<div class="floatleft">(http://i980.photobucket.com/albums/ae282/caela_ecub/Brunettes/mb5_zps4ca494b8.jpg) <strong>High Priestess Isabella Serra, House Madrassa</strong></div><div class="floatright"><strong>Sheydran Corsei, House Madrassa(http://i980.photobucket.com/albums/ae282/caela_ecub/Redheads/a65179aa-c67a-40a6-a8a3-7b8c21b09044_zps12f42cdb.jpg)</strong></div><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><hr/><em>October 25, 2511</em><br/><br/>"Well my dear, it comes as no surprise that it is my pleasure to inform you that you've passed your Registration exam and can now have the privilege of calling yourself a fully Registered Companion. Congratulation Sheydran."<br/><br/>The High Priestess' words echoed in Shey's ears as she simply stood, almost dumbfounded, by them! Oh granted she'd expected that she would pass her exams, but she'd been told it took time to get those results back, that some Companions didn't find out for<em>months</em>whether they had passed or not and here was the Priestess telling here, a scant two weeks after her sitting them, that she had passed her exams! The only thing that could mean was that she had done a truly stellar job that would would reflect well on her teachers as well as on herself and all the hard work she had put into the last eight years of her life.<br/><br/>At last she managed to close her mouth and form a response,<strong>"Thank you Priestess. I apologize for my surprise, I wasn't expecting a response for weeks yet, you managed to catch me truly off guard,"</strong>she admitted what she wouldn't have dared say to anyone but the woman before her.<br/><br/>"You have nothing to thank me for dear girl, it's your own hard work and dedication that brought you such a swift response. Barring any applicable complaints (and we expect none) all you need to now to maintain your Registration is ensure you make it to an appropriate Core hospital each your for your physical. Now that you're Registered you're dismissed and may go and check the Cortex link in your rooms, I have no doubt you already have offers pouring in. New names in the Registry always garner a great deal of interest."<br/><br/>There was nothing left to say after that as the High Priestess lowered her gaze to her own Cortex link and set about conducting other affairs pertaining to the House, almost instantly forgetting Sheydran was even there.<br/><br/>Shey simply turned and quietly left the Priestess' study. She spoke to no one as she made her way back to her own rooms and simply stared in shock at the number of messages already lining up on her Cortex account! This was a day she had studied, prepared for,<em>wanted</em>for years and now that the moment was here...she suddenly found no joy in it! Flicking off her Cortex she flung herself to her bed and simply stared up at her ceiling. She wasn't upset, there was no despair or desperation, but there was an aching, bittersweet sadness that filled her heart and she realized that the problem was that her life was changing now and in ways she wouldn't be entirely able to control. She was no longer a student, no longer under the care and guidance of her teachers, she would be expected to go her own way now. Oh she would always have rooms at House Madrassa, and would always be able to return and take classes as she wished, but she would now also be expected to contribute to the House as well.<br/><br/>The Priestess' announcement made her truly an adult, she could no longer claim the privileges of a child.<br/><br/>With a fresh sigh she sat back up and felt the first surge of true joy for what the Priestess had told her. She was an adult. She could choose her own clients, her timing, mingle with the elite of society, attend events that most people only dreamed of being able to attend in the first place and she'd get paid to go to them!<br/><br/>With a widening grin curving her lips, and a fresh wave of excitement filling her, she opened her Cortex link once more and started to scan the offers that were already coming in.<br/><br/><hr/><br/><em>December 25, 2516</em><br/><br/><div class="floatright">(http://i980.photobucket.com/albums/ae282/caela_ecub/Misc%20Story%20Accessories/Clothes/formal5.jpg)</div><br/>"You know there's talk don't you? Talk of Priestess Serra going into retirement in a few years, talk of who will replace her," Sheydran's client for the evening, a politician of Sihnon, said to her as he twirled her around the dance floor at the Parliamentary Christmas party. A party he'd contracted her services for every year for the last four. It was one of the few "short" contract she regularly took. He purchased her time for the party only and never for the whole of the evening. The truth was, he was simply keeping up appearances. Everyone assumed that if you arrived with a Companion on your arm, that you intended to spend the evening with her, they didn't assume you were a homosexual who had a partner waiting for you to get home from your party. For all that "normal" people wouldn't have cared, for some reason the higher up the political ladder you climbed, the more important it became to keep up appearances.<br/><br/>It was something that had never made sense to Shey, and something she didn't allow herself to dwell on now as she gave her client a gentle smile before answering him,<strong>"There is always talk. When I was just starting my training there was talk, but she has yet to choose a successor and so it can be nothing more than that,"</strong>she said trying to quell any rumors before they started.<br/><br/>"That's not what I am hearing Shey," he countered, using the short form of her name which was something few clients every did. "Rumor has it she will name her successor just after New Year and that your name is at the top of the short list..."<br/><br/>Those words had rung in her head the whole rest of the evening. If ever asked she would have no ability to tell you what she replied or what they spoke of the rest of the night! When she was returned to the House, after the party, she made her way to her rooms where she began packing her belongings and found herself on the next transport to leave Sihnon a mere two days later...before the Priestess could make her announcement. Eventually Sheydran wanted to be Priestess, but that was an<em>eventually</em>she wasn't ready for yet. There was an entire 'Verse to see first and she'd be damned if she set foot back on Sihnon before she was ready for it!