Liam entered the councilor’s office the same way he always did: seeds in hand and knees bent, ready to act at the first sign of danger. His wariness paid off on most of his visits, but today he was too slow.

As he stepped through the door, he cast his eyes over the room in a jumpy and methodical investigation. He took in the coffee-colored desk, the plush chair behind it, the stained glass window covering the entire rear wall. He searched the corners, the bookshelves, and even the ceiling some twenty feet above. There was no sign of her at all.

Where is she? His thoughts were getting frantic. He did a second search and began feeding the seeds in his hand but before they could grow into something useful he felt his shins and thighs go numb.

He looked down and began to panic as he realized what had happened. Ice had formed around his lower body and locked him in place. He sent the vines from his hand down to try splitting his prison but footsteps were already approaching from behind.

Councilor Aelfwynn had hidden across the hall, waited for him to enter her office, then sent water in behind to catch him off guard. A cold sweat broke out on Liam’s face as the horror of the situation set in. He thrashed against his bonds but to no avail. Not but a moment later he felt it. 

Thin, tiny arms wrapped around him from behind and pulled him into a tight embrace. He heard her sniff him and sigh contentedly. He shivered.

“You smell just as sweet today, my little champion.” Her voice was light and kind, almost proud like a mother. “You’ll do great things. I’ve known it since we met.” 

She sighed again, let go of him, and stepped around into his line of sight. She was small, maybe five feet tall in shoes, and her frame was so delicate that it seemed a stiff wind might snap her in half. She was apparently in her late forties yet appeared more like a twenty-something at oldest. The councilor looked sweet and gentle and kind but Liam knew the truth.

This woman was insane.

She was a councilor, which automatically meant she was freakishly strong with magic. She had not been the first mage he had met, but she had been the first of any consequence. After the reports of his feat with the tree in his hometown reached the Collective, Councilor Aelfwynn–Master Aelfwynn at the time–had made the long journey out to the mountains to meet him. She had put him through all sorts of tests and exercises and–after determining Liam to be special– had latched onto him like a doting parent. Nevermind the fact that he already had two of those.

She had visited him every year since then and had even accompanied him on his journey to the academy when he came of age. She had arranged his special status in the Collective, personally picked his instructors, and even picked all his clothes. She doted on him incessantly, inviting (forcing) him to attend events nearly every week. Liam had learned how to dodge her out on the campus by watching for bowing students or a sudden chill in the air, but there was little he could do when ordered to come to her office.

Liam had no doubt that given the chance she would never let him out of her sight.

And now, frozen in place, Liam could only stand helplessly as she studied him. She tugged one of his arms up and gave it a squeeze around the bicep, poked his belly, and even summoned a step of ice so she could get up high enough to pinch his cheeks.

“I knew green was your color,” she said while rubbing a bit of his shirt between two fingers, “but you really need to eat more. You’re too damn tiny for a boy your age. You should be an oak! But here you are, nothing but a reed.”

Flustered, Liam finally succeeded in having his vines split the ice. Shaking off the remaining chunks, he huffed and stalked over to the chair waiting in front of her desk. Aelfwynn pouted but followed suit, taking her own seat in a chair that made her look even smaller than she was. 

Liam wanted to tell her off but couldn’t find something to say without sounding like an angry child. After a moment, he settled on the obvious in hopes of getting out of the room faster.

“Why am I here, Councilor?” he asked, stressing formality in his words. Aelfwynn looked wounded for a moment. Seeing this, Liam felt a pang of guilt and tried to move the conversation forward. “You mentioned policy changes. What’s going on?”

Her expression hardened for a moment as she pushed herself to act the part of an adult with a job and responsibilities. She straightened her posture, cleared her throat, and looked him dead in the eye. 

“Of course, right. Right right right. I actually called you here for a reason today.” She opened a drawer in her desk and pulled out a single sheet of paper.

Liam took the sheet, curiosity getting the better of him. He rarely saw this side of Aelfwynn.

The paper was done up all official and signed at the bottom by each of the nine councilors. It was long-winded and written in the dry legal dialect that only lawmakers and clever criminals truly understand, but Liam picked out the gist of it.

Speechless, he set the paper down gingerly. Someone watching might have been forgiven for thinking he had been handling a baby drake rather than a document. He looked up and searched her face for any sign of jest but found none.

“Who?” he finally asked.

“Leppa,” she said simply. “Seems they are unhappy with the current terms of the Alliance.” She took the paper and tucked it back into her desk. “That, or they can smell blood in the water. I don’t blame them, not really, but they’re still morons.”

“What do you mean?” he asked, his voice rising slightly as he thought through the implications of that single document. Two specific lines from the policy announcement stuck in his mind.

