Tala stretched and twisted, popping her back as she waited on one side of a quiet dell within her sanctum.

Large trees arched over the oval shaped dip in the landscape, creating an almost throne-room-like aesthetic. Though it held more an air of peace, tranquility, and reverence than one of authority and power.

It was the morning after her breakfast and lunch with her siblings, and dawn’s early light filtered through the trunks and leaves to give a diffuse, ethereal illumination to the place.

On the far side of the dell lay the teleportation receiving circle, carved into a large, smooth, level bit of stone. The silver shone bright and untarnished in what light there was, and the edge of which rested barely a dozen feet away from where Tala stood, waiting.

Haster Zuccat was supposed to arrive in Tala’s sanctum soon. She and the Zuccats had arranged for him to come straight from the Academy to this receiver.

Rane had a few errands in the city, and Terry was hunting in Walden’s forest. That left Tala there, waiting almost alone, beside the teleportation circle. She was to meet the young man as she had the previous Zuccats—her siblings were having breakfast with their parents that morning.

The almost was because, this time, Anna was with her.

The young woman was positively bubbling with excitement, as made manifest by her ongoing flow of words, only occasionally interrupted with a question and the appropriate pause for a response. “Oh! I’m so excited! I haven’t seen Haster in years now. Do you suppose he’s grown?”

Tala glanced toward Anna. “Well… yes?”

Anna waved her hand dismissively. “Well, of course, I know that he’s grown, the alternatives aren’t really pleasant options, after all. They also aren’t really possible. The Academy won’t let him die, and they feed students too much for him to have become stunted, even if he’s become ludicrously picky in the last years. I suppose that the question which I really meant to ask is: Do you think he’s still the same person? Has he changed?”

Tala gave a flat look, only raising one eyebrow.

Anna smiled in return, picking up with little delay. “I’m aware you didn’t know him. I’m talking through my own thoughts, Mistress. What do you think?”

Tala took a calming breath, then just decided to go with it.

-That’s my girl! Social improvement for the win.-

Hush, you. Tala smiled, turning to face Anna more fully. “I’m sure he’ll be a bit different, but he will still be your brother. My own siblings have grown and changed but they are still them. You’ve been exchanging messages when you can. So, you’ve had good touchpoints with him and how he’s been growing mentally, socially, and in other such ways. Because of that, there shouldn’t be anything in his personality that’s surprising to you. Physically, he’ll just be a young man where before you knew an older boy.”

“I know…” Anna sighed. “I just miss my brother, and now he's about to be here… I’m nervous.”

“That’s understandable.” Tala took a small step to give the young woman a shoulder bump, not knowing how else to convey comfort and support.

Before they could talk further, the magical circle activated and a young man appeared in a burst of light and magic, the silver of the spellform in the stone vanishing as thoroughly as smoke before a strong wind.

-Huh… you know…?-

Yeah, that silver should resolidify somewhere in here… Why did we never consider that?

-I don’t know. It’s not like we have other things to consider.-

Fair… Can you make inquiries on the precious metal condensing scripts used when cities fully wane?

-Will do.-

As the young man opened his eyes, there was an odd taste to the air, and it took Tala a moment to realize that it was something to do with the man himself, magically, rather than any actual particulates.

It passed quickly, as if from weak natural magics guttering and fading away. Even so, it gave her the sense of a campfire—or other open blaze—but something about it made her feel like the impression was actually from after the fire was out.

That’s odd. But then, her focus was pulled by the new arrival, himself.

He was on the shorter side for a man, meaning that he only had an inch or two on Tala. He had regained some hair in the teleportation, and that was short, curly, and somehow disheveled despite having been created specifically to match his view of himself.

Well, that’s rather telling.

-Just a bit, yeah.-

Tala opened her mouth to offer a greeting, but before she could say anything, Anna was already across the space between them, practically tackling her brother, her feet even disturbing the fading eddies of power in her haste to get to her newly arrived family. “Haster! Welcome back and congratulations on your graduation!”

Haster caught Anna expertly—clearly used to his sister’s exuberance—even as he looked around at the unexpected surroundings. “I don’t believe I’ve been here before, so ‘back’ isn’t really right… This is an artificial space, correct? It feels like we’re in some long-forgotten sanctuary to a nature spirit or something.”

