Nith led the two women up the stairs that resided over his office. Once upon the landing the women saw the hall ran at least the length of this primary building and then turned the corner into the arm of the right U. The group of three stopped at the first door on the left instead of going any further.

The door was made of simple wood. No carvings or special demarcations. Which already eased both Shae and Mel a bit. Obviously, there would be no magic use behind this door.

The room itself was a simple four by four-meter room. At the near side to the right of the door was a simple desk with two chairs. One chair was lifted so a short person could easily use the tabletop. Close to the far wall sat a larger table with a simple wooden single chair. Which to Shae’s bum’s delight was padded on the seat portion. No body liked sitting in a hard wood chair for hours. Heck even hour.

Upon the table was a closed wooden case that looked like those large hard bodied luggage bags. Beside the table was another case on each side similarly sized. The room itself was light by a soft light, Shae figured about sixty watts roughly. Again, no light fixture, just light. It was kind of neat, but this trick was getting old already as the whole building was magically lit. ‘Still… Magic though, Am I right?’ Shae thought with a mental smiling nod.

Nith cleared his throat before speaking and to get the ladies attention.

“This will be your exam room for the next few hours. After you finish each box, you can take a short break to freshen up or have a snack as you see fit. There will be a tray of small bites and water delivered in a while. Mel,” The gnome mage looked up at Mel. “You are welcome to sit at the desk with me as Shae completes each test. We are not allowed to converse either as it might affect her concentration. We are merely observers. I, so that she cannot cheat. You for support, and because of the issue downstairs. Normally you would not be allowed to be here during these tests.”

“Thank you.” Mel simply replied after the gnome finished speaking.

Then to Shae Nith said, “When you are ready you may sit in the chair and open the first case to begin your test. Even I do not know what is inside the randomly chosen test cases. Good luck Miss Brightmane.” With that done, Nith waved Mel to follow him over to the desk with the two chairs. Shae’s attention turned toward her own desk as the headed away. With just a little hesitation Shae walked around to her desk and sat down.

The wooden case was simple stained wood with a metal flip catch on it. Shae flipped the simple devise up and opened her case.

Inside was a single piece of paper with a picture on it. Just as she looked at the picture it vanished leaving the page blank except for a few words at the top.

“Describe what you saw in as much detail as you can.”

‘Wuh.’ Shae thought. She had barely even got a glimpse of the picture. There was a man in armor on a horse… was it white with spots? The man was in a meadow with flowers, riding away from the artist. The flowers were of three colors she thought.

There was a pencil in the box with the paper. ‘Huh they have carbon pencils.’

Shae sat with eyes closed trying her best to mentally recreate the picture in her mind. When she felt reasonably certain she had teased everything she could out of her memory she began to write. It turned out the pencil wrote with a dark ink. Like the black carbon was flowing into the page instead of just coloring the top of it. ‘I want one!’ She thought. Then mentally shook her head at her distraction and got back to business.

She spent a while writing, then pausing as something else popped into her mind out of the blue. The more she wrote the more of the smaller facts she remembered.

After what felt like hours Shae finally stopped writing and put the magic pen pencil back into the box. As she started to put the paper into the box Nith called out to her to bring the paper over to him.

She brought the test page she had written over to Nith and Mel’s table, which now had a tray with a glass jar of water that had moisture on the outside of it, and a tray of cheeses, biscuits, and some kind of spreadable paste that tasted similar to garlic hummus but with a bit less tang. She and Mel drank the cold water and snacks as Nith looked over her paper. He had produced what looked like an answer key out from thin air. Shae had written her answer in point form which she was sure made it easier for the gnome to go over.

After Shae’s fourth biscuit, Nith looked finally done. He began to go over his results with Shae who had brought her chair over to join the two at the table.

“You did very well.” The gnome said with a bit of pride toward Shae. You noted eighty-five out of a possible one hundred and thirteen items in the painting. Of note, the tiny bird in the top right corner. Though it’s a dragon.” He said looking at her over the top of the page. While you did get a few more things they were either the wrong color or shape. Such as the clouds. They were light pink not white. And I’m not sure what a plane is, so that was also marked wrong.”

‘Oh shit, I put down a cloud shaped like a plane without thinking!’ Shae mentally panicked.

The gnome went on without missing a beat though, so she let it pass with a promise to do better.

After her short break, Shae took her chair back to the table and took up the box to her left. Moving the old box into its spot.

Shae took breath as she flipped the catch on this box. Then steeled herself for anything. Focusing mentally in case of another picture test.

Inside this case was another paper and pen-cil. At the top were the words…

“Explain why you wish to be a mage.”

Shae sat back in thought. So many things began running through her mind, with a bit of worry that this could be a deal breaker if she said the wrong things.

Finally, after deliberating for maybe thirty minutes, she finally gave up and wrote her answer. Thinking to herself ‘It’s always best not to muddle to much.’ her uncle had taught her. ‘So, I’ll kiss.’ (keep it simple stupid)

She brought her chair and paper over the Mel and Nith. She sat down and handed the paper to the gnome mage, her heart racing a bit.

The gnome hummed looking at her answer, then put it down on the table beside the first page and didn’t make any judgements.

“Really?” Mel asked looking at her after peeking at the page. “All that time and you wrote “Because it’s fucking AWSOME!””

Shae couldn’t help herself and a huge smile plastered itself onto her face. With a shrug she answered. “What can I say. Magic is fucking awesome.” Which made Nith snort before he got control of his sudden outburst.

“Yes, I guess it is.” Nith had a small smile on his lips. “Not the worst answer I’ve seen.”

The three made small talk, with Nith engaging a little here and there. Especially when it came to the school and its inner workings.

After her last short break Shae once again had an unopened box before her. ‘Third and final test.’

With not much ado she opened the case. Inside was a simple orb in a velvet setting. There was a label on the underside of the lid. “Place your hand on the orb and speak your allegiance.”

Caught a bit off guard Shae had to think this one over. She was alone and knew nothing about this world for the most part. If she said the monarchy and it was a lie detector, which she was ninety-nine percent sure it was, she would likely fail here and now. She really had no allegiance to this world. Not really. She liked the four adventurers. But she wasn’t quite allied with them per say. Nor anyone or thing else in this world. She thought hard for a way around this test. What could she say that wouldn’t be a lie and not get here kicked out?

Then an idea crashed into her mind.

“The creators.” She spoke.

There was a bright green flash of light that shot up from the case that ended at the ceiling. It was so solid a light you could not even see through it.

Then Shae removed her hand and looked up at Nith and Mel.

She approached the gnome who was taking up her two papers looking like they were finished. Mel and Nith rose.

Nith looked at Shae. Then bowed, “Very honest answer. We appreciate that from our students. I can say with some certainty you will be welcomed to start your learning here at Hombek College. Come by tomorrow morning after sunup with your things and we will get you settled into a room.”

Shae bounced on her toes in excitement her face going through several levels of glee. She even bent down and almost picked up the gnome to swing him around but stopped herself short when she saw a startled look on his face.

“Ahem, Sorry, I was just so excited.” Shae apologized with a beet red face.

“it’s alright my dear. After all we did almost blow you up first.”

“Right, there was that wasn’t there.” Shae laughed still over the moon.

“Alright follow me to the front desk. You are free to go from there. I will make arrangements for your coming tomorrow.”

Shae grabbed Mel’s hand with a small squeal as Nith started away. Mel just smiled happily for Shae, who, was still vibrating.

The three alit from the stairs. Mel and Shae breezed past the front desk on their way out the front door. Shae stopped just before exiting and waved happily at the gnome, thanking him again.

“Ahh, the energy of youth.” The gnome lamented.