Chapter 30

The rest of the term was very busy for all concerned.

At first, Jenifer found university overwhelming and wished many times that her stupid mother had sent her there from the beginning of the year. While she had always been an avid reader on many topics, she soon learnt that social interaction with her peers on a day to day basis required skills she had not spent a lot of time acquiring.

Here, one couldn’t just demand things and expect them to be done for her. Those around her were not her servants and while she may be a princess, her needs and wants were no more important to the other students or lecturers as their needs were to her. She had not considered herself spoilt and she was surprised to learn just what she had expected others to do for her, now that she had to do them for herself.

During the first couple of weeks, some of the progenies of the local Lords and Ladies did try to toady up to her. She soon realised that it was not because they respected her or even liked her. Some of them she had never liked when she’d had to engage with them at royal-related social events over the years and she found them just as obnoxious now as she had then.

She was amused that when Nat, Gazza and particularly Bette, let it be known that they wouldn’t tolerate any disrespect aimed at her. A few hard looks from Bette, Jenifer’s self-appointed mentor and she was soon left alone by the fawners and malcontents. The wizards did include her in the loose social group that they had formed.

Jenifer’s gratitude of having people, who cared about her just a little, was shown by the width of her smiles. The fact that she was a nice person and her aura showed this also helped her fit in. As she became more comfortable, her self-confidence asserted itself and she was able to use her voracious appetite for knowledge to garner respect from her lecturers and to make some new friends.

Academically, she was not that far behind her peers and this took away some of the stress of being in a new environment. Bette had told her after one of their Political Science classes that one of her strongest attributes was her ability to listen, look interested in the topic being discussed and that she asked good questions. Jenifer had chuckled and told Bette that in most cases she was interested, as she had identified many gaps in her education that she needed to fill.

In Bette’s case, she was pleased that her protégé, as she saw Jenifer, was coming along nicely. Secretly she had been rather worried about becoming the Taran Queen of the Island. She had not felt ready for the role, particularly since she felt that she was an oddity with having Faerie, Pix, Shifter and Genteli in her make-up. Bette was relieved that this role wasn’t to be her’s after all, well, not here on this island and at this time anyway.

Jenifer also had the advantage of being the most likely candidate for Queen. Her performances at the university as the weeks went by had garnered approval and acceptance by her peers that she was to be the next Queen. The facts that she didn’t act as if she was the ‘Bitch from the void’ and that she didn’t let people push her around, all stood her in good stead and earned her respect from her peers.

Jenifer’s magical abilities had also become credible. Amusingly, it was Basil who taught her how to create and control fireballs and they had a lot of fun perfecting this skill. Gazza had informed Bette that with better magical items and more training Jenifer’s magical abilities would improve. He was also happy with Jenifer’s progress in her interactions with her peers.

Jenifer, to her delight, was not going to have to pretend magical abilities at her coronation and her peers got to see first-hand what she was capable of with the limited training she had received since being at the university. Her very aura shone with her happiness and it attracted people to her.

Nat’s job was making sure Jenifer was suitably escorted to school functions.

The Whites had learnt that Dent and Scar were marvellous information gatherers.

As the weeks progressed, the duo regularly reported back that a lot of the tensions from the local Lords and Ladies were being alleviated by their children’s broadcasting of Jenifer’s magical abilities, her willingness to listen and learn, and the fact that she was approachable. It seemed that the talk of civil war decreased with each week that Jenifer was at the university.

A visit to the home of one of her new friends and admirers, Sir Parry Vassal, also seemed to dampen speculations as to her suitability of becoming the new Queen once she was of age. Parry’s mother was a very influential and rich Lady with a large province to the north of Avilla and she was a Shifter. Her base was the growing city called Atta and it had a very large shipyard and copper mines to the north.

Gazza had considered Parry a bit of a loud mouth but Jenifer seemed to bring out his better side and the poor bloke was rather smitten with her. Parry’s parents were delighted with their son’s interest in Jenifer and the fact that she seemed receptive to his attention. Gazza and Bette also felt this relationship should be encouraged even if Nat was more reluctant to hand over his escort duties.

Amusingly, as the term progressed, the two people who were not as happy as other people, were, Jenifer’s sister, Louise and her mother, Regina. Initially, they were happy that Jenifer seemed to have settled in at the university, was interacting with her peers and seemed to be wowing them as promised. Foolishly, they didn’t inquire too deeply, which was a mistake on their part.

