“Don’t be sorry, Tercius,” Mistress Prime’era said, the mirth shining in her glacial eyes. “Not about this,”

Master Perdinar glanced at Mistress Prime’era with calm eyes. “There is indeed no need for an apology from you, Tercius. It was my frustration with Mistress Prime’era that got the better of me for a moment. But now I think that we can all agree that this was truly a trivial matter, so let us all start treating it that way,”

Tercius nodded.

“But of course, Perdy,” Mistress Prime’era nodded sagely.

Perdinar's eyes rolled as he murmured something unintelligible under his breath. "In short, what my fellow Magi here asked me to ask you is for you to become a long-needed agent of change for the Society."

Tercius blinked as he waited for Perdinar to continue, but as the silence stretched and the magesome foursome just stared at him, he realized that they were waiting for him to react.

Suddenly lost and unable to think of anything better, Tercius asked the first thing that had been on his mind.

“Is this some kind of a test?”

Confusion was the look his listeners had.

“Explain,” Perdinar said.

"Well… I thought that this was supposed to be about me becoming Mistress Kalina's Disciple. It started out that way, at least. And…" he said and despite his better judgment continued. "And now, all of a sudden, you're giving me a story with a villain and offering me to become some unique agent of change, likely to fight against her and her ilk, and I can't help but think that this is some kind of test where you would determine my traits from the answer I give you,"

He looked at them and they looked back at him. “If I were to accept immediately, you would think that I was easily led on. If I were to ask what’s in it for me, you would think that I’m willing to skirt around the Laws and that I’m bribable and opportunistic. So…

“Is this a test of that kind?” Tercius asked.

There were a few moments of silence while Tercius waited for the answer.

Mistress Kalina seemed ready to say something when Perdinar interrupted her.

“Nothing of the sort, Tercius,” Perdinar said. “But now I’m curious. If this had been a test of that kind, what would be the traits that we would have gleaned from the unorthodox answer that you inadvertently gave us?”

Tercius frowned. "One obvious would be that I'm skeptical, Master, as I think anyone in my position would be. Or at least they should be. Are you truly asking me to become this— this… whatever an agent of change is?”

“In their name, I am,” Perdinar said. “But you don’t have to agree to it at all, let alone now. You have nearly five cycles to make this particular decision.”

Tercius glanced at Mistresses and found them silent and observant, as they had been for most of the conversation. He had to wonder just how much did Mistress Prime’era and Mistress Helfira know?

And, despite the relatively long time frame offered by Perdinar, Tercius doubted very much that they were not expecting him to agree to this offer. Perhaps it was his innate distrust of people in power speaking, but why would they bother asking him if they didn't think that they had something to either force him or win him over to do this?

What was it that Perdinar said? They will need you and you will need them. That’s all well and good while we need each other, but what happens when that stops being the case anymore?

“So what exactly is this agent of change, Master?” Tercius asked, fishing for more information. “Or better yet, what exactly would make me an agent of change if I were to choose to become one?”

“An agent of change is a… complicated character,” Perdinar said, his eyes narrowing to some distant point. “A character whose strength stems from being able to cross the bridge from magical to mundane — and do so again in reverse — seemingly at need. An unseen collector of hidden information and guarded items and an able perpetrator of untraceable actions, both subtle and grand. Someone whose existence is only suspected, but never once proven. Fingers will be pointed in vain for our character will be a ghost found only in barely uttered whispers and passing shadows.”

By now Perdinar had closed his eyes completely, likely visiting the world and character of his creation. “Someone masterfully versed in infiltration of private strongholds, abodes guarded by both magical and mundane means. A character who isn’t breaking any Laws, because no spells would be used in any of the aforementioned actions. And, most importantly, a character who — on account of technically being a mortal — is not weighted down by any agreements which the Magi of the Pyramid have with the Spirits, the mortals, or anyone else.”

“Our character is a legend,” Perdinar said, his eyes slowly, almost reluctantly opening from some kind of a daze.

