In the well-appointed quarters of Gereld Vinter, Orn laid on the large, canopied bed. Seated on the bed next to him, holding his hand, was his mother.

Venna had described to Gereld what had happened over the previous two days, as he listened, giving the occasional “Mhm.” and “Aha.”

Once she finished recounting, he said, “I’m fairly certain I know what has happened. He has channelled too much energy through his mind. This is a case where his power is vastly beyond his capacity to control and contain it. Give me a few moments.”

Gereld turned and lifted the lid of a trunk near his room window and began rummaging around inside it. He then exclaimed, “Aha! That’s where you were hiding.”

He returned to Orn’s side and placed a small, opaque, dark grey stone on his forehead. Placing both his hands over the stone, he slipped into a deep, trance-like state. His lips were moving as though speaking an incantation, but the whispering sound, rather than emitting from him, was diffuse and seemed to emanate from everywhere.

The ambient light in the room seemed to darken noticeably for several seconds, as the stone on Orn’s head began radiating a blue light. Then, with a short rushing sound like a sharp inhale of breath, all returned to normal.

Orn’s eyes fluttered and opened, and he sat upright. His eyes were wide from being unsure of his surroundings, but upon seeing his mother’s face expressing her relief, he calmed down.

Orn then noticed the robed, elderly gentleman off to his left and said a little nervously, “Hello…” He cast a quizzical look toward his mother.

Venna flashed a gentle smile at her son and said, “This is the king’s mage, Gereld Vinter. He brought you back to us.” She looked at Gereld, her gratitude clear on her face.

Orn made as though to get up. However, with little effort, his mother arrested his movement by placing a hand on his chest. “You need to rest, dear.”

“But I feel fine, mother, look…” Venna flashed him a look he had seen all too many times, and he knew better than to defy it. He sank back down, which returned Venna’s expression to a relaxed smile.

Gereld stood off to the side patiently. He was glad to let Venna see her child recovering. In an attempt at subtlety, he cleared his throat to get her attention. When Venna’s slate grey eyes turned their gaze to him, he inclined his head toward the door, communicating his wish to speak in private. He then proceeded towards the door.

Venna squeezed Orn’s hand once more reassuringly and followed Gereld outside.

Once they were out of the room, Gereld’s expression changed to one of a teacher scolding a student, as he asked firmly, “How long have you known?”

Venna, despite herself, affected a well-chastised expression, in tune with the way he spoke to her. She answered him in a subdued voice, “About a year or so.” She looked at her feet, as she knew she was wrong for holding on to her son.

“That was unwise. And dangerous.”

She began shrinking within herself, but then her usual stern, rational side reasserted itself. She overcame her momentary reflexive deference to the mage, and she shot back at him. “But I know how it is! I was on the king’s guard as a shield maiden!”

Gereld attempted to interject, but could only get out part of a word before Venna ploughed on, “With all the bloody intrigue, and petty quibbling and jockeying for position and power amongst rotten half-men that should be shoved back into a ship to relearn their place. With the potential Orn has, and with his innocence, those half-men would…”

He grabbed her shoulders with both hands and in a conciliatory tone said, “I know, I know! I understand. However, that boy needs to be taught! The fact he can use two elements simultaneously and on such a scale!”

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He let go of her shoulders and went on, “The next time might very well kill him. He needs to learn control and restraint until his mental strength and discipline can catch up to his power.”

Venna’s face took on a defeated expression as she looked towards the room where her youngest rested, a tear threatening to fall from her eye.

“Venna. Permit me to take him as my pupil. I will take full responsibility, and I will ensure that he is kept away from all the petty politicking. I give my word, as the king’s mage.”

Venna turned back to regard Gereld, and after her eyes scanned his face for several seconds, finally nodded, and said “All right.”

“Besides, I don’t think there are many in the world who could train him. His potential is possibly even greater than mine. Between you and me, of course.” He winked as he added, “If you tell anyone I said that, I’ll deny it.”

