"There's so much of everything!" Daine exclaimed. She was sitting in front of Numair on his horse Spots, traveling through Corus. She saw countless shops and stalls, all selling such colorful clothes and jewelery. In New York, where she came from, there were stores, but none had this effect on her. She always thought things in New York were a little too gray for her tastes. But this place was bursting with life. She could almost feel the energy emitted from those people. Spots was a bit disgruntled at the moment, what with putting up with Numair's less than graceful riding, Daine's extra weight and the fact that Corus was so crowded with people he could barely walk. Daine sent a mental encouragement to the poor horse. He calmed down a bit. She turned to Numair. "You know, you should really try to improve on your riding style. Poor Spots is so uncomfortable."

"How do you know that?" the mage asked. Daine blushed a bit.

"I have a knack with animals. I can just tell." Numair looked at her doubtfully for a moment, then went back to looking around and steering Spots around so as not to step on anyone. Wanting to know more about Numair, Daine asked "So how do you become a mage?"

"Well, at Carthak, you study in the University until you get the mastery robe of whatever color you were aiming for."

"The robes have colors?"

"Yes. White is the lowest form of mastery. Black is the highest. Only 7 mages in the world have reached that level."

"What robe color are you?"

"Black."

Daine gaped at him. "You mean only 6 other people in the world besides you wear a black robe?"

"Yes. I hope you didn't think the spell that brought you here was an easy one. A lesser mage might've died trying to pull it off. There was a risk that I might've died." Numair said matter-of-factly.

"What kind of things can you do?" Daine asked in amazement. Numair laughed.

"All kinds of things. I'm just a regular person like you."

"Yeah, with a lot of magic!" the girl grumbled. "So what's this "Gift" thing you were talking about last night?"

"The Gift is a person's magic abilities. Un-Gifted people are those who poses no magic. The Gift also has a certain color. You may have noticed mine is black. It is the color of your essence." Daine was nervous for a moment. If you had a black essence, didn't that make you evil? She asked Numair that question and was relieved to hear him laugh. "No, no, no. The color of your magic is usually the color of your eyes. If you had the Gift, it would come out blue-gray. Get it?" she nodded. "Good. Now, there's the Palace up ahead. I'll need to introduce you to Their Majesties which means you'll have to change into something more appropriate. I'll try to find Alanna, see if she can't get you something. Would you prefer a dress or breeches?"

"Um.. Breeches, I suppose." she said, not really sure what she was going to do when she met the king and queen. But Numair is going to tell them that I'm from another dimension so I guess that excuses me from saying anything stupid. She thought. They reached the gate and a young man took Spots and Numair's bags. Daine looked towards the actual Palace and gulped nervously. Then she gritted her teeth and stuck out her chin stubbornly. She would see this through and make Numair famous for bringing her here. She would also try to fit in here. In the past few hours, she felt more complete than she had in her entire life. She followed Numair to the Palace and to her new life.