The End is Only the Beginning 5
For Eärlindë, it had been a long hard fight against the slave traders. The horrors she saw in her camp reminded her of some of the things she saw when her adventuring party took out that cell of Vecna cultists. The rangers found the ring leader and took him prisoner.
"Don't look so smug. You aren't the first slave trader I have handed over to the hangman, and you won't be the last," she said. "One way or another, I will make sure you swing for this."
"The magistrate and I have an understanding. If you try to hang around too long, you might be the one who gets led to the hangman," boasted the slave trader.
For a moment Eärlindë considered hitting him with disintegrate and scattering the dust to the four winds. However, she pulled a crystal vial from her belt of many pockets and walked over to the slave trader.
"I'll just wait until a more honest magistrate can be found to turn you in to. In the meantime, say hello to your new home," she said showing him the crystal vial.
As Eärlindë began chanting in draconic, she reached out and touched the slave trader. His body turned from flesh and blood into smoke and was immediately sucked into the crystal vial. Once this was done, she placed the stopper in the vial and sealed it with wax. The illusion lifted, the rangers disappeared to reveal the heads of the three orders.
"You were considering hitting him with disintegrate," said Ladonna.
"I was also considering wringing his neck with my bare hands," replied Eärlindë. "I'm good, I'm not perfect. Regardless of alignment everyone has the potential to do good or evil within them. Potential only becomes reality depending on which choices we make."
"What would you do if the results of your test landed you in the red or black robes?" asked Ladonna.
"Going renegade is not an option. That has been made blatantly clear to me. I would try to appeal the decision. Please do not take any offense to this, but I would walk away from magic before I took up the black robe of Nuitari.
"Do you value your alignment more than you do magic?" asked Par-Salian.
"What is the point of having magic, if you lose all that you are to gain it?" she replied.
After some deliberation, it was decided to admit her into the Order of High Sorcery as a white robe. After that, it was a matter of some debate between the Silvanesti elf and the Qualinesti elf which realm she should go to. It was a debate Eärlindë watched with much amusement. Because it could be argued that House Mystic had the best resources to teach her Krynn's history and teach her how to speak Magius, she agreed to travel there for a period of time.
Author's notes comments from my beta reader
Nice example of taking a third option when presented with a nasty choice. Well done!
Who we are depends on the choices we make.