“Things will be getting very interesting and we need to work out the details of our story once you’re at full strength.” Tansen said as he got up. After so long, so many hours working the guild and staff to the bone, Eli had finally come back. After briefing Aki about the event, Tansen went back to the day to day tasks of a typical academy head until the afternoon came around and Tansen had three staff members in his office to start keeping an eye on Eli.

“What do you mean, no?” Tansen demanded as he strummed his fingers along the oak desk.

The thin woman with light blond hair and green eyes got a light sweat but gulped and pushed through as her white and blue striped robe matched her two companions and the walls.

“Sir, with all respect, I can’t risk my career and children’s future by possibly getting censured for watching a crafter all day.” She said, to which the portly man to her left and the thin red head to her right nodded in agreement.

“Following him is not socializing or interacting with him.” Tansen said with a sour smile plastered across his face that distorted his goatee and ridged forehead.

“Then get the legal experts in here and tell us as much.” The portly man demanded.

Of course, Tansen couldn’t do that because he knew that doing so would require giving a solid explanation for why the crafter needed to be watched.

“Fine.” Tansen said between gritted teeth. “Get out”

The three scurried across the wood floor and out of the room. Aki was away at the classroom towers but Tansen needed some more time to get the story worked out and keep an eye on Eli. Not having any other options, he put out the order that the toll worker should send Eli back to him if he should try to leave. But by the end of the day it appears the re-appearance of the quad element caster was to be but a foot note when the first bird came in before lunch.

A huge mob of the undead had come from somewhere and was shambling through the woods in the north as it worked its way south. That had sent the offices of Tansen, the guild, and the Front into a frenzy. Invoices for emergency firewood orders, orders for guild teams, and dealing with panicked noble families obsessing over the same thousand safety concerns they always had overwhelmed the bureaucratic systems of everyone in a matter of hours. Tansen swore that they all forgot the last years necrosis right before the start of the next one and while these undead weren’t naturally occurring, they didn’t present any problems for the well to do.

That wasn’t true for the poorer peasants but Tansen’s job was looking after the good of the academy and he left the greater good to the local and central governments.

After a whole day of mad frenzy, overworked secretaries, and hysterical merchants, Tansen finally got to the end of the mayhem and dragged his worn-out body into the bed without a thought given to changing out of his white, gold embroidered robe as sleep took him. A quick breakfast, freshening up and Tansen was back up in the office. The day passed in a hectic stream of going over course changes, student accommodations, and hiring additional guards in a nonstop stream of paperwork. Aki came back into the office as the window behind the open door showed a darkened night sky. Aki’s frazzled grey hair and irritated lip chewing showed a lack of patience long earned.

The older man walked up to the desk with his younger charge enjoying a mug of water and a sandwich in his mouth serving as a quick dinner that he consumed around the piles of letters from various parents and merchants.

“Aki,” Tansen said, swallowing his hasty meal. “What are you doing here? Don’t you know it’s the annual end of the world?”

“I’m here for something more important than the end of the world; Our academy’s reputation. Have you been keeping an eye on Eli?!” Aki demanded as he leaned over the desk as Tansen stared up at him.

“Sort of. The staff won’t risk stalking him because of the censure but I had the toll worker send him to me if he went missing.” Tansen said quietly.

“Yesterday, around noon, the mages picked another fight with him. During it Eli used healing and metal magic, a little gem working its way through the gossip merchants pretty slowly because, who could believe such a ludicrous thing? He then left and went to his tower. Afterwards, some mages swore they could see the ambient mana being sucked in the towers direction.” Aki said.

Tansen rubbed his forehead in irritation. “We need to know what he was working on. But since-“

“We know what he was working on. It was a very impressive suit of armor with a wooden torso and metal legs with a rather normal looking helmet.” Aki responded with a half-crazed smile that was neither jolly or lighthearted.

“How do-“

“We know that was he was working on because he came back with a caravan of human peasants covered in the remains of crushed corpses this past hour.”

Tansen took a moment to put his head in his hands.

“He was fighting with the undead.” Tansen said breathlessly.

“Aye. He sported a good metal hammer as he moved through the crowd. Everyone was also quite surprised when he used some earth spells to get across the bridge.” Aki said.

“Let’s go. We need to talk with our little miracle caster.” Tansen said as he got up from the desk and out the door.

“Sir,” the secretary squeaked from behind her desk with her brown hair frazzled from exhaustion. “The guild is asking about carriage-“

“Give them whatever will shut them up!” Tansen barked as he stormed out the door and down the stairs in a whirl wind of black robe and sapphires waves.

The night had set in as he stormed over the academy lawn as Tansen and Aki moved through the now ever-present crowd of personages and parents. A few tried to stop him to complain about some whiny item or another that didn’t matter.

Going around the academy wall and towards the tower, Tansen came up to the stone slabs that now surrounded the dilapidated structure. Shimmying up and over the slab that blocked the entrance, Tansen knocked on the door again.

“My throat is too damn soar from yelling at idiots all day, so open this door in the next minute or I’m destroying it again.” Tansen yelled at the door he had replaced after his last visit. The minute passed in the darkness of the night as no noise aside from the song of crickets played.

