Jonathan learned that night that Warren was exceptionally smart, almost unbelievably so. He had an excellent grasp on respect, responsibility, leadership, and reality. Though Warren was slightly skeptical that he could be good at anything (he had explained that people always treated him like garbage, and no one but his Ma ever loved him) he was willing to apply himself to learning the Bazhir laws and customs. Jon came to greatly admire him.

As Jonathan poured tea for himself and Warren, he remembered something.

"Warren? Do you have a Gift? A magical Gift?"

Warren smiled and held out his palm. Quickly, a ball of silver fire grew there. Without a single verbal command or hand movement, the ball rose into the air and dispersed. Jon thought nothing had happened, but suddenly all of the candles in the room went out, then lit again, glowing a bright silver. After several moments they returned to normal.

"How did you learn that?" Jon whispered in awe. It wasn't that Warren had done something remarkably advanced, but Jon was baffled as to how the boy would have learned sorcery.

"I picked it up as I grew," the boy answered with a shrug. "For a while I stayed with Rentil of Tallan" he named a powerful mage in the South "and learned some things."

Jon clapped him on the shoulder. "You'll do just fine."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jon and Warren studied for many nights. Finally, although Warren was not finished with his studies, Jon decided that Warren should visit the desert. He approached Gary, who organized his meetings, to see if he had time.

"Sorry, Jon," he said. "But you don't have a spare minute for…" he closed his eyes and moved his lips silently. "About three months."

Jon hung his head in mock-dejection. Warren had to go to the desert, but he had two other friends who had been adopted by the Bazhir. Warren's going wasn't a problem. He just wished he could be there.

A/n: SORRY! I know its short, but I have A HUGE MENTAL BLOCK! I know what I want to happen, but I just cant get it there w/o rushing the story! After 5 reviews I will update again