Windmills lazily turned their white sails over a jumble of rooftop gardens. The Transition had grown gracefully into the charming playfulness and pompous self-importance of the old mansions. It covered them with greenery as tangled and vibrant as the patchwork of families and friends now inhabiting the stately homes. Ripening fruits gleamed on turrets and archways, and blossoming vines wound around a balcony where a few complacent hens clucked down at the people far beneath them. The morning sun came to bathe Varoonya in pale and glorious gold.

But behind thick velvet curtains, a gloomy twilight reigned. Muffled silence filled the hall, and the ancient walls seemed to run up endlessly toward the canopy of their vaulted ceiling. Enim squinted up into the shades. From a box hung with ornate tapestries, the expressionless faces of five examiners looked back down at him.

Enim cleared his throat.

There was nothing for it now.

He turned back toward the elaborate design laid out on the floor and checked again. Crystals of blue and purple blinked at him between threads of finest glass. Enim couldn't see a single flaw.

He raised his wand, his eyes narrowed. In that moment, the world disappeared to him. Enim knew nothing now but the runes in his mind and the flow of magic in his veins. Full and round, the first vowels rolled off his tongue, ancient words of power, intoned with a perfection reached through years of relentless practice.

With a deep, secret rustle, the lines of a pentacle began to glow, spreading their fiery gleam across Enim's face.

* * *

}}} Kaya crouched behind low shrubbery, hidden in the shadow of the looming mountain. It was dark all around the mine. Black clouds scurried across a thin sickle moon high above, driven by a cold, gusty wind.

Lhut came up beside her, silent as a ghost, and gave her a short nod. So the path was clear. Kaya spied out from behind the branches. A guard had passed just a moment ago. It was now or never. She checked back with Lhut, then eased through the branches and swiftly made for the mine, without stopping and without looking back. Lhut followed close behind.

They did not halt once they were inside. They knew the path well enough. They had been toiling here for years, after all, day after day. Down they went, along the tunnel and down again, turn after turn into the maze of the mine. Finally, Kaya stopped. Almost there. She listened closely, then peered around the corner.

'Yes!' Kaya's heart jumped.

Everybody had come. They really had come.

Before her, where the tunnel broadened out, the figures gathered in the light of a single torch were little more than dark shapes and flickering shadows. But Kaya had no doubt. These were her people.

'We have come tonight, all of us,' she thought. 'Exhausted as we may be after shifts in the mine. Frightened as we may be after veiled threats, and more and more naked threats. We have come, in spite of it all.' Kaya smiled a proud and wretched half-smile, as did many miners.

"Well, then." Kaya's voice was low and intense as she took the hand of the man next to her. She gave Lhut the other and the circle closed all around, people clasping each other's hand in a solemn gesture of strength and determination.

In the silence of that rite, they heard it coming.

A low rumble at first, a sigh of stone somewhere deep in the mountain. An aching and moaning of slabs—and then, splintering wood and a crack in the ceiling.

Everybody jerked back. A scream tore through the air. Black figures began to run for the exit, stumbling and falling. Stones rained down on them, a hail of detritus hitting whoever was underneath.

Kaya bumped into two young men who were helping each other up, stumbling forward in clouds of dust, getting hit again. A massive block missed Kaya by inches as she instinctively pressed back against the wall. Another rock struck her head. Blood streamed down her face.

Lhut appeared before her, taking her hand, urging her on. And then a pillar of wood and an avalanche of stone crashed down on Lhut, tearing his hand from hers. {{{

Kaya woke with a scream. Her breath was coming raggedly. Sweat covered her brow. She looked around in alarm, but all she saw was the shaft of moonlight falling in through her chamber window. All she heard was the racing beat of her own heart.

Kaya took a deep breath. She rubbed the scar on her brow. Her pulse began to slow down again. "It's all right. I am here. It is over," Kaya whispered.

Stiffly, she lay down on her mat again, staring out into the darkness.

It wasn't true. Things were not all right. Nowhere near right! Kaya thumped her fist into the mat, muffling her cry with her pillow.

Then she drew the pillow away. Her eyes were gleaming. "It is not right. And: It is not over yet!"

Her next scream tore through the night with full force, a lament as much as an oath, a promise, an unbreakable pledge.

