Knock knock knock.

  In her pajamas still, Kira slowly approached the door with a piece of toast still in her hand. Esmeralda, the dorm mother, appeared before her as she opened it.

  “Your master is here to see you, and since he can’t enter the girls dormitory, he’d like to meet you outside.” Esmeralda told her. “Tell your master not to send in unseen servants into my dorm, I won’t be having it. You two should be communicating beforehand when and where to meet.” With that, she left.

  Kira's eyes tiredly blinked. She had just woken up no longer than 5 minutes ago, her brain was still waking up. Finally, Esmeralda’s words took effect, causing Kira to bolt back to the kitchen and start scarfing down her breakfast.

  “Slow down, I think your master would rather have you late than dead.” Helina said between a mouthful of eggs.

  “Hurmf.” Kira replied with bunny cheeked lips.

  Forcing the last bit of food down her throat, she chugged a glass of orange juice to wash it further down, then speedily got changed and ran outside. Rynus sat under a tree with colourful leaves on a spectrum of reds, oranges, and yellows. A little picnic basket was in his lap and a checkered cloth was spread out over the grass.

  “Rynus!” Kira scurried over to her master's side. “Sorry, I didn't think you’d arrive so early.”

  “Nono, it's my fault, I never said what time I'd come.” Rynus waved her off. “How about a little breakfast picnic… Ah, I can see you’ve already eaten, you've got a little ketchup on your cheek dear.”

  Hastily wiping away evidence of her breakfast, she sat down next to him a little embarrassed.

  “Since you've had breakfast, how about some earlier morning dessert? I brought brownies.” Rynus revealed a fully packed basket, with all of her favorite snacks inside. Right at the top were Rynus’ famed brownies, the ones with the mouth watering fudge in the middle.

  “Help yourself.” Rynus took the basket off his lap and laid out all the snacks for them to pick at. “So how was the rest of your day yesterday? Did you enjoy the seventh year’s showcase?”

  “Mm, I was surprised at how… adult they felt.” Kira said. The seventh graders were only 19, which I guess meant they had a few years of experience as adults, but that was going to be her before she knew it.

  “You’d be amazed at how much one can grow as a person in such little time.” Rynus leaned back against the tree, relaxing under the shade.

  Guess there was no better time than now to bring it up. Kira stared at Rynus, working herself up to ask him.

  “What’s up? You’re staring.” Rynus eyed his apprentice.

  “I wanted to ask you about something…” Kira paused, “Er, when I introduced myself to my roommates, they acted funny for a minute. They said there's something special about the us Thorn’s. And then when I asked Abby, she said that I was part of the noble Thorn household? Is that true master? What's going on?“

  “Well… it's complicated.” Rynus' face fell. “I-I should’ve told you much earlier, matter of fact I was going to tell you about it last week, but you were just so immersed in your training, and your excitement for school, I didn’t want to throw you off. I was also thinking of telling you today as well, but I guess you’ve beat me to the punch. it's just… not something I like to talk about.” He rambled, then paused. “But that's not an excuse I should use.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me before?” Kira asked him.

  “It’s not a fun subject to learn about.” Rynus put a hand on her shoulder, “You must remember, it changes nothing about us as people. But, I should still apologize, I let my feelings get in the way of your education.”

  Kira simply sat and listened as Rynus began to explain.

  “You know the eight households right?” Kira nodded in response. “Each household has a noble family, led by those who are the direct descendants from the founding wizards. The first apprentice a wizard has, whether through the Sacred Calling or through birth, is considered the heir of the family. When the heirs' parents retire, they take over as the new head of the noble house. Their siblings would then leave and start their own families elsewhere, creating a new family name for themselves, but still keeping their household name.”

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  “Okay…” Kira was starting to understand.

  “Those siblings' and their new families would then have kids, who go off and start families of their own, and the cycle repeats, but they always keep the household name as their middle name.”

  “So that’s why everyone is part of one the eight households then?”

  “Correct. But that direct lineage has always kept going, even with a few bumps here and there. Sometimes an heir would die and had to be replaced by their younger sibling, but whatever the case, they still exist. And we’re part of the noble Thorn household. You're my successor.” Rynus said. “But like I said, it changes nothing. Knowing you're a noble shouldn’t change how you act.”

  So she actually was a noble then? She shook her head back, the information still processing. Why did people always act so polite to her master? It’s not like she didn’t notice at all, she just thought they were all being nice. Did they act like that because he wasn’t Rynus, but Lord Thorn instead?

  “Aren’t nobles in charge of governing the Wondrous Society?” Kira had read about that in her books. She had never seen Rynus do any form of governing, he simply ran his cafe with her.

