There is always time to enough for Pondering. If it appears that there is not, you must have missed the opportunity at an earlier date.

— Quote by Wizard (Grandfather) Albernathy Thomas Barnwinkle

* * *

The Wizard Pondered.

He Pondered like… well, like Wizards had Pondered since the very first Wizardly man placed the very first Wizardly hat on his bushy-eyebrowed and bearded head.

Wizards were always Pondering.

In a completely separate universe many, many Wizards were still Pondering the Quorum of Grand Wizards’ Determination on Plotting.

Many others besides were Pondering whether Dandelion Seedlings plucked on the Summer Solstice was indeed a suitable substitute for the Unclouded-Sunshine Trapped in Amber catalyst listed in the Mentenzo’s Draught for the Un-belabored Mind recipe, ingredient forty-two.

Plenty more Pondered whether the number six-hundred-and-sixty-six was still an ill-fated number, or whether the shifting millennia had also shifted its portent. After all, even by the most sinister derivations, the number at most devolved to a nine (even by the highly contentious Neebler method) and nine, though odd, was not a scary number. And so on….

And it should also be said that some Wizards were also Pondering quite studiously their options for the nights dinner.

Wizard’s Pondered. It’s what they did.

This particular Wizard Pondered Objectives. He Pondered logistics and finances. He Pondered friends and foes and how to cheat at genteel games.

It might even be more correct to say that he Plotted, which was also a time honored Wizardly tradition despite what the Quorum of Grand Wizards had to say on the subject.

* * *

“Blackest Hatred dribbled from Leinan’s lips.” The Wizard muttered into his beard, “Barely a thimble full. Midnight’s Fell Shadows, more than enough. Firelight’s Flickering Dissonance, sufficient, take too much and folks start to notice,” he mumbled.

‘Powdered Hellebore. Moderately rare I suppose’ Hat was murmuring. “Rolled daffodils, common. June — June Fly eggs?” Hat paused. “Do you mean May Fly?”

“I acquired them in June, Hat.” Barnibus responded distractedly.

He was studying several strings of Words Unspoken now, hanging heavily from his fingers and wondering whether he could distill them down to Heart’s Hidden Desires. Barnibus thought that Heart’s Hidden Desires stood a good chance of binding well with the Firelight’s Flickering Dissonance which he could then cast into a sort of emotional blind patch.

Of course, he’d have to cancel out the Firelight’s Flickering aspect with a dash of something Dark, He thought. Midnight’s Fell Shadows maybe? That could work, but that Fell aspect… too dark? Too dark might be too visible, he worried. But, then, Blackest Hatred would be far too dark. Maybe cast back in and re-splice the remnants of Fir—

“A tidy replacement for June Beatle excrement if I do say so myself.” Barnibus continued absently after a moment.

“… In what wa… No, never mind. I will list this as common as well.” Hat continued tiredly.

They worked. And Plotted. But mostly they prepared.

They were inventorying the contents of Barnibus’s robe now. And his Hat… But mostly his robe, because Wizard robes held… more than people would expect.

Barnibus had never done an inventory of his robe before.

Mostly he just stuck things in there and pulled them out again when he needed them, and if months went by and he happened to forget that he’d done so, then that item might as well have stumbled across a hole in reality and dropped.

Thankfully, Wizard Hats sat on Wizard heads all day and had little better to do than to remember, and a tidy pile was already growing in front of the desk that Hat was sitting on.

“More potion ingredients and catalysts,” Hat groused. “Might be offer-able, Maybe. We need more amulets and enchantments. Magic sells. Always has. Ah!” Hat inspected a pair of wire framed eye glasses with somewhat exaggerated lenses appreciatively. “Spectacles with an enchantment for Minuscule Monitoring.”

That went into a different pile right next to the Mandrakes Scream Caught between the Tines of a Tuning Fork which wasn’t really an enchanted item but Hat thought it could likely pass for one in a pinch.

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“That Unpracticed Slight of Hand you lifted from Leinan, by the way, will be quite the wild card, I believe,” Hat opined wisely, as Barnibus dug it out from above his belt line. “Too bad it is Unpracticed, but you are sure The Forerunner did not notice? Potent regardless.”

Barnibus harrumphed in agreement quietly.

“Too bad you missed the Practiced Knife-Work Leinan was tossing around for a moment, and the Quick Thinking from that child — Keimen was it?” Hat mused to himself. “Though if you had, the night might have gone quite differently.”

“I was quite, preoccupied, if you recall — Ooh!” Barnibus beamed and if he had a mirror he might have caught a glimpse of his eyes twinkling like cut gemstones.

He plucked Completely Absent but Dawning Comprehension from his sleeve and goggled at it gleefully. “Wonderful!”

Hat hrrmmmed appreciatively.

Then Immortal Ire, and — his breath caught and Hat almost toppled off of his desk.

“Is this…?”

“It can’t be….”

“It’s….”

“Mortally Naked Immortality.” Hat breathed. “You snatched some?!”

They stared at it.

They gawked.

It was barely even a wisp, but….

“It shouldn’t be possible. That — This… This here, is rare Mana, Boy.” Hat said wonderingly. “The Greatest Grand Wizards and Witches of our time would bow and scrape just for a chance to gaze upon it!”

Barnibus stared, transfixed by the strand of impossibility stretching between his fingertips.

