The Arch-Mage's quarters were much as Kanick remembered them from his meeting with Areonis all those months ago. Rain lashed against the lead-paned windows, but the fire crackled warmly as he sat at the table opposite the man himself. The earthy strong smell of coffee permeated the room.

"I don't know how you drink that," Kanick said to Areonis, leaning forward and taking a tentative sip on the cup of honeyed tea set before him.

"Arch-Mage Cuarano loved the stuff," Areonis replied with a smile. "Left me a sack of it. Now I get headaches and a horrible temper if I go without."

"I hear congratulations are in order." Kanick said, reminded of the long-suffering apprentice. "Yokima passed her examination?"

"Yes, and with distinction too, I'm very proud," Areonis said, grinning. "I offered her a position as my clerk, but she wanted to put her skills towards something useful, I understand."

"Maybe she was just tired of your coffee-induced tantrums?" Kanick teased.

"Perhaps," Areonis grinned. "I'm in need of a new apprentice it seems."

"You could try an acolyte?"

"Bah," the Arch-Mage waved his hand dismissively. "Acolytes are useless. That should have been our first clue something was wrong with Woodbend," Areonis grumbled.

"What will happen to the enclave there now?" Kanick asked taking a sip from his tea, it was really quite pleasant. Oversweet, of course, but it was what Kanick needed against the darkening autumnal days.

"I'm having the tower pulled down and the materials sold," Areonis replied gruffly. "I've offered this Valdez – a good Western Temple man, wouldn't you know – I've offered him a charter to set up a hostel in the town." He continued after a draught of coffee. "I'm not sure I like the idea of marrying the politics of the Court with a position in the order, but the war threw us all closer together and it's time that reality was acknowledged," Areonis admitted. "Besides Woodbend needs a closer eye, even with Edian gone."

"And the mages there?"

"It's been a consigned mess, truth be told," Areonis's eyes darted around the room before settling back on Kanick. "I've given the trials over to The Governor in Woodbend, but it seems most were complicit in Edian's plot. Some of the older ones even rode against us during the war! The High-King is threatening a commission, would you believe!"

"Really?" That would be unprecedented in the history of the order, the power of the throne seeking to interfere in the running of the order.

"His majesty will have other problems to deal with, I imagine. The Scar and the Sons will occupy most of his attention. And the new King in Aaton is making angry noises at more Union forts in his lands." Areonis sighs. "I think I've done enough to head off the old man, though." He shifted uncomfortably in his highbacked chair. "I've offered a contingent of battlemages for an expedition into the Scar, see if we can't hunt down this spirit that Edian mentioned."

"You think it could be Palregon?"

"Hmm," Areonis's brow furrowed and he stroked his pointed goatee in thought. "No more than a remnant, if it's there at all. But potentially a corrupting influence on the land nonetheless." The Arch-Mage raised his hands. "With that much magic around, nothing works as it should, so who knows what is possible?"

"Will Bera be going?" Kanick asked, trying not to sound too interested.

"Ah, yes, I have spoken to Bera about your offer," Areonis said. "He wishes to remain your apprentice."

"I have resumed my teaching duties," Kanick reminded him. "I'm not a battlemage," he insisted, "and Bera could be one of our best... Headstrong, and a bit reckless, but the potential is there."

"Exactly, which is why he needs a cautious master," Areonis countered. "That's why I'm seconding you to the Battlemages. This expedition will need those qualities too." Kanick opened his mouth to protest but Areonis cut him off. "You may resume your teaching for now, and upon your return. It would be reckless to enter the scar with Winter approaching."

"And Bera would be happy to remain apprenticed to a teacher in the meantime?"

"You should ask him," Areonis shrugged. "Never knew you were such a healer," he remarked, changing the subject slightly.

"It was Regius's spell," Kanick replied quickly. "I can barely stitch a wound, never mind complicated magic like that. And, my skills were lacking," Kanick reminded him. "He will bare that scar for the rest of his life." Kanick thought on the white-pink lightning scar arching across the boy's torso. "Still, he seems no worse for it, luckily, and he'll have a story to tell, I'm sure."

"And the spell? It is truly gone?" Areonis asked. "I'm not sure how I feel about it. We all wish we could bring back someone, but there is something... unnatural about it."

"It's gone," Kanick confirmed. "Edian's... reaction suggests to me that he had the only working copy." Kanick finished his tea in a gulp. "It must have been transcribed from something, but we never found anything in the fort, or on, er, in Edian's... remains." Kanick had paused to think of the right words to describe the pile of ash and robes the revenant had left behind.

"It's astounding... You truly think he forgot about the sun?" Asked Areonis.

"I do," Kanick replied. "Or rather...," he added, rethinking his answer. "I think he had spent so long in the night that he had forgotten the signs of the dawn – he hadn't seen one since before the Sunder."

"Perhaps he tired of life?" Areonis posited.

"I don't think so," Kanick finished his tea. "Edian was driven by hatred of the order and the desire to see Palregon on the throne. He didn't seem tired." Kanick shivered, remembering Edian's fanatical belief that Palregon could be revived. "I feel we have felt the presence of something truly horrible in a future that almost was, lightly brush past us. Whatever happened, I feel we have been very lucky."