  “Not quite, each noble household has responsibilities they are required to follow through with, but the main governing is done by the Elder Council. The noble Frost household, which Abby descends from, must provide mages when certain conflict arises. That’s their responsibility.”

  “Wait, is Abby going to have to become a mage then?”

  “Not necessarily. She’s not a noble, she has no such responsibilities, but many Frost’s, and many others, will pursue becoming mages so they can become employed by the noble household. They tend to favour other Frost’s for employment, which is why you see most Frost’s choose to become mages.”

  Kira nodded. Thankfully Abby didn’t have to become a mage, she knew her best friend was the opposite of a fighter.

  “If we’re nobles then, what’s our responsibility?”

  Rynus sighed. He gandered around at the lovely scenery, watching the grass sway in the wind and leaves gently falling off branches. Nearby a pair of squirrels raced up a tree trunk with nuts in their mouth.

  “We’re adjudicators.” Rynus refocused and spoke with a lowered tone. “Should another noble household break our laws, or forfeit their responsibilities, we’re to deal with it… Forcefully if necessary. We police the nobles in a way.”

  That sounded… stressful.

  “Don’t worry though, we don’t have to do anything. My master deals with the rare problem that crops up.” Rynus reassured her.

  “Your master?” Kira knew that he had a master, but she didn’t know any details about them, not even their name. Abby had said her grandmaster was well known, but she had no idea why.

  “Yes. You see, one thing that I haven't brought up yet is the real reason the Thorn household is a little more special than the others. The most likely cause for others to treat you differently.”

  “Other households have thousands of wizards, the bigger ones have tens of thousands of wizards. And those are only the ones alive right now, that’s not counting all those who’ve passed away. We, the Thorn’s, have only ever had 4 members, you being the fourth, and the first being Thorn himself.”

  That left Kira gobsmacked. Four members? She had already met three Trinities, that would be the same amount as all the Thorn’s still alive!

  “Your grandmaster was the apprentice of Thorn. She’s the only wizard still alive who had been there when the founding wizards were still around. She’s also… quite a controversial wizard to many, but that’s a discussion for another day.”

  “This is a lot.” Kira lay down, her arms spread out.

  “I must apologize for dropping all this on you at once, especially now when you're starting school and meeting new friends.” Rynus flopped down beside her. “It is a lot, being nobles, being Thorn’s, and you being a child of Thorn as well makes your situation even more special.”

  “So all the other children of Thorn out there aren’t from the Thorn household, right? Since there’s only three of us.”

  “Mm, there’s probably thirty or so other children of Thorn out there, but they're part of other households. Same with the children of Rose.” Rynus explained. “You being a child of Thorn and being from the Thorn household is the first. You’re a very special girl.”

  “Are people going to treat me weirdly now?” Kira sat up, “I don’t want them to think I’m special, I just want… I just want to learn magic, eat tasty food, and have fun with my friends!” She raised her voice.

  “I can’t promise you people will treat you like normal once they find out who you are, but what I can say is that, those that do, and the ones you become friends with, they are the ones you must cherish.”

  Kira nodded. The two took a few nibbles of food, letting the weight of the conversation lift.

  “If you want to discuss this more, I’d be willing, but let’s do so at a later date.” Rynus said. “For now though, tell me about your day yesterday, you met your roommate already right?”

  Kira nodded, and began telling Rynus about her roommates. Their conversation bounced back and forth between topics, mainly centered around Kira’s experiences yesterday. She felt much better now knowing about her lineage, and she could also tell Rynus was looking more at ease after their conversation.

  Would knowing this change things for her? Maybe. It’s not like she had gotten around to talking to people much growing up, just Abby and the kids back at the orphanage. They wouldn’t care about this at all, I mean Abby had already known and nothing about her had changed. And she had been raised better to know she wasn’t going to start acting like a stuck-up brat.

  Eventually Rynus had to go back and open the shop for the morning. Kira gave him a farewell hug, then went up to her room and relaxed with her roommates, in no rush to get out and about around campus. They all had the same mindset, instead of going out now, they were waiting for one o’clock to roll around so they could head to the Common Center for the meet and greet Marcus had told them about. The Trinity’s and Abby had already ventured through the dorm, telling every girl about it, and it seemed like they got pretty much everyone on board with the idea.

  Kira was normally nervous about meeting new people, but having the Trinity sister with her, and knowing Abby was going to be there with her, infinitely eased her anxiety. It also helped that she had gotten some answers regarding her lineage. She didn’t want others to react how the Trinity’s did at first without knowing why.