The silence dragged on and Kasper realized he was expected to do something. Valeria's expression darkened. Her face had been impassive up until that point, but now her gold eyes narrowed. She flipped her long, platinum blonde braid over her shoulder.

"I'll show Master Derore to his room, my Lord Chancellor," she said. Her voice was cold and there was something judgmental and pretentious in her tone.

"Ah yes, of course," the Chancellor said, giving Kasper a look that seemed confused. He quickly turned away though, holding out both of his hands.

"Ah, Lord Ifan, it has been too long..."

Sensing he was dismissed, Kasper turned fully towards Valeria. She was strikingly beautiful but something about her made his skin crawl. It was as though there was something lurking under her beauty that was poisonous or dangerous.

"Follow me," she said in clipped tones. Kasper cast one more look at Ifan before he followed her across the courtyard.

She was no less graceful as she walked ahead of him. Her skirts billowed around her ankles. Every movement she made seemed to have a studied purpose. Kasper hated it. There was no warmth in her at all.

"You are, no doubt, tired from your journey, Master Derore. I'll show you directly to your room," she said without looking back to see if he was following her. Kasper licked his lips.

"Kasper is fine," he said, more for something to say than because he genuinely wanted to become her friend. She did look back at that.

"I'm afraid after your impeccable show of manners back there, we will never be friendly enough to call each other by our first names," she said. Kasper scowled at her back.

"What's wrong with my manners?" he demanded. Valeria stopped and turned to him. Her eyes were blazing with barely restrained anger. It was the first time Kasper had seen her move where it didn't look rehearsed in advance.

"You address the Lord Chancellor like you are his equal, bow to him as if he were a common mage then insult me by ignoring the most basic of formalities! You are either ill-educated or arrogant, and neither are qualities I look for amongst my peers," she snapped, before she turned away again, setting her shoulders back as she got herself under control.

Kasper felt floored. His mother had taught him some of the formalities but he'd never thought people actually still used them. He'd only seen his brother study them seriously, and that was because Kit was weird and seemed to enjoy learning about strange stuff like that.

"Let's get you to your room, Master Derore," she said finally. Kasper followed her mutely. With her background, he'd never have become friends with Valeria anyway, but he'd made a terrible error with the Chancellor.

He followed her through twisted corridor after twisted corridor. Eventually they began to climb some stairs and Kasper caught a glimpse out at the city over the ramparts. He almost wished he were back there now.

"Here," Valeria said, gesturing to a landing. "These are the boy's rooms. Yours is over there. Elias is opposite you. He'll get you for dinner." She held out her hand, a brass key laid across it.

"Thank you," Kasper said as he took it, conscious that she'd consider every word he said. She gave him a curtsey that seemed more mocking than sincere.

"I'll give you advice, as you're clearly in need of it," she said, straightening and looking him dead in the eye. It felt like being stared down by a falcon. "You've learned to dance to country tunes, but here the melody is at a different pace. You'll have to learn many styles of dances just to keep up. There are things that are much more important than being able to defeat a man in battle."

Then she was sweeping away, her gown trailing behind her on the stairs. Kasper ran his hand through his hair, taking a deep, shaking breath. He walked to the door she'd pointed to and opened the door with the key.

The bedroom was more extravagant than the one he'd had at home, and he didn't have to share this one with Kit. The single bed was dressed with sumptuous red coverings, embroidered in gold with the Light mage symbols of deer. Above the bed was a portrait of a disapproving gentleman. His golden eyes and snow-white hair pronounced him a Mage. Beneath him was the plaque that announced who he was: Chancellor Valerian Tullus. Kasper had met his great-great-granddaughter it seemed.

He sat, staring at the wooden paneled walls and warm glow of the oil lamps. So this was home?

He hoped he would be able to make some friends here. Though if they were all like Valeria, he doubted he would. He lay down on his bed, closing his eyes tightly.

He just needed to get through the next few days, he decided. Then it would all be alright.