There was a sharp rap. Shira jerked her head toward the door.

I thought I had a while still. Shira scolded herself. I need to work on maintaining a sense of time within the meditation. Shira reached into the pocket of her meditating tunic and pulled out a short piece of chord.

There was a more insistent rap.

What could the hurry be? Shira deftly coiled her hair.

"I am not accustomed waiting so long on my students, Shira," said a deep-throated man on the far side of the door.

That voice! Shira had gathered up her hair but the string slipped and her hair fell about her shoulders. What could he want with me?

Shira ran a few measured steps to the door. She grasped the iron handle and pulled open the rough-hewn portal.

"Shira," the man with the deep voice said. If his rank's blue cloak had not commanded respect, his white hair and beard, creased face and piercing blue eyes would have. Shira immediately fell to her right knee and bowed her head. Her hair fell over her cheeks. My hair is down and I am still in meditation garb- what will he think of me?

"Forgive me, mage, for not answering your knock more quickly," Shira said.

"Walk with me, Shira," the mage said. He turned down the corridor as Shira rose to follow. His steps made whispers against the stone floor and walls of the empty hallway. Shira tried to quietly match his steps.

The mage walked with his eyes focused on a distant point. "How was your meditating session?" he asked.

"It was fine," Shira replied evenly. "Nothing unusual happened."

"Ah. You know you've been here since the winter before last."

"Nearly two years. I know." Shira's voice betrayed no emotion.

"I know that you've been doing everything you can think of to discover some kind of ability. Besides your glowing, of course." The mage walked silently for a moment. "Your instructors have worked the problem over endlessly. And you have been meditating three times a day outside of the controlled meditation conditions for about a year, correct?"

"Yes, mage."

As Shira and the mage neared the end of one corridor, the mage led Shira down another. "You haven't had any new inspirations lately? Any new ideas?"

"No, mage. But I have been trying everything I can."

"I know that, Shira. I know. I know it's especially frustrating for you…"

"I'm not frustrated at all," Shira murmured quietly.

The mage sighed. "You have been good to the rules, Shira. You have been good to this school."

"Thank you, mage," Shira murmured still more quietly.

"The reason they sent me to talk to you was because I showed early potential in meditating but did not discover my ability for over a year. But that is not nearly as uncommon as discovering an ability after two years in the school. You should be on your way to being a junior mage by now."

"I know, mage," Shira fairly whispered.

"You have been so good to this school… I wish I didn't have to make you go."

Shira was silent.

"But I do. You are so levelheaded, I know you understand. There are hundreds who are clamoring for a space in this school. We mages can no longer afford to have great patience during this time of war."

Shira made no reply.

"I know that it is customary to offer former novices other work throughout the school, but our school has grown so rapidly that there are no open positions. You are entitled to twenty silver coins and a new set of clothes, but the recruitment station in town would eagerly accept you, so I wanted to ask you if you would accept two silver pieces, which should be enough to get you to town. The recruitment office would give you the new clothes, and immediate work. Unless, of course, you have somewhere else to go."

He knows I came here because my family could not support me or save up a dowry. He knows that there is nowhere else for me. He asks as if I would wander from strange town to strange town, searching for work. Shira pulled a hand over her face. "No, I will go to the recruitment station in town."

"Because you did not go beyond the rank of novice, meditating outside of this school is against the Laws of the Order of Mages, which you are held under." The mage's eyes seemed to focus on a point even more distant. "The punishment for breaking this rule is severe. However, after you leave the grounds of this school, no one can keep you under its rules." The mage paused. "Though I wish you would hold on to them. It is an honorable way to live."

Shira and the mage walked in silence for a moment.

"I am sorry this had to happen, Shira. Here is your silver." The mage stopped walking. Shira paused as well. The mage picked up Shira's hand and placed two tarnished silver coins onto her palm. "Thank you for being a wonderful student."

"Thank you, mage," Shira whispered.