* * *

On the outskirts of town, the din of Varoonya's bustling river port subsided into a soft background rustle until it finally faded into the gentle murmur of the waves.

Where the banks of the Roon turned green again, a festive little crowd had gathered on one of the meadows. People were idling about, glass in hand, a cloud of laughter, talk and music swaying over them. Strings of fairy lights answered warmly to the gold and lavender in a darkening sky. The air was soft, carrying scents of the coming summer.

Enim drifted happily between arriving guests and slaps on his shoulder, between farewell songs and conversations about his future. Slim and gangly as he was, he danced with more joy than grace, but his sweet smile and boyish charms still brought more than one kiss to his lips.

Enim had dressed for the occasion by putting on the least worn of his usual blue baggy pants, the loose folds drawn tight at his ankles. The short crimson vest over his shirt, however, was exactly the same as always because of the hundred tiny pockets full of potions and crystals and magical implements. Enim wasn't going to go out without his equipment. So, wand tucked into his broad linen belt, Enim looked just his usual self. Which was precisely what everybody had come to celebrate anyway, right? Laughing, Enim pulled off his cap to push black hair from his brow when he suddenly froze.

A thousand tiny stars were gathering around him.

Enim looked about in confusion. But he found the source of magic soon enough.

Yoor had his arms stretched toward the sky, his skin shimmering in soft shades of blue and violet like the wings of a butterfly, subtle hues of color dancing over his velvety body.

Yoor brought his hand down in a circular motion. The stars multiplied into a shimmer of gold, arranging themselves into high pillars and arches, a sheer temple of light rising over Enim, the sacred hall filled with a celestial choir of triumph and glory.

Enim stared, wide-eyed. Then he laughed. "Oh, Yoor, please! Enough is enough!"

The music faded and the temple rained down in drops of amber to form a shiny pool at Enim's feet, before even that dissolved into nothingness.

"Goodness me," Enim gasped as he gave Yoor a hug. "I have only graduated from the academy. Not ascended to the heavens."

"As good as," Yoor murmured into his hair.

Torly threw herself at Enim from behind, squeezing him into a double hug before she stepped away to lean against Yoor's shoulder.

Faces all around them had turned, eyebrows raised in surprise and delight, smiles beginning to spread. Butterfly people were rare, and Yoor's appearance was admired as readily as the illusions he created. Noticing the eyes upon him, Yoor waved and gave a bow that was both humble meekness and extravagant flourish.

Torly laughed. "Yoor! You truly were born for the stage."

"Thank you." He straightened up, throwing pearly white hair back behind his neck. "I'll be back on in two nights."

Yoor tucked his arm under Enim's. "But what about you? Where will you go now that you are leaving the academy behind?"

A crooked smile stole onto Enim's lips. "As far away as I can, you might say. I'm going to the Mountains."

"To the Mountains!" Yoor's eyes widened. "Really? But why? There is nothing there! What do you think you'd do?"

"There is not nothing there, surely," Enim frowned. "There is nowhere where there is nothing. There's just places you haven't thought about yet." He wrapped his arms around his chest. "But to be quite honest, I don't know what is there either. That's why I am going. I have lived in Varoonya all my life. I'd like to see something new. To venture out into the unknown. Even if it is... challenging."

"Oh my," Yoor said, impressed. "What an adventurer. You could simply have sought work here. But, no. You go and travel the world. I am all amazement. I admit I had always thought you were rather tame. A stickler for rules, who always does everything right. How wrong I was!"

"Going to the Mountains is not against any rules," Enim pointed out. "Otherwise, of course I would not do it."

"Because you really do believe that rules are always right?"

Enim looked surprised. "Of course. What else? Rules are about what is right, and what is right is made a rule. That is the whole purpose of rules. If even the definition of right was not right, then where would we be and how would we know anything?"

Yoor tilted his head, giving Enim a sidelong glance. "I fear you may be in for a rude surprise, my friend."

Torly pinched his arm. "Don't be too sure, Yoor," she winked. "Enim has his own way of looking at things and is not thrown off course so easily. His conviction is so strong that I would not be surprised if reality ended up bending to his will, and then right will truly be right, just like he said it would."

"Now that's what I call true magic," Yoor said with feeling. "I wish they had taught us that at the academy."

* * *