Instead of leading her back towards her peers in the amphitheater, Talia was ushered out of doors and brought to magnificent regal chambers. Servants brought her belongings there and offered to pamper her.

“Enough,” she said, after an hour of nonsense. “I’d like to see the Tutor. And my friends.”

“Your friends, my lady?”

She shrugged. “Everyone who was brought to be Blessed with me.”

She soon discovered that her wish was law now. The Tutor was the first to come.

Talia was still baffled and unsure of what it all meant; so, apparently, she’d mastered her shadow. What was the big deal? Surely, others had done it before her. She asked just that, and the Tutor laughed.

“Of course some have,” the Tutor replied, amused. “Those we call Enchantress and Sorcerer.”

She frowned, confused and a little unimpressed. So that was it? No great, secret power? But then again, what legend did ever live up to the hype?

“Let’s squash this disappointment right off your shoulders,” the Tutor suggested, handing her a little elemental training ball.

These were made for children who had yet to master the art of focusing their energy and calling to the elements. Her look seemed to say, ‘really?’ because this exercise was well below her skills.

“Humor me,” said he, and she did.

The fire ignited in her hand, just like it always did, but, within an instant, she was surrounded by flames; her arm, the air around her, the very floor she walked on had been set ablaze. The first lesson she’d ever learned was to be careful of the element she called to her aid; they had been summoned to do her bidding, but they were still dangerous. This ought to have burned her to a crisp, yet while she felt the fire, it was nothing more than a teasing, tickling sensation on her skin.

“Dragon’s scales,” she whispered the curse, shocked. This made very little sense to her practical, well-educated mind.

“The limitations you take for granted? Forget them. Being trained to harness your Aether, and yet reaching out to your inner darkness, your Shadow? You yield a power few could ever dream of. Now it’s up to you to use it wisely.”

Then, her friends made it, wishing her well.

“So what now?” Guillaume asked.

“You’ll all be Blessed. What we’ve seen of you over this season told us much of your character - you’ll be given official titles as servants of the Northern Var.”

“And what of me?” Talia bit her lip, anticipating that the answer would be different in her case.

“All kingdoms of men made a pact long ago. No Enchantress is bound to any one land. Every kingdom will contribute to your pay and may call upon you should they need assistance against great evils. You’ll be free to go where you please and do what you deem right.”

She frowned at the unexpectedly civilized arrangement.

“What if there’s a war between, say, the Var and the Highlands?”

The Tutor shrugged. “Such foolishness doesn’t have to do with mages, in general, and Enchantresses in particular.”

That sounded too good to be true, and she said so.

“Not quite. You still need to pay taxes.”

Typical.

The Blessings were grander than any ceremony she’d ever attended, weddings and funerals of holy men included. They were all presented with a kingly gift, as well as a parchment citing their new station: Talia’s was an armor that made her blush from head to toe.

“Why isn’t this covering anything?” she whispered, once the king had moved on to the next victim.

“The silvery metal is Maille,” Trudy whispered back. “My uncle has some. It deflects most spells, and even dragonfire, from what I’ve heard. Just a little bit in contact with your skin is enough.”

“Right. So why does it look like this?”

It wasn’t an armor as much as a tunic, basically open at her crotch, paired with the smallest of shorts and high boots. She’d only consider wearing that if death was the alternative.

“Because,” said Guillaume, “the tailor is a man.”

That was as good an explanation as any.

They laughed, drank, and promised to stay in touch. The next morning, they all went different ways, going back to the world of proper plumbing after months of using chamber pots. Talia didn’t expect to regret it half as much.

Traveling west, back to Malek, Talia was thinking about the Tutor’s words again. “Use it wisely,” he’d said of her newfound powers. She was still wondering what that meant. A little voice at the back of her mind told her that her Tutor and her new friends didn’t expect her to spend the rest of her life in her small village, curing various ailments of the nobles who came to her parents’ door.

She had to go away again, some day. Perhaps even soon. The notion was a little painful; she’d loved her excursion to the capital, but leaving for good? There wasn’t much to recommend Malek, except her family.

She could imagine that leaving her parents behind wouldn’t be a hardship; seeing them only occasionally for the blessed days. But what of her sisters? Her chest tightened. Aleria might do well enough, but poor Xandrie had little to please her at home. Talia was her one ally; could she abandon her? No, she couldn’t. So, if she went away, she was going to have to convince her sister to accompany her.

She bit her lip, as the carriage arrived in front of her parents’ house . Had it always been so small?

Something felt wrong. She knew it even before she knocked on the door.

When her mother greeted her with open arms and a sunny smile, she frowned. Her first words were, “Where is Xandrie?”

Talia was back out the door within minutes of passing the threshold. Next to her, her beautiful sister wore her thickest coat and carried a large bag with provisions, and, no doubt, plenty of money. This was Aleria, after all.

That she’d followed without so much as a question was surprising. For all her coldness, her silent and haughty air, apparently Aleria preferred her sister’s company to a life of comfort.

“What now?”

Talia bit her lip, wishing she had a concrete plan. They had to go to Xandrie’s aid, that much was clear, but how?

Dragons come from Farden or Absolia, a voice inside her said. A familiar, dark whisper, which felt like exploding and destroying at the idea of their sister in danger. Both are south of here.

“Now, we go south. A dragon flew out of Malek. It won’t have gone unnoticed. We listen to the rumors and follow Xandrie’s abductor to the Kingdom of Gold, or the Kingdom of Fiery Shadow.”

She expected her sister to call her insane. To say they, two mere women, had no chance of coming out of this quest alive. Protest that Xandrie wasn’t worth it, perhaps.

“Right. Let’s go buy horses.”