The night before Rianna�s next class Ellen stopped by Rianna�s house to touch up their story.
�So it�s Lady Rianna of the House Shayaz on the World of Amara. That is a rather long title.� Rianna responded after Ellen told her the name she would go by at the University.
The next few classes began to fall into a pattern. Mostly Master Sayasal brought in models and some live specimens of smaller animals and would spend the classes going over about one species each hour. It was a high point for Rianna�s week to go to her University class. They were interesting and Master Sayasal was easy to listen to. Rianna was also getting to know a few other people in her class, even though they were all at least two years older than her.
Although there was no age limits on students at the University it was odd to see students younger than eighteen, mostly because most worlds had a school system of their own that kept students in school until they were eighteen, which was considered to be the age of maturity throughout most of the worlds. Fortunately the world of Amara started their education early and many people finished early, especially noble children because they were given extra lessons after school and were therefore exempt from certain classes at school. Ellen explained that this was the case in many Worlds and it was unusual, but not unheard of that a person younger than eighteen was admitted to the University. There were usually one or two a year in out of the three thousand students admitted each year.
Rianna always introduced herself as Rianna and only told people the story she and Ellen had come up with when they asked her where she was from. Many people she met insisted on calling her Lady Rianna after she told them her story, even when she insisted they didn�t. Their reasons for calling her Lady were that they knew about Amaran history and knew that the reason a family got titles was just so she deserved the title.
A few weeks later Ellen suggested that the next time she goes home for a weekend that Rianna come with her. Ellen also figured it was time she taught Rianna how to create an �image� of herself. It was advanced magic and she knew Rianna was not able to do it on her own as yet but it was complicated to lean and the more times she saw it, the easier it would be to do. Rianna agreed, even though she did not like the idea of fooling her parents and friends but she figured it would be necessary in the future and she might as well get used to it now. Rianna picked a weekend when she had nothing planned and was not likely to have anything important to do.
That night Ellen began work on a complicated magic that would take most of her free time until they took their weekend trip. First she had to create a shell that looked like Rianna and was solid. That task would take her a few days to complete and there was much to do after that.
A few days before their trip, Ellen showed Rianna the magic she had been working. It was simple to conjure up because she never disassembled it. The series of spells were stored in a corner of her power and she simply had to call it up for it to materialize.
�Right now, it still needs my power to draw on but when yours gets strong enough I�ll transfer the spell set to you and you can do some tweaking on your own. The idea of these is to carry on your normal routine but to stay out of the way as much as possible. They say little, but talk competently when they absolutely have to. All that�s left is for you to share your memories and mannerisms with it so it can respond as accurately as possible. When you get back you can also review any conversation is had so you don�t look like you have forgotten anything. It�s a great tool for things like this, but it needs to be updated regularly. When it is stored in your own magic it will update itself on its own but while I have it, we should update it at least once a month. To complete it just touch it and the magic will automatically go through memories and such to be able to fully function.�
Rianna was slightly concerned with the spell. It seemed much like another life form or clone and mentioned this to Ellen. After explaining all her concerns Ellen explained that is was not a living creature and there has never been a case of anything going seriously wrong with such illusions. They were intricately tied to the person they were representing and could only be controlled by the person they were representing or someone they had been given permission by the person the magic was representing. Ellen had set up Rianna�s illusion so it could only be altered buy Rianna and herself.
Feeling somewhat better Rianna let her thoughts flow into the illusion and then Ellen unsummoned the magic to let the information settle into the combination of spells.
That Friday after Rianna�s day at school, she and Ellen met at her house. Ellen summoned the illusion left it standing in Rianna�s room as she and Rianna left for their weekend on Ellen�s World. Rianna would be staying with Ellen this weekend but they were planning on spending some time with the family whose name Rianna was using. When they arrived on Amara Rianna realized they had appeared in a palace. Not one as grand as the Palace on Azara but a palace none the less.
Ellen sighed. �I can never get away from palaces. My home in Azara is in one and my home in Amara is in one.
Rianna met most of Ellen�s family that evening and was surprised to learn Ellen�s title was longer than she had ever imagined. Not only was she part of Jayis� council but she was also a princess of Amara. She found this out by looking at an ancient family tree that behind the main table in the dining hall where they ate supper that night. Rianna noticed it first during supper and wandered back for a better look later in the evening. It covered a great deal of the wall but there was clearly room for expansion. When the names got to the bottom of one panel they were continued on top of the next. Ellen�s name was half way down the rightmost panel along with her two sisters and brother. Judging by the order Ellen was second youngest, with her brother second oldest. Ellen�s full title took up a great deal of room and was why the names of her nieces and nephews were much lower than she was from her parents on the panel. It did not take Rianna very long to realize it was Ellen that the title was describing, since she examined it from the beginning and had not yet seen Ellen�s name. The full title read High Princess Ellen, Council to the King of the Azaran Empire, Lady of the Worlds, Second Princess of the World Amara Master of Azaran History, Conflict Magics, Healing and Ancient Spells, Lady of the Castle Razeri.
Ellen was out looking for Rianna that evening and found her in the main dining hall examining the family tree. She took a seat at the table behind Rianna and waited for her to notice her. It took a moment for Rianna to finish her look at the family tree and was not really surprised to find Ellen behind her gazing at the family tree.
�It dates back to when my family was charged with governing this world.� Ellen whispered. �Over twenty generations. Out of all my family most people say I�m the most famous, or most important. The people of this world are very proud of my family. We have governed them for so long and the people have had no major problems. They follow our family history more closely than their own in some ways. The people were thrilled when the announcement came that I was going to be part of the Council. Amara had always been a prominent World in the Empire, but now the people had something else to be proud of. My sister complains that they like me better than they like her and she actually governs them.�
It was obvious to Rianna that Ellen loved this world as much as she loved the Empire itself and she was proud to be an inspiration of sorts to her people, even if she loathed the titles she had showing her accomplishments.
Ellen had resumed her gazing at the family tree. Rianna couldn�t sense what her teacher was thinking but it was something she did not want to interrupt. She sat silently looking at the family tree until Ellen shook herself out of her thoughts.
�Since we have this whole weekend together I thought we could go over some simple things you can do with your magic most people learn when they are children, and some things most people don�t know of.�
Rianna was beginning to find her magic very comfortable and looked forward to finding opportunities to use it. She was already using it at home when she was sure no one was paying attention. So the rest of the evening was taken up practicing using her magic. One of the things they worked on was changing her robe�s appearance almost instantly. By the end of the weekend she could change it by just thinking about it, as long as she was touching it in some way. She also practiced keeping Ellen out of her magic. It was hard work. Ellen was much stronger than her, but Rianna was learning how to use the spells she and Jayis had cast efficiently and was improving. Ellen began teaching Rianna how to find other irregularities in her magic other than another person�s presence, mostly some kind of spell. This was not difficult as Rianna was getting to know her magic well and could tell it something seemed different.