A Song of Snow and Ashes

name was not unheard of in the northern lands as her own name was.

  The other pulled out a checklist. He scanned it, then said, "Very well, madam. Go directly up the path. The secretary in the foyer will direct you to the proper office."

  The one who spoke first then opened a normal sized door that was cunningly hidden in the gate.

  She walked through the door, and it was shut behind her. She could see no seam in the smooth metal. There was another guard stationed inside the gate in a similar wooden booth. She assumed he'd be the one to let her out again. There was a gravel path that lead directly to the complex. The front doors were large and wooden. She raised her hand to knock, but the door opened of its own accord. Slightly put off, she walked inside.

  The foyer was a large square area. Since little outside light was allowed in, the room was lit with glow globes set into the wall. The floor was polished white marble, the walls were paneled wood, making it a little difficult to see the seven doors, and the corners had green plants in pots. In the center of the room was an ash desk occupied by a middle aged female mage wearing dark blue robes.

  Eliora pushed down her hood and walked up to the desk.

  "State your business and your name," the woman said in Arcana, taking no notice of her exotic appearance.

  She repeated what she had told the guard.

  The woman wrote something on a sheet on paper and handed it to her. "This is a pass. You will need to show this to the Principal's secretary." Then she gave her instructions on how to reach the appropriate office.

  She had to navigate a series of stairs and hallways, and all the walls were paneled in wood, so she had to backtrack a few times to find the right door. She got the distinct impression that there were other, better hidden doors in the hallways. All in all, it took her about twenty minutes to find the right place.

  She entered another square room on the third floor. This one had only one door out as far as she could tell, and that was behind the secretary's desk, next to a number of large filing cabinets. In front of the secretary's desk were chairs to seat about ten people. Two places were already occupied, and with the time change, it was barely an hour past sunrise.

  "Pass, please," said the secretary.

  She handed the paper to the middle-aged male mage who was also wearing dark blue robes. She had already read over it, and realized it had nothing more on it than the information she had already given the first secretary.

  "The Principal will see you shortly. Please have a seat."

  "Well, I know what this means," she thought, annoyed, but not surprised. She was quite familiar with how bureaucracy worked, and settled herself in for at least an hour's wait.

  She was surprised, however, when a tall man in his sixties suddenly came out of the office in the back. He had gray hair, a gray mustache and beard, and a long gray ponytail, and was looking directly at her with steel gray eyes. He was carrying a tall staff of finely wrought iron, topped with a clear crystal of some sort. His mage robes were deepest black, with no sign of any decoration or embroidery.

  "Come with me," he ordered.

  The secretary looked confused, and the two others who were already seated looked angry, but the mage took no notice of that.

  She stood up and entered his office. Before the door closed she could hear the other two people starting to argue with the secretary. She felt quite sorry for the poor man.

  "Sit." He was using Arcana.

  His office was larger than she expected, and covered with bookshelves and filing cabinets. It had a window, but the curtains were drawn. The light in the room came from glow globes set into the wall. He had a large mahogany desk and a high backed, dark brown leather chair. The chairs for guests were smaller leather chairs. She sat down.

  "Why are you here, LightBearer?" he asked, without ceremony. He kept his staff within arms' reach.

  "You know who am I?" she replied, not entirely surprised.

  "How could I not?" he returned, switching to the Northern language, although he using a dialect she wasn't familiar with.

  Arcana was a formal and limited language, more of a trade-tongue. "If he's switching languages, that means he can't say what he wants to in Arcana. That's probably not good," she thought, trying to keep up with the new dialect.

  "The wards on the wall do more than just strengthen the stone. We always make it a point to watch who's bringing magic into our halls. Why are you here? Why did you make an appointment under false pretenses?"

  Her courage faltered for a moment, but she gathered it back up again, reminding herself that she had dealt with worse scoldings from Izak. "I didn't make an appointment under false pretenses. I do actually want to ask about training for an older student."

  He gave her a steely stare. "Yourself."

  "Yes."

