Meet Some New Friends

You give Liam and Keira an apologetic wave and a nod of your head in Parisa's direction. The two return nod in understanding with Liam giving you an approving thumbs up before Keira lightly smacks him on the arm playfully.

You are quickly lead to the table of Pegasus House girls, sitting down as your school provided lunch appears before you in a shimmer of magic. You do not really have time to dig in however, as you are quickly the center of attention for the other girls at the table. Your surprised look at the mass feminine attention draws a giggle out of Parisa, who comments, "Surprised? Don't be. Pegasus House tends to be five girls for every one boy."

Any boy who had the fortune to be placed there, you thought, was most fortunate indeed.

At the moment your own fortunes were not doing so bad as you chatted with several of the girls, though the two that caught your attention the most were a pair of blondes, one with her hair long and straight and the other with twin pigtails that went down to her lower back. They both looked at you with sparkling blue eyes and you wondered if they were twins, given the similarities in their appearances beyond hair and eye color.

Noting your interest, Parisa quickly introduces you. "This is Mana," she says, indicating the one with straight hair before indicating the one with the pigtails, "And this is Selena."

"Hi," Selena chirps energetically, "I'm a Princess!"

"And I'm her bodyguard," Mana adds with a playful smile of her own.

Parisa seems confused for a moment as she looks between the two. "Hey," she interjects, "Mana, I thought you said YOU were the Princess and Selena was the bodyguard!"

The two laugh, obviously reveling in an old joke between them. "It is true we're from a royal family though," Mana finally says when their giggling subsides.

"I'm training in healing magics so I can take over as Queen for our kingdom when mom decides to step down," Selena says, taking over without skipping a beat, "but don't worry, that kinda stuff doesn't matter much when you're a student here. We're all on the same level."

"Is that why you're being so open with all this?" you ask.

"Kinda," Mana replies, "Believe me, you'd hear the rumors sooner or later, so no point hiding it."

"Kinda like the rumors about a certain someone who publicly embarrassed the Ice Queen earlier today," Selena adds with an almost shifty grin.

"... Publicly embarrassed?" you parrot, an uncomfortable lump that is not the stuffed mushroom settling in your stomach.

Parisa's eyes widen as she gasps, "Something happened with you and Harmony Ashcroft?!"

"Ummm... kind of," you reply before looking at Selena, "What do the rumors say happened?"

"Oh, just that she'd been hazing the other students in Psionics again, making it impossible to work with her," the pig-tailed blonde said, "And then you partnered with her and sent her running for the hills."

"Nobody believed her lame excuse about needing the toilet," Mana interjected, "So she must have been REALLY humiliated."

"It wasn't really anything like that," you say as you squirm, getting the feeling that Harmony was not the type to let negative rumors about her circle without retaliation for too long, "We just didn't... match up well."

The twins give you a shared, skeptical look as Parisa continues to stare at you in awe.

"No need to be humble," Selena says, "tell us how you did it! Everyone should know!"

"Yeah," Mana adds, "Maybe she won't be as mean to everyone if we all know her weakness."