He was led into a parlor, also of white stone and dark gold metal. There were some dark green stone elements and furniture upholstered in the same dark green color, which Evren was told to sit down on. Aside from those, everything in the room was white and gold.

One entire wall was a window, overlooking the city, and in any other circumstances, Evren would have found the view breathtaking. Now, the sight just made him more nervous.

A priest came in - young, Evren realized. Those connected with magic tend to live longer than other people, and their age doesn’t show as much. But more than his face, it was this priest’s movements that gave Evren that impression.

He gave Evren a small cup of tea. Evren took it. He stared at the cup, a small, light piece of porcelain, the same white tone as the room, with designs of the same tone of gold.

When he finally looked up, the priest was already gone.

Evren smelled the tea. Its scent was light, yet it had a sense of potency underneath. He hoped it was some sort of magical concoction to calm him down. 

As soon as he’d finished the tea and taken a few deep breaths, he noticed someone else near the door of the room.

Evren’s first thought was that he couldn’t believe this person was real. 

His white hair seemed to almost reach the floor. It framed his face, stern and angular, yet, somehow Evren could tell, caring as well, in that combination of those two attributes that formed wisdom. He looked young, not much older than Evren himself, but Evren knew that that meant little, when looking at those who lived closely with magic. He wore white and purple robes, voluminous and covered with embellishments, but somehow light, not weighed down by those decorations. His sleeves were full above the elbow, and fitted on his forearms, tight, revealing his wispy thinness. He wore gold bracelets on both arms.

His stone - a true one - was part of a cuff around his right wrist.

This was a real sorcerer. 

Evren was sure his amazement showed on his face. The sorcerer didn’t seem to mind as he approached.

He smiled gently and sat down at the same low table of white stone and glass where Evren was sitting, across from him. 

“My name is Caeliese,” the sorcerer said. His voice was deep and smooth.

Evren nodded, then caught himself. “I-I’m Evren-“

“We are aware,” Caeliese said. Truly, his tone wasn’t sharp, but Evren flinched.

Caeliese had his hands in front of him, on the table, and Evren couldn’t help but look at his stone. It was a dark teal color, and the light that swirled within it wasn’t opalescent, like that of a prince, but it was clear and bright. Beyond that, it didn’t swirl in an even pattern like the subordinate stones of the two priests before. It pulsed, and seemed to react to Caeliese’s breathing, his thoughts, his speech. This was a real stone...

Evren caught himself and began to look away.

“It’s fine,” Caeliese told him. “You may look. You should look,” he said. And to show that he meant it, he held his hand out.

A bit embarrassed, Evren leaned in.

It was sublime. 

It was a quiet sort of sublime, but of no less depth. It was, he realized, the kind of thing that one’s life could change from seeing.

It was as if, as he watched the light in the stone on Caeliese’s wrist flow, his very soul, depths of sensation he didn’t know he had, began to flow along with it.

After Evren had watched for some time, Caeliese spoke. “What are your thoughts?”

Evren noticed that Caeliese took care not to startle Evren. His voice was gentle. Yet... his phrasing seemed curious to Evren. Curious, but... it did relax him.

“It’s beautiful.”

Evren said this with a firm voice, simply, purely. To say more would somehow disturb the emotion, that lay in his heart like still water. 

And yet, his feeling was more than that. More than could be encapsulated in any word of common parlance.

And though Evren said no more, Caeliese seemed to understand.

“It is,” Caeliese said. “They all are.”

His voice, both their voices, echoed a bit in the large stone room. Else, there was silence. Silence... Evren wondered when he last experienced it to this extent. 

To break it gave him a certain sadness, but even so...

“I- ah, that is...” 

Caeliese understood.

“You are likely wondering why we have brought you here,” he said. 

“Um, yeah, I mean,” Evren started, “I didn’t apply for anything, or...” he trailed off.

“You did not need to,” Caeliese said. 

He paused.

“You have never been here before, I take it?”

Evren blinked. “To the palace? N-no, of course not...”

Caeliese gestured to the room.

“What do you think of it?”

Evren didn’t want to make a fool of himself again. He didn’t answer.

Caeliese smiled and picked up.

“You might have been surprised to have this meeting in such a large hall,” he said. “Do you recognize this room? You might have seen pictures”

Evren took another look around the room. Now that he thought about it, there was something familiar about it.

