The High Road leading to the Imperial City was always crowded with merchants, travellers, farmers and their flocks and the occasional caravan making a continuous, colourful moving tapestry . The High Road was the widest road in the whole of the Seven Kingdoms, a massive construction of stone and tile spanning the width of six carts in each direction, and was also the most well-used road with over a hundred thousand people moving on it at any time during the day. It cut through thick forests and high mountains and was also unique in that it was perfectly straight all the way to the border. For great magic had been part of its construction, where it moved land, cut through mountains, burned paths through forests and shattered boulders so as to keep the great road straight. Despite the ideal ambush territory it passed through, the road was also the safest road in all the Seven Kingdoms, with the forests guarded by Imperial Rangers, the mountain cliffs overlooked by high watchtowers, the road itself patrolled by the mounted Imperial Guard and, most importantly, the Far-seeing Mages who kept constant vigilance on the road and its surroundings.

On the side of the road leading to the Imperial City, sitting in one of a long line of caravans carrying valuable trade goods – silks, rich furs, delicacies – to the residents of the City, a young girl gaped out of the window. The girl was nine years of age, her form shrouded by a long green cape with a thrown-back hood. She bore warm brown eyes and black hair, kept in check by a simple golden hairband around her forehead. She gaped at the many sights of the road, especially at the jingling trot of the Guardsmen who rode past on the middle strip between the two paths. Occasionally, she would laugh and point out something to the man who rode beside her, who would look and smile.

Yet, at times, she would start, and reach up, and touch the centre of her forehead, covered by the hairband. Her eyes would mist up and she would scrub angrily as a tear escaped, or bury her face in the shoulder of the man who sat next to her and cry. The man would, with pain in his own eyes, embrace her warmly until she stopped crying, or try and distract her with some new sight on the road.

They had been so shocked when the Mage ordered them here, ordered Riana to the Imperial City and to the school. Riana herself had been excited beyond belief, until the Mage had told her that she would have to leave her parents, that she was in the service of the High King and the Seven Nations from that day on.

"Your power is too rare now, child," The red-cloaked mage had said. " You, by all means, must go to the Arcane Tower. We will train you there, and you will become an instrument of the Seven Kingdoms, to serve the High King and serve all."

"But sir, she's too young to leave!" Her mother had protested.

"No, she is not. Her power, even as it develops, as it is now, may level a small city if untrained."

"Then allow us to go with her!" she had cried.

"The Arcane tower is only open to the Guardians and the Mages. No other may enter it, be he the High Prince himself, or even the High Queen."

The Mage had then shown them his palm, where a silvery star shone with a strange inner light. "I am merely a Lone Star mage, but I was required to enter when I was fourteen. Do not fear for your child. She will be safe there. She will be allowed to return to you for two months every year, during the fall."

"Must we really do this?" her father had said, in a low voice.

"By the order of the High King." The mage affirmed as he rose. "I will send in your name and aura to the Arcane Tower. You are expected to be there within the year. To do otherwise will be treason against the High King." He turned to leave the caravan.

At the door, he looked back at Riana, wrapped in her mother's arms. "Girl, this is a great privilege many would die for. Do not waste it.

They arrived at the gates of the Imperial City and passed through the gate without incident, the magical scans on the gate allowing them passage as licensed traders. While the caravan was tethered at one of the marketplaces and the horses unharnessed to bring to the water trough, the girl – clutching the hand of the man who had been next to her – moved deeper into the city.

They passed through the next two Gates without incident, but were prevented from entering the Fourth Ring, where the military might of the Imperial Guards was housed. The sargeant blocking their way, however, blanched and let them pass with a military escort when the girl removed her hairband, revealing a silvery diamond on her forehead.

She had been playing with some friends, running around the circle where the caravans had stopped. They ventured a little into the forest and hunted out some ripe Orel-nuts, the big brown stones that, when cracked open, yielded a deliciously tasty bean.

She had been sitting with her friends, eating the nuts, when some of the boys came over. They began to push the girls around, and one of them took the nuts and ran off with them.

"Come back here! I'll tell my father!" she had screamed. Full of bitter anger, she wished the boys would somehow fly back so she could pummel them -

Next thing, the boys, jerked by an unseen force, flew off their feet and landed on the ground before her. While she glared at them, she imagined fists pummelling their thighs, stomach, face – and the very air responded, hardening into iron rods that slammed into them one after the other.

It continued as long as she stood there, with an eerie wind whipping around her, until one of the Traders grabbed her. She stopped, seeing the entire caravan around her frozen in shock – seeing the blood and bruises covering the senseless boys -

She fainted, collapsing with a sudden exhaustion.

The next morning, the diamond had appeared on her forehead, and a great green dragon was landing, bearing a Mage in a verdant cloak who had stopped and stared in disbelief at the mark on her forehead.

Their escort brought them through the Fifth Gate and crossed the Third Ring, to the Sixth Gate where two mounted guards in blue and white, with four-pointed stars emblazoned on their armour, met them. The two embraced emotionally before the girl was put on a horse and led off by the guards, looking back all the time.

Riana's face was wet even as she was gently escorted by the guards, looking back at her father who was similarly weeping even as he waved farewell. She was leaving her father for the first time in her life – her father, who had always been there, guarding her. The guards, unemotional statues, firmly but quickly escorted her out of sight.

Her tears soon stopped as she was confronted with the splendour of the residences she was passing. Each one was immense, each one different, each with its own grandeur and majesty she had never seen before. She was led to a tremendous square, heavily guarded by guards in the blue-and-white livery but without the silver star, and brought to the foot of a tremendous archway.

The guards bowed to a figure dressed in flowing blue-and-white robes standing to one side of the arch. "Mage Paron, we have come with a new Student for the Arcane Tower." One of them said.

The Mage turned, and Riana saw that a green stone set in silver was on his forehead. "Warden, your charge has been noted. Child," he asked Riana, "What is your name, and from whence do you hail?"

"My name is Riana Treborn, nine years of age, born in the third division of Fall. I am a subject of the High King, and am here at his command," she nervously replied in the phrasing she had been taught.

"Riana Treborn, display your right to enter the Tower, or be turned back from this gate." The Mage continued ritually.

There was nothing for it. Dismounting, she pulled back her hair, displaying the silver diamond on her forehead. She pulled of her gloves, revealing two four-pointed stars on her palms, and stepped out of her shoes, revealing a further two on the soles of her feet.

The Mage's eyes had widened at the diamond, and further at each star revealed, but he responded appropriately. "Riana Treborn, Student of the Arcane Tower, your right has been proven. Entry has been granted. In the service of the Light and the Kingdoms, pass." He looked at the archway as his green stone began pulsing with light, and the scene seen through the archway twisted and flashed into a fountained courtyard where a figure in a white cloak awaited.

Riana Treborn, nine years of age, once of the Traders, subject of the High King, now Student of the Arcane Tower, stepped across the threshold of the Gate into her new life.