"Really?" Hadand asked, eager in spite of herself. All those years of searching, hoping for any scrap of magical knowledge, and here he was talking about something beyond anything she'd read about so far. Every person had the potential for magic, and it was treated as an everyday convenience. Unfortunately, anything but the two most basic spells were denied to her people. The Mage Council thought that Marlovans were too warlike.

Hadand pursed her lips when he asked if she was sure. She wasn't sure of anything anymore. Her whole world had shifted out from under her. "I need to get out of the kingdom. Quickly and quietly, without too much of anyone's attention, but I wasn't sure I could afford to feed my horse if I took her. I left her where I knew she'd be cared for. I'll go to the marketplace in Marlo-Vayir and bring back fruit for you."