Under the enraptured gazes of his audience, a large floating paper appeared before Perdinar with a snap of a finger and, as a burning smell invaded Tercius's nostrils, dark lines started appearing on that rough-looking surface. First, the Rune key was burnt in around the edges of the paper as Perdinar's rapid eyes surveyed the work, and then came the time for the center of the Rune to be filled in with the actual contents.

Tercius shook his head. Perdinar had always liked to write down any idea that he considered would make for a good story, but this was the first time that Tercius had seen the man do it this particular way.

Still, Tercius now saw a part of the bigger picture and the source of their need for him.

“Quite a character you have there, Master,” Tercius said. “And may I ask, who is your character when the work stops?”

Without skipping a beat, Perdinar explained. "A properly faked death would give the character a large amount of freedom and a broad timeframe to work with, but a somewhat solitary life of a hermit in an isolated, hard-to-reach place.

“A double life would offer some opportunities of its own, but also its downsides.

“A well-done disappearance caused by an accident, perhaps, one which was obviously outside of the character’s control would be similar to the faked death, but it would also allow this character to rejoin the Society at some later point. Yet this one could be quite tricky to properly set up, time, and then execute,” Perdinar said.

“Those are but three different ways my character could choose from. I will likely think of more, but suggestions are also welcome,”

"You certainly have the makings of a plan there, Master," Tercius said, appreciative of the effort of them at least giving him some options to choose from. He had to say that he expected something far more… rigid. Also, options number one and three both had a certain quality that Tercius rather liked… Perdinar knew him well, perhaps too well.

“It’s a start,” Perdinar nodded.

"But I'm not sure how much this character of yours wants to be involved in this story of yours, Master," Tercius said, continuing with the metaphor, which strangely made it easier for him to speak without inhibition. "The work of your character seems to be fertile for making enemies of certain types of dangerous people… and others."

For the first time, Perdinar looked at Tercius with serious eyes as he shrugged. "That would be the case regardless of whether my character chooses to become an agent of change or not. Just as a light always draws a certain type of insects so too will my character draw enemies, regardless of personal preferences. Enemies are inevitable and just a matter of time. But I also think that my character is clever enough to realize that enemies are not the only type of people out there. An abundance of allies is waiting out there as well."

Tercius nodded reluctantly. But just as he wasn't keen to create enemies for himself, he also wasn't sure how desirable allies were…

Making either was risky and yet the reverse could also prove much the same, and Tercius couldn't even begin to comprehend just how big their consequences would be, so how was he to make a rational decision on this?

"As I've already said, that decision can wait for nearly five cycles. Now we have another point to discuss," Perdinar said. "Earlier you said that we had veered off course from you becoming Kalina's Mathethes and that is indeed true. But I, or rather I while speaking in their name, had a reason for going about things in a certain order.”

“Oh?”

“You are on a personal mission right now, Tercius, are you not?”

Once more Tercius glanced at the assembled Mistresses and found them as silent as earlier. A personal mission? Does he mean about me going to pick up Rona and Septimus?

With a look at Mistress Kalina, her lessons about interactions of mages with religious groups came to him and Tercius connected some dots. Spirits, mages, and Tercius smack in the middle. Magi would need him and he would need them. Like pieces of a puzzle, things came together.

"This mission of yours is what made this particular conversation happen now rather than a cycle or two down the line," Perdinar said. "You see, Tercius, to the Spirits — Juvenile, Mature, and Elder ones, as we Magi rank them based on several factors — Mediums are the only way to feel a breath of fresh air or taste the sweet nectars of nature. To the Priesthood, Mediums are the conduits to harness and reliably wield the powers of Juvenile and Mature Spirits—"

“You don’t think that I’ll be able to get my grandmother and father out of there on my own…” Tercius murmured suddenly.

“I don’t think that there will be issues with the Priesthood letting your father go, but your grandmother will likely be expected to stay permanently if she lives on to form a Well and in doing so becomes a Medium.”

“I see,” Tercius said calmly, feeling strangely numb.

Looking back at the past week or so, he could see now that Mistress Kalina had been preparing him for this news. She never stated it as clearly as Perdinar did, but… the words and sentences had been there. The Magi, the Well, the Spirits… He just didn’t put them together cohesively.