“The Celestial Princes often hold gatherings here. Receptions, public ceremonies, things like that.”

“Ceremonies?” Evren asked.

“Public ones, such as presenting honors and things like that. Completely separate from magic rituals. Those are done in special chambers that are built to purpose. You will become very familiar with them. Sorcery cannot be done in just any space. Even the rituals that are done publicly, on holidays and the like, are done in the same locations throughout history, because those locations are advantageous to sorcery, maintained for this purpose. The rest is done in here. The iceberg under the water, so to speak.”

Evren just nodded. He knew that, or, he had heard it before, but hearing it now from someone who actually did it was fascinating.

“You are aware of the role of the Celestial Princes, correct?”

Evren wasn’t sure how to answer. “I… know the basics, but not in depth,” he replied.

“You are aware that they are sorcerers,” Caeliese said, “and that while they do not take part in government directly, being bonded to the Celestial Stones gives them a position of royalty, which has been the case since ancient times. This role comes with certain public duties, but for the most part, it is one of deeply devoted magical work.”

Evren nodded.

“That all takes place on the other floors,” Caeliese continued. “There are both the ancient stone and metal chambers that, I think, people have come to expect due to portrayals in stories over the years. But of course, there are also modern laboratories. You will see it all once we start your lessons.”

Evren’s heart leapt. “Lessons?” He asked. “So… does that mean I - I mean, is there a test or a… trial or anything?”

Caeliese’s expression became serious, and Evren felt the tone of the room change.

“Evren,” Caeliese said. Evren felt as if a shock of cold air hit him. Caeliese hadn’t said his name before. Even that word was different in his voice. Stabler, more poised. More dignified. Nobler.

Evren shifted under Caeliese’s gaze. He wanted to hide. What does he think I am…

“I can tell from your response to seeing the palace, seeing these stones, that you are not hoping to be sent back to your old life. Do not worry. You will not be.”

Caeliese seemed to notice Evren’s relief. “We wouldn’t have summoned you here the way we did if we had not been certain, but even so, I understand. Do not worry. You have a guaranteed place here. We would not act on guesswork for anything like this.”

Evren still felt lightheaded. “But… there’s still training and all of that, right? I won’t be doing actual spells for a while, so…”

Caeliese hesitated.

“Don’t… sorcerers have to go through a lot of training before...?”

Caeliese’s tension weighed on Evren. The sorcerer finally began to speak.

“Ordinarily, you would,” he began, “but a… special situation has arisen. Evren, the truth is, we do not choose who bonds to what stone. The stones themselves make that choice. They know who the right choice is, far greater than we humans ever could. Evren…” he paused, giving this space. “The truth is, we have brought you here so urgently because you have been chosen by a stone.”

The air around Evren suddenly felt as cold and lifeless. Thin.

“… excuse me?” He finally managed.

“It is true.” Caeliese gave no sign of response to Evren’s reaction, and Evren hoped he hadn’t done the wrong thing.

“But… how do you know?” Evren asked.

“There is a stone that has been without a bearer for quite some time,” Caeliese began to explain. “The truth is, we were worried that it would lose power without a bonded sorcerer. That is still a risk, but the stone has awakened. It signaled to us the direction of the host it had selected.”

“Direction?” Evren asked. He pointed out the window, in the vague direction of the campus where he'd been. “There are a lot of people in that direction!” He blurted out. “It can’t have meant me, there’s no way—”

Caeliese smiled slightly, as if Evren had made him want to laugh, and Evren was both relieved and embarrassed.

“Not physical or geographic direction, Evren,” Caeliese said. “Rather, the stone directed us to your magical signature, through the currents of the elements of magic that run through the air. The stone led us directly to you, Evren.”

“I don’t have a...” Evren said, “I’ve never done a single spell before—” he stopped, suddenly, realizing what he had admitted.

Caeliese didn’t react to it. “You have interacted with spells by others,” he said. “The things you use daily are all made from spells. Perhaps, millennia ago, it would have been possible to go through life without ever touching magic and developing any magical signature, but one would have to go so far as to never sit on a chair carved with tools made from magic, and people were using magic to sharpen their tools before they had even developed written language.