“You did this, Eli! Not me” Tansen called as he summoned the water cube and slammed it into the door. Looking inside, it was as empty as the last time but now the floor was littered with bark pieces and bits of metal, both in bars and in smaller pieces strewn about the floor and the boulder that served as a crude chair in the middle of the room.

With a heavy sigh and a feeling of nostalgia, Tansen went back towards the academy to organize a search. But on the way back, overlooking the path to the tower, Tansen saw Eli waving goodbye to his Kelton woman, Salamede.

Tansen felt the approach of his familiar, the normally solitary blue bird with a black beak landed on his shoulder. A simple exchange and the prideful familiar flew off again towards the tower and landed in a tree off to its left. The day, long and hard, had taken everything Tansen could give it and he decided that Eli had given as much or even more then he had and decided to leave the boy a single night of rest before the storm was brought into his personal life.

Another long night of rest passed too soon. Tansen was in his office going over a hasty report from the captain manning the defenses. Eli had left in the night to help some Keltons that were still stuck out in the horde. It made Tansen’s palms sweat just imagining such an invaluable treasure risking life and limb, but Eli had apparently made it back just fine. Tansen then started preparing a few stories in his head, trying to fit the pieces of discovering the failure in the testers and Eli’s arrival back in town when the door opposite his desk opened, with Agatha in the doorway. The window far behind her showed the early morning sky, with the armored men who were usually guarding the entrance sent out to restore some semblance of order on the campgrounds.

Her blond hair, done up in her typical bun, had frayed strands and some bags under her blue eyes and over her sharp cheek bones. The black work dress and cloth gloves had wrinkles which showed that not even the maids had been spared in this time of agony.

“Tansen, here is the report on the Front soldiers ready to defend the students. I’ll also support keeping the classes going once we have enough men. But we need to work over the details at the meeting tonight.” She said with a tired look as she handed over the papers. Tansen accepted with a grateful nod and took the parcel. As he began flipping through them, Agatha turned around and went out the door.

“Oh, I feel silly for even asking but as the most senior member of the Front here, I am obligated to ask this ridiculous question. I’ve heard some rumors from the peasants and medical staff.” Agatha said as she stuck her head out from behind the wooden door. “Does Eli have metal and healing magic?”

“Why would you ask?” Tansen asked idly as he kept his gaze on the papers under the soft glow of the mana light on the ceiling, its shine seemingly hotter and more overbearing compared to its typical soft touch.

“Duty and obligations. Gotta make sure everything is accounted for, all the paperwork checked, every corner and hole inspected even when it’s nonsense. You know, the usual junk we deal with.” She said in a bored manner.

“Oh. Well, yes, he does.” Tansen said lightly. The door began creaking to a close.

“Good, Just askin-“ The door swung open with Agatha standing still as her face held a very unamused expression.

“What?” She demanded with a raised eyebrow.

“Eli is a caster.” Tansen mused in an idle tone, making sure to now keep his eyes on the papers he was flipping through. “He has air, earth, fire and water. We haven’t tested it yet, but he apparently has all four of the dual elements as well.”

The soft clack of shoes across the floor was all Tansen heard before the papers were yanked out of his hands and he looked up. Agatha had an irritated expression on her face but kept an even breath as she slammed the papers to the desk.

“Tansen, I have had a constant stream of hen pecking from headquarters. It is hard enough to keep tabs on everything and corral all of these people running around like chickens with a cat in the pen. I do not have time for stupid games.

Tansen, as head of the diamond academy, what do you say, as an official response, to the inquiry into Eli’s magical abilities?” She demanded with a stuck-out chin. He sat back with his hands resting over his belly of sapphire waves.

“Not only do I not deny these rumors, I confirm them. I, as head of this academy, am saying that Eli is a caster and has an affinity with all four base elements and by implication, all four dual elements.” Tansen intoned with a voice of steel.

“What are… Fine, Tansen. Let’s get a tester and settle this.” Agatha growled in irritation with a puckering of her lips.

“They won’t work. The square pushes out the mana of the two circles with the most mana. When you have all four elements, they won’t show anything.” Tansen said casually.

“How very convenient.” Agatha shot back sarcastically with a roll of her eyes as she pulled back and crossed her arms.

“How very inconvenient. I’ll have a table set out on the dorm lawn with a plant pot, metal fork, and we’ll get someone out of the infirmary to test healing.” Tansen said as he got up and went around the table. Agatha shook her head and huffed but went down the tower to get some other official witnesses for this test. Tansen gave the order to his secretary and told her to send for Aki to return to the dorms.

As he moved out of the academy, Tansen went over the story he had worked out in his spare time. He felt his familiar still in the tree off to the left but what drew his gaze was the rush of light blue mana being sucked into the direction of the small, squat tower by the river. It occurred to Tansen, at that moment walking down the path, that Eli had made weapons capable of putting a regular man on par with scions when he was still, presumably, a crafter. What would such a crafter achieve as a caster with all four elements?

Tansen’s mouth went dry when he considered all the damage such a person could do if stung.

In front of the tower, the slab blocking the door was pushed to the side and in its place was the commander of the guards in the academy town, Holstead, and a few others. The man had a steel shoulder guard and two white feathers in his metal helmet. The door closed and the man turned around. His helmet was open face, which showed off the tan skin, pronounced cheek bones, brown mustache, and green eyes. Rand, the man responsible for law enforcement in the entire region, began walking down the path towards Tansen with some dust on his brown pants.

