The party went on for several more hours as evening began to draw in, and then people began to drift away in twos and threes, seeking out the happy couple for one last goodbye and a congratulatory kiss before leaving. Duty and custom required that Thomas and Lirenna be the last to leave, and so they hung on while a small group of young farmers laughed and joked about the antics of a group of milkmaids they knew while tucking heartily into what remained of the food while gloom darkened all around them. It was almost fully dark before they finally decided to make their way home as well, still laughing at some private joke that the wizards missed, and then the field was empty except for the goats who began to make their slow and hesitant way back across, sniffing curiously at plates, napkins and bits of half eaten food that had fallen onto the grass.

     Knowing that Dallon would have arranged for someone to clean away the mess, Thomas, Lirenna and Derrin set off along the lane that led to their own village. Thomas pulled a sun stone from his pocket, spoke the word to activate it and tossed it into the air. It lit up like a small sun and hovered above them, following them as they walked and illuminating the road ahead of them. Outside the circle of light, though, the rest of the valley was hidden in gloomy darkness.

     “I hope we don’t get mugged on the way home,” said Derrin as they walked, three abreast, along the narrow lane. He was staring around at the fields and hedgerows on either side, and Thomas knew that his eyes were able to penetrate the darkness, that he was able to see the body heat of the small birds and animals they were passing by. Derrin wasn’t looking at birds and animals, though. He was staring around as if a gang of criminals might come jumping out at them at any moment. “Three people,” he muttered darkly to himself. “All alone in the darkness…”

     “Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, Derry,” said Lirenna, frowning at him.”

     “You're right,” the boy agreed solemnly. “What do I have to fear with two powerful wizards walking beside me? I'm glad I'm not out here all alone, though…”

     “Stop it, Derry,” said Thomas seriously, but when Derry turned his head to look at him there was a wicked smile on his face and his parents couldn't help but grin back. “And to preempt your next point,” Thomas added, “Yes, I do know that Lake Hew is just a couple of miles away from here, and I do know that, if you were on your own, on your way back from fishing in it, you would be perfectly safe. As safe as if you were back home, in your own room. How safe you are here isn't the point, though. You understand?”

     “Yes,” the boy replied, no longer smiling. “I'm sorry.” He hung his head in shame for a moment, but shame wasn't an emotion he had much practice with and a few moments later he was cheerful again and skipping ahead, as he usually did. Whenever the three of them went out together, he almost always arrived home several minutes before his parents and would be sitting on the gate, swinging his legs while he waited for them to catch up with him.

     This time, though, Thomas called him back, and Derrin frowned curiously at the unusually serious tone in his father's voice. He waited for his father to speak, but Thomas walked on in silence for a few moments longer, carefully choosing his words, the boy trotted along at his side. "What is it?" he asked nervously, glancing back and forth between his two parents. "Is something wrong? I know the rest of the world isn't as safe as Haven. I wouldn't go off all alone after dark out there…”

     “That isn't it,” said Thomas hurriedly. "No, no, not at all. Derry, your mother and I think you've got a chance of becoming a wizard. What do you think of that?"

     "I do!" insisted the boy in sudden delight. "I keep telling you!"

     "Yes, I know," said Lirenna, anxious to calm him down. "But there's no way to tell in advance who's got wizard potential and who hasn't. Some of the brightest, most intelligent people in the world have failed the test, while some real fuzzheads pass with flying colours. I don't want you thinking you're destined to be a wizard in case you're disappointed."

     "But I've really got a chance?" said Derrin, his eyes glowing with delight. "A real chance?"

     "There's only one way to find out for sure," said Thomas, anxious in case Lirenna's fears were realised. "The wizards of Lexandria University have a test they can perform on you. Your mother and I both underwent this test and we both passed, and it's been observed that you have a better chance of becoming a wizard if one of your parents is a wizard. Since both of your parents are wizards, that gives you and even better chance."

     "But it's still only a chance," added Lirenna. "A good chance, but it's still only a chance. Do you understand?"

     "Yes, mum," said Derrin, growing a little more serious, his excitement dampened a little. "Can you do this test?"

     Thomas smiled. "No, I'm afraid not. It involves a very old artifact that's kept in the University. The only way we could find out ourselves would be to try teaching you spells, and that would be very dangerous. That's what the externums do, and only about one in three of their apprentices survive to become wizards."

     Derrin nodded, understanding. His parents had told him all about externums. Wild, untrained wizards who had nothing to do with the University. The boy had developed a healthy fear and contempt for them. They were dangerous amateurs, and one of the primary objectives of the University was to put an end to them. To gain a monopoly on magic use throughout the world.

     "So you're taking me to Lexandria?" asked the boy hopefully. "When are we leaving?"

     “That's what we have to talk to the Elders about,” said Lirenna. “Anyone who wants to can leave Haven any time they want, but you need their permission to come back again. We need their permission to come and go as we please. Now that your father can teleport, we're hoping they’ll let us come to visit you every week, and you'll be able to come back here every so often to see the rest of the family.”

     “That would be great! If we teleport, we won't have to go through all the boring country in between.”

     Thomas and Lirenna shared an uncomfortable glance. Derrin saw it and frowned. “What is it?” he asked. “What's wrong?”

     “Derry, there's something we have to tell you,” said Thomas, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder. He have it a gentle squeeze to lend emphasis to his words. “It's a secret, and it's very important that you don't tell anyone else. Not Albert, not any of your other friends. No-one. Do you understand?”

     Derrin's eyes widened with fear. “I understand,” he said uncertainty. “I won't tell anyone, I promise.”

