There was a terrible crick in his neck when Elderaan woke, his back ached, and the rest of his body wasn’t doing much better. Sleeping in a hard chair all night was not something he wanted to repeat on a regular basis. He would need to do something about this if the girl was going to be sticking around.

Said girl was still asleep, so he took the opportunity to dress and head down to the kitchen behind the showroom to prepare some food. It was a simple breakfast—just plain porridge—but the smells of the cooking were enough to wake and draw her in. She wandered into the kitchen just as he was finishing up. She was dressed in the clothes she had been wearing last night.

“You should have let me hang those by the fire to dry,” he told her. “I really should have done it last night before I went to sleep, but I’m afraid it slipped my mind.”

“It’s okay,” she said. “They’re not that wet. They’re drier than the clothes in my pack.” Her gaze moved around the room. When she spotted the shelves where he kept his dishes and utensils, she crossed over to it, collected a couple bowls and spoons, and began to set the table.

“Still trying to be helpful?” he said.

She blushed. “No. I mean, yes, but not because... I mean...”

“Not to worry, my dear. I’m just teasing you. I appreciate your helpfulness. Now, you do want some food, yes?”

She nodded.

“Then hurry up and bring the bowls over here so I can fill them.”

She rushed over to him.

As they sat at the table and ate, Elderaan asked her, “How well have you been eating?”

“Okay,” she said, her mouth still full of food. She blushed again and wiped her face with her sleeve. She swallowed and continued, “Some days are better than others, but there are usually people who will give me food. The money you gave me helped a lot.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” he said.

He let her eat in silence after that, only once admonishing her to slow down. “You don’t want to choke, do you, hmm?” He only picked at his own food, his thoughts dwelling on what he had discovered last night. When she was finished, he let her have the rest of his own bowl, which she gleefully took. Despite what she had said, he suspected she had not been eating well at all.

Once she had finished his portion and had scraped the leftovers from the pot, he said to her, “Asa, if you’re to remain here and become my apprentice, you need to be completely honest with me, yes?”

“Of course,” she said, stacking the bowls and taking them over to the counter.

“I need to trust you, but I barely know you. You’re just someone I met on the street. I need to know you better. Who you are, where you came from, what brought you to Quorge. That sort of thing. You understand?”

She took a moment before answering. “Yes, of course.”

“You have been honest with me so far, yes?”

She was even more hesitant this time. “Yes.”

“Really?”

“Technically.”

He frowned at her. “Technically?”

She nodded, but she held her face low, not making eye contact.

“If you want me to teach you, you will tell me what you mean by that!”

“I...I haven’t said any lies,” she stammered. “I just...”

“Hmm? You just what?”

“I just haven’t told you everything. You haven’t asked everything and there wasn’t much time.”

“You’re right,” he said. “I haven’t asked everything, but I did ask you your name.”

“I told you. It’s...” She trailed off as she glanced up and noticed how he was looking at her.

“You told me it was Asa,” he said.

“It is!” she protested. “It’s my middle name, but it’s what I’ve been using in Quorge and...for a while now.”

Elderaan sighed. He supposed that she was right about “technically”, and he could understand her reluctance to use her given name. “Your first name,” he said, “it wouldn’t be Felitïa, would it? Hmm?”

She looked up at him and wiped the tears from her eyes. “How...how did...?”

Now it was his turn to feel uncomfortable. “Since we’re being honest with each other, I was feeling nosy last night and went through your pack. I saw the sword and put two and two together. You couldn’t have kept this from me forever, you know.”

She came back over to the table and sat down. “I know. I almost told you last night, since I knew I’d have to. I just...I didn’t know if...if you’d believe me. Plus, I’ve had to keep it secret for so long and I just... I don’t know.”

Elderaan reached across the table to pat her shoulder. “It’s all right. You do know, though don’t you, that if you’re discovered, they’ll execute me?”

“I would tell them that you didn’t kidnap me,” she protested. “I’d make sure they knew—”

“It wouldn’t matter. I’d be guilty of hiding you. You understand this, yes?”

She slumped over. “Yes. Does this mean you won’t teach me? I’d understand. I don’t want to get you killed.”

“To be completely honest, I’m not entirely sure. I need to think about it. Besides, we don’t even know if you have the talent. We’re going to have to arrange for Agernon to test you, and he may not be easy to convince. But you can remain at least until then.”

“Can we see him today?” Felitïa asked.