“What are you doing here?” Tansen demanded.

Rand put up a leather covered hand over his steel breast plate.

“Listen now, I’m just following and enforcing the law, which is the reason the good people of this region pay me. Eli has been censured and as such, he can attend patrols, help with the undead and getting supplies but parties, even with Keltons, is a big no-no. I gave him a warning but if he does that again those people will have to be censured as well.”

“Shit” Tansen said as he rubbed his eyes in frustration.

“Hey, with how well he’s doing, I’m sure the censure will be worked out soon enough.” Rand offered lightheartedly.

Tansen nodded as a ball of acid ate into his stomach.

Bidding Rand goodbye, he went up to the now reformed door. There was a loud clanking and screeching of metal being twisted, pounded, and molded. A deep breath and Tansen knocked on the smooth, single piece of wood. The clanking stopped but that soft screeching kept going. The door opened and Eli looked out. His purple eyes showed above a steel mask with a feral grin over where his teeth would be.

The mask had a long plate of steel that had a bit of cotton around where it rested along the neck. The smooth melding of the steel and attention to detail in the lifelike teeth showcased a hand of magnificent craftsmanship. Tansen was so taken in with the ever-deepening details in the mask he forgot what he was here for before Eli’s voice brought him back to his senses.

“So, you can knock.” Eli said sarcastically.

Tansen, in spite of himself, couldn’t help but give a light laugh.

“If the person on the other side of the door is there when he is supposed to be, you’ll find I am quite familiar with their use. Eli, Agatha is asking after you and wants a test for your affinities.” The academy head said with note of finality.

Those purple eyes went hard, but Eli didn’t shout, yell or beat his chest in defiance.

“I am ready. You said you’d be in my corner when it comes to Salamede. Are you still on my side?” He asked in a neutral tone.

“Yes, and I’ve got a story I want us to stick too. I’ll explain it on the way.” Tansen said. Eli nodded and leaned over to get his student robes. Eli was a bit taller than the academy head, but they still kept close on the way to the dorms.

“Ok, Eli. You’re the progeny of some backwoods poacher, like you said earlier,” Tansen said with a heavy gaze towards his student, letting him know well and good that he knew Eli was lying. “When the censure came down, you couldn’t take it anymore, especially after that travesty called a trial. When you left you hunted for some magical beasts around the west to relive your fathers work, you got some horned rabbit or fire lizard or whatever to get into the caster status. Afterwards you came back to me, but I’ve only recently worked out what was wrong with the testers.” Tansen said as they walked around the academy wall. After a moment of consideration, Eli countered with a point of his own.

“No. I was going to stay out in the woods, but I took Salamede with me and after becoming a caster she insisted I come back to the academy to realize my full potential.” Eli said.

“Good, that will help with them going after Salamede.” Tansen said as they swerved around some workers moving wooden tools to help set up a wall along the other side of the academy, similar to the one around the bridge entrance.

“It’s also the most honest part of the whole story.” Eli said idly.

Tansen tripped up for a second but had the grace to keep moving.

The entrance to the academy dorm was crowded but people made way for the academy head, and by proxy the student at his side. The late morning sun shined down over the grass as students and workers looked on in curiosity at the table several feet from the tower’s main door. To the left of it was Agatha and two other women in black work dresses, one a pudgy grey-haired woman with bored green eyes and one with brown ponytails, freckles, and glasses over her brown eyes and squat face. On the table was a pot with a fern and a fork.

“Thank you for coming Eli.” Agatha said with a tone of irritation and exhaustion. “Tansen says you are a caster with all four elements. What do you say to this?” Agatha asked, causing a wave of whispers and snorts of disbelief among the students who assembled around to take in this distraction from the horrors beyond the bridge.

“I confirm that I am a caster with all four elements.” Eli said in an almost bored tone.

Agatha and the two Front women got dead pan faces while the surrounding students snickered.

“Then we can-“

“Enough!” The pudgy woman yelled as she walked forward and pulled on Eli’s right arm. Slamming the disk with four ridges against his skin, ambient mana was sucked in and the tester remained lifeless.

“Bah!” The pudgy woman snorted. “To waste our time with this nonsense lie.” But it was Agatha who interrupted as she stood beside the table.

“Now, now Betsy. Tansen said there was… something wrong with the testers.”

The brunette got a dubious look as did the surrounding students, who huffed and snickered again. Tansen stepped forward with a scowl and gritted teeth.

“The tester checks for two of the elements by measuring the mana in the- “

A hard crack in the air stopped his explanation. A wave of heat washed over Tansen’s back as everyone else present pulled back with shock across their faces. Turning around, Tansen saw a wild display of the elements right out of some fever dream painting.

Eli had pulled the dirt beneath himself up into a stand while a circle of fire around his midsection sent waves of shimmering heat everywhere. Above him balls of lightning, water, and rushing air spun a good foot above his head. The dirt stand shimmered in waves as the grass grew and flexed against those waves, showing off the magic that moved them. Eli put out his hand and the fork flew into his waiting palm. A screech split over the dorm lawn as the fork molded into a simple circle, which Eli put above his head to spin in place between the balls and his head as the short silver hair beneath whipped around.

