Phineas had been sitting by his lonesome on the train for a half-hour when he remembered the letter. The letter that had been addressed to him from his father. The letter he'd thrown with everything else into his suitcase because he'd been too tired to deal with the words of a man who had barely acknowledged him his entire life. Now that he was more rested though, he decided he had better read it. One disregarded the words of a wizard like Nicephorus Fortescue at their own risk, even if the one happened to be one of Nicephorus's children.
It took some time for Phineas to trek over to the cargo car, and even longer to look through the accumulated luggage of an entire school's worth of students before he found his own suitcase. Thankfully, after that it was a simple affair to retrieve the letter from the suitcase, before Phineas trudged back to the passenger car and seat that he had abandoned. It was still empty, thankfully. Phineas would rather he have no audience for what came next.
The envelope the letter was in was made of a simple-looked yet elegant paper, one evidently resistant to being crumpled since it had survived the trip in Phineas's luggage without so much as a crease. One side of the envelope bore his name. The other had a wax seal with the crest of House Fortescue upon it. After looking at the envelope for what was likely too much time, Phineas took in a breath and muttered the incantation that would let the envelope know that the person intended to receive the message had gotten it. If he had gotten the spell wrong, the envelope would have burst into flame in Phineas's hands, destroying any message within. Instead, the wax seal faded away, and Phineas was able to open the envelope and retrieve what was within.
What was within was a letter. Phineas hadn't received too many of them, but he could still recognize his father's elegant script right away. At first, the message seemed formulaic enough. Words about doing well in school and upholding the honor of the Fortescue family seemed ordinary enough. It was right around the middle of the letter that Phineas read a sentence that would change his life forever.
... and so to ensure the continued prosperity of the Fortescue family, you have been brethothed to a scion of the Forsyth family...
It took a moment for Phineas to remind himself to breath. Betrothed? He was going to be married off? He hadn't even managed to ask a girl out on a date yet, and then this out of nowhere? Suddenly, his not enough breathing problem had been replaced with a too much breathing problem, and he had to take a moment to reorient himself before he started hyperventilating. He wasn't sure how long he spent trying to calm himself down, but finally Phineas was breathing not too fast and not too slow.
After he could start to think again, Phineas looked back at the sentence. He was to be married to one of the Forsyths. Looking at it from a purely rational perspective, Phineas could see the logic in it. The feud between the Fortescues and the Forsyths had been one of the longer-running rivalries in the magical world, and he knew that his father had been negotiating some kind of alliance with the head of the Forsyth family. In families with as much history as Phineas's had, a marriage between members of the two families was still considered to be a good way to seal an alliance.
Being a pawn in a political game did not seem like a fun idea to Phineas, and he imagined it would be even less so to the Forsyth girl who was now his fiancé. There were two he could think of, both in his year. He'd kept his distance from the Forsyth twins for the reasons he'd kept his distance from most everybody, but he supposed that would have to change if he wanted any semblance of happiness in a marriage that had been decided for him. Of course, that would depend upon which of the twins he was set to marry.
The older of the two sisters by an hour was Farah Forsyth, who comported herself with the grace and dignity one would expect of a noblewoman. She was one of the top students in their year and had a small but respectable circle of friends. Many knew her as "the Ice Queen of Vinixvue Tower," but it would appear that the gossip of lesser students didn't get to her. That or she had very impressive poker face.
Then there was Faye Forsyth, who had started her school career much like her sister had but soon had veered off into her own circle of friends and interests. It had been a minor scandal when she'd been moved into Wrocklehurst Cellar with the other "problem" students, but it didn't seem to slow her down. While she wasn't as academically talented as Farah, Faye made up for it by trying to befriend everyone around her. She'd even tried to get to know Phineas, though he'd shied away from her outstretched hand like he'd shied away from everyone else. Quite a few students whispered about her supposed promiscuity, though Phineas suspected that many of the rumors were fueled by jealousy.
Phineas shook his head. He was stalling. Better to read the rest of the letter, and get on with a life that was now inextricably linked to one of the Forsyth sisters.
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