Serali looked stunned. She had dreamed idly of many glorious futures, though she knew it was far more likely that she'd live out an ordinary life, but even in her dreams magic had never come to mind at all. A great mage? One of the greatest ever? "But I don't know anything about magic," she said.

"You've done magic once," he replied with a smile.

She shook her head. "That was just one tiny cantrip though."

"But you did that one tiny cantrip better than anyone else." He paused for a moment, then continued. "For some time, I have been looking for a... a special apprentice. For a very long time, in fact. I have trained a few, as favors to friends generally, but I've never found anyone with the kind of talent that I really want to teach. You see, Serali, I'm a very unusual mage in that I can do more than one kind of magic. I think that you could also master several different kinds, and if you can, then I'd like you to come and be my apprentice."

"But how will you know if I can?"

"That's easy enough," said Janus with a smile. "I have another little cantrip. The crystal was bardic magic, and this one is elemental magic. A totally different type. So if you can master this one as well, I'll be certain that you have a gift for at least two kinds of magic." He pulled something out of a belt pouch. It was a stone, black and opaque with a peculiar sheen to it. He removed the candle from the brass candle holder that sat on the table and placed the stone on it instead. "Look at the stone, Serali, and think of fire. But please, a small fire. I have no desire to burn the inn down. Then, say ‘pyral' and will the stone to catch fire."

Serali felt dubious all over again. But she followed his instructions. She pictured a little flame, like a candle's flame, imagined it burning over the stone.

"Pyral!"

The stone burst into flame instantly, a little tongue like the flame of a candle, just as she'd pictured, springing up on it. "It works!" she said, surprised and suddenly delighted.

Janus nodded soberly, and she couldn't quite read the expression on his face. Eventually he said, "Yes, it works quite well. It seems I was right when I estimated your affinities. You could make quite the fire mage. Would you like to be my apprentice, Serali?"

Serali looked at him. She thought again of her dreams and fantasies. She could stay here, help her Papa run the inn, and help her brother someday when he took over, and live a totally ordinary life, or she could go and do something else, something exciting and wonderful. Maybe it wasn't being a queen, but it was better than serving drinks to drunken farmers her whole life! But... "I want to, but what about my family?"

"I will ask your parents' approval, Serali, but I think they know as well as I do that you don't belong in this town. You will grow old as an outcast here. In the city you will not be such an oddity. And there, as my apprentice, you will be able to be a part of society. Of high society, in fact. Mages are considered to be noble, no matter what their birth. It is one of the few ways that a commoner can join the nobility."

Nobility... Serali blinked. Not royalty, but still... "Yes then!" she said. "I would love to be your apprentice."