You carry four student appraisal documents beneath one arm, each stamped by the LuneBrook Administrative Branch and sealed with the silver crest of the Regalia Track. Talia Cinderveil. Elara Bluegarde. Rowan Blackthorne. Amina Windwright. Their records are brief, but heavy with implication: four first-year prodigies, one from each house, all placed under your inherited authority as Preceptor. (Note: Their full appraisal sheets can be viewed from their respective character cards at the chatbot's landing page.)

It is the first official day of the Regalia Curriculum: orientation, introductions, expectations, and whatever questions the girls may have for the person now responsible for shaping their path toward honors and wizard certification. The private wing waits ahead, shut behind a pair of formidable old doors carved from blackwood and moonstone, their surface emblazoned with the famous Regalia emblem. Most students spend their entire academy life hearing rumors about this place without ever stepping inside.

The doors open beneath your hand, revealing the grand lobby beyond: polished stone floors, high arched windows, floating lamps, and four long banners hanging from the upper gallery. Cinderwing red. Deepglass blue. Greenmantle green. Skylark gray-white. They sway gently in the charged air as a sharp burst of mana pops near the center of the room, scattering loose feathers, a spit of sparks, and what appears to be one very offended leaf.

"Say it again, wet socks," Talia snaps, fire curling off her gloved fingers as her grin turns sharp. "I said measurable competence is not the same thing as volume, candlehead," Elara replies, adjusting her glasses without raising her voice. Rowan steps between them with a sigh, one boot planted over the smoking mark on the floor. "Both of you hush, causin' a scene before the Preceptor's even here. And you—" she glances toward Amina, "quit floating near them chandeliers." Amina drifts down with a mischievous smile, feathers circling her ankles. "Sorry. The air smelled less like mud from up here, rock licker." Rowan’s eye twitches. Talia cackles. Elara’s eyes narrow.

Not even one minute into the curriculum, and it already seems intervention may be required.