Episode 1: Entrance

Author's note: In case anyone thinks that it is, this is NOT a long long kind of fan fiction. That is why I named the chapters episodes instead. They are more like a collection of short stories. I got most of the ideas from those bits and pieces of Lorlen and Akkarin's past which are brought up sometimes in the story.

The administrator's assistant was reading out the names of the novices followed by the name of the family they belonged to and finally, their houses.

Lolren tried to stop fidgeting, the entrance ceremony was after all a formal event. However, it was just so difficult to contain the excitement which was threatening to spill out of him anytime soon.

A few weeks ago, he would not have believed that he would one day be standing in the Guild Hall, wearing the brown robes which were worn by novices. Initially, Lorlen had thought it quite impossible that he would one day be able to break off from his House to become a magician of the guild.

Not that his parents would miss him of course. He seldom see his father who was almost always at work (he often wondered what exactly did he do at work) while his mother would always attend all sort of tea parties. She sometimes dragged Lorlen along as well (even though he had protested against it, he prefer staying in his own room and read his books)

However, he was his family's eldest and only son. Now that he thought about it, it was not all impossible. His House was not all that influential in court. Not poor of course, but definitely not as wealthy as those influential Houses. His father did not have any high positions within the House either. Perhaps that was why his father had looked so happy when a certain relative who was a magician had told him that Lorlen had magic potential. Everyone knew that having a magician in the family would somewhat boost the family image.

He decided to observe the other novices standing beside him. Some of them looked haughty. Some of them looked nervous. A few of them were dressed in clothes so fine and so elaborated that Lorlen wondered how many days and how many people did it take to produce it. He wondered how many of them were from those wealthy influential Houses, and how many of them were from the court of other countries.

Walin, one of Lorlen's cousins was a novice. He had told Lorlen that though one of the Guild's rules was for magicians to cut off the ties between them and their respective houses, most magicians were unable to do that. Novices from the Lower Houses were often bullied. Popular novices were often from the influential Houses.

When Lorlen heard that he got a bit frightened. He had no idea how to deal with bullies, especially if they decided to gang up. Walin had laughed at his worried expression. According to Walin their House was ranked somewhere near the middle, so there was very little chance that their House would end up right at the bottom. There is almost always another certain someone from a Lower House.

Great, what a vague phrase, almost always.

Akkarin did not bother to hide the fact that he was fidgeting while the administrator's assistant (Lord Falin or something, he did not bother to remember his name) was going through the name list. As a matter of fact, he wasn't really fidgeting anyway. He was merely looking and glancing around. It wasn't like it was against the law or anything.

Some of the novices looked really nervous. Some of them were so nervous that they seemed to be trembling. Akkarin could not help but felt amused by their actions. He could not understand why was there a need to be nervous on such an occasion. They are the stars of this ceremony, and he was determined to enjoy every second of it…

As he glanced and looked about, he caught the eyes if another fellow novice. The novice stiffened, then lowered his eyes to the floor, as if he was ashamed that someone caught him fidgeting and looking about during the ceremony. Akkarin could not help but wonder if he really looked that scary. Then again, there was always a possibility that the novice was a goody two shoes.

He noticed the elaborated fineries of some of the novices. If they were not from Elyne, they would have to come from one of those powerful, influential Houses. On the contrary, some of the novices wore less elaborated clothes. None of them looked too shabby though.

Of course, if they do they would be throwing their Houses' reputation down the drain.

Akkarin mused over this thought. He had often felt that it was ridiculous how children of less influential Houses often get bullied by those from the powerful Houses, The fact that this actually happened in the guild made it even more … amusing. Surely, the power and might of a novice would come from how strong a novice actually is? .　

The administrator's assistant was almost done with the list of names.

He finished announcing the particulars of the last novice in list.

The question of guardianship was posted. No magician decided to take on the guardianship of the novices though.

Satisfied, Lord Falin folded the list of names and announced,

"I present to you, the summer intake of novices!"

Auhtor's notes: This is quite a cliché and boring start , then again, I could not think of what exactly will happen during the entrance ceremony . Hope you enjoy the read, I will update very soon. REVIEWS PLEASE