The young woman had made the Hall of Soldiers her second home, explaining that though there were a handful of other women (a total of five in the entire college) their society had become tiresome almost instantly.  All of them were of far higher status, and because the college was so judgmental of women in the first place it became far easier for each of them to tear down at each other, exposing the weakest link, or the slowest elk in the herd for the Templars to hunt, rather than to stick together.  Being the mere daughter of a governor and the youngest girl there, Mariana was naturally the first cast out, though luckily she had enough intelligence and talent to keep her head above water on her own.