Noon the next day came at incredible speed. Ruena had spent the time hashing out the details of the plan with him over and over to be sure he remembered, but Soral was still a bit nervous. He had no idea what to expect, and the more he considered it, the more he had the potential to lose.

Either way, his answer when he met Sibel could only be one thing. Yes. There was one small problem. Soral couldn’t remember if they had agreed on a meeting place. With nothing else to go on, he headed to the guild an hour early. Before he could even enter, he ran straight into Rosalie, who had just been leaving.

“There you are! I can’t believe you just abandoned us like that!”

“Oh, sorry,” Soral said. He had been so wrapped up in Sibel’s offer he had forgotten, “Did you settle in alright?”

“Sure, other than the fact that everyone in this town and their cat was drilling us on how we met you and why you brought us back,” Rosalie accused, “I’m still not sure exactly why, or what we will be helping you with.”

“Maybe we can discuss that after dinner,” Soral said, and explained about his appointment with Sibel.

Rosalie begrudgingly agreed that this was an opportunity he could not miss. “I’ll let Howler know,” she said, “but you had better make this worth your time. If it looks like they are trying to scam you in any way, run for it.”

“I really hope that won’t be the case,” Soral told her, “I don’t know about his parents, but I trust Sibel.”

“Really? If that is the case it might be fine then. He should back you up if things go wrong,” Rosalie mused, “When are you supposed to meet him?”

“I am a bit early,” Soral admitted, “but I would like to try to find him sooner rather than later.”

“Go ask inside,” Rosalie suggested, “He might have told them where he is in case you came looking.”

That was a good idea, so Soral followed her advice and walked inside. Grace was nowhere to be seen, but another receptionist greeted him and showed him directly to Sibel’s office. Luckily, the man in question was already waiting inside.

“You’re early,” he commented, “And with good news, I hope.”

“I haven’t decided whether or not to accept the apprenticeship,” Soral told him, “but I will meet them.”

“That is enough,” Sibel told him with a wide smile, “We will do our very best to convince you. Were you ready to go right away?”

“I guess so,” Soral said. He couldn’t think of anything else he could possibly prepare. Ruena had even fussed over his clothing to make sure it was appropriate for the occasion.

Sibel immediately put down what he was doing and led Soral to a room in the guild he had never seen before. In the center of the room was a large arch. “Rather than portals, which are temporary and unstable, we use gates to connect important locations. This is how I was able to get to Belleas and to the desert. We often trade with Oasis as he produces many valuable goods.”

That explained how things were being sold there, and the gate looked amazing. Soral wished he had thought of it, but now that he had seen it he was definitely going to steal the idea for later.

Sibel activated the gate, causing magic to flow down like a waterfall and settle with a ripple before revealing a very similar room to this one on the other side. If not for the strange appearance of peering through a thin film of water, Soral might have assumed the gate was just as empty as before.

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Following Sibel’s lead, Soral stepped through. The gate felt as much like a thin waterstream as it looked, but they were perfectly dry and normal on the other side. Now that they were there, Soral could clearly see that this room was far larger, with a grand ceiling and vast floorplan. The gate itself was also of a large enough size a dragon could easily pass through.

That is when Soral suddenly remembered something else he had heard about the Toll family. They were dragons. He had forgotten because of Sibel always meeting him in human form.

“Um, which form will I be meeting them in?” Soral asked.

“Normally, you would be introduced to their dragon forms first,” Sibel replied, “but they have decided to take an extra consideration since you are so small and meet you as humans instead.”

For once, Soral was glad to get consideration for being small. He wasn’t sure if he could go through with this face to face with a dragon’s maw. He had never seen a dragon in actual dragon form before, and as much as he wanted to, this was neither the time nor the place.

Sibel led him out of the chamber through the halls of the building. Even though it seemed like it was just an overly grand human dwelling, Soral could easily see a dragon fitting in there. Naturally, furnishings were human sized for the most part, since dragons did not tend to use furniture in their dragon forms.

Their destination was behind a pair of double doors, engraved with many images of dragons and their hoards. Sibel pushed the heavy doors open with ease, revealing a room that reminded Soral of what he would imagine a throne room would look like.

