Bree's got an honorable war record, enough experience to be respected at the new academy, and authority as a teaching assistant to boot. Can she weave her own enchantments, to stave off the next mad sorcerer?

SYNOPSIS:

Bree O'Darian dodged the horde's recruitment goons just in time, when she listened to the rumors of them being only a few leagues away. She signed up for the Allied forces, and spent two solid years learning magic on the fly, something of a catchall jack of most trades. And now she's been swept up in the planning for a school that would stand against the rise of any future dark lord.

Her education, before and during the war, qualifies her as a teaching assistant, fitting in her instructional duties around her own classes. The structure is all very much a work in progress, especially since the physical setup has to allow for naiads, bear-folk, elementals of most sorts... Bree will have her hands full, no doubt about that.

The matter is made considerably more complicated by the socially-mixed student body, as well. They're the pilot program for integrated veteran education, with many of the incoming mages having served in the army—or the horde. And there's no getting around the quiet fact that the former is going to be more mixed in rank than the latter, because the senior officers were on trial in the aftermath of the Deceiver's fall.

A mess, there's no sugar-coating it. But rebuilding is always messy. Honesty about that, rather than trying to sweep inconvenience into the corner, is the only way to move forward. Better a thousand awkward conversations now, even bitter arguments, than bloodthirsty rabble-rousing in twenty years.