Then, without any warning, the spells stopped. No great proclamation or euphoric climax was given or even attempted. The fire, lightning, water simply dissipated into nothingness as the grass stopped moving. The dirt stand was then forced down into a flat surface, even as the elongated grass left no doubt as to where the stand had been.

Eli stepped over the now lengthened grass with purple eyes that saw nothing of any interest as he swung the metal ring around his right index finger.

“Are we done? I have many items I need to tend to.” Eli said idly as he stood in front of Tansen with no smug look in his eyes, no arrogant turn to his step, or any other personal indications that he had just rendered the whole lawn speechless.

Tansen took a moment to try and decide what would be the smuggest expression he could use. Satisfied smiles, smirks, or a certain arrogance in his steps were all fine contenders, but he finally decided no artificial expression could possibly capture the essence of his self-satisfaction at this moment and just doing what he felt like doing would produce the best outcome.

“Come now, Eli. We have to go through the process. I know it’s tiresome, but I will send for a meal to be delivered to your home as compensation. A nice juicy steak with our finest beer.” Eli’s purple eyes looked at him for a long moment, but he eventually went towards the table.

When Tansen turned around, the sea of slack jaws from the students provided little gratification for the academy head but the members of the Front were where the true depths of satisfaction were found. Betsy stood off to the left like she had been stung while the two women by the table were perfectly still. Agatha’s jaw was wide open as was the brunettes. As Agatha’s blue eyes turned to Tansen, her face twisted in disbelief. Then her dark lips puckered, and her blond eyebrows scrunched together as her skin turned red with anger.

‘I was right, doing what comes naturally was the best choice.’ Tansen thought to himself as he savored the moment of Eli walking up to the table with every eye on the field trained on him. For the next few minutes, Eli used spells of every element. For the healing element, an injured guild member was brought out and healed by Eli. The student did well but sweat was starting to form around his brow when the scars along the patient’s backside were molded away.

Over the course of the demonstration, casters with the required elements would observe the formation of the spell constructs and signed sworn statements testifying to Eli’s ability. Of course, those dual elements were so rare that there were no official mages to give a sworn statement, but the presence of their base elements left no doubt as to his ability. At some point Aki came back and went up to Tansen’s office when Eli was summoning a triangle of lightning.

“All right lad,” Tansen said with a caring pat on Eli’s back. “I’ll have the meal sent to you for lunch. Your part is done but if you need to relax, I’ll make sure you get an education enhancing respite in the sauna.” Tansen said with a sly wink. Eli nodded and turned around from the table and walked out of the front entrance. Not once when he was performing these miracles of magic did his eyes betray any emotion nor did he even deign to look at his former tormentors even as they fell away from him in awe and, Tansen noted, some in terror.

His task finished, Tansen left to go back up the tower to his office. The students were all still standing around whispering or just kept perfectly still, not totally believing what their eyes had told them. Betsy was among this group while Agatha and the brunette stood around the table whispering to each other while only occasionally being truly quiet.

Tansen went up the stairs and finally arrived at the top. Going past the secretary, Tansen opened the door and saw Aki by the right of his desk. Acknowledging his friend, Tansen moved forward and closed the door behind him. Aki had his hand behind his back with a white undershirt and blue-white striped outer robe. Spending a few moments tugging his long grey beard and mustache, Aki waited until Tansen sat down to start talking. In spite of the bushy eyebrows, Aki’s brown eyes had a playfulness to them.

“I saw the little show down there, but I figured spending my time going over all of our protection was a better use of my time. I also got Eli’s student file” He said as he produced one of many, many copies of an official objection to Eli’s censure from his robe pocket and nodded to the small stack of files.

Tansen leaned back in the chair and lifted his arms in an elongated stretch.

“Well now that the word is out, we-“ The slamming of a door off beyond his offices closed entry interrupted him.

“Hmm. I may have teased her a bit too much” Tansen said with dread as he leaned forward and braced himself for the coming fight. Running footsteps resounded near the secretary’s desk right before the door flew open. Agatha slammed the wooden obstruction open with her eyes resembling a hawk hunting a mouse as strands of blond hair flowed out of her bun and over her sharp cheek bones and heaving chest.

“You!” She pointed a finger at Tansen like she caught her child in a jar of sweets. “You!” She said again, now properly angry.

“Yes! Me!” Tansen growled back. “Congratulations on knowing who I am.”

“Silence, you fucking wretch! You… you knew about Eli.”

“Of course. He came to me after his escape into the wild and-“

“No! You knew before then.” She said as she stalked up to the desk and looked like she wanted to strangle the man sitting across from her. “That reaction when Eli vanished. You knew what was leaving. That’s why you freaked out and put us all on that long slog to look for him. I didn’t understand why you were spending so many resources on one student, one censured crafter student, but now. Oh, it makes perfect sense now.”

If looks could kill, Tansen’s children across the continents would have perished along with their sire.

“Feng Sho Pao.” Tansen replied serenely as he leaned back into his chair with his hands in his robe’s arms. “It is a far shores principle that states the teacher’s wellbeing is that of his students. I doubt your Coalition mentality could comprehend such a profound philosophy.” Aki gave a sage nod in agreement.