Gereld’s eyes belied the pretend haughty expression that put on his face, which elicited a wan smile from Venna. Gereld gently stroked his beard, his expression turning thoughtful as he mused, “I have a strong feeling though, that even as my pupil, it will be some time before you will need to part with him.”

As he said that, they heard the approaching footsteps of a guard and Erik. Venna turned and, upon seeing Erik, moved to enfold him in her arms, and said, “Your brother is doing a lot better. He’s resting, but you can see him if you like. Just try to keep from riling him up, ok? He’s still recovering.”

“All right, Mother.” Erik moved to the door, quietly opened it, and slipped inside. He could hear his mother and Gereld continue talking in hushed tones as he slowly closed the door.

The hinge groaned audibly as the latch neared the doorjamb, and Erik heard the lid of a trunk shut suddenly, as he spotted a flash of movement of a form quickly moving from the window to the bed. “I saw you, Orn.”

“No, you didn’t. You just think you did.”

Erik smiled wryly. He was a little wary of his brother, as memories flashed before his mind’s eye of oddities throughout the last year. The most recent being the occurrence onboard the ship and the fire pit in the village square suddenly erupting into a pillar of flame.

“…Erik! Are you there Erik? Where did you go?” Orn asked, in a tone rife with sarcasm and mirth.

Erik suddenly snapped out of his reverie and took on a sullen expression as he retorted, “Shut up, I was thinking.”

“O-oh. Does it hurt?”

Erik’s momentary trepidation evaporated as he had the sudden urge to leap onto his brother and throttle him, but dismissed it as suddenly as he felt it. He enjoyed living, so he would not do something that would upset Mother.

Instead, he replied, “Clearly you’re feeling better than Mother believes. Drawing it out so we can keep being babied, are we?”

Rather than return with a further jibe, Orn looked at Erik with an uncharacteristically serious and apprehensive look on his face as, in a small voice, he said to his brother sincerely, “Erik…I’m scared.”

Erik was trying to think up clever retorts in anticipation of his brother’s next jab, and so took him aback. His expression softened momentarily as he climbed onto the bed to lie down next to Orn.

He then turned his head to his brother and said, “You’ll be fine. You’ve got Mother, and you’ve got me. Besides, the old geezer outside said something about helping you with the ah…you know…” Erik made a ‘whoosh!’ sound as he moved his hand in a wavelike motion.

Orn turned his head toward Erik to regard his big brother before returning his gaze to the ceiling and nodding slightly.

Erik then said, “You must be hungry. I know I am. Wanna go eat?”

“Yes, actually, I’m starving!”

“Let’s go see what we can find. Besides, I wanna explore a bit. This place is bloody huge!” Erik smiled a smile that one could only describe as slightly demented.

Orn cast a nervous look at the door as Erik said that. Worried an errant slap would fly out of nowhere for him swearing. He said, “But what about Mother? There’s no way she’ll let us wander around.”

Erik tapped the side of his nose slyly and then rolled off the bed, crept exaggeratedly to the door, and slowly reached his hand to the door latch. The door suddenly swung inwards, and Erik yelped as he leapt back from it.

Venna had a look of suspicion on her face as she asked Erik, “What were you doing just now?”

Erik replied a little too rapidly, “What, me? Nothing, I wasn’t doing anything. What would I be doing?” and chuckled nervously as he flashed an unconvincing ‘innocent’ smile.

She gave him a long, dubious look before moving past him to check on Orn.

He was sitting up, and said to Venna, “Erik and I were just going to see about something to eat.”

“I’ll go get you something, dear.”

“No really, Mother. I’m feeling a lot better. I’d like to get up.”

Venna looked back towards Gereld, who was standing in the doorway, who gave a quick reassuring nod. She turned back to Orn and said, “All right. But we’ll have to tell someone. You can’t just go wandering around.”

Gereld held up his hand and interjected. “It’s fine. I can show you. You too Venna, you should eat.”

With that, they left Gereld’s quarters in search of the kitchen.