This just happens to cover both letters and learning! Introducing Chiaki, my scholar Loriela’s mother. She was born a commoner and meets and falls in love with Loriela’s father, Li, who is a noble while they are at university together. Someday I want to expand this into a fic about their whole love story and how they eventually ended up getting together, but this will have to do for today.
Chiaki looked at the letter in her hands and tried to keep herself from trembling. It was a short missive, but the words on the page were enough to make her feel faint:
Miss Chiaki Kuromine,
Upon review of your test results, the board has noted your perfect performance and would be pleased to offer you a full academic scholarship to our university. Further details are outlined in the attached materials.
We eagerly await your reply,
Board of Directors,
Jiyel First University
She almost had not taken the test. The fees for such an unsure thing were extravagant and it was only upon confirming that she had enough in the years of New Year’s money she had saved and would not have to ask her family to pay part of the costs that she had decided to take a chance.
Even now she wasn’t sure she should go. She could read between the lines of the phrase “full academic scholarship.” They would pay for her classes, they might even pay for her required texts, but there would be other costs she would be expected to pay out of pocket: Food, room and board, clothing. It would be prohibitively expensive.
But.
If she went, she would be educated at the foremost Jiyelese university. She would have a better chance on the government exams. There were not many jobs open to women, but they did exist. If she could get a job with the government, she’d have enough of a salary to live on while still being able to send money back home. She could help her parents in their old age. She could send her sister to university, perhaps not one as prestigious as Jiyel First, but one where she could get an education of her own or perhaps find a husband with better prospects that she might otherwise be able to meet. It was almost too much money to ask her parents to spend on her, but it would allow her to change all of their lives. She set down the letter next to her where she could be sure it wouldn’t be smudged and burst into grateful tears.
