XII
Mage's Conversation with an Esteemed Visitor
"A few years ago, we had to expel one of the students who had studied at this school for years. I forget why now. It was the right choice, of course- we cannot allow corruption in our ranks. But five years in this school... he was halfway to being a full mage, he was... it seemed cruel. I spent the night at the inn of his hometown on a journey to one of our sister schools. I hardly expected to meet him, but he was the stablehand two whom I have my horses. He was not the same person I had seen in countless trances. He would jerk his head toward every sudden sound. As I stood, talking to him, he moved his foot slowly through the dust, ran his fingers through each other, and did not hold my gaze. The women of the inn told me he had taken to drinking, and would burst out in fits of passion that led to fainting spells. His calm and steadiness had disappeared when he had been denied meditation."
"He had depended on it too much."
"Perhaps. But don't all mages? Things had gone awry in his mind, in his body..."
"You're worrying about Shira."
"Yes."
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