Chapter 1

She nocked her arrow, wrapping three fingers lightly around the string. Raising the bow, she drew the string back and breathed deeply. A slight breeze blew, tugging on a few loose strands of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail. Steady does it, she thought, waiting for the right moment to release the arrow. She took her aim, judged the breeze and released the string, the arrow zooming towards the target. Holding her pose she looked at the target where her arrow now protruded in a near perfect bulls-eye. She sighed with relief and lowered her bow. Turning to the judges, she took a slight bow and walked back to her seat, anxious for the archery competition to be over.

17-year old Georgiana Moore attended a small all-girl's boarding school in northern England, a good ways from her home in Norwich. An only child, her parents had sent her off to school as soon as she was old enough. Her father was in politics and spent a good amount of his time in London, "fighting the good fight" as he jokingly described his position. Georgiana never quite understood what it was he did, but knew her parents attended lavish parties that kept them out until the wee hours of the night nearly every week. As a child she loved to sit and watch her mother dress, believing her to be more beautiful than the queen herself when she was decked out in her finery and jewels. While they were loving parents, their own lives were "too busy for children to be underfoot," as her mother had told her when Georgiana, at 11, pleaded not to be sent off to school.

Now, six years later, she flourished at school; Georgiana, or Georgie as her friends often called her, quickly became top of her class and had found her place in the school's small archery club. Never having been the athletic (or for that matter coordinated) type girl, Georgie was happy to find a sport that did not require running or throwing or much movement in general. She enjoyed the skill and grace of archery, learning how to judge her surroundings and feeling for the proper time to let the arrow soar away from her.

Georgie had a small circle of friends, but found some of their newer interests, namely boys and makeup, a bit trivial for herself to indulge in. Instead, she usually preferred to be holed up in the library or common room of her dormitory with a large book about far away lands (which she longed to travel to) or histories of various countries. However, on occasion, she would allow herself to read a book of romance, letting herself fall into the book's world, loving when the characters loved, weeping when they weeped and joining them in their triumphs over evil. It was a world she longed to enter into herself, one full of happiness and love, obstacles and triumphs.

The final competitor took her bow and returned to her seat. Georgie was pleased to see that none of the other contestants had done as well as she; although she did not show it outwardly and would never allow others to know her true nature, Georgie was incredibly competitive. Whether competing in tournaments or even just school work, she pushed herself to be the best. She enjoyed the satisfaction of knowing that none were better than her or worked harder than she. Despite this secret nature, she took her triumphs (and occasionally defeats) with the graciousness many girls her age did not possess. It was this reason that few envied Georgie's success in school and her tournament wins.

When the judges finished tallying scores and conferring, the head judge stood and turned to the competitors, who were girls from Georgie's school as well as two or three other nearby schools. "Ladies," the judge began. "We would like to thank you for being here today. We were very impressed with each school's competitors. You all have performed very well today and should be proud. And now, for the awards." He walked to a small table covered in a white table cloth, a young woman standing next to it. On the table were four ribbons of various colors, the strands of each long enough to nearly grace the ground below. The judge unfolded a small piece of paper, and began reading. "Third place goes to Miranda Hopkins from Saint Catherine's." A girl of about 15 with curly red hair walked to the table. The young woman standing next to it lifted the yellow ribbon and pinned it on Miranda's sweater. After shaking her hand, the judge continued, "Second place goes to Mary Smythe from Hedley House." A tall blonde girl, who had been sitting next to Georgie sniffed rather loudly and stood. Georgie noticed a scowl forming on her face as she walked to the table, allowing the young woman to pin a blue ribbon on the shirt of her school uniform. She shook the judge's hand and went to stand next to Miranda, her scowl a now permanent fixture on her face. "The first place ribbon and ribbon for best shot of the tournament goes to Georgiana Moore from Grace School." Georgie smiled as she walked towards the table to receive her ribbons, noticing that the scowling blonde's eyes narrowed as she watched her walk. The young woman pinned the red first place ribbon and deep purple "Best Shot" ribbon on her jacket. Georgie walked to the judge, shook his hand, and went to stand by the other winners. Pictures were snapped of the three girls as cheers and applause from the spectators and other contestants rang out. As soon as the photographers were finished, the blonde girl huffed loudly away from Georgie and Miranda, leaving them with identical looks of confusion at her actions. Oh well, thought Georgie. We can't all win these things.

Later that evening back at her dormitory, Georgie hung her new ribbons on her wall next to her small collection of award ribbons she had won throughout her years at school. Some were from archery contests, some were academic. While nowhere near large or impressive, she was thoroughly pleased with her accomplishments. Deciding it had been too long since she had written her parents (and too long since she had heard from them for that matter) she sat down at her desk and pulled out a sheet of paper and a pen and began to write a letter.

Dear Mother and Father,

I have wonderful news! I just won first place in the archery tournament. I also made the best shot of the tournament and was awarded a ribbon for it. I am so happy that I cannot put it into words!

Classes have been going very well. I have done well in all of my classes, with the exception of French. I simply cannot seem to grasp the language as well as my classmates have, which I find very frustrating. But I am determined to learn the language, even if it takes the rest of my life!

How have you been? I hope well. I miss you very much and look forward to the end of term and coming home to visit before my final term. Can you believe it? I'm almost finished at school! Write as soon as you can; I look forward to hearing from you soon!

I love you.

Georgiana