A/N- And here we have my entries for JacKim Week 2k14. This year all my responses to the prompts are interconnected to weave a larger story for the whole. Consider these drabbles sort of like... selected chapters, I guess, of the first book in a fantasy trilogy. Whether the other two books will ever be written is up to my muse.


The palace on the hill in Shitoshi, home to generations of royals since the birth of the kingdom, was not a handsome building. It had been built to be a touchstone, the beating heart of the kingdom of Shi around which the capitol had grown over the centuries. Grandeur and beauty were reserved for the airy summer palace by the sea far to the south; the business of the royal family while in the capitol was that of governance, not leisure.

In a small antechamber, a girl sat ramrod straight on an unpadded bench, her eyes fixed blankly on the tapestry adorning the wall opposite her. The girl was about twenty years old, and quite a curious thing to look at. Her angular features and the traditional styling of her dark hair seemed to mark her as a woman of the Niwan people from the north, but she was dressed as a Shian native. She was sitting perfectly still except for her left hand, which was clenching and unclenching spasmodically on the bench beside her.

The people of the merchant district called her the Lantern Girl, and not only because she had found employment refilling the gas lamps in the district as soon as she was tall enough to work. Her given name, though few bothered to use it, was Jacqueline, and she had been born with an affinity for fire.

It had started small. A shower of sparks when she stamped her foot during a temper tantrum as a child. Candles that seemed to light themselves spontaneously. Wet firewood that proved willing to burn regardless.

Mostly people didn't seem to notice, or if they did they didn't care. Perhaps it would have been different in a small village, but Shitoshi was different. Magic was around every street corner in the capitol, and there were certainly some very unusual affinities out there. A young woman whose only real gift seemed to be keeping the lamps lit was not worth much notice.

At least, she hadn't been until this evening, when the butcher's boy who'd been bothering her for weeks had finally stopped taking no for an answer and made a grab for her. In that instant a fireball had burst suddenly between them, searing the skin on his hands and forearms and singeing her skirt. The snivelling creep had gone running straight to the city watch, who had dragged her off toward the prison down by the riverside, but before she could be incarcerated, a woman with a face much too youthful for her silver hair had arrived bearing the command to escort Jacqueline to the palace instead. The woman- who gave her name as Eruka- had deposited her in this room with strict instructions not to leave, and she'd been here ever since.

She was sure it was after midnight by now. Half the lamps in her district must still be unlit, with her hauled off in royal custody, but there was naught she could do about it at present. Jacqueline could only sit, and wait.

After what felt like another hour, though, Eruka returned. Accompanying her was a pair of very tall men. The first was pale and appeared rather underfed, which Jacqueline desperately hoped explained the hungry gaze he wore as his bespectacled eyes ran over her intently, making her shiver. The second, in contrast, was tanned and heavily muscled. She suspected that his vision was no better than his companion's, however, as he wore an eyepatch over his left eye.

"You're still here, then," the man with the glasses observed sardonically.

Jacqueline nodded, her throat too dry to speak.

"Free and I were taking bets, you see," he continued. "I had hoped to find that the first reported fire mage in over a century would prove a little more… rebellious."

"Eh?" She was utterly baffled.

He grinned, revealing a rather unsettling number of teeth. "Miss Dupre, you have been sitting in this room for upwards of three hours. The door was unlocked, and you are not restrained. You could have left at any time, yet you did not."

"I thought—"

"No, no," he said with a wave of his hand, "don't get worked up about it now. The king, at least, will be delighted that his new fire mage is so pliable and eager to follow directions without question." His gaze was satirical as he peered at her over his spectacles, still with that faintly manic grin on his mouth. "It will make you a tremendous asset to the crown, I'm sure. If, in fact, Eruka's report is accurate and you do indeed have an affinity for fire, of course."

Jacqueline wilted a little, unable to meet his eyes.

To her immense relief, Eruka chose that moment to speak up. Clearly over-compensating for the tense atmosphere with forced cheerfulness, she said, "Jacqueline, this is Stein. He's the resident warlock here in the palace."

"Professor, Eruka, I am a professor," Stein interrupted. "The term warlock is rather pejorative, you know."

Eruka looked as though she was exerting a great deal of effort not to roll her eyes. "Right. Of course. Must've slipped my mind, silly me. Anyway, Professor Stein here is an expert on magical history and multiple types of magecraft. He'll be evaluating your power and control as a fire mage and overseeing your training to make sure you're fit to—"

"I'm sorry, what?" Jacqueline interrupted.

"Oh, of course. I asked Eruka not to explain everything to you earlier," Stein said. "The king is very eager to recruit talented mages to his service. The unrest in the north is making him uneasy, and it's best to rally his strength now, and all that military ho-hum." He waved his hand, as if rumors of riots and skirmishes in the northern cities was a subject beneath his notice. "You'll be fully briefed on the details once Free and I decide you are adequately prepared to enter the king's service."

Jacqueline was fairly diffident by nature, but there were limits to what she would accept without question. "You talk as if I have no choice," she ventured.

"That would be because you haven't," said Eruka, tucking her hands behind her back and bouncing frenetically on the balls of her feet. "It'd be different if you had some other affinity, but a fire mage…" She trailed off with a helpless little shrug.

Jacqueline's heart was pounding hard and she couldn't think of a way out of this situation. "But I'm not a fire mage," she protested feebly. "I'm barely a… a candle-witch, at the most. I can keep a fire burning better than normal people, that's it."

The other man, who had thus far been silent, spoke at last in a warm baritone. "To hear the bystanders talk, you created a fireball that damn near killed a man and set half the merchant district ablaze. Whatever magic you may normally use, clearly you're capable of much more under pressure."

She had surprised herself today, that much was true. She'd been trying not to think about it, allowing her eyes to skim over the singed hem of her skirt and ignore the faint smell of smoke that was still lingering about her. It was something she would deal with later, once she had time to sit down and think it through properly… except here was this man— she thought Stein had called him Free?— was bringing it forcibly to her attention.

"That… may be true," she conceded reluctantly.

"Excellent, then!" Stein said, clapping his hands together sharply and beaming as though that decided the matter. "I've read every account in existence about the power wielded by fire mages, but being able to observe one in person will be the opportunity of a lifetime. I'm looking forward to studying y— er, working with you," he amended hastily at a sharp look from both Free and Eruka.

"So this is it?" Jacqueline asked, glaring at the trio. "I'm just… impressed into service to the crown, just like that?"

Free shrugged. "Why not? We all were."

"Really?"

Eruka nodded. "One way or another, we were all… let's say 'encouraged' to work for the king. And it's not such a bad life, really. You'll still get to see your family, if you've got any, and the pay's excellent if you're good."

Well, that didn't sound so bad. And no matter how nervous Professor Stein made her, it ought to be more interesting than lamp-lighting, right?

"Okay," she said. "So what happens now?"

"Well, for tonight you'll be escorted home to gather your things and say any necessary goodbyes," Free said. "Then tomorrow you'll report to the mage's barracks below the Keep at noon to begin your preliminary evaluation. Test the upper limits of your power and the like, you know. You'll be assigned a cubby in the barracks where you'll live for the duration of your training."

Jacqueline nodded numbly, wondering how on earth she was supposed to explain this to her aunt (who, come to think of it, was surely frantic with worry by now).

"Who are we assigning as her bunk-mate?" Eruka asked.

Stein snapped his fingers. A scroll appeared in the air before him and dropped into his casually extended hand. He unrolled the parchment and examined its contents. A sadistic smirk twisted across his face. "Diehl."

The pitying looks both Free and Eruka sent her way at this pronouncement did nothing to settle Jacqueline's apprehension.