“On top of that,” Caeliese said, “You seem to have an interesting pastime - I have been informed that you read spell manuscripts in the library, and quite often, even though you don’t so much as tinker with magic yourself?”

Evren blinked - though, he realized, his school library record was probably attached to his other student records. That probably stood out more than anything else about him.

And it was extensive, he realized. He had been there constantly, using one of only a few of the rooms for studying the school’s rare documents. They were delicate, and Evren knew it was selfish of him. So, out of respect for the documents, he would only ever request the same piece once, but the school had so many that he was still in there multiple times a week. The other days, he would study from facsimiles, but it was never long before he wanted to see them in person again. The school’s collection wasn’t particularly large or noteworthy, by any means, but it still had thousands of them, between loose pages, books, scrolls, and all other sorts of forms.

“I… I like the poetry,” Evren said. “And the drawings. The handwriting is part of the drawing, really, and I love to look at it. It’s beautiful. It’s…”

He felt himself shrinking inside. 

Talen had had to wait for him to finish. Talen lingered in the classroom, socializing, but lonely Evren went straight to the library when class ended, and he got to the booths before Talen did. Talen had confronted him. 

It wasn’t right, he had said, that Evren just wanted to look at the spells. He couldn’t understand them, he couldn’t do anything with them - neither could Talen, for that matter. All he was doing was tinkering - but at least he tinkered. At least he tried to understand and apply the science of magic, to understand how technology works. He would probably never be a real sorcerer, but he might at least become an engineer, working with the sorcerers form outside the palace to apply spells. But what would Evren do with what he read on those pages, he asked? Fake spell-style poetry?

Evren hadn’t known how to answer. He’d just avoided Talen’s gaze, and walked away…

Why am I here, Evren thought, and not him?

“It is somewhat rare," Caeliese began, "for people to notice the subtleties of it, nowadays, but the actual writing and drawing of spells is an art in itself. It is not surprising to see in a stone’s chosen bearer. But besides that, the fact that you have interacted with these handwritten spells, themselves objects of magic, and magic far more intense than the sort in other items, has also developed your magical signature.”

Evren blinked. He hadn’t been aware.

“To be honest,” Caeliese said, “You would have to have gotten involved with magicians soon in some way or another, because your signature was becoming too strong. It might even have made its mark on other things around you - in a positive way, please understand.”

Evren nodded. “I get it,” he said. “I just, never thought of myself as… anything like that before.”

“Evren,” Caeliese said. Something in his voice made Evren tense. Was there more? But… what?

“Evren, magic is beautiful. Any sorcerer is unfortunate, truthfully, because a stone is a terrible burden. But any sorcerer is also incredibly lucky, because, though a burden, it is beautiful. And Evren… you will get to know these things far better than I. Far better than any other sorcerer, in fact.”

Evren blinked. His heart raced. What was Caeliese trying to say…?

Then it hit him.

A stone that had been dormant for a long time…

There were three Celestial Princes.

There had once been four.

Caeliese seemed to notice the change in Evren’s expression, and he smiled.

“Evren.”

His smile was sympathetic. It was supportive. It was all of this while still, somehow, maintaining the calm wisdom of a sorcerer.

It felt like a boulder dropped on him.

“No…”

“Evren,” Caeliese said. “The stone that has chosen you is a Celestial Stone.”

He said it just like that… that such a burden could be held in such small breaths.

Evren shook his head.

“It can’t be me.”

“It is you, Evren.”

“I-I can’t… I’m just…”

“You are no different from any of the stone’s previous bearers.”

“But I….” Evren stammered, “I’ve never even done any magic before.”

“Neither had anyone else before arriving here.”

Evren let out his breath.

He couldn’t think of any other reason to object.

But… he couldn’t just accept. He couldn’t just… what? Declare himself worthy of becoming a…

His head spun.

“So… what happens now?” Evren asked, realizing how mundane, how out of place the comment sounded as soon as he said it.

Caeliese simply answered his question.

“You will be presented to the stone in a ritual. You will not have to say or do anything particular. You will simply stand before the stone, and it will confirm its choice.”

“Or reject me,” Evren said.

“It is not impossible,” Caeliese said. “But highly unlikely. Once the stone has confirmed you, you will begin your training. Once you have progressed to a certain level with sorcery, another ritual will be held in which the stone will be bonded to you, and you will become a true Celestial Prince.”