After lunch, David returned to the library to find Gyarihk waiting outside, chatting with the woman on guard duty.

  “Grand Mage!” The young man called out, then turned to the guard woman and said: “See, sis? I told you I knew him!”

  “Greetings Gyarihk, yes, he does know me, though I do not believe we have met?” David said to the guard.

  “Grand Mage Thengarian, please meet my sister and future Battle Sister, Joyann,” the Novitiate replied.

  David bowed to the young woman who seemed completely shocked by the whole thing… “Is there a free training room we could go to? I think experimenting in the library could be disastrous,” David suggested.

  “One moment,” Gyarihk said, blurred and vanished in a puff of air.

  Finally finding her voice the guard let out a short ugh and then said: “for once his boasting proves true. It is an honor to meet you, Grand Mage.”

  Before David could reply, Gyarihk returned. “Both are avaible at the moment, though for but half an hour.”

  “Pick one and let us be off then. Nice meeting you Joyann,” David added, as Gyarihk pced a hand on his shoulder, and they sped away.

  There was a Magister outside the chosen room who wrote down their names and gave them a key, and they went inside. The training room was a rge chamber with bare walls. A small balcony was set in one corner, and two rge tables full of drawers were present at the opposite end, but otherwise, aside from some scorch marks on the wall and floor, the room was empty. David quickly went through the table’s contents and found several small items.

  “As you appear unable to use Spirit, I will need you to use Air to manipute these items and show me exactly what you do to access your fast movement effect.”

  The young man concentrated and lifted up several of the small objects but then dropped them all as he tried to move them into position. He let out a frustrated sigh

  “Rex. Let the power flow through you. You are fighting it, not working with it, and it shows. Take a few calming breaths and try again.”

  This time he did a little better, forming the Air rune and starting to manipute it, only to have it fly apart halfway through.

  “I may have seen enough,” David said, “But let’s try one more time. Go slowly, try to stay rexed and just ride the forces rather than commanding them.”

  Gyarihk’s eyes opened wide. “That is how I use the power. Never thought to apply it to this exercise!”.

  This time he was able to keep the rune together, manipute it as he did the rune when he cast the spell, and suddenly had his Air created rune speed away from him and crash into a wall.

  “So, it looked like this is what you just did,” David said, and accessed his own rune. A puff of air surrounded him and then carried him across the room in a mere second.

  “Yes! That is exactly what I do!” The younger man said. He tapped his own power and was suddenly at David’s side.

  “No, that is all you are aware of doing, but you actually are doing a lot more. Watch,” David said. He tapped Spirit and created an illusion of the Air rune. As he maniputed it, he also brought in Earth and Spirit. “This is what I saw as you brought me here. You tap Spirit to maintain contact with your passenger, and Earth to dissipate the heat of friction as you move. I can see where they missed the first one, but the Earth link should have stood out to anyone paying close attention. Heck, with a slight tweak, you should be able to use it to do this,” he said and sped towards a wall - but instead of stopping, he simply passed right through it! Several seconds ter, David returned the same way. “That was exhausting. I would suggest not trying it right off the bat like that!”

  “You really think I can do that?” the other replied, excitedly.

  “With practice and proper training, absolutely - but try a thinner barrier like a door first until you really know your limits. Now, can you pick up these scattered items and return them to the table - all but this one?” David said while picking up an oval stone.

  “Sure!” Gyarihk summoned Air again and quickly gathered the scattered items up and returned them to the table.

  “Now,” David said, “I am going to show you the Earth rune. I want you to focus on it and then see if you can find it in your mind.” Using the illusion, David did as he said, rotating the illusory rune in the air as he did so.

  “It, well, it is very faint, but I think I can see it!” Gyarihk excimed.

  “Good. Now tap it gently, then try to use it to do something, anything, with the object in my hand.”

  This time, Gyarihk physically reached out and grasped something in the air. He twisted his hand around as if moving an unseen item in the air.

  Suddenly, the stone in David’s hand began to vibrate - and then fell right through his hand as if either it or the hand itself were made of smoke. As it cttered to the ground, Gyarihk asked: “Did I do that?”

