Morning came early. Jak looked over the field as crowds settled into the benches sloping up the hill. Below was a large wooden stage, ornately carved and today draped in pennants every color of the mage ranks. Jak could see well enough and took a seat near the less crowded back of the ampetheatre. On the stage was a table with six chairs around it, and Harlow could be seen at one end.

People were in high spirits, treating it as a festival of sorts. Merchants set up carts of food near the main road and blankets were laid on the hard stone tiers to make sitting all day more comfortable. Likely many of the people here to watch were no more invested in any of the mages than as entertainment value. Jak even saw a few of the regulars from the Crows Nest, likely taking bets. A herald near the stage read from a list of todays participants and their current ranks.

Jak sat back, watching everything unfold until the ninth bell of the morning called from the highest towers of Whitethorn, and the mages were lead down in single file by the Watch. They looked like lost sheep, most of them haven't seen this much of the outside world in years. Jak was surrounded by guards in a moment, as were other people nearby.

"Back row for mages. Move." A gruff voice ordered from the end of the line. Jak and the few others that had chosen to sit in the back moved down a row or more. Slowly the mages were lead down the aisle and took seats along the back. Not every mage in the keep was there, they wouldn't all have fit. But the row was nearly all full and it took a while to spot Anders. There were guards every few feet, but they didn't seem to mind when Jak moved down to sit in front of the young lightning mage.

"So you did come." Jak nodded.

"Yes. The testing mages are still not here yet though. They should be coming down next, likely after a lecture on behaviors outside the keep. We got much the same just to sit here." Anders said. "Not that we could do anything with a sword pointed at you from every direction."

"With some luck you'll be done with it soon." Jak added. "So I've seen this mess in Linmead, Lolathia and Nummelin, but I haven't seen it in Selstad. The mages here don't really get much chance to practice demonstrating powers right?"

"Right" Anders shrugged. "Day in and day out it's about suppressing, not displaying."

"Well it should be interesting. Better than those pompous Linmead mages, too flashy."

"You've been to the tests in all those places? How does—" Anders was cut off by trumpets blaring through the cliffs. The herald who had been reading a list of names had stopped and a new one had walked on stage. The trumpets had successfully quieted the crowds, and over the hush the herald read from a scroll.

"Grey for the storm of an unstable mage.

Brown for the settled seed now ready to grow.

Yellow for the light of a newfound age.

Orange for the coals of power in tow.

Red for the fires of nature that bends it's will to yours.

Purple for the night sky, under which you have no fear.

Blue for the sea of rage your power beats upon the shores.

Green for the living world, your command it all will hear.

White for the raw power of the stars above that shine

The heavens tremble at your might after every feat.

Black for the chill of death which waits for you in time

Ever will it be the only equal you will meet."

"By the power of King Stemmon XIV we of Whitethorn Keep and all of Selstad welcome the assessors of the Temple of Vura. May their judgements be guided by the gods, and the crystals reign true." He snapped his scroll shut and was off the stage before many people knew he was finished.

From the table with Harlow and the other assessors a dark woman in bright orange dress stood with the help of a tall staff. She walked to the center of the stage and stood with eyes blazing across the theatre to the row of mages in the back. Her wooden staff had a huge white crystal in it held in the carved paw of some kind of cat.

"Friends, we ask for quiet. You are welcome to watch these mages prove themselves to us and the gods." She gestured to the sky and a ray of light shone down over the stage. "May we be guided by them and their judgments ever reign."

Jak snorted.

"What?" Anders hissed.

"She's a flashy one. That light wasn't a godsend, she's a light mage." Jak had lifted his eye patch the moment the stage lit up.

"Oh." Anders turned his eyes back to the stage. Once the woman took her seat a man at the table called the first name. A woman in her twenties with a long yellow braid approached the stage. The assessors spoke to her over the table for a while, and then she backed up and began pulling her hands through the air. The breeze that had lazily wound across the stage and towards the sea suddenly shifted. It swirled around her without disrupting so much as a paper from the table, and she lifted off the ground. One fee, two feet, she climbed in the air until she was high above the stage. Then she gently let herself down again.

After that she sat in an empty chair across from the assessors and presented a large leather bound book. Then they talked for what seemed to go on forever, and suddenly they were done. The woman from before raised her head and called over the crowd the decision.

"Halmia the orange mage has shown herself capable in both the study and practical application of magic. It is the decision of the assessors that if she chooses to, she may challenge the journeyman Godscrystal. Halmia, do you accept?"

