"Well, this is a pleasant surprise. This is the first time you've ever taken the initiative to talk to me, isn't it?"

Ariom scowled at the elderly man on the other side of the desk. General Kalion Obarin was no longer the powerful battlemage he'd once been, but he was in good shape for someone over a hundred years old. His white hair still had bits of copper in it, and his clear eyes were still a vivid red-orange. The classic mark of a fire mage.

And of course, he still had that boyish grin that always got on Ariom's nerves.

"Don't look at me like that. I mean it. I was honestly surprised to hear from you, and I'm honestly happy to see you. I'm even resisting the temptation to annoy you by telling you how much you resemble a certain unmentionable relative of yours when you glare at me like that."

"I think your sincerity still needs some work..." Ariom said through clenched teeth.

Kalion shrugged. "You're the one who insists on seeing ulterior motives in everything I say. And what's wrong with your dragon?"

Iggy was huddled in Ariom's arms, looking around the room anxiously with his ears flattened.

"Where's the scary monkey?" he asked, finally turning to look at Kalion.

"Tamon? He went out for a stroll." Kalion gestured toward the open window on one side of his office. "Did you want to see him? I can ask him to come back."

Iggy shook his head so vigorously that his ears made a flapping sound.

"Really now.... I'm not sure what you're so worried about. He likes to act tough, but he's actually a sweet guy at heart, you know? And the contract prevents him from eating anyone's magic apart from mine, so he's not going to hurt you. Anyway, you can relax. He left not long before you came, so he probably won't be back for a while." Kalion turned back to Ariom. "Well then, what was it you needed?"

Ariom patted Iggy, who had calmed down a bit at hearing that Kalion's familiar wasn't around. Then he took a deep breath to calm himself down. It wouldn't do to lose his temper when he was here to ask for a favor. "It's about a boy that the Stability Center took in a few weeks ago. The chaos morph."

"Ah, him." Kalion nodded with recognition. "I haven't met him yet, but I've seen the reports. A sad case, that." His expression became unusually somber for a moment. "We'll do the best we can for him, of course, but the prospects don't look good. All we can really do is study his magic as thoroughly as possible and hope something comes up during the research. We're cooperating with the Association and the Royal Academy to that end. In the worst case...well...at least we can improve the odds for the next chaos morph that comes along...." He sighed. "So, did you come to ask for a sample of his magic to research?"

Ariom shook his head. "I want to offer him a job."

Kalion raised an eyebrow.

"I've been thinking of hiring a magic assistant, and Thenio happens to be quite good at enchanting. The Stability Center does sometimes allow outside wizards to take custody of young magic users who have come into their care, don't they?"

"They do," Kalion said slowly. "But that's generally because the two have similar affinities. The purpose is to give the younger magic user a suitable mentor to help them learn to control their powers. What makes you think you're particularly qualified to take care of a boy with a chaos affinity?"

Ariom had expected this question. "Iggy and I can both use magesight and void magic, which means we can detect when Thenio's magic is starting to destabilize and keep it from going out of control without needing to keep him under heavy suppression. Iggy's still young, but he's from a high magic breed, so his power level is already quite a bit higher than Thenio's. And his familiar talent is exceptionally good magic sensitivity, which means I've already put in a lot of effort making sure the enchantments in our house have very low power leakage so that they don't irritate him. That should make it a relatively safe environment for Thenio to live in. The report you got should have mentioned that he's easily influenced by ambient magic, correct?"

"Yes, it did. And it's true that's a concern with having him live at the Stability Center, since it means they'd have to keep him mostly isolated from the other residents. Though keeping him isolated at your house won't be that much better."

"I don't think he'll need to stay isolated for long. It will take some experimentation, since I've never worked with a chaos affinity before, but I should be able to design a customized insulation enchantment for him. It won't be enough to completely protect him from outside magic, so he'll still have to be careful, but it should increase his overall stability by quite a bit. He'll be able to leave the house, at least."

"Oh? Now that's interesting...."

Ariom frowned. He didn't like the way Kalion said that. He had a feeling he was going to have to enforce his 'no work commissions from the military' rule in the near future....