Sitting in chairs across the room were a man and a woman who were stunning in their own ways, but did not resemble Sibel as much as he had expected. It would have seemed they were sitting on thrones if not for the extra chairs set up in front of them. The pair watched them approach with eager smiles.

“You must be Soral,” the woman spoke, standing to greet him, “I am Kristabelle Toll, Sibel’s mother.”

“Yeah,” Soral replied. Even though she was smiling, the intimidating aura surrounding her was intense. So was the magical aura that naturally gathered around her. It was like Sibel’s had been concentrated many times over.

“I am Belvin Toll,” the man introduced, “Sibel’s father. We are the current heads of the Toll family.”

Soral suddenly noticed an odd correlation. “Bells?” he muttered.

“That’s right,” Kristabelle answered, even though he hadn’t really meant to ask, “Every Toll who has proved themselves adds a bell somewhere in their name to honor the founders and ancestors of the Toll family.”

That was a bit unexpected, but kind of cool. “Is that a family secret?” he asked. He didn’t want them to hold the knowledge against him later.

“Not really,” Belvin answered this time, “Though we also don’t publicize it.”

Sibel took this chance to speak up. “Soral has yet to decide whether or not to accept,” he informed his parents, “and I noticed something terrible. He has been marked by the Black Wolf.”

Kristabelle’s calm and kind demeanor immediately dropped for one of disgust. “That evil hound is constantly trying to steal our best talents! Surely you haven’t fallen for his lies, right?”

“No,” Soral told her, shaking his head vigorously. He had thought her aura was intimidating before, but now it was outright terrifying.

“Good,” Belvin spat, joining in with his own complaints, “If that man could die, I would have been tempted to break my oath to break him. Especially after what he has just done.”

“What he has just done?” Soral repeated. No one had been willing to tell him much of anything about the Black Wolf, and their rants had piqued his curiosity.

“He has thrown Althaedor into chaos,” Kristabelle told Soral, “The Queen’s family has been murdered, and if that wasn’t enough, he convinced the poor woman to use forbidden magic! Who knows what it did to her, but she hasn’t shown herself since.”

“We were just getting close to her too,” Belvin bemoaned, “At least she has asked for our help in protecting her final heir.”

This was definitely starting to delve into the territory of secrets that Soral probably shouldn’t know. Were they testing him? Soral decided to reach out and listen to their thoughts, only to find them very similar to their words.

‘We cannot allow that cunning canine to ruin such an amazing talent. We must save him from his clutches no matter what.’

‘My dear Sibel finally wanted an apprentice after all this time. I can’t let him be lost to the Black Wolf of all things.’

“I already knew I didn’t like him,” Soral told them, hoping to end this line of conversation, “but I will have to be more careful from now on… But what happens if I do become an apprentice?”

“Yours is a special case,” Kristabelle said, immediately returning to her beautiful smile, “Since you are not a dragon, you cannot become a Toll, but Sibel isn’t training you for a Belleas business so it doesn’t matter.”

“We can discuss whatever terms you would like,” Belvin confirmed, “What we want most of all is to maintain a good business and personal relationship with you when you rise to your full potential.”

“How does everyone know my potential but me?” Soral asked, a little annoyed.

This made the Tolls laugh. “I don’t know about anyone, but I tested you to find your potential. You delivered many times my expectations,” Sibel explained.

A test? There could only be one thing. The pockets. Since they were being so open about their desires, Soral decided it would probably be easiest to follow suit. “Then how about this,” he suggested, “Every time I invent a new item and sell it through you, you help me open my own independent business.”

“You wish to hold both Belleas and private fund in your hands? So greedy,” Kristabelle mused, “I knew you belonged with us.” The way she said greedy clearly was not meant as an insult.

“Based on your offer, I assume you already have an invention in mind,” Belvin prompted, “Ah, but before we go into any further details, you must accept your apprenticeship.”

There was only one way to find out if they would suddenly change their tune once he was in. Soral decided to just jump.

“Alright. I accept.”