"Yes." The girl cried. A box was set on the table. The lid was dramatically opened to reveal three shining crystals. They were spaced apart with velvet cushions, and the woman with the tall staff indicated the crystal in the middle.

"Then place your hand on the crystal child, and be tried by the gods." All was quiet. Halmia gently laid her palm on the glowing crystal, curling her fingers over it. Her eyes glowed with green light instantly. Wind hugged her tightly and pulled her braid loose. She stayed like that for several minutes, in a trance. Jak lifted his eye patch, and dropped it instantly. White light blinded him, consuming the whole stage with the girl at the center. No, not the girl, but the crystals.

After a moment Halmia dropped to the ground, landing on her backside and the light faded. Harlow got off his chair and came over to help the girl up. They exchanged a word or two and she showed him her neck. Harlow shook her hand and she turned to the crowd beaming. Her mark had turned purple. Applause followed her as she ran to the crowd and into the arms of someone, maybe her father.

"That's it? I thought it would be more," Anders searched for a word. "Showy?"

"That wasn't showy enough for you lad?" Jak laughed. "No, I guess it wouldn't be for someone as flashy as you."

"Do we not find out what her contribution to the knowledge of magic is?" Anders asked.

"Not usually. Well, Nummelin does that, but they are so full of ceremony they take a week to do this, even though they have a smaller population of mages." Jak answered.

They watched for the rest of the morning as mage after mage was assessed. Many of them were allowed to try their hand at the journeyman crystal from red in hopes to gain the purple, but more than half of them remained the same rank. Jak's favorite part was when they let the gaggle of children try for their very first assessments. The weaker colors didn't require the knowledge portion, just the demonstration of control. Since the Apprentice Crystal wouldn't give them freedom and was far less dangerous than the other two, it was free to touch for any who had already been tested by it five years ago. Browns and yellows who hoped to gain just a bit more standing in life than the bottom of the ranks in Whitethorn.

The first afternoon bell signaled a break for lunch. Jak stood to stretch, behind him the mages who were in the stands to watch were being shuffled out and back up to the keep. Anders gave him a small wave before a guard said something to him. Having a bell to wander around, Jak bought a thick slice of chicken pie from a little old man and woman with a cart. He walked as he ate, listening to conversations here and there and visiting with some of his acquaintances from town. He was near the stage when Harlow waved at him. Jak waved back, but the bell chimed and he wandered back to his seat. The mages were already being lead back down, and Anders was sitting in the same place as before.

"Good lunch?" Jak asked.

"Same as every day, soup. Today was a treat, we got bread with it." Anders said dully. "Have they started yet?"

"No, I think they are about to though." Jak sat back as comfortably as he could on the stone tier and looked down to the stage. The assessors were already seated, and a herald called up the next mage.

The afternoon flew by, and into the next day. Anders was able to sit in roughly the same place the next day and Jak was able to chat quietly about the mages being tested. The most impressive mage of the two days was a young boy who had just been grey that morning. He had a book with him, murmurs from the crowd said it was a collective history of a fabled ancient mage. No one had compiled so much of his life in one place, so the boy's contribution was one large volume of his life chronologically with references to the original books and authors he pulled from. For someone of about eleven it was rather impressive.

His demonstration of his control over stone is what put him over the top. He rolled several boulders larger than he was up from the rocky beach, then cracked them in the shape of a rearing horses. It was quite good, and though the details were rough it was more than Jak had ever seen a stone mage accomplish. The boy won a chance at the Journeyman crystal, and the crowd erupted when he came out with a green mark. The highest anyone had won yet.

Jak looked behind him at the brooding Anders. He looked to be struggling with himself.

"You'll be free too, this time tomorrow." Jak said.

"No, I know. I just regret a missed opportunity from,... from last time." Anders sighed.

"You never did tell me why you missed the last tests." Jak said.

"No, I didn't." Anders was silent long enough Jak assumed he wasn't going to tell him until he finally went on. "I missed it because I did something very, very stupid. I was unconscious for two weeks."

"Two weeks." Jak looked back. "What in Shadow's name were you doing?"

"Ah, that I'd rather not get into right now. If I see you again I'll try to tell you the whole of it." Anders said. "Look, the next mage is on."

They watched in silence a little girl demonstrate some hold over light magic, and win an orange mark for herself. By the time the last mage stepped off the stage Jak, like half of the ampetheatre, was nearly asleep. He roused fully when the mages behind him were shuffled back into the keep.

"See you tomorrow lad." Jak yawned.

"See you tomorrow." Anders said.