Tala quirked a smile, but Anna answered first, “Yes and no. As I understand it, we are inside an entity that has been artificially enhanced and expanded before being bound as a pseudo-familiar.”

Tala blinked a couple of times. That… huh. That is actually a pretty interesting way of describing Kit.

-Rather accurate too. I don’t know that we’ve come up with something like that.-

Indeed.

Anna pulled back. Her smile was so radiant that she was practically glowing. “It is so good to see you, Hassy.”

He gave her a flat look. “No. Please, no, Anna.”

“Fine… I suppose you're all grown up now. But we’re being rude. This is Mistress Tala. Mom and Dad work for her now, and this is her expanded space within her pseudo-familiar.”

It was a bit humorous to see Anna go out of her way to reduce the chances that her brother would fall to the same faux pas that she, herself, had.

Haster gave a deep bow toward Tala. “Mistress Tala. Thank you for your reception of me, here, and for allowing my family to all be together for my arrival. I trust that they are nearby?”

Tala nodded in return. “Of course. Once you’re ready, we’ll move to where Master Simon, Mistress Petra, Segis, and Metti are waiting for us.”

As she was speaking, Haster was looking around again, his eyes flicking from tree to rock to the barely visible sky to the artificial sun itself, seen only through the branches shifting in a gentle breeze. “Does that actually burn? Or is it generating light and heat by other means?”

Tala hesitated then gave an internal shrug. “That depends on your definition, but literally no. There is no oxidation involved in the generation of light and heat.”

He grunted, a smile pulling at his lips. “So, no chance of ash, then? I can imagine ash from such an exotic source would be fascinating.”

“I suppose it would… but no. There is no byproduct from the artificial star.”

He was staring straight at the sun, squinting as he did so.

Anna cleared her throat. “Haster?”

“Hmm? Yes?” The boy jerked slightly, as if he’d somehow forgotten that he wasn’t alone.

“Are you ready?” Anna gently prodded.

“Oh! Oh, yes. Shall we?” He went as if to take a step.

Tala didn’t wait. She simply smiled, exerted her will, and they were moved, arriving just beside a large meal laid out to greet Haster.

Haster’s eyes widened in clear surprise at being suddenly relocated without any tells or signs of movement.

To be fair, Tala had specifically timed it so that the transition happened as he blinked, and to his credit, he didn’t lose his nerve.

Instead, he whirled to face her. “Did you do that?”

“I did.” She gave a small smile.

“How?”

Tala shook her head. “There is no way I can adequately explain it to you in the time we have.”

He hesitated a moment before shrugging. “I’ll take a short explanation now and a longer one later?”

Tala raised an eyebrow, but before she could say anything, Haster was swarmed by his family.

He seemed genuinely startled by their approach, as if he’d forgotten why he was there, but he quickly adjusted, seeming unabashedly excited to see each of them.

After the extended greetings were exchanged, the Zuccats and Tala settled in to eat the feast which had been prepared, chatting around the tasty repast.

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Finally, as Haster pushed back from the table, a satisfied smile on his face, Master Simon turned toward his son. “Haster, we did notice that you never answered our questions about your master. Have you found one, or do you need some help to get one?”

The younger man shook his head, taking a last sip to clear his mouth before setting his cup to the side. “Neither. I just want to wander the Wilds and see what I can learn. I don’t need a master for that. I honestly don’t see the point.”

There was a moment of silence before Mistress Petra spoke. “Haster, darling, you need a master. There is so much that you can’t easily learn without one.” She turned toward Tala. “Please, Mistress Tala, can you help us, here?”

Before Tala could respond to the, frankly, ironic plea for help, Haster held up his hand. “We don’t need to get her involved. Though I appreciate her willingness. Mom, Dad, masters aren’t as necessary as they used to be. We’ve been hearing rumors at the Academy about one Mage in particular who never took a master. If the tales are even half true, she still shot through the advancements. Word is that she’s a Defender now. A Defender.” He shook his head. “I wish we got records of the fights at the Academy, but I’ll find a fight-view location sooner rather than later. I can’t wait to see if there’s any truth to those rumors.”

Both Master Simon and Mistress Petra had turned clearly frustrated eyes toward Tala. Though, Tala could tell that they weren’t really frustrated with her, more that they desperately wanted her to help them correct this issue. Anna, for her part, was grinning broadly, clearly barely holding in her laughter.

