Ina is a chaos mage and a bit of a rebel. She's a lady, by birth, and her great aunt want's to see her become a part of the royal court. Ina really doesn't want to, preferring to spend time with her friends in the tavern, the Drunken Wizard, which is owned by a grumpy troll and frequented by a a burly mercenary leader who is one of her friends. There, she likes to slurp tankards of mead and exchange banter and gossip with the patrons while she waits for her university room mate, Velka.

When Ina has an Alchemy test, she spends the night studying and making sure she has the correct formula noted down; she and her teacher have a mutual dislike of each other, although she would just rather push through the lesson as unobtrusively as possible. No such luck. Velka had somehow messed up all of Ina's work and so she's running late for class. As punishment, the teacher decides to make her practise on a live frog, to some interesting and amusing consequences.

If you like magic, if you like mead, if you like taverns and you like a strong female lead, this is a short story that will completely and utterly fulfil your every need. It's fun, it's engaging and it's incredibly well written.

S. A.