn't help but feel slightly out of place in the presence of two so obsessed with the human concept of civilization.
Being raised in the mountains and being taught to scavenge, hunt, and garden did not make her uncivilized. She could hold up a polite and decent conversation just fine, and she liked a cup of tea just as much as any normal civilized person did. Being raised in Magnolia Pass only made her more keen to the ways of the natural world, and saved her the trouble of having to deal with the ways of socialization and stifling pleasantries. To her, it was a win-win situation for her to live the rest of her life away from society, where she could be happy and comfortable and not around her father, but...
Her mother's words to her before her departure echoed clear in Jasmine's mind.
"More information can never be a bad thing, Petal. Take this as a learning experience, and perhaps you'll learn to enjoy what isn't entirely comfortable at first."
A learning experience... For a moment, Jasmine's mind was brought back to the present time, but she zoned out again immediately as soon as she had realized that her sister was still talking about boys and parties and whatever other nonsense seemed to come to her mind. Jasmine gave a small grumble at the notion. But what could I possibly learn from living with these two, of all people? I'd much rather be playing music with you, right now. Mother...
Her hand slowly reached upwards to brush her fingertips against the ceramic surface of the magnolia blossom brooch that Queen Gloria had given to her. While she doubted either of her two lesser family members had noticed, Jasmine found herself curling up just a little bit tighter in her seat. I miss you.
Somewhere along the line, Jasmine supposed she must have dozed off, since she awoke to the shift in momentum of the carriage slowing to a halt and the sound of the driver's boots tapping down on a cobblestone street. She sat up just before Holly could try to shake her awake, and the Elven heir took a moment to fully rise from her rough sleep before following her sibling out of the landeau, where she found herself standing in front of an inn in a town she didn't recognize. Lanterns dimly-lit the streets outside, where few people left the warm comfort of their homes, but as soon as she followed her sister into the inn, Jasmine was blasted with the heavy scent of alcohol and overcome with the sound of drunken chatter and poorly-played fiddle music.
Apparently, the first floor of this inn served as a tavern to the public. Apparently, her father said, it boosted business when the drunken idiots were too inebriated to go home and had to stay the night. Whoever came up with such a ridiculous business plan clearly didn't think of the decent, innocent souls of children in mind. While Jasmine would have preferred to stick with Holly despite how insufferable the girl's company was, her sister was immediate to set her eyes on a certain fair, strapping young blonde and made her way over with a lovestruck enthusiasm.
So, much to her despair, Jasmine was left to fend by herself in a room of too much noise and too many smells to possibly enjoy herself. Actually, when comparing standing impatiently next to the door as she was to standing next to her father and being subjected to his rather shamelessly chatting up the innkeeper...
Jasmine gave a miserable groan and slumped to sit on the floor, her face hidden under the deep hood of her cloak and her knees pulled close to her chest.
Why was everyone in her family so hung up on the idea of romance, of all things? I just don't get it.
"I take it this isn't exactly your scene, miss?" A young girl's voice took Jasmine out of her moment of annoyance and loathing, and when the young princess looked up, she saw a girl standing in front of her wearing a white bonnet and a white apron over a long brown dress. She held a quill pen and a small notepad in one hand and a small bottle of ink in the other, and peered at Jasmine with wide, curious green eyes. Her freckled face and fiery orange hair almost immediately made it obvious that she was from a bit further south in Celtia.
"... No." While she wasn't one for conversation, Jasmine still avoided being seen as rude, and brushed herself off once she stood up to face the girl properly. She only looked to be a tad bit older, possibly the same age as Jasmine, but still had a few inches on the dark elf - then again, Jasmine was considered to be rather short-statured for her age. Thirteen years old and standing at a humble (or pitiful) four-foot-seven-inches. Unable to maintain eye contact for very long, she glanced off to the side, where her father was still wooing the innkeeper. Ugh. "I'm... Not from around here."
"I know that."
The girl's sudden response brought a questioning glance from Jasmine, to which the human girl stuttered for a moment before averting her gaze with rising timidity. "I-I mean! I work here at the tavern, I know everyone who lives in Lithune and everyone who passes through. And, ahem, I think I would have remembered someone of your beauty if you lived here, miss."
Beauty? Jasmine's long ears perked up at the word, but she was quick to shove the thought aside for more pressing matters. "You work in a place like this? I can't imagine it's very pleasant."
"The owner is my mother." The fire-haired girl stepped aside and looked back to the very same woman that was being charmed by a certain father of two. Ignorant to Jasmine's relation to the man, the girl gave an exasperated, yet endearing sigh. "Although she seems a bit busy right now... Honestly, she'll find any man foolish enough to try flirting with her showering her with gold and silver by the end of the night. Poor old gentleman..."
"My father." Jasmine's clarification brought another moment of startled, flustered stuttering from the redhead, but Jasmine interrupted her anxious apologies with a huff and a rather sharp-tongued statement of her own. "No, you're right. My father has just about the mental capacity of a wild boar, and the decency of one, too. Really! And to think he'd abandon his daughters for the sake of bringing an innocent woman into his--"
Jasmine stopped herself rather abruptly.
