"I'm here to take you to, oh?" The maid, a young woman with straight brown hair, opened the door to see the pair of groggy youths contorted in odd poses as they were punching and kicking. "Hello?" The two flinched, turning to look at her with a mix of surprise and embarrassment.

"We… we didn't sleep last night." The girl said sheepishly. "We were busy, training."

The maid looked at them skeptically, "all right then, get yourselves cleaned quickly." No sooner had she said that as the two held hands, and what looked to be a layer of dust and grime plucked itself off them, making its way to the bath before being washed down the drain. "Hmmm…. Good enough, but you should still wash up, get rid of the sleep in your eyes at it."

After half an hour of quick cleanup Faris and Venka lined up in front of the maid, who observed them with a critical eye before nodding in approval and walking them down.

"I heard my brother escorted you to Ilrea, I hope he wasn't too much trouble." She said lightly.

"Bergan is your sister ma'am?" Faris asked.

"Yes, in fact, Ilrea is the city we were born in, our parents are one of the old nobles, and one of the first to swear fealty to Nasuada after the war."

"Oh? Really?" Faris asked. "But why? I'm sure your family was powerful under Galbatorix's rule, why would they submit to their rule, and let you become a maid?"

"I'm more of a secretary, my maid duties only go so far as to help my queen organize her paperwork, and help direct guests all over. And I and my brother owe the Varden our lives, this is the least we can do to pay them back."

Venka looked curious, "What happened?"

"When the Varden attacked the city, which was then called Uru'baen, Galbatorix called for any group of children in close proximity, we were the first ones his men noticed, and he took them, despite my family's support of him over that terrible century." She held her self. "When he was defeated by the combined effort of the Shade Slayer, Elf Princess, and Murtagh, they shielded us from the final attack, which ripped most of the top layer of this castle from its foundations, and would have destroyed this city. They didn't demand anything of us two, they merely asked us where our homes were, before anything else, even before gloating or celebrating their victory, they returned us to our parents."

She smiled. "Many still argue that the Varden should not have gone to war, that this turmoil we face now is their fault. I say that a king that is willing to destroy his most loyal subjects in order to achieve a petty victory is the absolute worst person to rule." As the procession continued towards a large pavilion Faris noticed the general attire of people began to change, less men and women in tunics and blouses, and more people in the dark robe with gold trimmings along the sleeves that he had seen the mages in Nasuada's office wear.

"The mages seem not to respect Nasuada. Which is weird cause I think Galbatorix was a worse king." Venka looked to the maid for confirmation.

They arrived at a large pavilion, flags of different lords and ladies littered the area, the largest being the symbol of the Varden, which replaced the Broddring kingdom's original flag. 13 men and women sat in a semicircle looking down on an arena like area, littered with scorch marks and a few deep furrows, as well as several practice dummies, large rocks, ponds of water, and a whole host of other things.

"Well, yes and no, it is true that most faced a life of servitude or death under Galbatorix, but many of Nasuada's policies regarding the scope of what mages can do can be seen by some as extremely heavy handed. Many mages argue that the ability to use magic is a talent and skill just as much as being a blacksmith, or an exemplary musician, or an accomplished swordsman, and that mages should not be given extra burdens to take on. Of course, many of the weaker mages have received higher status after joining Nasuada, she and many others have been very ingenious in the way mages could devote their abilities to help with public works, and that's where the different guilds come into play."

Faris noticed that six of the thirteen wore the robes he noticed Trianna and her entourage attired in, and others were wearing an assortment of different clothing of different distinct colors. The pavilion had raised step seating in the style of an amphitheater, and it was full of children and adults, a vast majority of whom wore either the black robe with gold trimmings or a light blue robe with white trimmings.

"What are these different guilds?" Venka asked curiously.

"It will take a bit too long to explain them all, since we are here, and it seems the proctors look impatient." The maid gave the two kids a reassuring smile. "Good luck out there!"

"What's your name?" Faris asked as they stepped towards the arena.

"Hanna!" She called back, before bowing before the thirteen and turning to leave. Giving a waive to her brother, who awkwardly waived back, to the amusement of some of the other judges. Faris and Venka walked forward, and stood before the thirteen. Faris bowed first followed by Venka, who gave a light curtsy.

In the middle of the thirteen mages, a well-built man with long black hair and piercing blue eyes looked at them, seemingly bored, he wore what seemed to be a tunic modelled after the black and gold robe, he had a billowing cape, clasped together with two pins that were studded with pretty big diamonds, he had a necklace, a simple metal chain, but the ornament that hung from it was another diamond. Faris new with almost absolute certainty those gemstones weren't for just showing off. Many other of the mages had jewelry of different size, shape, and cut, though none seemed as well adorned as the man in the center was, he cleared his throat, and in a booming voice spoke.

"I thank my fellow pursuers of the arcane arts for coming here on short notice, I know many of you were delving into further secrets of magic, or busying yourselves with the numerous public-works our queen has put into motion, so I will do my best to make sure we do not have to use up too much of your precious time." He turned to the two children. "Faris and Venka, as your names are put, two children from one of the post-war villages, Briarwood. I have heard tales of your exploits, and of how in total 18 cultists of the villainous Black Hand were subdued through your actions and tenacity." He leaned his head on his fist as he slouched forward on the table, giving a bemused smile.

Faris and Venka remained in their positions, bowing and curtsying respectively.

"You may rise." The mage said. "I have been told that Bergan recommended you the pearl initiate title."

Murmurs of surprise could be heard from the crowd.

"Two more? But the examinations ended!" someone said.

"It's unprecedented!" shouted another.

