Alice learns many things in her five years at Highborne Academy. She learns how to balance accounts and write a letter, how to barricade her door at night and move without people noticing. She learns sums and history, how to take pain without showing it, and the true meaning of silence. She learns to ignore […]
Alice finds the appeal of fight pits baffling. Displaying yourself, your fighting style and strategies, to a crowd of strangers when it’s not necessary to survival – well. It’s an interesting choice, especially in a city like this. She dutifully places Zazzy’s bet for him and takes Merla’s bags, watches Oriros split from the fighters […]
Alice’s lungs are still full of mycelium, but Annie’s home is warm and…interesting. She focuses on her surroundings, distracting herself from the spores clogging her breaths, too close to how the collar felt for comfort. The mansion is spacious, and, well, witchy. There are runes on the walls, protection and concealment from what she can […]
There is no graduation from the academy. Mother visits on Alice’s fifteenth birthday to inform her of her betrothal to a man twice her age. The Baron of Thread is in want of a wife, and the Creelhands are in want of his money and connections. They showed him her portrait and a deal was […]
Alice is ten when she realizes her parents don’t love her. One of Father’s friends comes to visit on a dreary autumn day, which means she has to sit quietly in a pale dress with matching ribbons in her hair and smile through her discomfort as Mr. Hatchum leers down at her and compliments her […]