Petra has just ruined her prospects and those of her sisters, as the son of the Mayor of their town has just asked her rather publicaly to leave her alone. In her third season of being out.
Her elder brother is away on his Honeymoon with his wife, and her favourite brother Peter is no longer there either. She wants to learn and do engineering. To build things.
By the town, she was already considered odd. This recent incident has made things worse. She writes to her Uncle, as she is close to him.
Petra's uncle (on her mothers side) agrees to take her own, and persuade her mother that the best thing is for Petra to go with him, to hopefully improve her sister' prospects.
Petra packs her clothes, but also packs the clothes her brother Peter left behind.
She and her uncle decide to have her attend as Peter, who went through the Portal a few years before. The Scholomanse is about to have a new set of students and “Peter” can attend. Petra used to attend in the summer when she was a child. Her uncle used to let her sit in with Peter. She had gone to stay with her Uncle when her brother was starting to look at marriage prospects for him and her eldest sister.
Peter like Petra, were more focused on the pursuit of knowledge than the pursuit of marriage.
Their uncle looked after them both in the summer during the season, but also over some Winters. Peter signed up for the Scholomanse and volunteered to go through the Portal 2 years before.
The Scholomanse teaches Natural Science, as well as advanced engineering and mathmatics. But every 10 years a portal opens, one way. Petra had been asked by her mother to go back to start her seasons. Petra would have preferred to stay, but Peter made her go, to keep their mother happy. Petra's still not sure how she feels about that given the fact that Peter then walked through the Portal.
Cue several years of boredom on the Marriage Mart until the Mayors second son appears in town.
He's awkward, but fascinated by engineering and is giving free lectures in the hopes of raising interest and patronage. He needs to be there as his family want him married well. She hears about the lectures and keeps sneaking in.
He thinks she's missish and when he was giving a general lesson on well being from the East. He snapped as there's been a relentus pursuit of him by the unmarried women. He didn't want to come back, but his family were reassigned and now are ruling this town. Although she was asking him questions about his experiments and his work.
So when she no longer appears and his mother is hounding him about his prospects he suggested Petra. His family point out, she's left and good riddance. Odd girl.
He departs for University again.
5 years later, the young man who ruined Petra's prospects signs up for the Scholomanse.