"They're too young! The six who made it were at least 13, in fact they're too young to even be bronze initiates!" Another screamed.

The mountain chorus of disapproving voices caused Venka to begin to panic, her mouth began to tremble, and Faris grabbed her hand in solidarity, calming her a bit. The head mage let the crowds speak a bit longer, before silencing them with a raised hand and magic enhanced voice.

"Due to the unprecedented nature of this, many voiced their concern over children as young as ten and eleven being admitted into the main halls of our illustrious academy, especially as one normally needed to spend the year prior as a copper initiate before they were deemed worthy of becoming even a bronze initiate, most children below the proper age taking positions as pages and assistants to the students in higher positions and full-fledged mages, if even." Many of the people in the crowd nodded along. It was only fair, many of them reasoned.

"But… six have passed the diamond initiate test, and they were admitted into the diamond initiate class despite being first years, true they had been in the copper initiate faze before, but they had shown themselves exemplary, and came from an impressive pedigree, these children were rumored to have defeated a member of the original Black Hand, a member skilled enough to evade pursuers for the past 15 years."

Many people in the crowd grew silent, the Black Hand was an organization to be wary of, even if a mage could be caught by surprise it would require an extreme level of power or ingenuity to overpower a mage as skilled as the fabled original 24, who by now would have been reduced to 6, yet two children had overcome one of those originals?

"These rumors are enough for us to at least grant them an opportunity to take the test, it would be a disservice to us all if mages as potentially talented as them do not receive the opportunity to prove themselves. As our strength is the binding ties." Many of the mages and apprentices nodded to his words, even as others scowled and gave looks of envy, disbelief, or desire. Faris was wary of the ones giving looks of desire.

"So… here is our test, it shall be a simple endeavor, destroy the test dummy." Many students laughed, until they saw what was brought out.

Two solid iron mannequins, thickly built and posed as scarecrows, were raised up into the arena from unseen pulleys.

"You each must destroy one. But you may only use magic."

Venka was feeling nervous, she had never attempted something like that, and she worried even more for Faris, who after the training could summon the pillar of flame Anya launched at her all those weeks ago, for maybe a few seconds. Faris for his part was feeling around the metal dolls, trying to see if there were any weak points to abuse, he noticed that the on the left had a deep crack, likely from rough handling, he began layering moisture and air into the crack, laughing to himself internally as he used this combination to accelerate the rusting of the inside.

"Venka," he began, "Don't go all out, use maybe a tenth of your energy, destroy the one on the right."

"What?" Venka looked at Faris with alarm. "Are you sure that's enough?"

"Actually, that's probably still too much, Venka, imagine you are holding a butterfly, the amount of pressure you put to pet its delicate wings? That's how much magic you should probably use. Do whatever you want, you just need to blow it up, or melt it. Have more faith in yourself, you're extremely powerful."

Venka nodded, still nervous, but she trusted Faris' judgement. She walked forward, facing her metal target, and raised her hand. She had practiced mentalization with Faris, it seemed drawing and storytelling were important parts of kindling her ability to visualize things, and it helped focus her thoughts, she thought of the sun, bright and hot, and thought of a fireball, just as bright, just as hot, she imagined it spinning fiercely in her head, her hand began to warm, she began to feel the magic in the back of her mind flow out. "Just a drip…" She repeated this phrase to herself, getting what to her felt like a thimbleful of magic, but to Faris would have been a lake. She locked eyes on the target, and uttered her magic.

"Istalrí!" (fire)

A massive flame, larger than a boulder and irradiating an extreme level of heat, surged into existence. It blasted towards the iron golem, writhing and coiling like a starving beast, mad with desire to consume its prey, it hit the dummy, the impact causing a booming explosion, but it was not done there, Venka was not done, the flames coiled around the iron bits, which were bright and hot, and began to melt them down, rapidly soon all that was left was a glassed crater, and glowing molten metal in the center. Venka looked in surprise at what she did, she barely felt exhausted, in fact making sure she could keep the flames from getting out of hand had grabbed her attention the most. She looked at Faris, who was deep in concentration, with newfound respect. If he hadn't been with her all this time, she might have killed someone with her power this was the second time it was demonstrated to her. The mages could only stare in awe at this sight. Bergan for his part had his jaw open wide and began to laugh hysterically as the mages began to murmur in the crowd over Venka's display of absolute power.

"Is the kid good enough for you old farts yet?!" This elicited an argument that was immediately cut by the head mage, who merely nodded, turning to Faris.

"Have you given up? You have not uttered a single word yet."

Faris shook his head. "I am sorry, I was just preparing myself." He turned to look at the statue, he had used some of the heat and blasted wind from Venka's attack, controlling what was already there to hasten his rusting process, now the statue was almost completely rust, just a micro thin layer lay on top.

"Nangoröth jierda" (withered snap). The Statue snapped in half, as the rest of the rust took over, crumbling into a fine red dust that scattered the floor, Faris for his part removed an empty flask from his pocket and gathered a good bit of the rust.

This caused the mages to go silent, one child was able to form a flame attack that rivaled the combined efforts of 30 high class human or dwarven mages. And the other through seemingly simple means was able to corrupt the metal from within, causing it to rust and collapse, an act that any one observing would merely call transmutation, which was a magic not even the elves would attempt lightly. The head mage narrowed his eyes, even as he continued to smile, giving an almost snake or catlike appearance. "Well, you two are excused, let us deliberate."

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Well hello, fancy seeing you guys here. What's that, I write stories so of course you'd see me since you've come to read this story? Woah! Radical. Anyways hope you enjoyed this chapter!

:3