Segis seemed a bit conflicted, but Metti’s voice was the first to cut through the growing silence, a confused frown on her ten-year-old face. “Mistress Tala didn’t have a master… right, Dad?”

Master Simon sighed. “That’s right, Metti.”

Haster straightened a bit. “Really? I hadn’t realized that the trend had started so long ago.”

Tala’s eye twitched. He’s calling me old.

-That’s what you’re focusing on?-

…It’s better than the alternative… She sighed. “Haster, is this really a growing trend of thought at the Academy?”

-I’ll see what I can find. If this is true, it likely needs to be dealt with.-

Thank you.

He nodded enthusiastically, assuming he’d found an advocate for his position. “Oh, absolutely. I think there may already have been a few who refused masters, and I know many of those who graduated with me felt the same.”

Tala placed her head in her hands and groaned. “So many people are going to die…”

Haster frowned, his excitement visibly fading. “Mistress Tala? What’s the matter?”

She took a deep breath, straightened up, and exhaled forcefully. “Haster, to my knowledge, I am the only graduate of the Academy to not apprentice under a master since the practice was introduced. Though, I admit that I haven’t followed such things closely. I am rather distraught that not only has word of that gotten back to the Academy, but that it is inspiring others to forgo that needed step.”

He stared at her, opened mouthed for a moment. “Wait… It was you?”

“Yes, to my knowledge. I have suffered because of my choice. Being a mageling is a needed step.”

He seemed to gather himself, frowning even as he cocked his head to the side. “Needed? It hardly seems needed. I mean, you are proof of that. You’re doing just fine, great even, vastly better than average.”

She grunted. “Yeah, well, that is a heavy selection bias. You can’t judge the safety of a caravan by only considering those who have made it back.”

“What?” The young man was clearly confused.

She sighed, again. “Haster, I have not been fine. I have been lucky; I have been mentored by those who didn’t have to give me even a second glance; I have been hurt more times than I can count; I have nearly died nearly as many times; I have been destitute; I have been kidnapped and enslaved; I have walked a road of advancement, slick with the blood of hundreds; and I still don’t know everything that a master could have—and would have gladly—taught me.”

Silence rang out following her pronouncement, and Tala felt suddenly tired… and embarrassed… and frustrated. She could have worded that better, but she had gotten it all out. So that was an improvement at least.

Haster was frowning in consternation, but he did seem to have heard her.

I wish Rane were here… he’d pick up the pieces of what I just shattered.

-Yourself?-

Tala sent an internal glare at the alternate interface. Too soon, Alat.

-...Fine. Do you want help?-

Yes, please.

-Alright. Follow my lead.-

And so Tala did. She took a deep breath and spoke the words that Alat provided. “Regardless, Haster, you are going to want a master. There are Mages that wander the wilds, and we can find one of them for you. What is your foundational understanding?”

He answered almost as a reflex. “Everything burns to ash and drifts on the wind.”

-That is fantastically opposed to yours.-

Yeah, but I was never going to be his master.

-Fair.-

“Alright. I assume that you utilize that in combat or otherwise destructive manifestations?”

“Mostly. It can also be used in other ways.”

“Oh? Are you a Material Guide? Or Creator?”

“Immaterial Guide.”

Tala blinked, surprised by the answer.

Master Simon decided to rejoin the conversation at that point. “Are you willing to share what you guide?”

Haster nodded with a proud smile. “The oxidation rate. I can’t do anything at the moment in an oxygen-free environment, but anywhere else? Everything can burn.”

Alat cackled in Tala’s head. -I like this kid. Can we keep him?-

No.

Anna looked horrified. “Haster, what about the pain caused? Isn’t that even slower burning than a Fire Mage?”

The young man shook his head, a smile on his face. “Not at all! At the worst it’s the same, because I can cause the air in front of an enemy to catch fire. In the best case, I can obliterate them with the snap of a finger.”

Tala waved that off. “Don’t expect that to work very often. Essentially every Mage can instantly kill anything they gain magical supremacy over.” She frowned. “You're going to want to learn how to target ancillary things for effective combat. You might even want to utilize weapons that you can oxidize the outer layers of for extra damage. I know an Oxygen Mage, actually…”

Haster shook his head. “No. One of the teachers at the Academy had a similar focus, and we just argued all the time. If I work with anything Material, I want it to be ash.”

Tala almost argued, but she realized it would be pointless. Thus, she just shrugged instead. “Alright.”