Agatha’s right eye twitched as she gripped the desk. Taking in a deep breath, she leaned back and adjusted her gloves. Closing her eyes and calming down, she spoke again.

“That meeting we were going to have this afternoon is happening now. I will send for the guild master to go over his time working with any of their members and have Rand attend for getting rid of the censure. I’m also bringing in a legal expert and the highest-ranking local military officer. But make no mistake Tansen, I will get to the bottom of this.” She finished with a threatening tone. Then her expression turned to bewilderment as Tansen’s face lost its fighting edge and turned to something akin to pity.

“Agatha” Tansen said with a tired sigh. “If life was only so simple. Eli will be working in his tower for a while and I only ask that you consider my advice before doing anything rash.”

Agatha looked confused at the sudden shift in tone, which seemed to disarm some of her anger if only because she couldn’t orient herself to the change. A light cough and she began to speak in a tone that approached something civil.

“I’ll think about it. But more importantly, we need to waive the punishments for teachers having sex with students.” Agatha said, sounding totally serious.

“What?” Tansen asked.

“The female teachers are going to ride Eli like his loins shoot eternal life and endless riches, consequences to their careers be damned. If we punish them, we stand to lose more than half our workforce, to say nothing of how stopping him from siring will be perceived regardless of the propriety.” Agatha put a black gloved hand to her forehead in concentration as she continued talking, seemingly more to herself than Tansen.

“The government will probably offer a special breeding stipend just for women who lay with him. I’ll see how soon we can get enough oysters, fire lizard tails, and anything else that will increase his semen production. The cooks are going to have to find some way of making an appetizing diet out of nothing but those ingredients for Eli.” She said like it was all perfectly obvious and just another day running civilization.

“We still have to get Eli back on track for his classes and he seemed pretty taken in with his workings in the tower. The staff may not have any time to be with him.” Tansen replied to Agatha, making no attempt to deny the truth of her statements. She pursed her lips and tapped her foot beneath the black dress as she processed the absurd statement.

“The only work Eli is going to be doing will be in the dorms and it won’t involve tools, crafts, or pants.” Agatha responded with a hard tone.

Tansen gave a light sigh as he looked to the ceiling.

“You think it’s going to be so simple? Just snapping your fingers and he’ll hop to it?” Tansen asked.

“He’s a man. Worst comes to worst, Veronica will at least bear his children while we work through the issue” Agatha said with a raised chin.

“Veronica?” Tansen asked with a raised eyebrow. Agatha blinked once before she realized her mistake.

“Pff, how silly of me. I think I’m getting too old for this job.” Agatha said in a dismissive tone.

“But maybe not old enough to prevent getting pregnant yourself?” Tansen prodded with what he had intended to be a light tease.

“The mother of a quad mage’s child.” Agatha put a hand to her belly at the thought before she shook herself. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll bring his student file to the meeting and we’ll sort it out then.” She said before walking out the door.

When the door was closed, Aki waited until the footsteps faded before he moaned.

“By the spirits, even Agatha wants a piece of him! I don’t know if we have the guards to protect him if the women decide to take him right there in the market.”

Tansen just huffed and dismissed the concern.

“That will have to wait. Depending on how this business with the censure works out, we won’t have to protect him at all.” Tansen said, looking over Eli’s file.

The rest of the day was more or less put on hold as the leaders of every major faction in the north who could attend the meeting gathered at the Academy’s classroom towers. Tansen was in the carriage with Aki as the mid-day sun played over the clouds in the sky. Moving along the bare road with trees, twisted and curled as they retreated into the ground, gave way to the open field of the twin towers.

The undead were sprinkled about the woods but the constant patrol of the guards made sure none of them came anywhere near the students. Tansen got out of the carriage as the guards on top of it got down and the horses shod in iron armor pulled the carriage further off behind the towers to get out of the way of the entrance.

The academy heads ears were assaulted with a swirl of rumors and chatter. Some about the undead, some about the gathering of such important people all getting together on such short notice. But most were about some ‘blithering nonsense’ involving a quad element caster. Most scoffed at the idiocy. Such a thing had never happened before.

Of course, most of these kids had never suffered the consequences of their actions before and there was a choice few in the crowd that were in for another unprecedented event.

Going through the tall wooden doors of the white tower, the crowd made way for Tansen and Aki. Taking a hard right, he went up to one of the opened doors along the wall with the brunette Front woman before going over some papers. Walking over the plush red carpet and up to the woman, Tansen gave a light cough to get the woman’s attention. She jerked up, which caused her glasses to tilt.

“Sorry to startle you, miss” Tansen said casually as he looked inside the room. “Where is Agatha? I would have thought she would be here by now.”

“Oh, she was telling the secretaries to make a copy of Eli’s current siring lineage. She’ll be down shortly.”

‘How long does it take to copy down a blank piece of paper?’ Tansen thought to himself.

“I’ll have you know” The Front woman continued “She had to also get several reports from other sources since you took Eli’s main file.” Tansen strummed the packet of papers in his robe pocket with a smug smile.

“Being first isn’t a crime. Besides, I did have more… forewarning than she did.” Tansen said impishly.