Maybe he didn’t want to.

But they were here now, ringing loud and clear in his rapidly warming ears, and they were not something he could ignore. If he had only had more firmness in denying Energy, nothing of this would be happening…

But… if he didn’t share his Energy back then, then Ciron wouldn’t have been able to repel the il’Drusus agents at all nor would have Aurelia been able to escape when that man had tried to kidnap her.

No, he decided, sharing Energy back then was not the issue he should even be focusing on here and now. That was completely pointless here and now and now was not the time for pointlessness.

Perdinar didn’t lie when he said that Tercius would need the Magi.

"Tercius," Perdinar called back Tercius's attention. "You're a Neophytos in possession of a Well and you are about to walk into the midst of a place filled with Energy starved Spirits who belong to a religion for which, if I'm not wrong, you don't have a particular belief in. If you were to step foot near that monastery you will be a shriveled husk of a corpse in a matter of minutes."

“I heard the same thing already,” Tercius said and glanced with a small, apologetic smile to Mistress Kalina. “But I guess I was just too focused on other things to understand it,”

Mistress Kalina nodded to him with a small, tight smile.

Slowly breathing in and then out a few times, Tercius finally nodded. “I’m ready. So… What should I do? Should I take off my robe and shirt for this?”

Perdinar’s eyebrows came together into a strange frown. “Explain.”

Seeing that frown, Tercius suddenly wondered what he got wrong here. “Uhh… if my Well is the source of my weakness to these creatures and, uhh, if mana channels can be stripped off as I’ve learned that they can, then by that same line so can the Well. I will just have to grow another one at some later point,” Tercius explained and swallowed heavily. “So… I’m ready when you are,”

The trio of Mistresses suddenly looked at Tercius without blinking.

Perdinar shook his head in disbelief, shaking the new long black hair everywhere. “It can be stripped, indeed. But why do you go immediately for such a drastic solution when there are more… practical ones?”

“There are?” Tercius asked, surprised. Mistress Kalina didn’t mention that and he had only seen her defending herself from the Spirit in their home…

“Your physical Well can be enchanted with special spells of sealing which will hide the organ completely, so much so that even you won’t be able to use it. But, because the enchantments are done on a living, magical organ, they will be in a state of rapid degradation. They should function near perfection for around two weeks, which should be more than enough time to go there, do what you need, and leave,”

“I did not know about these kinds of enchantments, Master,” Tercius confessed.

“Few do,” Perdinar said with a smile. “And fewer even know how to do it and have the skill and the resources to do it properly. Even smaller is the number of Magi in possession of those characteristics who are also willing to actually enchant it,”

Tercius nodded. A needle in a hill-sized haystack, or at least it was presented to him as one.

“Let me ask you this. Are you willing to give up on this venture of yours, Tercius?” Perdinar asked.

Tercius shook his head immediately. “No. No, I’m not.”

“You will have to leave your Amulet and robe with Kalina for the duration of this personal mission of yours. Kalina will not be able to follow you into the monastery itself.”

Tercius nodded. “I know.”

Mistress Kalina had already told him that.

"Then the offer I give you, in their name, is this: You will get the concealing enchantment to use on your personal mission in exchange for keeping your mundane and magical senses open for any kind of interesting information while you're inside the monastery itself. If you don't learn anything, then that's that. But everything and anything interesting you find out will have its own additional price attached upon your return," Perdinar said.

Tercius nodded. There were worse things that they could have asked for and he would have likely done them. Keeping his eyes and ears open was easy. “I can agree to this,”

“I was also asked to ask you if you would agree to Kalina’s complete absence in this venture,” Perdinar said.

Mistress Kalina shot up like an arrow from her seat, a wave of mana washing over Tercius and making him shiver. “What?! Where did this come from? I do not agree with this! Why—”

“Kalina.” Mistress Prime’era said calmly. “Think about it. Your presence there will raise guard against him, while your absence would allow the boy to better integrate.”

