Summary: Galen is a convict on the run... that doesn't mean he isn't going to stop and search for a scholar to teach. Pre- The Dark City, from Relic Master

Fandom: Relic Master (Misc. Books)

Rating: K

Genre: General

Warnings: n/a

Characters: Raffi M. and Galen

Status: complete

A/N: The Relic Master's series! I just thought, after reading Galen explaining his first meeting with Raffi, I'd write it for myself. Feedback is much appreciated.

Galen was not a very patient man.

Passing by the small farmhouse on his way north, he hadn't expected anything to happen by far. He'd simply been on his way to a notice he'd received about a nearby relic. He doubted it still held power, but hope was all he really had.

What hit him as hard in the chest was a feeling he hasn't felt in years. It wasn't a relic- no relic had been that powerful in centuries. Certainly not a Kest creature, as none with that strength had been seen in years. No, this was not something of that Makers... but someone.

He paused outside the house. Did he dare hope? Could he even afford to? He glanced down the road, thinking it over for a moment.

He knocked on the wooden door.

The woman who answered was heavily pregnant, her forehead glazed with sweat as she held a bowl in her hands. "Oh," she said quickly. "We weren't expecting visitors."

"Indeed," Galen replied. He scanned the house. It was small, too small. By the fire in the living room- or dining room- sat six children. All of them were chowing deeply on their food, which was a pitifully small amount.

One met his eyes.

He had brown hair and green eyes, which didn't at all set him apart from his siblings. What did set him apart, however, was his strange attentiveness. The other children, including older ones, had barely spared a glance Galen's way. He hadn't stopped looking.

The mother interrupted him. "May I help you?"

Galen nodded. "Yes, I'm looking for a scholar, and I have a gut feeling one of your children may be them. Would you allow me to test them?"

The mother blinked, placing down the bowl behind her. "Oh, of course." She looked at her children. "Maril, go get Jex from the farm. We have a very important guest here tonight."

A young girl ran out, and returned moments later with a man who appeared as about nineteen or twenty. He nodded politely to Galen.

"Children, this is-" she froze, realizing she didn't have his name.

"Galen," he supplied. "I'm on a search for a scholar. I'll be staying here for a few days to watch some of you before giving my final test. Understand?"

He was direct, certainly. Stern? Absolutely. Mean? It didn't appear so.

The staring boy grew interested.

"What do you teach?" the mother asked. It was an innocent question, and a difficult one to answer without possible finding himself thrown out. However, there wasn't a pause in the conversation.

"Many things," Galen replied. "Diplomatic skills, survival, writing and reading."

All those things were true, just not the full story.

The mother nodded, satisfied. "Good. My name is Maryia. Have a pleasant stay. Jex, show Galen the guest room."

The next few days made Galen more and more sure the feeling had been passing.

None of the children were even slightly exceptional. Each moved through their day and seemed content with their lives.

Galen moved to a table on the final day and recited a passage of the Litany with perfect memory and no indecision whatsoever. All seven children watched with utter fascination. They didn't recognize any passage, so it was safe.

As he finished, he felt his heart become stabbed with longing and unused power. He scanned to group in shock and found it was the boy who had watched him so attentively those days before, now gazing at him with desperate need, and dissatisfaction with his current life.

In an instant, he knew that was the one.

But still, he brought out the wooden figures. Before, he'd decided it would be a simple random choosing, with the one who selected Theriss- it was Therissday- becoming his choice. He'd already decided to go back on that.

Only years later, when his scholar had become kidnapped by the darkest creature under Anara, would he understand why he had.

"Each of you who are interested in coming with me, choose a figure," he said.

Jex, the oldest, was the first to step forward and naturally selected Flain- the fittest and tallest wooden figure.

Meril, the little girl, followed in his steps and grabbed Theriss with a careful look in her eye, examining the woodwork.

And then he stepped forward.

The boy examined all of them, but his twelve year old gaze continued to move back to one figure in the corner.

'No,' Galen thought desperately. 'Any one but that.'

But he grabbed the Kest figure anyway.

Galen didn't know what to do. He settled for holding out a hand to the next child who was on its way, addressing the twelve year old before him instead.

"What's your name?" he asked, almost breathing out the words. He sensed a bit of hope and nervousness bubble to the surface of the child's mind.

He blinked. "R-Raffael. Raffi."

Galen waited a minute. Then he said, "Go pack your bags, Raffi."

The child grinned and ran off, happiness Galen had seldom felt coming unto him.

He glanced at the wooden Kest on the table with question in his eyes.

Maybe... he shook his head. No, this most certainly was his apprentice. He felt it.

But Galen found he couldn't draw his gaze away.