A single large school, taking up the entire west wing of one of the old manors, provides education for most of the children of Rosemary Hill. Administering the school and doing her best to keep everything running is the headmistress, Lidi Agal. ("Miss Lidi" to the students and staff.) While Agal has an office on the top floor of the school, she is seldom there except during her designated office hours; she spends most of her time scampering about the school tending to one situation after another.

To those who meet her for the first time, Agal gives the impression of frazzled ineffectuality, seeming always distracted and on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Those who pay attention to her work, however, realize that she's much more competent than she appears. True, she isn't much of a disciplinarian, and leaves dealing with student misbehavior to other staff members. But she is very good at recognizing problems in the school, and at deciding who should be best assigned to deal with them. Her seemingly frantic peregrinations around the school isn't purposeless panic; she's looking into everything that's going on, and judging what needs help or correction, and how to best deal with it. Somehow, despite her apparent air of frenzied confusion, she has a talent for showing up just when she's needed.

Lidi Agel is a small, narrow woman with a pointed nose and very dark brown skin. She speaks very quickly but articulately, her hands always in motion. Her usual attire is a knee-length cotton tunic and thick slippers, which she accessorizes with a shawl in matching colors that she often idly fidgets with, twisting its ends in her fingers.