     Thomas shared another glance with Lirenna before speaking. “The thing is, when I first came here, to Haven, the Elders only let me come if I agreed to certain conditions.”

     “What conditions?”

     “That I lie to you. That I lie to everyone. About what the rest of the world is like. But if you're going to be going to Lexandria then you'll see the truth and, when you come back, the Elders will want you to lie to everyone as well. All the people you know, all the people who live here in Haven. They mustn't know what the rest of the world is really like.”

     The boy was staring in open fear now. “Why?” he asked. “Is it very terrible?”

     “Some parts of it are,” said Thomas. “Some parts of the world are more terrible than you can possibly imagine, but that's not the reason.”

     He took a deep breath before continuing. “You know how scarce iron is out there, in the rest of the world. Anything made of iron or steel is protected. Oiled to keep it from rusting, protected from bumps and scrapes. Iron is rare and precious, and if the rest of the world knew how much iron we have here, they'd all come to get it and we'd be overrun. Haven would be filled with greed and evil. It wouldn't be safe here any more.”

     “That's why the Elders don't like it when people leave,” added Lirenna. “The people out there know that Haven exists, and they know we have lots of iron. We tried to keep it secret, but somehow it leaked out. They don't know where Haven is, though, and that’s the secret we have to keep. Every time someone leaves the valley, though, there's a danger that someone might discover the location of Haven from them.”

     “But you said that when you left, when you went to the University, you didn't know where Haven was,” said the boy, confused. “You couldn’t have told anyone because you didn't know yourself.”

     “There are ways that powerful wizards can tell where you've come from,” said Thomas. “There are spells that can track your movements into the past. Our wizards can cast spells to make these tracking spells less effective, but there are wizards out there so powerful that they can overcome anything we can do. Fortunately, wizards that powerful have bigger things on their minds than our tiny valley, but they might still give away our location to others in return for a favour, or something. That's why the Elders are very concerned that as few people leave Haven as possible.”

     “What's that got to do with lying about the outside world?”

     “Because it’s human nature to want to travel and explore. There are a hundred thousand people living here in Haven. If just a tiny proportion of them decide to go off exploring, that would still mean hundreds of Havenites out there, any of whom might somehow give away the location of this valley. And when they came back, they'd be telling stories about how wonderful the outside world is, and that would make even more people want to see it for themselves.”

     “Wonderful? You always said the outside world was dull and boring.”

     “Yes, that’s the lie the Elders asked me to tell. That the rest of the world was dull and boring. Not dangerous, because danger has an attraction to a certain type of person. They asked me to tell everyone who asked that the rest of the world was dull, grey, boring. That there was nothing out there worth seeing. That anyone who left would be bored silly and soon be begging to be let back in. And it works. Barely a handful of people have left in the twenty years I’ve been here, and most of them came back within a couple of weeks.” They were encouraged to head north east, Thomas knew. Towards almost uninhabited country where they were unlikely to come across anything interesting. Just empty woodlands. Not even the gloom and danger of the Overgreen Forest. They might come across the occasional woodsman or trapper, but that was it.

     “The truth, though,” he continued, “is that there are wonders and marvels out there. Things that are wonderful beyond imagination. They'll teach you about them at Lexandria, and they’ll take you to see some of them. There are dangers and horrors as well, and they’ll teach you about them as well, but it’s the wonders that you mustn’t tell people about. They'll make people want to leave Haven, and that could lead to the eventual destruction of Haven.”

     He paused for a moment as he wondered whether that gave them the right to lie to people. To deceive a hundred thousand people. What right did they have to make that kind of decision for other people? He was only a visitor to this valley, though. The Royal Family and the Elders had made the decision centuries ago, and Haven belonged to them far more than it did to him. What right did he have to overthrow what they had decided was best for the valley?

     “I'll tell you something, though,” he said to Derrin as the boy continued to stare up at him with his huge, blue eyes. “Even though there are wonders out there, the most wonderful thing I ever saw was right here. Humans, trogs, shae folk and nomes all living together in peace and friendship. Out there, there are places where these so called civilised races are in violent conflict. Where humans drive away anyone who isn't human, where the shae folk attack anyone they find despoiling nature. Where everyone treats nomes like dirt simply because they're the smallest and can’t fight back. People even fight other people of the same race, for living space, for iron and gold or for their Gods. There's none of that here in Haven. There hasn't been for over a thousand years, and in all the world, I think that’s the most wonderful thing of all. That's why I tell lies about what the world outside is like, and that’s why you'll have to as well, because what we have here has to be protected. Do you understand?”

     “Yes, dad,” said Derrin, and Thomas saw nothing but love and trust in his eyes. “I understand, and I will.” Then his eyes lit up with delight and expectation, though. “But I can’t wait to find out about the rest of the world!”

     “You will,” his father promised. “You will.”

     Thomas then looked over at Lirenna to see how she'd taken his little speech. The speech that had seemed to flow directly from his soul, each word as much a surprise to him as it had been to his son. He was astonished to find her looking up at him with total adoration.

     “That was beautiful!” she said, taking his hand and squeezing it. “I wish grandfather could have been here to hear you say that!”

     Thomas stared down into her eyes and found himself almost losing himself in there, as he so often did. Then he looked away, suddenly aware that their son was still staring up at them, smiling with embarrassment. “What are you looking at?” Thomas demanded.

     The boy laughed with delight and skipped away down the lane as if he was indeed the ten year old boy he seemed to be. His parents watched him disappear into the darkness beyond the sun stone's circle of light, but they felt no fear for him because this was Haven and Haven was safe and so they continued to walk at a comfortable, easy pace along the dark, narrow, country lane.