She raised a severe eyebrow and pouted with her thick brown lips before turning her gaze to the papers. Tansen left her to her fiddling and went into the room. It was a simple room with a long table and two mana lamps above. Around the table were several chairs with a slightly bigger one at the end. Surrounded by soft wood walls and a plush red-carpet floor, the two air enchantments on wooden blocks at the sides of the door helped provide total protection against snoopers outside.

Tansen sat idly at the end of the table with Aki standing to his left as the personages that Agatha had summoned trickled in. First was Rand with two regular guards, who seemed content to stand behind him as he took a seat to Tansen’s left. He was quickly followed by a man in a green set of leather armor with metal shoulder guards that stood out from what looked like a rather civilian brown pants and white undershirt. He had a sharp chin and brown eyes to go with a strong youthful face as he sat down on the right end of the table.

Agatha finally arrived, beside her was a skinny man with a long nose and comb over of light brown hair. His slimming black robes accentuated his dark eyes behind his glasses as he held a small leather-bound book to his chest.

“Like I said once the censure is seen to, I want some possible reparations- Ah!” Agatha stopped as she took in the room. “Good, you all made it. I invited the mayor and the guild master since they had some interactions with Eli and this involves everyone in the region, but I don’t suspect they’ll add much beyond some character witness.”

“I could hardly ignore the summons you sent. A quad element mage. Is there really such a person in this very academy?” The military man asked as he rubbed the smooth, unblemished skin of his chin in anticipation.

“Indeed, Agatha is a reliable as it gets and I’m sure she’s done her due diligence” Rand said as he sat down to Tansen’s left. “Although my people are certainly interested in this development, I’m not sure how we’re involved.” Agatha gave a light cough as she and the new man sat down at the left end of the table.

“That will be discussed when the last two members arrive.” Agatha said.

It was a few minutes more when the last two guests came in.

The portly mayor with brown overalls and a plain white shirt with grey jacket came in first. He had no hair on top of his head aside from thick brown eyebrows and brown lamb chops. Walking beside him was the guild master, Mason, a taller, more fit man with black hair flecked with grey. The guild master stuck to his typical array of wands on a sling over his front and twin daggers at his hips of plain brown pants and leather jerkin exposing muscular ribs beneath. While their appearances could not be further apart, their lamb chops and similar soft cheek bones made their connection to be one of brothers. When the duo sat down on the right side of the table, it was the joyful bellowing of the mayor that started the meeting.

“Ah sorry. Between the mess with the undead coming early and catching up, we took a while going over various items.” The mayor apologized as he sat down beside the military officer while Mason took a seat to Tansen’s right.

“Quite alright. Let’s get into the matter at hand.” Agatha said as she looked around the those seated. “Yes, we have found a quad element mage on campus.”

The intake of breath from everyone present was all that followed the statement, but Agatha pushed on as she handed out a piece of paper.

“We have sworn testimony from several official mages saying that they witnessed the tests and saw that he formed and used the spell constructs for the four base elements and witnessed him use all four dual elements with no other crafts on him. Not that he could afford to make so many crafts from so many mages with dual elements.”

When the piece of paper was passed around, there was always a pair of raised eyebrows followed by a look of excitement. The word of a Front report was one thing, but the sworn testimony of a mage brought more legitimacy than a hundred regular witnesses. Testimony from several mages was not something a mundane would ever think to question.

“And it’s a male. How the fortunes have favored us.” The military officer said with brown eyes shimmering in wonder.

Tansen, someway somehow, managed to not huff at the statement. It was when the mayor got the paper that a different reaction occurred. His thick brown eyebrows scrunched together, as his lips formed a soundless whistle while those surrounding him chatted excitedly.

‘Ah, he must have gotten to the name of the mage. Someone has an idea of how this meeting is going to end.’ Tansen thought ruefully. A quick look from the mayor to the academy head confirmed his suspicions. This also happened when Rand went over the paper, but instead of looking at Tansen he just started sweating and his face said he was trying to keep his lunch down.

When the paper was finally passed around to everyone present, Tansen decided to at least get the productive part of this gathering done before the tears started flying.

“First things first, what are the military implications of this. I will defer to your expertise.” Tansen said with a nod towards the military officer.

“I…um.” The man drew a blank as his brown eyes wandered the room for the answer. “The application of dual elements can be a lot trickier to put to paper than the base elements. Three of them depend on what is within the mages reach. But with the healing magic he could… no since he has metal magic no one could really get close enough in a combat situation to...” He took a deep breath before he looked apologetically at those around the table. “I’m sorry. That is a question that is far above my level, but I’ll have an official report done up about it by people with far more expertise than me.”

“We all have our limits.” Agatha said sympathetically.

“Only some of us do, apparently.” Mason huffed as he leaned back with crossed arms. “All four elements. To think I almost had him in my guild after the trial.”

This drew confused looks from those present.

“Trial?” The slender man in a black robe asked with a raised eyebrow.

“He went through some legal trouble and applied to my guild. I had to turn him away because all the senior members didn’t want his reputation brought into our guild. They also bristled at the idea that the most loathsome mage still qualified for our membership.” Mason replied with an irritated growl at the last part. “If there was ever a time I wanted to go in the past and punch myself, it would be now.”