  With a small touch of pride, David replied: “Yes, you most certainly did. I need to go rest for a bit and then try to contact some friends who are far away. If we can meet tomorrow, I think I can show you how you are accessing Spirit as well.”

  “Really? But that would give me three and ... um… sir, perhaps this is presumptuous to ask but, are you, ah, well, are you in the market for an apprentice?”

  David was shocked at this. “Honestly, I had not considered it. I am not sure what the protocol is, so will ask around and see. Maybe, but no promises, Okay?”

  “Certainly sir; and thank you very much for this. All of it.”

  “It has been my pleasure. I may have learned as much or more than you, my friend.” And offered his hand to the Novitiate.

  They shook hands and then David went over and opened the door. “Come over here, Gyarihk. My turn to py shuttle. I will not be as fast as you - indeed, I suspect you have a unique gift for speed that may never be equaled, but I think I can pull this off.”

  They told the Magister outside that the room was now free, but they would need it for the same time the next day; the young magister made a note of it. Then David tapped Air and Spirit and zipped over to the library where he had met the Novitiate earlier. After bidding him and his sister farewell, David went back to his chambers for a quick nap, only to find a certain rat faced man standing outside.

  “Are there ws about harassment here?” David asked.

  The young man held up a sack of coins. “This is your st chance to accept payment and leave of your own free will before tomorrow forces you to leave in shame, Grand Mage.”

  David smiled: “let me show you where your offer belongs.”

  He reached out, touched the other man’s shoulder, and called up Air, Spirit and Earth; in the blink of an eye, he left the rat-faced man with his sack of coins in the Temple's trash pile and zipped back to his rooms, now nearly exhausted.

  A knock on his door awakened him from a far-too-brief nap. He answered the door, and Thellissandra stood there, reminding him they were supposed to talk to the group on David’s world now. She was also ughing about how one of Dalrinjian’s followers was found in the trash pit, while refusing to answer any questions about how he got there.

  This time, David looked for Audrey’s mind instead of Malcolm's, and was surprised at how clearly it stood out in the Astral Pne. He “knocked” and asked her if she were ready to try and bring them both across, and she said, “I think so.”

  “Something about you is different,” David mused.

  “You saw my eyes change. That’s about it,” she answered, a little confused. “Let me know when you are ready.”

  She saw David turn his head and say something that she could not hear, and then she saw a hand grasp David’s shoulder; the arm attached faded to just an outline before it reached a shoulder, but she was pretty sure it belonged to Thellissandra. She concentrated on the path between them and felt a rush of air, opened her eyes, and David and Sandra suddenly stood beside her in Carol’s living room.

  “That was impressive,” a voice said.

  David turned to the speaker; it took him almost a full second to recognize her: “Liz? Did you and Carol py haircut roulette?”

  She ughed, “Style Roulette, but yeah! What do you think?” And she turned around slowly.

  “I think the third time is the charm. You look fantastic. Wait - that ring on your finger; is that new?”

  “Carol proposed yesterday, and I accepted,” Liz beamed, showing the ring off. “And it took you literally one third the time it did for the Detective to notice, Boy Wonder,” she added, teasingly.

  “Congratutions!” David replied.

  “I really like your hair, too,” Sandra added. “Before mine grows long enough to braid again, I may have to try that cut. What do you think, Theng, er, David?”

  He smiled at her. “I think you will look amazing no matter what you do to your hair. Though if Carol’s people had styled yours like that, we might never have made it to the bedroom. Or even out of the salon…”

  Sandra looked wistful. “Then I wish they had!”

  “Not me,” David replied, smiling. “I absolutely love the way you look and the way things happened between us and would not change a thing.”

  She leaned in to kiss him when a knock on the door startled everyone. Carol had just come down the stairs and said, “I’ll get it.”

  A strange woman with long blonde hair dressed in a business suit stood outside. As the door opened, she fshed a badge. “Amanda Prescher, FBI. May I come in?”