"... Excuse me." Clearly a bit agitated, Jasmine recomposed herself with a clear of her throat, before again looking up at the freckled girl with her ghostly lime green eyes now calm and expressionless. "You work here, right? Could you possibly take me to the room my father arranged for me to stay in?"
"Oh, of course! My name is Niamh, by the way- and you?"
"Jasmine. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
The rest of the time spent with Niamh was pleasant. Jasmine had learned that Niamh's father had left with a rather hefty sum of cash when he divorced her mother to marry a younger woman, and since then, her mother had developed a complex of flirtation and gold-digging while Niamh kept the family inn and tavern business afloat in any way she could. In turn, Jasmine had mentioned that while her parents had never married in the first place, it still irritated her to no ends to see her father flaunting his wealth and business endeavors at any pretty face he saw. The two girls found great amusement over the prospect of their parents finding their 'one true love' in each other, and made a handful of jokes at the adults' expense before Niamh had left to return to her work.
In the morning, it was Niamh to bring Jasmine's breakfast up to her in her room, and the two made pleasant conversation over a hearty meal of porridge, bread, honey, and blueberries. When it was time for them to depart, Niamh wished Jasmine good luck on her studies, and had even given the elf a keepsake - a bracelet charm with the amulet of a shamrock, apparently for a bit of extra luck. Jasmine had thanked her rather unexpected new friend for the hospitality, and they were back on their way south before the clock struck ten.
Holly made a passing comment on how she seemed to show quite an interest in 'that freckled girl', but Jasmine ignored Holly's suggestive smile with apathy and tuned out the following long-winded chattering about the boy that she had been entertaining herself with the previous night. As Jasmine lost herself in writing in her personal journal, she made the dreadful realization that Holly truly was like their father. Their father, Alexandre, who was currently completely asleep in his seat and blissfully unaware to Holly's nonstop talking. Lucky him.
Over the next few days, they continued in a similar fashion - stop for dinner at an inn, stay for the night, and leave right after breakfast for the next town. In this routine, they passed through a few towns of interest, of which Jasmine listed in her regular journal entries in great detail: Oraș Vrăjit, Stonecrest, Rosier, Borrac, and finally, Bassion. There were other towns and locations of less intrigue, but what she had written of the interesting towns they had stayed in could be summarized as follows:
Oraș Vrăjit is a superstitious town, one located at the very edge of the legendary Forest of Null. The townspeople there are reclusive and inhospitable; a mother and a child cried "demon" and "witch" and began to pray with fervor when laying eyes upon my elven appearance. My sister didn't inherit my mother's elven traits, and was thus exempt from this discrimination, as was my father.
Stonecrest is similar, although what makes it stand out in particular is the town's odd inclination towards spiritual mediumship despite their apparent fear of the fae. Stonecrest is both wary of magic and open to using gemstones, crystals, and plants as means of divination, scrying, and protection against the very forces of magic their arts draw from. It truly is a fascinating irony.
Rosier was a much more pleasant town than the previous two. Being located right where the forests of Celtia ended and the vast, open hills and fields began, this town is a town of roses, with stone watchtowers covered in ivy and the chapel decorated with beautiful gardens on every side. One of the local delicacies is a dessert known as Turkish delight, made apparently out of roses themselves. I must return to find a recipe someday.
Borrac was a small farming town that we stayed in the day before arriving at Bassion. The people were more or less normal, mostly humans who went to church regularly and listened to the residing priest's teachings. Since I am more inclined to the traditional Celtian and Elven traditions and holidays like Samhain and Imbolc, I did not join my father and sister that morning, but instead made acquaintance with a young cambion boy named Atlas, who had visited from the neighboring village of Millmouth in hopes of buying goods for his family. What I find most peculiar about him was that while his skin was fair, his left arm was a stark scarlet in color, endowed with clawed nails and slightly rougher skin. Apparently, while most of his body looked human, his succubus mother had passed on her demonic attribute in the form of a single monstrous arm that grew with strength when he became agitated.
If only the journey to Bassion could give me such wild and unusual experiences, I am enthused to see what other experiences could await me in the famed Golden City's inner walls.
By the time a week had passed, Jasmine's previous grieving over the loss of her previous home was pushed to the back of her mind by the curious excitement of the new one. While being surrounded by so many strange and unfamiliar people was still an annoyance to the princess, she seemed to have finally taken her sister's previous advice, and found the slightest bit of optimism alive within her when she looked ahead of the carriage to see the bustling city and the tops of buildings in the near distance.
Perhaps moving to a new location wouldn't be so bad, after all. Perhaps enrolling into the Golden Gate Academy could be... Enjoyable.
Whether it was enjoyable or not, her first day was in two days, on the third of April, and she wouldn't dare miss it for the world.
Jasmine gave a silent prayer to the trees, the mountains, the sky, and to Elven hero Alffe and Faerie Goddess Beatha for her first day at the Academy to go... At the very least, not horribly wrong.