“But Mistress, I am to provide the rapid exit for my Disciple in case—”

“Tercius isn’t your Disciple yet, is he?” Mistress Prime’era said, making Mistress Kalina’s face drop. “And Kalina, please compose yourself and think about this rationally. His chances of success in all aspects of this endeavor will be higher without you there. Your presence would only add needless difficulty to an already difficult enough task,”

Mistress Kalina seemed tongue-tied as she struggled to utter a coherent word. This was her Grand-Mentor going behind her back!

The sudden drama attracted attention from everyone else present, but where Tercius and Mistress Helfira reacted with some manner of surprise, it was Perdinar whose face went dark.

“Settle down both of you. I was chosen to be the speaker here and I say that this is to be Tercius’s choice. Tercius. What do you say to the proposal?” Perdinar said loudly.

Suddenly it was Tercius who was the center of attention and he still was grasping the previous circumstances.

Looking from one face to the other, he found them all waiting and his insides went into turmoil.

On one hand, Mistress Prime'era's suggestion had complete sense. The presence of Mistress Kalina would make things more difficult, if not impossible. But if he were to side against his future Mentor here and now? Something like that would make his entire life more difficult, if not impossible.

Tercius leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees and his head into his open palms. He looked at the floor as the hands covered his eyes away from the other occupants of the room. The constant looks they were giving him were distracting and were making it difficult to think, but as soon as he was free of them a potential solution came to him.

Finding a new Mentor was out of the question, so… if he could make both work… somehow… then good, but if not then... there was only one way forward.

“Can we finish the Rite of Tfenn before anything else?” Tercius asked.

Mistress Kalina suddenly had a large smile on her face.

“Of course,” Perdinar said. “Let’s all stand up.”

So they did.

Standing equidistant to each other, they formed a circle. Tercius was looking at Mistress Kalina, with Perdinar to his left and Mistress Helfira and Prime’era to his right. Suddenly Perdinar slapped his palms loudly, the thundercrack becoming a semi-transparent dome with a slight tinge of black to it, that ballooned out to encapsulate all five of them.

"Kalina, you start from the first part," Perdinar said.

A low humming noise rose in the background and as Tercius followed the sounds to the sources he came to see that mana visible with naked eyes was being ejected from the noses of Perdinar, Mistress Prime'era, and Mistress Helfira. It was almost as if they were ejecting heated air from their lungs. All three of them slowly raised their left hands to the level of their elbows, then, as they closed their eyes, from empty horizontal palms a small, nearly translucent plume of flame suddenly came to burn.

As Tercius stood to gawk, Mistress Kalina’s powerful voice rose to thunder.

“I, Kalina Zorya, Mistress of Alchemy and Wards, Guardian and Enforcer of the Laws of Magi, Curator and Head Archivist of The Repository of Knowledge of The Order of Magi, hereby invoke the honored Rite of Adoption. I ask of you, Tercius of Nurium, to be my Disciple. I pledge knowledge and guidance for your mind and body, to support and guide you along the path of your magical craft to the utmost of my ability.” Mistress Kalina recited in Magik.

The humming noise became a melody and it rose even further, the vibrations ricocheting around the dome Perdinar erected earlier. Tercius started weaving the spell he learned recently as soon as Mistress Kalina finished with her part and as the finished spell-rings were made to settle on his extremities and fingers, he began to recite the second part of the Rite.

“I, Tercius of Nurium, hereby answer the call of the honored Rite of Adoption. With this freely given Announcement I accept you, Kalina Zorya, Mistress of Alchemy and Wards, Guardian and Enforcer of the Laws of Magi, Curator and Head Archivist of The Repository of Knowledge of The Order of Magi, to be my Mentor. I accept the offered support and guidance and I pledge to study the offered knowledge and take heed of the offered advice so that I can learn to pave my path of magical craft.”

The three flames danced brightly in the palms of their holders, but Tercius felt no heat from them.

“Long may we search for Knowledge.” Mistress Kalina concluded.

The blazing eyes of the witnesses snapped open as the flames on their palms were extinguished.

““Long may we search for Knowledge!””