"Well-maybe." Priya replied to her new friend's suggestion with doubt. She had never set much store by money, despite the fact-or perhaps because of it-that her mother did. It seemed to Priya as though her Momma had spent far too much time chasing after knuts and sickles, struggling so desperately to get a decent foothold in high society, whereas her daughter would have been just as content a lower class child as an upper.

Then again, perhaps Arielle was right. Surely it wouldn't be too difficult for the mother of the student-just to pass a few galleons under the table to the school staff. Priya, though, preferred to think the best of everyone; she was very intelligent for her age, that much was true, and yet she was still impressionable, and perhaps rather naive to boot. To that end, she hated to think that the young lady had won her place in an unfair manner.

Nonetheless, it was clear to Priya that, whomever the girl was, the position should have been initially available to her. Though she was still young, Priya was beginning to understand very clearly the double standards of society, high or otherwise-and that women, so it seemed, had been dealt a very bad hand.

"Maybe she was really talented." Priya echoed, faintly pleased with the idea. "I should like to think one couldn't buy their way onto the team. Though when Momma talked of her, she made it sound an awful scandal."

Her pure mind, though, could conjure no other ideas as to what exactly the student could have done to win her way onto the team, apart from the two suggestions Arielle had offered.