Simply being able to study at the Academy is very rare and a great honor. Anyone who studies at the Academy is held in high regards by the general populace. However, aspiring mages within the Academy must struggle with the differences amongst themselves.

Selena Yellowborn had always been treated like a princess. For all intents and purposes, she was one. She was the eldest child of her father, the Yellowborn. The Yellowborn was the head mage of the Render, a seafaring people who lived on their ships. The title of Yellowborn was given to the most powerful yellow mage among the Render and had been held by a member of Selena's family for generations. Though not an official political position among the Render, the Yellowborn held power over all of the wind mages who propelled the ships of the Render. Therefore he was the most powerful man among the Render.

Selena had shown great magical potential at an early age. By the time she was ten, her father had already started to make plans for her to succeed him. However, she did not have any interest in the wind that her father was always manipulating. Instead, she spent her free time trying to understand birds. Whenever they were at port she was mesmerized by the healers who healed the crew from any scratches or injuries they had acquired on their travels. From the healers she heard stories about the Academy where they had learned their art. The Academy was a place that any mage could learn whatever they wanted.

When she was fifteen, she convinced her father to let her study at the Academy with a promise that she would return to the Render once she had achieved master status. She failed to mention that she intended to study healing rather than drifting.

Because of her previous training with her father, Selena was able to become an abecedarian in the shortest amount of time possible. This led to much unwanted attention. Teachers would often ask her to answer questions or use her as an example of excellence. The students either shunned her as the snobby princess or only approached her for personal reasons. The teachers and students who knew about her father's position among the Render often tried to suck up to her. Because of her status she never really made friends. She was admired by many, but none ever saw her as a person.

About halfway through her time as an apprentice, she started to hear rumors about a pair of novice siblings who were always causing trouble. When she first witnessed the antics of the Miller siblings she couldn't help but be jealous of their relationship, and she found herself missing her own siblings. Though she did find the two to be very annoying.

When Selena became an abecedarian she was extremely grateful for the healer common room where she could find peace by herself. It was easier to forget her loneliness when she was by herself than when she was with others. She had had a very lonely three years.

Jet Miller was the eldest of three kids. They were Jet (herself), Justin, and Jake. Her father was, wait for it... a miller. Fancy that, somebody whose name was Miller and was a miller himself. Her name was originally going to be Julie (yes, her parents have a thing for “J” names) but when she was born, she had jet black hair. Even her eyebrows were the darkest black. So, she got the name Jet, which she thought was just fine. Justin and Jake were both born with the same light brown hair as their parents.

As they grew up, Jet and Jake became very close. Jake had shown a remarkable understanding of magic from a very young age. Justin was envious of Jake and didn't spend much time with him. Instead, he worked with their father to show that he too could be good at something. Because of this, Jet was the one who always played with Jake and watched him perform some new spell that he had set. She wasn't much of a mage herself, but she did enjoy watching and learning what she could.

When Jet was fourteen, a recruiting party from the Academy came through their village. They quickly passed over Jet, but were amazed by the ten year old Jake who was too young to be recruited at that point. When they left, they promised to send another party in a few years when Jake was old enough to go with them. Jet was furious. She was not going to let them take her baby brother away by himself. From that point on, Jet tried to learn all that she could from Jake about magic.

When Jake was twelve, he decided that he wanted his hair to match Jet's. She never did find out how he set up the spell; she only saw the result. His spell somehow backfired. After that, his hair grew out white as snow and would not accept any sort of dye. That was when he had titled himself Quartz. If his sister was a rock, then he would be one, too.

Another recruiting party came when she was eighteen and Quartz was fourteen. They immediately selected Quartz, but it took a lot of convincing from the siblings for Jet to be selected as well. They were the first selections from their village in decades.

Her first culture shock was that people's names didn't reflect what they did. In the countryside, your name was what you (or your husband) did. When she had had a crush on the smith's apprentice, she had dreamily practiced writing her name as Jet Smith even though his last name was Farmer. She had confidence that he would become a smith and therefore adopt the name Smith. However, the Smith from the Academy who was in the recruitment party didn't think anybody in his family had been an actual smith for at least three generations. Apparently, whatever name your ancestor came to the capital city of Candra with became your family name and changing occupation didn't change that.

When they got to the Academy, Quartz advanced very quickly and got along well with the other novices. Jet however, didn't fare so well. She was constantly pushing herself and was still at the trailing end of the novices. She was also older than the rest of the novices that started with them.

At first, she was accepted because she was Quartz's sister, but as the rest of the novices advanced, she lagged behind and was looked down upon By the time they had been at the Academy for a quarter, she was known as the “weak old hag.” She constantly had prank spells placed on her and, because she wasn't as skilled as those who pranked her, she couldn't do anything about it. Quartz stuck by her side and she quickly went from being the defender of her little brother to being the defended.

The one thing she was good at was empty handed combat. This caused her to be even more of an outcast. After she threw her first attacker to the ground, she was labeled as a villain who attacked those weaker than herself. The other novices were more than willing to humiliate her but very unwilling to be humiliated themselves. Because she fought without the prided Landrean staff that was another mark against her.

Because she was always throwing people down and Quartz was always dramatically defending her, they quickly developed a reputation as troublemakers. Some of the teachers and students blamed Jet for Quartz's bad reputation and were kind enough to tell him in her presence. They often told him that he could be the next Selena Yellowborn if he wasn't being dragged down by his sister. “Just think,” they would say, “two great prodigies in just a few years.” On the few occasions that Jet saw Selena, Jet noticed that she held herself to be above the company of “lesser mortals.” Selena became a focal point for Jet’s discontent and she started to loathe her.

Quartz very happily proved that Jet wasn't holding him back by becoming an apprentice at the first opportunity. Jet surprised most of her fellow students by following suit two quarters later. However, being an apprentice didn't change the other students opinion of her and she was still picked on. Through her two years at the Academy, she was always thankful that she had Quartz with her for support and friendship.