Part 2

His name was OwlDance, Ancasta discovered. He was what her mother would have called a "makework" and her Master would have called a "ne'er do well."

"Leatherwork, mostly," he conceded as he showed her the way to the Mage Quarter. "Though I cook, and some say I'm good at it. I trade a great deal in such, and anything else I can find. I'm part of a guild, though to hear our leader name us we're a bunch of rabid Grellkin. I hunt for meat and skins. And I wander sometimes, or go home to Teldrassil to see friends or to Auberdine to fish for crabs for cooking."

And he seemed to know every turning of the street and every alleyway they passed, called out greetings to merchants through the doors of their shops all along the way.

She said as much and he smiled a little.

"I've been here quite a while," he explained. "But see -- those banners? The purple with the book, that is the sign of the mages. Who is it you're supposed to speak to?"

"Mistress SunFox, she's an alchemist teacher," Ancasta answered. "And I must find an inn, or some other place to stay."

"Here in the mage quarter that might get expensive," OwlDance said. "Folk come from quite a long way to study here, and the tavernkeepers and innkeepers are well aware of it. But we'll talk to the alchemist first. She may include room and board in the training."

OwlDance looked around as he heard the soft padding of small feet on the slate stones of the alchemist's shop. Through the open door behind him, Ancasta came out into the bright sunlight.

"She can't take me on even as a student," Ancasta said softly. "She has four already, and no time for more."

OwlDance turned and sheathed the dagger he was sharpening, slid the sharpening stone into it's pouch on his belt. "Right. One more place to try here in the Mage Quarter."

"But -- my Master said -- "

"There are other mages and alchemists in this city," Owl said. "And outside of it."

Ancasta blinked up at him and wrung her hands on her staff's leather bindings. "But -- how will I know if they are reputable? What if they are not proper teachers? I can't just go off learning such from just anybody!"

Owl blinked his glowing eyes at her. "No offense, but it's a big world and your old Master can't know every last alchemist or mage. How are you to learn the magics and potions peculiar to a place if you don't learn them from the mages who live there? Is your idea of learning so limited?"

Ancasta deflated at that and dropped to sit on the stone stair beside him. "No. It's just -- this was the path my Master laid out for me. He only let me leave Ironforge if I agreed to go directly to Mistress SunFox. And now -- I guess I'll have to go back. I don't know what to do, where I'll be staying, how I'll keep myself."

Owl smiled a little at that. "Then it's high time you learned. Come on. I have a friend I think can solve at least one of your problems."

"How does it keep from falling?" Ancasta asked, peering up at the spiraling stone rampway, hanging without support as it snaked up the side of the Wizard's Sanctum.

"At a guess -- magic?" Owl said innocently.

"You Elves are so literal," Ancasta said sweetly.

He chuckled and started off again across the emerald grass toward the ramp's foot.

Ancasta stared up at the stone and wood construction, and felt the power the place radiated. There were powerful magics infusing even the ground around the tower, the close-packed buildings of an inn and several shops clustered around it, the stones of the walkway. The entire Mage Quarter hummed from the power this building put out. Owl turned at the foot of the ramp and waited for her. Ancasta gulped and padded over the grass to join him.

"You're sure they won't mind?" Ancasta asked nervously as they started up.

"The Academy was almost wiped out during the last war. Each new student they accept is another step in their revival," Owl said. "And like I said, I have a friend here."

The stone rampway led into an open archway in the tower proper, and Ancasta flattened herself against the inside wall as the first thing she saw was a shimmering mass of greenish power not twenty feet inside the door.

"Don't worry. You could walk right through it and it wouldn't hurt you," Owl said. "It's a portal to the Blasted Lands. It won't take you in if you don't have the proper spell."

Ancasta, eyes wide, nodded silently and followed him up another stone ramp that wound up the inner wall of the tower. "And they just leave it right out in the open like that? In the middle of their mage school? Doesn't that put the mages in danger?"

Owl chuckled. "No. And you'll see why in a minute or two."

They came out into what looked to be the tower's only room. Large, round, high-ceilinged, with tables and many shelves of books. Only one man sat at a table near to a large round arcane portal standing free before a wall of the tower.

Owl went to speak to him and Ancasta wandered over to a nearby table. It was a Human sized table and she climbed up on a chair to be able to see the books. Amidst the books, a crystal globe sat on a silver tripod stand. Within the globe, golden light swirled and sent beams of yellow shining through in random patterns. Ancasta hitched herself up onto the table and moved a couple of the books out of the way to scoot closer to the globe. She looked down into the crystal and felt a jolt run through her body.

