1: Lorlen and Yilara

"Did you ask her?" asked Lorlen eagerly.

Yilara ignored him, letting him wait. She sat down on the ground and pulled the chess set from its hiding-place. As they set up the pieces, she spoke.

"Mother says we can choose to enter the Guild and she doesn't care if we don't," she reported at last.

"What do you think?" asked Lorlen.

"Our parents were the strongest magicians in the Guild, Lorlen!" replied his sister. "How can we refuse?"

Lorlen sighed. "It feels like a betrayal," he admitted. "The Guild exiled him." He moved a white pawn forwards. "How could we join them?"

Yilara moved one of her black pawns, looking down at the ring on her left hand – gold and ruby, given to her years before by her mother. Lorlen had one the same, but in silver, on his right hand. "The Guild might have suggested exile," she said finally, "but Father only accepted it because the King wanted it. If you don't join the Guild, you'll end up in politics, because you're the eldest son. You'll be living with House Velan and seeing the King every day."

Lorlen moved another piece and considered that. "They still sent him to his death," he said stubbornly. "They should never have suggested exile in the first place."

"True," admitted Yilara. "But the Guild is different now. They admit the lower classes. They help people from the Outer Circle."

Lorlen fell silent. As they played, he wondered what he should do. What would his father do?

Well, he knew the answer to that one. His father had joined the Guild. Not only that, but he had saved the Guild.

And what Yilara had said was true. His father's exile had been the fault of the King as much as the Guild. And now the Guild had changed, but the King had not. It was a choice between the Guild and the court, and he didn't think he could face serving the King directly.

Yilara watched her brother's face. To anyone else it was perfectly calm, as was her own, but the siblings could see past that. She watched the emotions in his eyes, making her moves methodically, waiting for his decision. She kept her knight threatening Lorlen's king, waiting for his decision so that she could finish the game then.

Finally Lorlen looked up from the board and said simply "Yes."

Yilara promptly checkmated Lorlen's king and shoved the game back into its hiding-place, and the two of them raced off to tell their mother.

Lorlen had found the spring years before, the day their mother had given them the rings. He had wanted to be alone and to think, and had just wandered aimlessly in the forest. Then he had found the spring, and sat there and thought.

Later he had shown Yilara. They had sat back against a boulder and talked about everything and nothing. Then Yilara had pressed her hand against the boulder and pulled out a game from a hidden compartment. Lorlen remembered exactly what she had said: "Never mind all that. Let's play chess."

Ever since then, the two of them had spent their spare time at the spring, talking and playing chess. Their father had come there as a novice, and then their mother, and now they were.

Administrator Osen opened the door of his office and found Lady Sonea, the Black Magician, sitting calmly beside his desk. With her indifferent expression and black robes, combined with the way she had appeared in Osen's office without being let in, she reminded Osen far too much of Akkarin.

"My twins will be entering the Guild with the summer intake of novices," she said briskly.

"Are you sure that's wise?" asked Osen. "Wouldn't it be better to keep them away from Inava a bit more?"

"I don't want to hold them back," replied Sonea. "And I don't see that Inava would make much difference, really."

Osen nodded reluctantly. "Could you leave by the door this time?" he asked as she stood up to go.

"Then people would see me leaving when they hadn't seen me arriving," Sonea pointed out. "All sorts of assumptions might be made." She didn't wait for an answer, but crossed to the wall and opened the entrance to the secret passages.

Osen picked up the letter about Inava from his desk and reread it.

To the Administrator of the Magician's Guild.

I have a daughter, Inava, who I wish to send to the Guild of Kyralia to be trained. She knows nothing of the use of higher magic, and I intend to keep it that way, having seen what it can do to people. Therefore I would like her to be trained in all other forms of magic in the ways known to the Guild.

You will find her fully prepared for the next intake with regards to prior knowledge. Her powers have not been released. In short, she is just like any other new novice and I would like her to be treated as such.

Should you see any reason why Inava should not enter the Guild, please inform me. If not, she will be present at the Acceptance Ceremony for this year's summer intake.

Sincerely,

Lady Savara of the Sachakan court.

Osen stared again at the signature, one thought running through his mind: Akkarin's children in the same class as a Sachakan. This year is going to be hell.