For the first month or so, they were also blissfully unaware of the changes taking place within the palace. However, as more weeks went by, they became unhappy to learn that Jenifer had developed a backbone and she would no longer simply agree with what they wanted her to do. They also became rather surprised to learn that the staff and particularly the servants that were supplied by the Ant Queen would take a directive from Jenifer if it contradicted theirs.

Louise, in particular, was not happy to learn that her little sister was slowly but surely ousting her. A hint from Lady Vassal as to a match between Parry and Jenifer would be to the crowns advantage, had alerted her to the fact that Jenifer could have some serious clout if the match happened. Lady Vassal was not a lady to ignore.

What irked Louise the most was that her sister now had far more magical and political power than she’d ever had and yet, she didn’t use them, as she would have. The insipid little wench was so nice to people that it made Louise ill. After five years of being the Queen, by deed if not in name, Louise was not willing to give up her seat of power to her little sister, especially if she couldn’t control her.

Louise needed to find a way to gain magical items that obeyed her and to get rid of her sister. She knew that this would not be easy to do. She ranted and fumed in private and wracked her brain as to how she could achieve her desire to rule. She now knew from the reports she had received that the ring Jenifer wore worked better than even she was aware it could.

With it and the wand, Jenifer could rule convincingly, even if the medallion and the diadem didn’t work anymore. Louise believed that she had the same potential that her sister did, even though she was only a half-sister.

She knew that a ring was more likely to go to anyone with potential than other items would; she did, after all, wear a single gemmed ring. She still believed that if her sister hadn’t stolen the better ring, it would have gone to her after her great-grandmother had died. By having it, the other items would have also gone to her.

Her sister was going to have to die for her to rule.

Stix loved sailing.

Jagger and Stone were not quite as enthusiastic but they did enjoy practising their new magical skills with her. Before they had left Gazza’s home, he had replaced Stix’s emerald and diamond band with a new item.

The new item looked more like a vambrace even though it was on her second segment so she could see it. When she wanted to use the screen, it became wider and then shrunk down again once she was finished. Gazza had added a ruby and a rose quartz crystal to it with two more Quaz crystals to store more magical energy.

The Energy skill associated with rubies is used for realigning base elements and energy fields. This new skill complemented her Earth and Lore magics. Having the Psychic skill added also increased her control of her spells. She had spent a lot of the time during the boat ride working on her new skills.

Stone got a brace that was similar to Stix’s. To his surprise, it had an opal, an amethyst and a diamond on it with the Quaz crystals. He knew that he was primarily a Nature novice and that he had skills with manipulating plants, animals and/or people. He could also manipulate and shape liquids and gasses since Physics was his second trait.

Jagger had received a ring that was like Basil’s. His ring had a topaz with a diamond indicating he was good at manipulating mental and metaphysical energies and that he was a Psychic novice. Gazza had also given Jagger a little Mad. He thought it was the most amazing tool. The fact it could talk to him in his head was perfect for him. He also loved that he could also call and talk to Basil by using the device, no matter where he was.

The boys and Stix had spent much of their time on the voyage to Blue Bay studying the spell books and the other interesting information they found in the Mads. The good thing as far as Stix was concerned was that this time she wasn’t stuck in a storage room as she had been for both of her previous sea voyages. Captain Tonus had provided them with a room they could nest in.

Stix was surprised that Jagger had elected to continue travelling with her and Stone. For the week that they had spent resting at Gazza’s home before departing on this trip, Jagger had seemed to get along well with Gazza’s flickers. However, when it came time to leave he made it quite clear that he was going with them.

Stix still had to smile at Dent and Scar’s reactions to becoming walking and talking female humans. Like Stone, they couldn’t shift gender but this didn’t bother either of them. They did start wearing a sarong tied around their thorax like she did. Gazza had hinted that the ants that could change wouldn’t be much different to those found at Mt Ant.

Gazza had told Stix that he suspected the gender issue was related to a dominant set of genes from the Ants and he hadn’t tried to suppress them. Her virus should also only affect ants unless they did successfully mate with another Shifter and it should only affect their children, just like it does with the Ant-shifters.

Stix had licked the two guards after Gazza had asked her too. It had taken several days before they felt the desire to change form. In that time, the four ants had visited the palace, the wharves and the markets, and they were more than happy to scent every ant they come into contact with.