-Hmm… utilizing an unusual power on the environment and other mundane objects to create an effective fighting style… who does that sound like?-

We’re not keeping him, Alat.

-But why not? We travel, he wants to travel. We don’t have a mageling, he needs to be a mageling. It’s perfect!-

Are you really that bored?

-...No.-

Tala threw the feeling of suspicion toward Alat. Did you make a bet with Enar that we’d have a mageling before Rane?

-...Maybe?- Alat sighed. -So what if I did? He’s perfect!-

No, he’s not.

Alat grumped. -Fine. Be that way.-

Tala sighed. “We’ll see who we can find.”

Haster crossed his arms, clearly a bit irritated, even so, his eyes were flicking off to one side before dragging back as he clearly forced himself to remain focused.

Mistress Petra stepped in. “We can’t force you to sign an apprentice’s agreement, Haster. Can’t you agree to at least meet some people?”

“Fine.” Then, he seemed to lose his battle against distraction as he pointed at a rock. “Is that phaneritic rock?”

Everyone twitched at the seemingly random topic change. Even so, Tala shrugged. “I think so. I’m not a geologist.”

“I want to see it burn…”

Tala glanced toward Master Simon. The older man looked back her way and shrugged. “At your pleasure, Mistress Tala. This is your sanctum.”

Haster looked between them, momentarily confused.

Tala sighed. Rate of oxidation, eh?

-Should be alterable by you in here. Everything is under your authority, after all.-

Yeah, that’s what I thought.

With a moment of concentration, she willed the change to be, and the indicated rock burst into an unreal-seeming, deep red flame. It had actually taken more force of will than she’d expected.

Who knew it would be hard to make rocks burn?

-Yeah, who would have thought?-

Haster let out a low gasp and moved toward the fire.

-That really looks like something that would be found in the abyss or something like that.-

Blessedly the abyss isn’t more than a feature of children’s stories.

-...Tala, you’ve seen the Doman-Imithe. If there’s a next world beyond Zeme, why can’t there be an abyss beyond the Doman-Imithe?-

…that makes an uncomfortable amount of sense. I’m not thinking about that right now.

-Fair enough! I’ll save the existential crises until midnight, sometime when you’re really tired.-

Rust you, Alat.

-I love you too, Tala. Good job on the burning rock, by the way. That seemed a bit tricky on this side of things.-

Thanks...Tala was about to make some self-congratulatory comment when the young man stuck his hand into the flame, pulling it back with a small yelp of pain. “It’s real? It’s really burning?”

Anna groaned, going over to her brother and healing his singed hand.

Tala was less accommodating. “Of course it’s real. What sort of fool sticks his hand into a fire to see if it’s illusory?”

“I’ve just never seen rock burn. I’ve wanted to, but the teachers said it would be an unwise use of inscriptions and power to shift the oxidation rate of a rock that much.”

She felt a bit bad for him after that. She’d been given such responses as well, but she’d ignored them. Even so, she still felt like he was a bit of an idiot for touching it.

His eyes were unwaveringly fixed on the rock, even as he thanked his sister for the healing. “Still, the flame was… not cool—obviously—but… it felt different than other flames. It has more… weight?”

Tala nodded. The fire did seem to be sinking rather than rising from the rock surface that she’d altered.

-That’s actually really good, because I think that the product of that reaction is likely rather toxic, if not outright acidic. I think that’s what hurt him, more than the relatively minor amount of heat in those abyssal flames.-

She sighed, releasing her will, extinguishing the fire, and removing all the products of the reaction from the area.

Haster let out a disappointed groan. “Why’d it stop? Did you run out of power?”

He glanced toward Tala and saw her looking back, one eyebrow raised.

He cleared his throat, seeming to realize what he’d just said. “Not that that’s likely, of course. Not at all.”

She shook her head, feeling a smile tug at her lips even so. “What you are aiming for is possible with your described magics. That will be useful for your potential masters to know.”

Haster hesitated for a long moment before nodding and looking between the three Mages present—his parents and Tala. “Alright. I’ll meet with those you think would be a good fit.”

Blessings never cease. Master Simon and Mistress Petra visibly relaxed, and Tala smiled. “That decided, I’ll leave you Zuccats to it. I’m sure there’s lots for you all to talk about, to catch up on.”

They all said goodbye, and Tala moved herself back to the center of the sanctum.