Suddenly she was not in the Academy of Arcane Arts and Sciences, but outside the tower, floating high above the trees of the Mage Quarter. She saw the roofs of the buildings, the stained glass windows of the tower itself, and then as she flew in a wide arc further into Stormwind itself. Tunnelgates, the spires of the castle, the battlement walls, the harbor, the lazy clouds high above the waves, the ships at the docks. Then she swung again in her flight and she was racing toward the tower again.

Another jolt, and she was back in the tower room, sitting on the table, the glowing sphere of crystal beside her.

"Ancasta?"

She blinked and looked around. The human mage who kept this part of the tower stood beside OwlDance in front of her. "Yes sir," she responded automatically, still trying to shake off the disorientation of her abrupt mental "flight" around Stormwind.

The Human mage chuckled. "Nevermind, OwlDance. I've no need to test her. The globe doesn't respond to those without magic. I'll be back in a moment with Jennea."

"Thank you, Master," Owl said with a reverant nod.

Ancasta watched the Human mage walk to the round portal against the wall and disappear through it's greenish-black energies.

"Jennea Cannon," the young Human mage said with a smile.

"Ancasta Copperbolt," Ancasta responded and shook the mage's hand.

"So which one of you picked up the stray? Did you find Owl on the street or did he find you?" Jennea asked with a grin sideways at the Night Elf. OwlDance smirked at that and sat down on the edge of the table beside Ancasta.

"We found each other," OwlDance answered, then his face abruptly became serious. "There was another attack in the square in the Trade district..."

Jennea gave a long sigh and sank down into one of the chairs at the table, shaking her head. "When? We're sheltered from feeling the backwash up in the Sanctum."

"No more than two bells ago," OwlDance said. He nodded to Ancasta. "She had just arrived here from Ironforge, and happened to be walking across the square when the attack began. I was coming out of the Bank. A square full of flying magic, sabers and horses and people shouting and running in panic -- if I hadn't snatched Ancasta up she would have been trampled. She could have been killed by our own just as easily as by the Horde."

Jennea shook her head again, reached up to rub her eyes wearily. "Something must be done about this. Quickly, before more are killed beyond hope of resurrection. Are we to just allow this? The King --"

"-- is powerless, I know," OwlDance finished for her. "The Guilds are doing all they can."

"It's not enough," Jennea said. She straightened and looked to Ancasta again. "If you've seen the Horde, you've seen what we fight against. Especially for a mage, knowledge is power. We are no less warriors than people like Owl who fight with sword and axe and bow. It takes quite a while to achieve the level of power to fight monsters such as you saw today, but if you keep to the work one day you will be standing toe to toe with the worst the Horde has to offer. And you will be able to do so without fear and with the means to deal with them that few ever achieve."

Ancasta gulped and stared wide-eyed at the young Human mage. "Will it -- will it hurt? The fighting? Will I get hurt?"

Jennea nodded. "Yes. I won't lie to you. You will even die. But one of the first things we will show you is that death is not an end. We will show you how to return to your body and wake from death."

"Then those mages today in the square -- " Ancasta began. "Are they -- will they just -- wake up from being dead?"

"Yes," Owl said. "Everyone will. Even the warriors. My people have the grace of Elune, the Humans have their God of Light, the Draenei have whatever they call their god. The gods have made a covenant with all the peoples, that death is not the true end."

"But it hurts?" Ancasta squeaked.

"Yes," Jennea answered. "Thus the pain, the fear, you saw today. This is what we fight against, the fear and pain and disruption of the lives of so many. This is the weapon that the Horde use against us, even here in the fastness of our own city. They want to make us afraid -- well, I for one refuse to be afraid! I have the means to fight them, and I will not stand for my friends and my city being terrorized like this!"

Ancasta sat back and looked at the Human for a long moment. Then she looked down at her hands. "My people -- you know we are refugees. The Dwarves cannot be expected to play host to us forever. We have our machines but it wasn't enough against the Troggs. My grandfather fought against them on the day we lost Gnomeregan. When I was found to have magic in me, he was the only one who didn't look at me and wonder if I was bad blood. Fighting the Horde here, fighting them in the streets of Gnomeregan -- it doesn't matter where. You're right. People still are afraid, and the Horde are not going to stop for anything less than blow for blow. So yes. If you have a place for me, I would like to be your student."