Cham looked at the small black box wrapped in silver metal bands sitting on her desk and frowned. A runner had delivered the thing during the middle of the night with a huge air of secrecy. Of course, she knew what it was and she knew why they had sent it to her Temple. It was just her turn to watch over the damned thing, and she guessed that her superiors waiting a full decade to throw this onto her plate was a blessing that she should be thankful for. Cham didn't have to like it being here though.

She supposed that believing she was done with all the fallout of the Dead War was a little too wishful for real life. Cham was one of the most powerful practioners of the Temple combat art after all, so it would stand to reason that she would get a turn watching the cursed thing. Still, she had hoped with her role during the Dead War this dubious honor would have passed her over. Wondering why they had not just destroyed the foul thing, Cham nervously tapped her finger on the surface of her desk as she studied the cube.

Cham's left eybrow started twitching as she stared at the source of her irritation. She knew that hurling unsavory words at her absent superiors would be overreacting on her part. Taking a deep breath and looking up at the ceiling of her office to get the dark cube out of her sight and closed her eyes to try and stem the tide of foul language on the tip of her tongue. She failed.

Outside several wide-eyed children stopped their morning chores and listened in awe at the colorful terminology echoing from Mother Cham's office.

“This is it! This is my moment!” Rosalyn declared quietly to herself as she waited in line to take the government mandated magical aptitude test. She brushed her brown hair out of her eyes and wished she had braided it this morning. Opting to tie it back instead, Rosalyn started hopping back and forth in place as the nervous energy of the wait overwhelmed her. It was time for her to make her debut in the world and take the Royal Academy by storm. Individuals sponsored by the Kingdom recieved all of the best training and equipment and it would be the perfect start to her dreams of seeing the world. After all, everyone had to connections. She had fantasized constantly about this moment since they announced that they were sending out testing officials with the census group the prior year. It was almost like it was what Janie and her had spent their whole childhood preparing for. It was fate. It was destiny! It was her ticket to adventure and having all of her dreams come true!

As the line moved forward once more, she realized that she was next. Rosalyn could no longer contain her excitement and started a quick shadow boxing routine that Mother Cham had taught her to calm her nerves. She had studied and trained endlessly for this day, learning everything Mother Cham would teach her about the world and mastering the nun’s martial art to strengthen not only her body but also her focus. She was confident that she was going to have a leg up on everyone else present. Watching the last person in front of her walk off Rosalyn turned and gave Janie, who was further back in line, two thumbs up. Janie smiled weakly back and gave a small wave. Adjusting her satchel, she stepped forward.

“Next! Name and age?” Rosalyn stood straight and replied “Rosalyn Edders and sixteen! Sir!” The man scribbled something on a ledger in front of him and gave her a bored look, “Please place your hand on the crystal.” Rosalyn was giddy. This was it! She placed her hand on the crystal expectantly and… nothing?

“Next!” Rosalyn’s entire world fell out from under her.

Rosalyn clutched her locket as she stared wistfully into the horizon, thinking very hard about her prospects in life and how boring they looked. The previous day’s nationally sponsored test had been a disaster. The short of it was that she was about as magical as… as… something that wasn’t magical at all. It was disappointing to say the least.

So it was official. Rosalyn Edders was no good. She couldn’t do magic. She didn’t have a body suited to being a powerful warrior, being only a little over five feet tall and best described as petite. Sure she was in good shape and had mastered the nun’s combat arts and could beat any average man up and down the street, but that wasn’t very useful against larger opponents or magical creatures since she did not have the power of the Divine to infuse into her attack or defense. She wasn’t ugly or beautiful, strong or weak, a genius or a dunce. She was normal, and that hurt more than anything else in the world right now.

As a war orphan in the care of a church in a small mountain village so unimportant it didn’t show up on some maps her best chance at making something important of herself was that test. It was the thing that she had pinned her whole life’s ambitions on… and now…

She was going to waste away here, simply treading water with her life. She wanted more. She had ambitions! She wanted a place to call her own, a place where her word would be law, where her loved ones would be safe and protected. She also wanted to see the world. To visit the elven and dwarven cities, and meet all the other races of the world. She wanted to see a dragon! Of course that would never happen, everyone knew the legendary beasts were hunted to extinction by the Kingdom a hundred years ago. Rosalyn wiped a tear from her face as she stared into the blue sky and wished for some excitement in her life.

“ROSALYN EDDERS! What have you done now?” Mother Cham yelled. She flinched at the sound of Mother Cham’s voice and and very quickly decided that it was not the kind of excitement she was hoping for. She watched the nun in charge of the orphanage where she grew up stalk forward with anger in her eyes while that feeling that distinct sense of dread and panic from hearing her full name said by an authority figure slowly crept into her heart. Rosalyn tried her very best to make herself as small as possible to avoid the tiny, fierce nun’s wrath. She failed. Mother Cham looked up at her ward and adjusted her grey summer habit. Mother Cham was incredibly scary despite being a halfling, and not even a particularly tall one. She was the woman who had taught Rosalyn how to fight after all. Yes, Mother Cham was terrifying in her own way, even with her large green eyes, small button nose, and cute child like face. There wa sjust something intimidating about her, like there was a large bear standing right behind her waiting to attack at her command.

“WELL CHILD?” Mother Cham boomed. Pushing down her panic, as it was common knowledge all nuns could smell fear and it drove them into a feeding frenzy Rosalyn bravely replied, “I am afraid I do not know what you mean Ma’am.”

“Why pray tell, did I get a visit from the local constabulary relating to you and an altercation between the mayor’s middle child? Hmmm? Surely, they are mistaken?”

Rosalyn grimaced as she remembered the altercation from the night before. She had spent the rest of the day wandering the village and surrounding hills after failure to become a Kingdom sponsored mage. On her way back to the dormitory to get into bed she found herself in front of of the village tavern contemplating seeing if the local barkeep would let her drown her sorrows despite being about six months shy of legal drinking age. That is when a very drunk local playboy had made very inappropriate advances and tried to grab her butt. When she politely declined he decided that it was his cue to get a little more grabby. Rosalyn objected. Forcefully. She may or may not have broken his arm.

There was no getting out of it unfortunately, so she might as well tell the truth. Besides, Mother Cham had not raised her to lie. Rosalyn looked at her guardian and sighed “Full disclosure, Ma’am. I did. He tried to force himself on me. I might have overreacted a tad. I was kind of having a bad day at the time.”

Mother Cham sighed, shaking her head with a faraway look in her eyes. Snapping back to focus on Rosalyn she shook her finger in admonishment “Next time Rose, tell me when you assault someone so that I can be prepared for the petty wrath of petty people. I will take care of them. Can you please bring in the younger children for lunch?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Good. Also after lunch we need to talk. You will be turning seventeen before too long and we need to have a discussion about your future.” She seemed to hesitate for a moment as if there was something else she wanted to mention but shook her head and walked away.

Rosalyn felt like she had been punched in the gut. She knew what that discussion was going to be about.