Title: Desertion
Written By: Anargil and SolamnicKender (Mage and Knight)
Summary: Bethany leaves at midnight. Sabrina can't figure out why.
Disclaimer: We don't own anything you recognize.

Chapter One: Departure. It begins. Where's Luthien?
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Bethany opened her eyes. Sabrina was asleep; the fire had burned low. Lunitari was out, casting everything in red, and the stars were bright. It was time to go.

Silently she slid out of her bedroll, rolled it up, and attached it to her pack, and then took the waterskin she had prepared and attached that too. She stood and silently began to walk away, northward. Then she paused for a moment, thinking, looking behind her at the still sleeping Sabrina. "I can't just leave her... but I must. She's going to be pissed at me for leaving her when... and if... I get back. It's the only way. I have to do this alone." With a final nod to her sleeping friend, Bethany strode forward across the plain, quicker and softer than a shadow.

She knew exactly where she had to go, though she had never been to her destination. Some unseen force drove her, spurring her on through the night without rest. After a few hours, the sun rose, dew on the grass glowing red in its' early crimson light.

Suddenly, she paused. Closing her eyes for a moment, palms suddenly sweating with nerves, a quote from Raistlin in the Soulforge came to mind : "I will do this. Nothing in my life matters except this. No moment of my life exists except this moment. I am born in this moment, and if I fail, I will die in this moment." Holding her breath in anticipation and fearing that what she needed wouldn't be there, she turned, and let out a gasp of relief. There was the forest of Wayreth. The Council had indeed decided to let her in.

Cautiously walking into the dark of the forest, it wasn't long before she couldn't see her hand in front of her face. She quietly spoke a few words in the language of magic and held out her hand, and a small flame appeared, floating above her palm. She continued on with the conjured flame lighting her way.

Before long, she reached the gates of the tower. Nerves taut to the fullest, her awareness levels were soaring. She could hear the rustle of every leaf, the crackling of every twig. Her heart pounded in her throat, she couldn't breathe... but not letting any of this show, she opened the gate and slid through, then closed it behind her.

The next few minutes passed as a dream to her. She was going to take her Test in the Tower of High Sorcery. It was almost overwhelming. She'd dreamed, but never believed this would happen to her. She stood with the six other initiates as they awaited their Tests. A bell rang in the Tower, and a disembodied voice and hand guided them into the Hall of Mages and then through to the Council Chambers. Each initiate was summoned down a dark hallway. When it finally came to be her turn, it was then that Bethany finally came to herself. She would need all her wits and every scrap of magical knowledge she had to pass the Test. Failure would mean... death.

With a final prayer to the gods of magic for guidance, Bethany walked down the hallway toward her destiny.

Sabrina woke, the bright sun in her eyes. Her first thought was how nice it was to sleep late, even when sleeping on the ground. This was quickly overshadowed by her second thought: Why didn't Bethany wake me up?

She opened her eyes, squinting in the mid-morning sunlight. Looking around, it quickly became apparent that Bethany wasn't there. "Bethie?" she called, wondering if she was just taking a walk or something. No answer. "Was she captured?" Sabrina thought, vowing to go and make sure that every captor was slain by her sword if that was the case, but then she noticed that not just Bethany was gone. Her bedroll, back pack... everything was gone. "Could she have... deserted me?" Sabrina considered that thought, then negated it. "No, she wouldn't do that. She's my best friend! She wouldn't just leave me for no reason. Something must have happened. Maybe she's just hiding, and as soon as I actually get up and start looking for her, she'll pop out and scare me half to death."

Sabrina rose, looked around, and peeked behind several nearby bushes and trees, each time expecting Bethany to jump out at her, and each time being disappointed. Finally there was nothing to do but pack up her stuff and pretend she was leaving. Maybe if she started to leave, Bethany would give up hiding and follow her, saying she had been kidding. But an hour later, after packing up very slowly and walking very slowly away from their most recent campsite, there was still no sign of Bethany.

Finally, at the end of that day, Sabrina was fully convinced that Bethany had either left or been captured, leaning towards captured because Bethany just leaving was too hard to think about. "I'm not that bad of a traveling companion, am I?" Sabrina thought, sitting beside the fire she'd had to make herself because Bethany hadn't been there to cast a fire spell. "I travel fine. I don't run, but Bethany doesn't run much either in those mage robes... She must have been captured, and her captors were smart enough to take all of her stuff with her so I'd think she deserted me. That's got to be it. I'll just keep looking for her on my way back to the meeting."

TBC