"And what about his training program?" the general continued, seemingly oblivious to Ariom's suspicious gaze. "Do you have something in mind?"

"That one's going to take some experimentation, too. I can teach him the Center's standard training methods, of course, but it's hard to say if they'll work with his magic type. If they don't...well, I've thought of a few things to try out. Elementalism exercises, for one, since chaos morphs seem to be somewhat similar to null affinities. I'm planning to ask my uncle for his advice, too."

"Hmm...." Kalion tapped a finger on his desk thoughtfully. "All right, then. One more question: Why? Even if it's within your realm of expertise, it's a pretty daunting task. I know you, Ariom. You're not the type to get involved with a random boy you have no connection to. You don't even take on apprentices unless they're relatives or close acquaintances. So why are you willing to take on this responsibility? Why do you care about this boy so much–to the extent that you're even willing to come ask me for a favor like this?"

There was a moment of silence.

"Iggy likes him a lot," Ariom said finally. "He feels sure that working with Thenio will be good for us...and for him."

Kalion raised his eyebrows. "That's it? You're just doing this because your dragon wants you to?"

"Isn't that enough?" Ariom looked down at Iggy and rubbed the little dragon's head lightly. "I know he's young, but he has scarily good instincts. I've learned it's better to trust him on things like this."

There was a pause, and then Kalion sighed. "I guess I can sort of understand that. I have a rather peculiar familiar myself, after all...." He gave a wry smile. "All right. I'll vouch for you. You'll still have to go through the official approval process over at the Stability Center, but if you have my recommendation, they shouldn't give you too much trouble. But there are a few things you have to agree to."

Ariom frowned. "What things?"

"First." Kalion held up a finger. "This should be obvious, but you'll have to get Thenio and his parents to agree. We're not going to forcibly assign him to you if he doesn't want to go. Second." He held up another finger. "You'll need to cooperate with the Center on this. I know you don't like the military. But keeping the poor kid alive is already going to be enough of a challenge as it is. He doesn't deserve to miss out on potential resources just because of your grudge."

"I guess I can't argue with that..." Ariom said, a bit reluctantly. "Is that all your requirements?"

"No, there's one more. Consider this returning the favor I'm doing you by giving you my endorsement. I want you to consider taking on a job. It's not directly through the military–it's something we're working on together with the Royal Guard. You've done work for them a few times before, haven't you? They'll be the ones hiring you if you decide to accept."

"If I accept?" Ariom raised an eyebrow. "You're not forcing me into it?"

Kalion shook his head. "It's serious business, and it could be a bit dangerous. Though a void mage should be less at risk than most. But I'm not going to try to force you to take the job. I just want you to consider it."

Ariom frowned. It really must be serious if that's all he was asking for. "What kind of job is it?"

"Analysis of some...rather volatile enchantments. The Royal Guard will give you the details when they contact you, but...are you familiar with the Order of the Ravener?"

"What, those psycho demon worshipers?"

"The very same. They use an unusual style of magic formations for their rituals. We've had a lot of trouble finding anyone who can analyze them properly. Especially since 'properly,' in this case, also includes being able to analyze them without triggering any of the nasty traps that the cult enchanters seem to love throwing into their work. I've actually thought of asking for your help before, but I was pretty sure you'd refuse any request that involved the military. Well, like I said, I'm not going to force you to do it. I just want your permission to tell the Royal Guard to contact you and your promise that you'll hear them out when they do. That's not too much to ask, is it?"

"Since it's coming from you, I can't help feeling like there must be a catch somewhere." Ariom eyed the general suspiciously. "But...fine, if it's just listening to the request. I won't promise any more than that."

"I'll take what I can get." Kalion smiled pleasantly. "Then if you don't mind waiting a few minutes, I'll call over someone from the Stability Center."

 

---

 

Thenio was dreaming.

What made him realize this fact was, appropriately enough, seeing the dream beast standing in front of him. He wasn't really surprised to see it. He'd been spending a lot of time looking at the figurine Eteon had left in his bedroom. He found it very comforting for some reason. So it was probably only a matter of time before it appeared in his dreams, whether dream beasts were real or not.