It felt brittle the way the slightest thread of glass might, like it could break if he even moved too quickly.

It felt like it could stretch for a long, long time. And it glimmered with something that made it MORE. Much, much MORE.

“What could I even use this for?” He breathed.

“Something momentous.” Hat stated immediately. “Once. But the contours of it… immortality.”

Hat devolved into mutters “Something meant to last maybe. But the Mortally Naked aspect… Implies human condition parameters. Conceptually Bare. Open. Unprotected. Or something else entirely….”

“We also have plenty of Fright of the Night Terrors,” Barnibus continued, managing to shake himself from his revery, and carefully, carefully replaced the strand back into his robe pocket.

“Words Unspoken and… ah — heh,” Barnibus huffed a tad nervously and grasped tightly at his beard. “A drizzle of my own Creeping Dread siphoned directly from my heart.”

“We are not without claws then,” Hat commented with a bob of his tip. “How do you feel about pure Mana casting?”

“Merlin’s Slippers!” Barnibus gasped, appalled.

“At least for the glamours and trickery. It might be more difficult, but The Forerunner’s likely to notice too much of your Anima floating around where it shouldn’t.”

Barnibus gulped, but nodded.

“Hat,” Barnibus said after a long moment of hesitation. He kneaded his beard with his fingers against his palm and pursed his lips. “How will I know when — ”

“— Heads up, Boy.” Hat cut in. “I think — yes!”

Barnibus spun, and they both watched through the window as Leinan’s tower cascaded like an avalanche over The Forerunner’s road and connected two sides of the board in a single, taut line… and the Forerunner flipped the board in outrage.

“Brim Stitching.” Hat’s voice was wondering. “She must have eyes like surgeon needles to pick through The Forerunner’s workings. You understand the plan?”

Barnibus’ mouth was still open, but after a moment of hesitation, he nodded again.

“Good. The Cauldron boils, Boy. It’s time. Remember! The point isn’t to win, its to play —”

“A Beautiful Game,” Wizard Barnibus Jefferson Montgomery Barnwinkle supplied.

“Good b —”

* * *

“—oy.” And then he was back, just in time to be bucked head over heals by the force of The Forerunner’s — tantrum?

It was a tantrum. One of sky shattering proportions.

Lightning crackled in sizzling ropes overhead and the wind cracked like a whip through the trees. Frozen spurs of ice were embedding themselves into the wood and ice crept in scintillating patterns over the ground mulch.

The Forerunner held her head with both hands and her voice bellowed from her between her lips. “HOW! How art thee standing so fair an’ so tall? Mortal girl thee art destined to fall! How dost thee hold so against mine own designs?!”

The Forerunner paused, then glared spitefully at Leinan’s averted face. “Speak not! Answer not these foolish questions mine, lest I be wroth an’ —”

“Oh, hello.” Barnibus announced his return genially

Everyone jumped.

The Twins jumped where they cowered behind Leinan and a wide grin split Aemon’s small face. He at least seemed relieved to see him.

Keimen didn’t. She narrowed her eyes at him.

Leinan jumped and goggled at him as if not believing he’d spoken, or that he could even speak at all.

The Forerunner — well, The Forerunner didn’t jump. She just glared at him as if she’d expected this all along and was annoyed with him besides. She sniffed haughtily. “Ah. Our absent host returns an’ not a moment too soon.”

She spun back to Leinan, who flinched from the violence of it even though she was obviously holding herself in the firmest grip she possibly could.

“Again Girl!” The Forerunner announced jabbing a finger like a spear at the poor girls chest. “Thy fell victories en —”

“A-actually, If I may, my good Forerunner One,” Barnibus broke in, in his most polite manner available.

Both The Forerunner and Leinan stared at him, though Barnibus was fairly certain Leinan hadn’t understood a word he had said.

“Echem” Barnibus coughed into is beard. “I — ah — a-actually I would quite like to challenge myself.” He announced diffidently. “Ah. Um… if that’s alright with you?”

The Forerunner paused, thought for a moment, then shrugged. Then a slow cruel smirk stretched across her beautiful face and she flipped her hair back and laughed. “As thee say. Why of course Wizardly One! Why not thee an’ I return to our fun?” She giggled high and loud and did a jump and flip through the air to land next to where she had flung the game board. “I offer thee — ”

But Barnibus was already holding up his hand. “My deepest apologies, Forerunner, but prithee. I doth not challenge thee!”

Barnibus looked away from The Forerunner’s snow-white and stunned expression and over to Leinan who was swaying where she stood and looking like she was being held up mostly by Keimen. Though Aemon looked like he was trying to help too.

Leinan blinked owlishly back at him, uncomprehending, and then she slowly raised her hand to point at her chest as if asking ‘Me?!’ In disbelief.

Barnibus beamed encouragingly and pointed his finger straight at Leinan. “I challenge the one who cast stones even The Forerunner couldes’t not defend. I challenge the reigning champion of this night, Leinan from Landsend!

* * *

‘I’m trying to help!’, Barnibus thought, and he beamed even harder. But for the life of him, he could not at all figure out why the drizzles of Blackest Hatred which he could see seeping from the corners Leinan’s eyes were turning into gushing fountains.

‘Really now,’ He thought. ‘Blackest Hatred couldn’t be that easy to produce!’