“This mage is already someone who has gotten attention? Before he even became a caster?” The officer asked.

“Yes” Rand answered uncomfortably. “He has been censured. But…um.”

“But that will be resolved in short order.” Agatha cut in as she headed off the panicked faces of the legal expert and officer not familiar with Eli. “I was privy to the circumstances surrounding the censure and it will be resolved shortly.” A few nods went around the table, even as the implications sank in.

“That means he hasn’t been siring for that period of time. I would not want to have my name on that order.” The lawyer said. That prompted a wave of agreement from everyone present, with even Rand’s guards nodding at the prospect of such misfortune. Agatha took a deep breath before she continued the conversation.

“Speaking of resolving the censure, we need to get in touch with any of his progeny or heck even his parents or siblings. I expect a special breeding program will be set up to encourage them to have more children as well. They may even extend it to his distant relatives if…” Agatha stopped as her blue eyes went between the mayor and Tansen. Narrowing her eyes into slits, she crossed her arms over her black work dress.

“You two have been looking at each other a lot and I don’t think I like the expressions you’ve been using.” Agatha demanded as everyone turned towards the two men.

One last silent conversation passed between them before Tansen gave a light cough.

“That item may not be something to spend our time on considering the fact that he has no children.” Tansen said idly as he circled a finger over the table. Not even the mayor was fully prepared for that blow, as indignant cries and sputtered objections sounded out.

“Don’t fuss at me, fuss at the file.” Tansen scolded as he took the pertinent papers out and tossed them across the table. Agatha struck out like a whip and quickly scoured their contents. After a minute, she sat up and ran out the door with a barely heard “Excuse me”.

When she came back, her face was slightly pale and her hands were squeezed into fists as she sat back down between Rand and the lawyer.

“I sent some secretaries to get the papers going over the children he has sired. It was taking a while to find so I started the meeting hoping it would turn up afterwards. It would indeed appear that he has sired no children.” This caused an uproar that was thankfully blocked to the outside world by the air enchantments around the door.

“None?” The officer said, baffled at such an ridiculous statement.

“My cousins a no-talent crafter and he’s managed to get four women with child. Does his dick have venom tipped fangs?” The lawyer demanded in disbelief.

A light chuckle from the mayor stopped the noise as all eyes turned towards him.

“Well, we’re simple folk here. And simple folk, why, we love to gossip. And if the gossip I’ve heard is true, there is one woman who would have his child” The mayor said with a smirk.

Agatha leaned forward hopefully, as did the legal expert while the rest waited with bated breath.

“There’s a little lass he’s been quite fond of. Been taking her out to meals and even drags her into his little tower for days long sessions together. His insistence on nonperishable foods makes you think that their activities were ones he didn’t want interrupted for anything, not even a hot meal.” The mayor said with a suggestive tone as he wiggled his eyebrows.

“We’ll have to get in contact with this girl’s family and her parents. A quick stay in our best accommodations will at least-” The mayor put up his hand to interrupt Agatha.

“I don’t know how many high coin establishments would be willing to put up a goat woman as their esteemed guest.” He finished.

A void of any sound, thought, or motion swept through the room until the officer swore as he pounded the hard-oak table.

“Are you fucking joking?” He demanded as the rest of those present stared at the mayor while he thumbed the straps across his belly.

“Enough!” Tansen shouted, overriding the officer’s objection. “There’s other problems we need to get too besides his choices in company.”

“Other problems?” Mason asked with an incredulous face. “The first woman to bear Eli’s child is going to be a Kelton woman, and there are other problems?”

But it was the guard to Rand’s left who interrupted with a surprised squeak. Everyone turned to him, including Rand. The poor fellow had sweat falling down his brow as his brown eyes shifted between the people present who were looking him over.

“Do you have something to say?” The officer demanded.

“He is… um you said the mage was called Eli?” The guard asked nervously, now training his gaze on the officer.

“Yes, what of it?”

“He’s probably the mage who went out fighting the wave of the undead with them Kelton’s. I was with the local captain setting up the defenses when Eli healed the wounded and helped set up the spikes. Must have gotten into the thick of the combat because he had bits of undead smeared across the shoulders and legs of that weird suit of his”

That little nugget of wisdom was digested by an already exasperated audience, who were now mostly content to strum fingers or clench fists in anger.

“When?” Agatha asked between clenched teeth.

“Last night miss.” The guard said respectfully. Rand chose that moment to deliver more bad news.

“And I was going over the terms of his censure before this meeting. Apparently, he intends to take several more trips out there to help get supplies.” He said with sweat running down his mustache and tan skin.

“Well that’s not happening” Agatha shot back with a snarling mouth.

“Hey, I can’t dissuade him from doing it. The rules are I can explain what he is or is not allowed to do, but I can’t have a nice little chat about whether he should do a legally allowed action. ‘Any individual associating with the censured, outside of circumstances with the direst need, will also fall under the censure order’” Rand intoned from memory.

“Then let’s get to that portion of our fun little meeting.” Agatha replied with strained sweetness.

‘And here we go.’ Tansen thought to himself.

The legal expert pushed his glasses up and took a deep breath before talking.

