"Mother!" Jenna cried, flying from Tarrin and burying herself into her mother's arms. She started crying again, her shoulders shaking as she sobbed into Elke's wool shirt. Elke stroked her hair and held her close, crooning soft words to her daughter.

"Child, there is nothing to be afraid of," Dolanna said calmly.

Jenna pushed away from her mother, her eyes burning with something that Tarrin guessed was pretty close to hatred. "Get away from me!" she shouted. "I don't want to go! I don't have to!"

"Child," Dolanna said, but Jenna cut her off. Jenna raised both her hands, and Tarrin felt the most unusual sensation, a sensation of drawing in. Except it was Jenna who was drawing whatever it was. He could feel something, it, flow into his sister like a flood.

"Leave me alone!" she screamed. Suddenly, pure fire erupted from Jenna's hands, and it roared at the Sorceress like a wall of blowing dust before a tornado. The fire simply stopped when it reached the woman, coalescing into a fiery ball in front of her. Then it vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

Jenna stared at her hands in shock.

"That is why you must learn, child," Dolanna said firmly. "With your power, you could quite possibly destroy the entire village. But you are right. We cannot make you go."

"Dear, you don't have to go," Elke said softly, putting her hand on her shoulder. "Dolanna agreed to send someone here to teach you. You're too young yet to leave, but they can't just let you go around like this. You could hurt yourself."

"I don't have to leave?" she asked in a small voice.

"No," Elke said with a gentle smile. "When you're older, you will have to go to their tower, but not until you're older."

"Mother!" she said with a sob, crushing into Elke's arms again.

"She will learn much better in a place more comfortable for her," Dolanna said to Elke calmly. "We have not had one as young as she with the kind of power that she possesses. In such a special case, certain exceptions must be made."

"What about me?" Tarrin asked.

"You, my young one, you will be going with us," she told him. "We are leaving tomorrow. And you will not be alone. Two other young ones will be going with us. Tiella Ren, and Walten Longbranch. I believe you may know them."

"Tiella? And Walten?" he said in surprise. Tiella was the herbalist's apprentice, learning the uses of herbs for healing. Walten was the son of the village carpenter, a tall, rather shiftless young man more fond of sleeping than working.

"When we return to Suld, I will send one of my brothers or sisters here, Mistress Kael," the woman continued. "As per our agreement, the instructor will reside in your home, so that he or she can be close to Jenna." She turned and looked at Tarrin. "Do not feel that going to the Tower is the end of all," she told him. "It is not required for you to become katzh-dashi. If you decide that the life of the order is not for you, then we will teach you what you need to do to control your power, and then you may be on your way to pursue your own life. But if you do wish to remain among us, I am certain that someone with your raw power and potential would find a position of respect and importance among us."

Tarrin nodded quietly, thinking back to what Jenna had done, and what he had felt. It had frightened him, but at the same time, it felt…wonderful. Like life flowing into him for the first time. Was that how Sorcery felt when it was used? Tarrin was a curious person, and his appetite had been whetted by that strange sensation. He suddenly found that he wanted to know more about what it was about.

"There is little time to chat," she prompted. "Tarrin, you must go home and pack for the journey, but you may only bring what I tell you. You may bring enough clothing for the journey. You may bring a knife for utility, you may bring any books that you own, and you may bring some of your personal belongings, such as a razor. Anything that you use in your day to day life. You may bring weapons, but not weapons of war. Your staff and your bow are acceptable, but a sword or axe is not."

"Why?" he asked.

"Because novices come to the Tower carrying only what they need, and you will not need weapons," she told him simply. "You will need these items during the journey, so they will not be taken from you when you arrive. But you will be expected to put them away, and not touch them while there. If you were to bring a sword, it would be taken from you and held, and then returned to you when you leave."

"Alright," he said. Despite it not being what he wanted, that short touch on something larger was like a seed growing inside him. Even though he still didn't want to be a katzh-dashi, he found the idea of learning more about the sensation he experienced to look better and better to him.

"You will return to the village after packing," she told him. "You will spend the night in the inn, so we may get an early start on the day."

"Wylan said you can borrow one of the inn's horses," Elke told him. "Go ahead and go get your things. Make sure you get enough clothing for a month-long journey. We'll be staying here tonight too, so bring back a change of clothing for all of us."

"Alright, mother," he said.

"Well scoot!" she said, shooing him away.

"Be back soon," he promised.

He went to the inn first, and after talking to the wiry, nervous-looking Wylen Ren, Tiella's father, he was on a horse trotting back down the large trail that led to the secluded Kael farm. It didn't take very long to get there, and he tied the horse to the porch rail and ran inside. He had a leather pack for when he went hunting, made by his mother, and he used that to pack up enough clothing for one month on the road. He also added in his shaving razor and soap, then got his small cooking pot he used when hunting and filled it with various odds and ends that he felt he may need. He got his pouch that had his sling and a variety of sling stones and metal sling bullets, metal cast-offs of Master Karn's forge that he formed into little balls for a sling. That way he profited off the leftover metal. The knife he'd won in the staff competition went on his belt, and two slender throwing daggers were tucked into his boots, one on each side. Eron had taught him how to throw daggers, and these were balanced for throwing. A third also went on his belt, on the other side. He rolled up his outdoor bedroll, a thick mat filled with down and scraps of wool to form a pallet-like mat, with two heavy wool blankets and a small pillow rolled up inside it. When travelling on the road, it was almost guaranteed that they'd spend some nights outside.

He came down out of the loft and went to the storage room, and got his tent. It was a small tent, made only for one or two people, but it was perfect for camping outside. He then picked up three extra quivers of arrows for his bow, and took it all outside and started lashing what he couldn't wear or carry on the saddle.

He stopped, and looked at the house, and he realized that it would be the last time in a while that he would see it. He went back in and went back up to his room, looking around just once more. He'd lived in this room for the last ten years. His eyes came to rest on a section of wall that was slightly different than the others, where he'd accidentally ran his staff into the wood and made a big hole. It had happened in the winter, and his father had made him sleep in the room with the hole to the cold outside for two days until he could get it patched. He stood on the bed, and reached up into the rafters running along the top of the attic, feeling around. He found the small wooden box, then grabbed it and pulled it down. When he was younger, he always used a chair on the bed to get up there, and hide this box. His secret box, full of all the things that a young boy thought were important. Many things had been into and out of this box, some of them even alive. He opened it after sitting on the bed.