  "We can't admit you."

  "I wouldn't ask for that."

  "Then what do you want from us?"

  "Advice. And a starting place."

  "You still ask for much. You shouldn't be here at all. We don't wish to be involved in whatever the gods are planning," he replied. "Giving you any aid is involvement, and we could fare poorly depending on the outcome of this battle. Yes, we know about that too," he added, seeing her startled look. "We are not allowed to interfere."

  "I know about the Arcane Covenant, but I don't think that applies in this situation."

  "You are from the desert continent, are you not?"

  "Yes," she answered, confused at this sudden change of topic.

  He stood up and started to pace nervously behind his desk. "Of all the people in the world, we mages are on the best terms with yours. That's probably because the Mage Wars did the least damage in your lands. But here the landscape has been scarred by those Wars. The people here have not forgiven us for the actions of our predecessors. Our presence here is tolerated because we bring in money and trade. We are not liked. And we do not, as a rule, interfere in politics."

  "My situation isn't exactly political."

  "It could be. Do you have any idea how many people know about this Avatar battle?" he asked.

  "No. Not many, I think."

  "Not many right now. We mages know, and both Orders know. But it's hardly common knowledge. We fear that it will become common knowledge the first time you two fight, and then we will be the first blamed. I doubt the Order of Darkness would do much to counter that mistaken notion," he explained dryly.

  "Oh, I see. You're afraid people will think mages are trying to become a power again, and blame you before they even find out the truth."

  He nodded. "It wouldn't help if it came out that either of you were here, or that we helped either of you in any way."

  "You'd help the ShadowWalker?"

  "We'd rather not aid either of you, frankly. But the only way to avoid accusations of being involved or taking sides would be to aid you both." Upon seeing her appalled expression, he lowered his voice. "However, we would probably not aid the ShadowWalker unless we had already aided you."

  "You would administer the exactly the same help to him as to me?"

  He nodded. "We must be absolutely equal in our dealings."

  "Alright. I'll I'm asking is for advice. That shouldn't be too dangerous."

  "You are asking for knowledge. That's the most dangerous thing in the world." But he sat back down in his chair.

  "I want to learn to use my arcane powers, but I gather it would be too much to ask to find a tutor?"

  He nodded.

  "Then can you tell me where to find books I could use to teach myself magic?"

  "Our books are not really written in that fashion."

  "You have no primer sorts of books?"

  He shook his head. "No. We don't want to encourage mages to try to learn magic on their own. It is difficult and dangerous, not only to the mage, but to the surrounding area."

  She was starting to feel discouraged. "I think he could be more h
elpful, but he doesn't really want to be. I had heard that mages tend to be a bit elitist and closed to non-mages, but I'd hoped for better. I guess I will also have to earn this man's respect." Then the hairs on the back of her neck started to prickle, and she got the oddest feeling she was being watched. "Then how am I supposed to learn magic if I can't be tutoring and I can't learn from books?"

  "Perhaps you should not pursue the study of arcane magic. You have divine magic to fall back on. Surely you could find a cleric willing to teach you how to use that?"

  The watched feeling was not going away. Her attention was being drawn to a shadow in the corner of the room. She tried not to stare, but it was bothering her.

  "But untrained magic is dangerous."

  "Indeed. And you should not use it."

  "I use magic on instinct. As do most untrained mages," she replied, now annoyed at his recalcitrance.

  "And the first thing any mage is taught is the self-discipline to resist that urge. I'm sure that's something you can learn on your own."

  The shadow in the corner seemed deeper and darker than the other shadows. She was also picking up a vague chill from that area, which the mage didn't seem to notice. "I didn't expect it would be easy to convince you to help me," she sighed. She knew mages were fond of their power, and didn't like to acknowledge that others could have as much or more power, so she decided to gamble and see how caught up in his abilities this mage was. "But do you realize how powerful I am?"

  He raised an eyebrow. "Is that a threat?"

  "No, it's an honest question. You seem to know a lot about the Avatar battle. I'm not