“Once the censure is done, I would advise everyone here and at the academy get some legal representation. This incident will be gone over with an attention to detail never before seen.”

A round of nods went around those at the table. But it was at this moment where Tansen decided to drop this boulder on their heads.

“Well that’s not going to be a problem for a few weeks or even months depending on how long the courts take.” Tansen said idly as he reached into his robe.

“What?” The legal expert asked, clearly confused.

“Tell me, my good man, what are the two ways, the only two ways for a non-government entity, to end a censure?” Tansen asked as he laid the rest of Eli’s file down in front of him.

The man in a slim black robe pushed up his glasses and gave a light cough as the recited the passages.

“Mother’s plea, where the mage can have their children, or the other parent of those children make a case for their reinstatement into society. The other is by having his backer’s plea a case in the courts for him. The main point being the mage has to have done enough for society that others have benefitted from his existence.”

Tansen gave a light popping sound from his lips as he leaned forward and clapped his hands together. A long moment of closing his eyes passed before he opened them and delivered the killing blow.

“After an extensive search and questioning, our understanding of Eli’s background is this; He is the product of a long and esteemed lineage of nameless backwoods nobodies who got enough magical resources for him to make crafter from poaching from the lands to the west. All the current facts suggest that Eli has no backers of any kind and no children to plead his case and it is after great painstaking work we have found no plausible means to quickly end the censure.” Tansen finished with a placating opening of his hands as he leaned back into his chair.

That twisted monster of words just sat in the middle of the group with no one making a single sound. After nearly a solid minute, Mason spoke up with a whisper.

“This academy is finished.”

“Oh, I disagree.” Tansen countered as Aki took out a piece of paper from his robe pocket and handed it to Tansen.

“This is a signed objection made by this academy, and I will note that Agatha’s objections to the censure were included, to contest the censuring of Eli. Suffice it to say, I don’t think this dragon will be mauling the Diamond academy.”

“T-this” Agatha sputtered “This is not about blame! The first quad element caster has no children and is going on adventures against the undead and your first thought is about who will be getting blamed?!” she demanded in outrage.

“Do you think I had my people staring at dogs wagging their tails this whole time? We’ve gone over everything we can do. And yes, assigning blame will be very important when the magical association’s start shopping for heads to bash in when word of this gets out.”

Heavy breathing took over the room as the sheer scope of what was being talked about started to reveal itself.

“Is he right?” The mayor demanded of the lawyer, who was now sweating and wiping his forehead down with a handkerchief.

“Well… there are acts of the senate and the chamber which would then have to be signed off by the president or the high courts could do something but this deals with the censure and it may very well take weeks to sort out.” He offered with a wobbly voice.

“Weeks?” The officer balked, which seemed to only rile the lawyer.

“Yes, weeks! Censuring someone takes massive coordination with the craftsman, merchants, guilds, transport services, and everything else you need to run society. It takes strict orders being given to every guard employed in every town where they reside or live near. Censuring someone is not just some shirt you put on or piece of furniture you move whenever you feel like it. Mage related laws are always a bitch to change, even when it’s a matter of grammar or minor footnote in the breeding stipends. Going against a censure order? Yes, it may very well take weeks, maybe even months!” He snarled back with sweat coming down harder and harder as he recounted the difficulties that lay ahead.

“So, what do we do now?” The mayor asked the room.

“Send out the report immediately and pray the higherups have someone there to maul for this mess.” The lawyer said with a note of finality.

“It’s not just about passing the blame off to someone else!” Agatha shouted as she stood up from the table in outrage. “The opportunity of an age is going to get his face bitten off before he has the chance to spread his seed.”

Tansen gave a light cough as all faces turned to him.

“I know, but we’ve exhausted all our options. The important thing is making sure we will survive to help make the correct decisions.” Tansen said with a hard tone.

Agatha thought it over for a moment. Eventually she got a deflated look before nodding and going over to the door. Calling for the other Front woman, the report was eventually written up with a summation of the situation and the sworn testimony of everyone present, even as their hands shook while they signed what could very well be the death warrant of their careers.

Satisfied with the events, such as could be reasonably expected, Tansen called the meeting to a close. As the pale, wobbly legged attendants shuffled out with the pomp and energy of a crypt, Tansen retired to his office to oversee a few more items. It was in the late afternoon, when the sun was just making its last stand with the night, that the start of the coming disaster trickled in. On the legs of a hawk, fed magical mice and worms to give it speed beyond its mundane kin, arrived a letter of inquiry into some rumors an association of healer mages had heard.

Tansen followed protocol, walking down the tower and delivering the letter to the head of the Front. Opening the oak door, Tansen arrived into an office with a back window overlooking a plain green carpet and dark wood desk. At this desk sat a tired and worn out Agatha going over papers with the brunette with glasses from earlier and a Front guardsman veteran who, if memory of the course schedules served Tansen well, had given Eli’s survival courses.

“Yes Tansen? I’m quite busy with this ball of blades you dropped in my lap.” She said irritably.

Tansen simply walked forward and put the small letter forward, like it was a snake he was trying to get off himself.

“It’s starting.” He said with a look of pity towards the letter’s victim.

A long sigh with a downward look was all she offered him as she took the letter. The first of what would be many, many letters.