What did surprise him was how big it was. He'd been imagining something about the size of the black deer that lived in the mountains surrounding the capital city–only four or five feet tall. But this was even larger than a gryphon. The top of Thenio's head didn't even reach its shoulder.

It was also much more beautiful than he'd expected. The figurine was painted a solid indigo color, but this creature's coat was mottled shades of deep blue and violet, with a light dappling of white that shimmered faintly, like stars in the night sky. Against this dark background, the brilliant white on its mane and the edges of its wings shone like moonlight.

Thenio gazed into the dream beast's silvery blue eyes for a long moment. Then the creature turned and trotted lightly away from him, following a path that led deeper into the misty forest that surrounded them.

"Hey, wait!" Thenio ran after it. The creature seemed to be running slowly enough that he could stay behind it easily, but he couldn't get closer to it no matter how hard he tried.

Well, it was a dream, after all.

The dream beast didn't run for too long before it slowed to a stop. Thenio came up beside it and looked around. They'd reached a point where the path branched off in a number of different directions. But as far as Thenio could tell, the different paths all looked exactly the same.

"Thenio! Hi!"

Surprised to hear a familiar-sounding voice, Thenio turned and saw that one of the pathways was different. There was a tiny black dragon in the center of the path, sitting up on his haunches and waving both his front paws in a cute, welcoming gesture.

"Thenio, come this way, okay?" Iggy called. "Come and play with me! We've got lots of good toys and lots of chickens to chase! We'll play together and be friends, okay? And Ariom and I will help your magic not go boom!"

Thenio didn't think he really wanted to chase chickens....

He stood there awkwardly, not sure how to respond. Then he felt something prodding him gently from behind. He turned to see the dream beast. It had been pushing his back with its nose.

"What? You think I should go with him?"

The dream beast inclined its head.

"That's...." Thenio hesitated and took a step closer to it. He didn't know why, but the creature gave him an odd sense of nostalgia. He felt reluctant to leave it. "I understand, but...can't it wait a little?" He reached out a hand and tentatively stroked the silky white mane that covered the dream beast's neck and chest. "Can't you stay...just a little longer...please...?"

It lowered its head and softly nuzzled his cheek.

I'm here.

It wasn't an audible voice. Rather than hearing it, Thenio seemed to feel the words swirling around him, like they were floating on the breeze.

Whenever you need me. I'll always be here.

 

---

 

Thenio opened his eyes.

The early morning sunlight was shining through his bedroom window, making long golden rectangles on the slanted ceiling. Thenio stared at them for a few minutes, trying to shake off the strange mood that the dream had left him in.

It wasn't too hard to figure out why he'd had a dream like that. Today was the meeting with the people from the Stability Center and whatever other groups were interested in researching chaos affinities and helping Thenio stabilize his magic. The decisions made in this meeting would probably have a huge impact on the rest of his life–however long that turned out to be.... The symbolism of trying to choose a path to get through a dense, dark forest was obvious. And the dream beast...well, hadn't there been a wooden carving of one sitting by his bed for the past couple of weeks? It wasn't hard to see why he would dream about that, either.

He wasn't sure what Iggy was doing in his dreams, though. It had been over a month since he'd even seen the little dragon. And the last time they'd met.... Well, Thenio's memories of that day were actually pretty fuzzy, either because of the magic suppression bands or because of the shock of learning about his chaos affinity. But he was pretty sure he'd yelled some rather unpleasant things at Ariom and Iggy in his fit of anger. At the time, they seemed to pity him enough to overlook it, but he didn't really expect them to go out of their way to get involved with him any further. He probably wouldn't even see them again, let alone get invited to chase chickens together....

After a few more minutes of contemplation, Thenio got up and got dressed. When he arrived downstairs, he found Lem in the kitchen measuring baking ingredients.

Lem looked up as he came into the room. "How come you're up so early?" Thenio hadn't been much of a morning person this past month.

"I just had a weird dream that woke me up." Thenio shrugged. "Is there anything I can help with?"

Lem nodded at a bowl of apples on the counter near him. "You can cut those up, if you want."

