"The prince has friends from both courts," I said as calmly as I could.
"What?!" Oasis gasped. "No! That can't be allowed to continue! Those children need to be expelled."
"I am not expelling a student who is in good standing," I said, tired of this already.
"You must!" Calix insisted.
"One of them is his sister," Pearl said. "Same father."
I wanted to groan, but before I had to worry about that, Aster gasped. "A Winter Princess?"
I was not about to correct her - or Pearl. I knew Aspen had told a few people, but I did not agree with her decision. I also had no place to tell a queen to keep her mouth shut.
Instead, I said, "Yes, we have students from all classes and all seasons." Hopefully, they wouldn't realize I'd said all seasons instead of both. Explaining Earth magic would likely make this worse.
The words were barely out of my mouth before Aster shoved her way closer to lean in as if threatening me. "Ivy, we are the ones who support this school of yours. We had no problem with you taking in foundlings, spending funds to feed and house them, because they are our kind, but this? Allowing our nobility to be threatened by another court?"
I really wanted to sigh. It was a bad habit, and I knew it, but my soldiers had always understood. These parents wouldn't, so I simply replied, "The prince is not being threatened."
"But now that he's here, it's time," Oasis insisted. "This is a place for our kind, Ivy, not theirs! We can't risk our prince being weak at the wrong season! Think what they could do to him!"
"Which is why my staff is well-trained, the building is highly protected, and my students are aware that any attacks will resultin expulsion," I explained. Then I made sure that was clear. "Attacks are the problem, not seasons."
"But this is preposterous!" Calix huffed. "We're so close to regaining control of the power, but you're going to shelter them?"
"Calix..." Oasis whispered, sounding like she was trying to keep him from saying too much.
"No!" Calix roared. "I will not have my child at risk. None of us will. If we have to, we'll take the prince with us and find another way to train him. A way that will keep him safe until his mother has cured the plight on Faerie!"
Aster crossed her arms over her chest. "Our community is unanimous, Ivy. If the Winter students are not removed, we will cease funding Silver Oaks."
"I have other backers," I assured them.
"But you're destroying our children by exposing them to such things!" Oasis said. "What if they make friends from another court? What if they get ideas?"
"Such as?" I asked.
Calix tried to step forward again, but Oasis caught his arm. Clearly, these three had some serious biases. Their ranting was also much too close to the things The Silent had been saying. The threats, the warnings, and the drive for seasonal purity were all tied together.
Which meant I needed to keep an eye on their kids. If they had ties to the Children of the Exodus, then I'd prefer these people had no claim on Silver Oaks at all. I could get more money. The Fae didn't care about it, but we tended to come by it easily.
Sadly, these three were only an example of the response I'd been getting. Most called, but could I really consider this merely parental overprotectiveness? Three others had demanded I remove all Winter students. I was sure there'd be more. Not thatI would, but was the prejudice against Winter really that strong on Earth?
There had to be communities of Winter users. I was sure plenty of fae had access to both seasons. Naturally, those wouldn't be calling about this. They'd remind their children to be polite around nobility, simply because nobility was unpredictable. But with the stack of messages I had on my desk, I was starting to think I'd vastly underestimated the hate out there.
Yet instead of yelling at these three, I simply leaned back, keeping my voice calm and authoritative. "Let me make this clear, ladies and gentlemen. This ismyschool. This is the future for our kind here on Earth, and that future is dependent on both courts."
"But the two seasons weren't meant to be together!" Aster said, cutting me off just as I was getting started. "That's why there are two separate courts! And if they weren't here, none of this would be happening!"
This time, the sigh did slip out. I also didn't give them the chance to complain about it. "And yet the magic comes in two seasons," I said. "Most of us can't use but one. Those who can touch both tend to be stronger in one than the other. They also can directly trace their ancestry to a marriage of alliance. Often a noble one."
"And if Winter was gone, we'd be able to use that too!" Calix insisted.
I just lifted my chin. "I don't care. In case you forgot, I'm the one who made this school. I'm the one who has found a way to protect our children. I have devised an education for them that blends seamlessly into human society.Iam the one who vowed to make sure our culture wasn't lost, and that culture includestwoseasons, two courts, and two thrones!"
"But we only have a handful of Winter students," Pearl pointed out, reminding me she was hovering quietly beside the door. "Ivy, surely something could be arranged so they could have a school of their own?"
"No."