Elderaan laughed. “We’ll be lucky if we can get two feet outside the door after last night’s storm. No, we’re going to spend today clearing the snow from in front of the shop. We’ll need to be careful you don’t freeze of course, but unfortunately, we can’t get you warmer clothes until after the snow is cleared. We’ll take sufficient breaks to warm up, and you can tell me your full story during this time.”

“Yes, sir,” she said.

“Nothing will be left out?”

“No, nothing.”

“Very well. Go upstairs and gather some blankets to help keep warm. I’ll get the shovel. I only have the one, so we’ll take turns. It’ll be good to have help. I’m getting too old to shovel snow. It does my back in. Well then, go on!”

“Yes, sir.” She hurried off.

* * * * *

“No! Absolutely not!” Agernon slammed the tip of his cane against the floor. “Get someone else.”

“There is no one else,” Elderaan said. “Name one other person in this city who can.”

“Fah! Not my problem.”

“Oh come now, Agernon. It’s not that much of an imposition.” They were in the small front living room of Agernon’s home. Felitïa stood to Elderaan’s side while Elderaan tried to reason with Agernon. It was going more or less the way Elderaan had expected.

“I won’t do it! Not for her!” Agernon prodded his cane towards Felitïa, who flinched and took a step back, collided with the table and knocked the deck of cards onto the floor. “Watch where you’re going!” Agernon snapped. “You break anything, you pay for it.”

“Sorry, sir,” Felitïa stammered and started to pick the cards up.

Elderaan placed himself between Agernon and Felitïa. “Agernon, please listen for a moment.”

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“I’ve listened enough. I warned you about her, Elderaan. I told you she was trouble.”

“Yes, you did warn me,” Elderaan said. “But you got it wrong nonetheless. She’s not what you thought she was!”

“No, she’s worse.” Agernon tried to step around Elderaan towards Felitïa, but Elderaan moved to block him. “If I do as you ask, I could be executed for it.”

“If you do anything other than go to Lord Belone right this instant and tell him she’s here, you could be executed if they found out,” Elderaan said.

“Yes, and whose fault is that? Yours! For piling this shit on me!” Agernon turned away, slamming his cane down with each step he took. “Blasted nobles! Blasted royals!”

Felitïa looked up from collecting the cards. “You believe who I am, then?”

Agernon stopped and looked back at her. A low growl escaped his mouth. “I wouldn’t believe a word you said, girl, but I know Elderaan. If he’s convinced, then so am I.” He collapsed into one of the chairs and began rubbing his temples.

“You’ll do it?” Felitïa said, jumping to her feet and almost dropping the cards again.

“No, of course not. I said I was convinced of who you are, not that I’ll test you for magic.”

“At least give it some thought, hmm?” Elderaan said. “I’ll happily pay you for your services if you want.”

“Bah! I don’t want your money.” Agernon slouched over in his chair and grumbled for a moment before looking Elderaan in the eye. “Elderaan, you’re asking me to condone you teaching someone who is a symbol of nearly two centuries of Folith oppression. Just look at what Feodor Belone has done in the last twenty years. Quorge used to be a city renown for its magical education until he cut all our funding. Now, we’re just a bunch of rag-tag has-beens, handing out meaningless titles on a whim because there’s nothing else for us to do.”

“Oh come now,” Elderaan protested, “that’s hardly the girl’s fault.”

“No, it isn’t her fault, but that doesn’t change a thing. She is who she is and I am who I am. Never the two should meet as far as I’m concerned.”

Elderaan sighed and sat down in the other chair in the room. At least Agernon was starting to discuss things now, instead of just scream and yell. “Think of it this way. If she has the talent—which she might not even have, I should add—but if she does, my teaching her would be like a strike back against them. Think of it. A princess apprenticed to an Eloorin. Surely that has an appeal, hmm?”

“Except they could never know about it, so it would all be pointless.”

“Not at all. You and I would know. It could be a little way for you to thumb your nose to them.”

“I’ve got ways to do that already.”

Elderaan smiled. “And I’ve no doubt you’d love another, hmm. Come on, admit it.”

Agernon started to smile, but turned his head to hide it. “Maybe.”

“Besides,” Elderaan continued, “even though people would never know of a princess, they would come to know of a Folith apprenticed to an Eloorin. That must be almost as good, hmm?”

Agernon fidgeted in his seat.

“Well?” Elderaan pressed.

Agernon groaned. “I swear you’ll be the death of me one day, Elderaan.”

Felitïa was clutching the cards to her chest and staring at Agernon.

Agernon looked at her and sighed. “I’m going to regret this. Fine. I’ll do it. But I’ll need a few minutes to collect my thoughts first.”

Felitïa made a little squeak of joy.