Thenio found a knife and a cutting board and sat down at the kitchen table to start peeling apples. It had been quite a while since he and Lem had cooked anything together. There hadn't been much opportunity while he was living in the academy dormitory, and after leaving school, he'd always been wearing suppression bands and hadn't really had enough energy for things like cooking.

He'd never understood why Lem was willing to cook together when he usually avoided Thenio as much as possible. Maybe just because Lem really enjoyed cooking? He was planning to study alchemy when he went to magic school in a couple of years. But whatever the reason, Thenio was grateful to at least have one thing he and his brother could do together.

"It looks like you're making breakfast cake. Do you want these cut into small pieces, then?"

"Yes. But cut one of them in thin slices. I'll put those on top."

"Got it."

There was a short silence.

"You don't usually put this much effort into cooking breakfast," Thenio said, trying to keep the conversation going. "Is there any special reason for it? Or were you just in the mood to do something fancy?"

Lem dumped a small spoonful of cinnamon into the mixing bowl and then paused, apparently considering his response. "I just...thought it might cheer everyone up a little," he said finally. "You and Mom and Dad have that meeting at the Stability Center today, don't you? They've been worrying a lot lately. About everything. About you."

Thenio's knife stopped moving. "Yeah...I guess they have...." He stared at the half peeled apple in his hand for a moment. "Well. It's really good of you to want to help." He resumed his peeling.

Lem didn't say anything.

The two of them worked in silence after that. Much as he valued time with his brother, Thenio really didn't feel like talking anymore.

"How much do you have left?" Lem asked a short time later.

"I'm on the last one. Just give me a minute." Thenio finished cutting up the last chunk of apple and used his knife to transfer the stack of apple slices from the cutting board into the bowl. "Okay. Here you go."

He held the bowl full of neatly cut apples out to his younger brother, who was waiting next to the table. Lem reached for it, but as soon as his hand touched the bowl, he stiffened and his face distorted slightly.

"Lem? Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Lem took the bowl and turned away. "I'm fine."

Thenio frowned as he watched his brother take the apple chunks back and start stirring them into the cake batter. What was that about? Lem probably wouldn't tell him, even if he kept asking. He was a good kid with a lot of talent, but he'd always been a bit odd. Thenio sometimes worried that the burns he'd given Lem the first time his magic had exploded had somehow had a permanent effect, although based on everything he knew about magic burns, there was no reason to believe that was the case.

He sighed and leaned back in his chair, temporarily ignoring the pile of apple peels on the cutting board in front of him. He wasn't looking forward to the meeting later, but he was anxious to move on to a new training routine and hopefully stop having to wear these stupid suppression bands.

Getting tired out just from cutting up a few apples seemed a bit ridiculous.

 

---

 

"Right this way." The young woman wearing one of the Stability Center's blue apprentice uniforms gave them a pleasant smile and gestured toward a hallway to the left of the reception desk. "Everyone else is already in the meeting room."

"They're waiting for us?" Thenio's mother sounded alarmed. "We're not late, are we?"

"No, no. You're actually a bit early," the apprentice reassured her. "Grandmaster Sephior wanted to meet with everyone else ahead of time in order to go over a few things. That's all."

"Oh. I see." Thenio's mother didn't seem entirely convinced. She'd spent the past few days worrying about making a good impression in front of all the important people they'd be meeting with today.

Not that anyone had told them exactly who they were meeting with. But Grandmaster Sephior had mentioned the Wizard Association and the Merioc Research Alliance. These were major international organizations, and their representatives were likely to be fairly high-ranking wizards. Thenio's mother got nervous enough just talking to Grandmaster Sephior, who was pretty non-threatening in spite of his impressive titles.

The three of them followed the apprentice down the hallway and into a large meeting room. There was a long table running down the center of the room, with six or seven people seated around it, who all turned to look at them as they entered the room.

"Thenio! Hi!" called a cheerful, child-like voice.

Thenio froze in surprise. A tiny black dragon was trotting across the table toward him. When he reached the edge, Iggy jumped off, spread his wings, and flew up to land on Thenio's shoulder.

What was this? He wasn't still dreaming, was he?

What was Iggy doing here...?