Due to the newfound possibility of conflict in the near future, the Collective is to shift instruction to an adjusted curriculum until further notice.

Gifted trainees are to be enrolled in leadership training effective immediately, excepting exceptional circumstances which are to be handled on a case-by-case basis.

The policy would go into effect in two weeks, likely to allow time for the instructors to prepare and for the leadership to communicate and coordinate with member nations. War wasn’t guaranteed or imminent then, which Liam was thankful for, but he was still deeply shaken by this news.

“Why would Leppa attack? And who are they attacking?” So many questions buzzed through his mind, but those were the first to come out.

“Unfortunately, the Andrades currently have their hands full with their nobles and a good chunk of their people. You remember that incident a while back, right? Leppa seems to have taken the fallout from that attack as their cue to pursue expansion.” Aelfwynn looked at him seriously, then sank back into her chair. 

“Let me level with you,” she said. “Leppa is truly stupid if they attack now. The Andrades are not weak–they quite literally never have been. If you knew half of half of half of what that family could do, you would never in your right mind challenge them to a fight. They’re ruthless, cunning, and above all else they are sickeningly noble. They are never the aggressor, they care for their people to a nearly fanatical extent–at least by the standards of monarchs–and any perceived threat to their peace dies in the cradle. 

“The only reason that priestess was able to do that to them is because she could not be perceived before she appeared. Even now, nobody knows what that girl was. All we know is that she used the Andrades to get at the Collective and that she can whip fire around like the sun itself.”

“Wait, what?! What do you mean ‘she used the Andrades to get at the Collective’?” Liam was shocked. This wasn’t anything he had heard before. All he knew was that two captains and their detachments had been killed. 

Aelfwynn looked at him incredulously for a moment, then realization hit her and she clapped her hands over her mouth. “F-forget I said that!” she almost shouted. “You heard nothing! Nothing at all!”

Liam tried to find answers in her expression and only then noticed the dark circles under her eyes. She hadn’t been sleeping well; he could see that now. Aelfwynn must have been under quite a bit of stress. Feeling bad for her, he nodded and changed the subject.

“So what does this have to do with me?” he asked, then rephrased. “Do I fall under ‘gifted’ or ‘exceptional’?” While Liam hated to admit it–mostly because he hated sounding prideful–he wasn’t quite dense enough to need that part spelled out for him.

Aelfwynn, slightly calm once more, gave him a smirk. “You should know by now that I wouldn’t let my boy get lumped in with simply gifted trainees.” She spat the word like poison, making Liam flinch.

He wanted to protest that she thought way too highly of him but couldn’t find it in him. However annoying she could be, he knew she cared for him and wanted what was best for him. Plus she was clearly tired. He could let her have her moment just this once.

Giving an uneasy smile and dreading the answer, he asked “So what will I be doing then? Knowing you, I assume you have something lined up for me?”

“Clever boy!” she exclaimed, clapping her hands and hopping out of her chair. Liam watched with confusion as she practically skipped over to the office door, yanked it open, and shouted into the hallway. “Cara! Cara? Get your ass in here Cara! Come meet my boy!”

Aelfwynn looked antsy as she continued shouting for a few seconds until finally saying “Ah! There you are! Come now, get in here.” The councilor opened the office door wide and gestured for a figure in the hall to enter. A moment later, a second woman entered the room.

She was tall, although everyone looked as much when next to Aelfwynn. Still, Liam guessed she might have him beat by a few inches. She wore finely made clothing: trousers dyed sky blue and a shirt split diagonally between the same blue on the bottom and right and a cloud-white on the top and left. The fabric was held tight to her skin in places by light brown leather straps and a thin saber hung at her waist. Her limbs were long and lithe, her skin pale and without blemish. Her face continued the trend. Thin and pointed yet soft. She was beautiful without a doubt. Her midnight-black hair was braided into a tidy and practical tail that kept it out of her way. 

What was most striking however were her eyes. Golden and bright, they caught him and froze him in place even more effectively than Aelfwynn had with literal ice. He felt as if they bore into him. 

His breath caught and there was a sudden burning pressure in his chest and head that felt like someone had filled his body with molten steel. It wasn’t painful, but rather felt like it was looking for something. The feeling vanished a moment later and left him dazed.

“This is Cara!” Councilor Aelfwynn announced, puffing her chest and beaming with pride as if she had just saved the day. “Instead of whatever nonsense those other instructors would teach you, she'll be handling your training one-on-one!” She looked at Liam with a face that made it clear she expected gratitude. 

“Come on, say thank you! It wasn’t easy to find someone this good for you on such short notice!”