“Oh, we weren’t expecting that you would do it today,” Elderaan said. “Take whatever time you need to prepare.”

Felitïa nodded. “I don’t mind waiting a few more days,” she said, trying, but not succeeding, to hide her excitement.

“Oh, I’ll do it today,” Agernon snapped. “Before I change my mind. I just need a few minutes first. Where’s that damn boy? Drummor!”

“Yes, sir?” A boy darted into the room. He was about the same age as Felitïa, though somewhat smaller and stockier. His mop of dark hair was a stark contrast to Agernon’s nearly bald head, but he had nearly the same tawny brown skin. Elderaan had not had the chance to meet Agernon’s new apprentice yet, but this was clearly him. Elderaan couldn’t see a lot of resemblance to Ezmelda, but there was some.

“Make us some tea,” Agernon said.

“Yes, sir,” the boy replied and started out of the room again.

“And bring me my tobacco!” Agernon called after him.

“Yes, sir!”

“How’s he working out?” Elderaan asked.

“Pheh, he has his uses,” Agernon replied. “To be honest, it’s nice to have another person around to take the stress off of doing everything myself.” He looked over at Felitïa. “But that does not mean I can’t do things myself!”

“Of course not,” Felitïa said.

Elderaan chuckled. He understood what Agernon meant. It had been a week since the blizzard had brought Felitïa to his door, and in that time, Felitïa had thrown herself into helping out around the shop. She had started cooking their meals and had taken over care of the rats—though she had at first been horrified to learn that Elderaan sold the rats to people intending to experiment on them. She had even helped him start organizing his records, something he had been intending to do for years, but the pile kept getting larger and larger and more daunting.

It had taken a few days to recover fully from the blizzard, and Elderaan had put off bringing Felitïa to see Agernon to allow Agernon time to recover as well. At least, that was what Elderaan had told Felitïa. Truth was, he put it off partly out of nervousness over Agernon’s reaction and partly because he wanted time to learn more about the girl—to be sure he was making the right decision and that he could trust her.

The wait had also provided time to acquire new clothes for her and to get a bench that he converted into a makeshift bed for her. Just two nights in the chair had made that his highest priority.

Felitïa had kept her word about being honest with him and had told him all about what had happened in the year since she had disappeared. Not surprisingly, it was nothing like any of the rumours, though some aspects of it might have seemed almost as far-fetched. To think that the Patriarch of the Universal Religion himself had had a hand in it all! Elderaan doubted there was anyone anywhere in Arnor who would believe that, but Elderaan was good at telling when other people were lying to him. It was a necessary skill for a practitioner of his magical discipline. Plus, she had agreed to him using some spells to ensure her honesty (he had forgotten that youthful exuberance at encountering magic that she was now reminding him of).

Apart from the Patriarch’s involvement, many people would probably be disappointed that Felitïa’s story was not all that exciting. They would probably even find it boring. She had not been kidnapped. She had simply run away. Of course, a princess running away wasn’t an easy thing to pull off, so she had enlisted help. Apparently, Patriarch Ardon had been overseeing her religious education personally and the two had become close. For a couple years, he had been like a father to her, filling the parental role she was not getting from her real parents. She confided in him that she wanted to leave, and she had somehow convinced him to help her do it.

Elderaan sighed. Apparently, she had a knack for convincing old men to do what she wanted.

Drummor came back with a bowl of tobacco and placed it on the table. While Agernon took out his pipe and filled it, the boy went over to the fireplace, collected a spill from the vase there, lit one end, and brought it to Agernon to light the pipe. Elderaan took the opportunity to fill his own pipe, which Drummor lit for him. The boy pinched the spill out and hurried out of the room to collect the tea.

Once Agernon had drunk some tea and had smoked his fill, he announced that he was ready to begin. “Drummor, move the table aside.”

Felitïa helped the boy clear the cards and candles from the table and then push it aside.

“Hi, I’m Drummor,” he said, holding his hand out in greeting.

Felitïa reached out to take it, but Agernon interrupted. “That’s enough of that! Once we’re finished here, you’ll be having nothing more to do with her.”

Drummor’s hand dropped back to his side. “Yes, sir.”

Elderaan stifled a chuckle. Agernon could be quite the stubborn bastard sometimes. Of course, Elderaan had no illusions that he could be quite stubborn himself, but Agernon took the prize. The irony here, though, was that to hear Felitïa talk about them, she had just as much, if not more, disdain for her family as Agernon did. It wasn’t the same thing, Elderaan knew—hers was the disdain of a child who didn’t always get what she wanted and not the disdain of an old man embittered by oppression—but it amused him nevertheless.

“Stand here, girl.” Agernon motioned to a spot on the floor where the table had previously stood. Felitïa moved to where he indicated. “Don’t move,” he said.

Agernon then began to circle her, peering at her from every angle. He circled several times, double-checking whatever he was checking. Elderaan had seen Agernon do this a couple times in the past and he had done the same thing each time, but Elderaan couldn’t quite work out what the purpose was. It didn’t seem to be part of the spell he was to cast—the wizard who had tested Elderaan so very many years ago hadn’t done it, although every wizard put their own spin on spells. In this case, though, as best Elderaan could tell, Agernon did this just to satisfy some unstated curiosity. Perhaps Elderaan would ask him about it sometime, but he knew better than to interrupt now. For now, he just puffed quietly away on his pipe and let Agernon do what he needed.

Felitïa was shifting her weight from one foot to the other and had started to turn her head to follow Agernon’s movements. “I told you to stay still,” Agernon said and Felitïa snapped to attention.

After circling a couple more times, Agernon finally stopped and knelt in front of Felitïa. “All right, child. Take a deep breath and exhale slowly. That’s it. Calm yourself.”

Elderaan inhaled deeply on his pipe and leaned forward. He was beginning to get just as nervous about this as Felitïa.

“This may tingle a little,” Agernon said, “especially if you have the talent. But it is imperative that you remain absolutely still. Do you understand?”

Felitïa nodded, and Agernon held out his hands to either side of her head. Closing his eyes, he began to mutter under his breath. Felitïa stared back at him fearfully, not even blinking. Half a minute or more passed before Agernon touched his hands to her ears and traced out small patterns on them. She blinked suddenly at the shock, and her face momentarily contorted in worry, but she had not moved enough to break the spell.

As a soft blue glow appeared around Felitïa, Elderaan released the breath he had been holding.

Agernon lowered his arms and stood up. “That’s it. You have the talent, child.”

A great smile grew across Felitïa’s face, and she let out a squeal. “I do?” She attempted to give Agernon a hug, but a look from the old wizard paused her.

Elderaan was not one for shows of affection, but when she came to him, he placed his pipe aside and let her hug him. “Does this mean you’ll teach me? Do I have lots of talent? Will I be powerful?”

“Impossible to say,” Agernon answered. “The spell doesn’t reveal that much.”

“I’ve heard that the Isyar have ways of gauging the extent of one’s talent,” Elderaan said. “Some can even tell at a glance in the same way they can tell if you have talent to begin with.”

“Those are just stories,” Agernon said. “Like Volg shapeshifters and Darkers with super speed.”

Elderaan smiled. “Yes, well, whatever the case, we cannot tell how much magical energy resides within you. In time, you’ll discover the extent of your own abilities. Even if your talent is small, however, a good wizard can learn to use that amount effectively, becoming as powerful as those with more talent. However, until you know the extent of your abilities, there is great danger in casting any spells at all. If you try to draw too much power from within yourself, you can drain yourself. Sometimes damage yourself permanently. Sometimes, it can even be deadly. Because of this, if I am to teach you, you must promise me one thing. Until I say otherwise, you are never to use any magic without supervision. Even if you think you have a good reason. If you do not agree to this, I won’t teach you. As simple as that. What do you say, hmm?”

Felitïa nodded without hesitation. “I agree. I agree.”

“Very well. I’ll teach you. But if I ever discover that you’ve cast any magic behind my back, I will dismiss you immediately without hesitation. I will not tolerate disobedience. Is that understood?”

Felitïa continued to nod her head without stopping. “Yes! Yes!”

“Excellent,” Elderaan said. “That settles that. Now then, apart from the people here, no one knows who you really are and we need to keep it that way. Outside of the four of us, you should continue going by Asa. Also, you should avoid the other Foliths in the city as much as you can. They’ll start poking their noses in, undoubtedly, but avoid them as best you can.”

Felitïa nodded.

“Good. Now then, I’m getting hungry, and I’m sure Agernon is too. Why don’t you and Drummor go prepare us all something to eat? There’s a good girl.”

“Now, just a minute,” Agernon said. “I expect you two to go and leave me alone now. I’ll get my own damn dinner.”

“Well, if you insist,” Elderaan replied. “But after everything you’ve done for her today, it’s the least Felitïa can do to repay you.”

Agernon scowled. “She needs to do a lot more to repay me. Oh, fine then. Stay.”

Elderaan winked at Felitïa. “Go on then. I’m hungry.”

Felitïa curtsied and darted off.