"Five more minutes! You can do it, Robbi. Concentrate!" the tall silver-maned man with the flowing beard encouraged. The object of his pronouncement was a lovely snow-white rat, sitting cross-legged in the center of a large empty room. Around her, a violet-colored, translucent egg-shaped shield pulsated and rippled. A look of determined effort played across her face, her eyes closed and scrunched, her brow furrowed.

"Don't forget to breath!...That's it, slow deep breaths... you're almost there." The man coached her, smiling in admiration.

The man was Vattus, High Magus of the Council of Wizards and the rat was Robbia Veritus Praxus, known as Robbi, Magus of the Council and Wizard of Evyan. She was the first non-human wizard ever seated on the council, as well as the youngest by many decades. The relationship between Vattus and Robbi was far deeper than that of a master to an apprentice. He was for all intents and purposes, her father.    
He had discovered her, years before, abandoned in Aolas and had taken her in as his own. He loved her dearly, and she, him.

"You're almost there, a few more seconds...," Vattus said happily, "and....that's it, you did it!"

Robbi exhaled strongly and opened her eyes. The egg around her disappeared in a sudden puff. She fell back on the floor and breathed heavily.
"I can't believe I did it!" she smiled.

"One full hour! You are a very special girl, Robbi, very special indeed." Vattus said proudly, going over to the exhausted rodent and gently picking her up. She pretended to be unconscious, so Vattus gently tickled her belly.

She began giggling.
"Stoooop," she protested, "I give up. "

He put her down. Robbi walked up to him wagging her finger.
"Shame on you, High Magus! Is that anyway to treat a fellow wizard. What would Malvus do if you tickled him?"

"Explode probably," Vattus laughed, "he's wound up pretty tight. Pellus would probably like it though."

Robbi put her paw over her mouth to stifle a laugh.
"Well Pellus certainly has enough belly to tickle." She commented.

"Enough for three wizards, I venture." He turned serious, "You did very well, darling. This is the longest you've ever held the shield."

"I didn't think I could do it, Vatti, it was very hard."

"You are capable of far more. You are the purest wizard of us all."

"So why do I have to work so hard to just get a little bit better?" Robbi asked.

Vattus laughed, "It's about achieving your potential. If a person has the potential to be the world's greatest swimmer, it does him no good unless he takes the time to learn how to swim. You are learning how to swim."

Robbi thought for a second, " Well, I'd like to dry off now. What's the point of visiting Gleneden if all I do is study?"

"I understand. I tell you what, let's go eat and fill our bellies. I'll instruct you... just a bit, during lunch...and then we'll take the next few days off to visit with our friends. What do you say?" he asked gently.

She rushed over to the wizard and gave him a tight hug, " I say that's great! I'll listen extra hard to what you say and then we'll have some fun. We're going to have a wonderful time! It's nice to travel. I love Wiccinas, but it's really swell here in Gleneden, it's so different. The moles are such fun and the wizards are kind of...."

"Dry, boring, stuffy?" Vattus finished her sentence smiling.

"Well...sort of," she said shyly, "except for you of course."

"Of course," Vattus chuckled, "and you, you are a wizard after all."

"Absolutely!" Robbi laughed, "We are definitely the non-dry, non-boring, non-stuffy ones."

"Ready to eat and have one last lesson before the fun starts?" Vattus asked.

"Lead the way, High Magus."

Lunch was a pleasant affair. Vattus and Robbi had opted to eat in the open, at Hub Park in the center of the hollow mountain in which Gleneden was located. The sun sparkled through the great crystal lens which covered the top of the mountain and played in small rainbows on the grass in the park. The meal was typical mole fare and very tasty, beet salad with toasted sunflower seeds and potato pancakes with apple sauce.

Vattus and Robbi sat beside a large sculpture of Egbert which had been erected in his honor after his successful defense of the city against overwhelming odds during the Khalisian Wars. He looked stern and determined, pointing into the distance with his war-glove on one paw and motioning for his troops to follow with his other. Robbi looked at the statue and giggled.

"Poor Eggy, he must be so embarrassed when he sits in this park, he's so shy and humble." She said shaking her head.

"Not to mention the fact that our dear friend has never looked so grim in his life," Vattus added, "he's the most cheerful creature I know."

"I hope he's having a good time visiting Zian." Robbi said.

"I'm certain he is. World's End is lovely and Zian is a fine fellow, a credit to us all, especially our former enemies. He's as responsible for the peace we now enjoy as any."

"There's goodness in all beasts," Robbi said thoughtfully, "sometimes we don't look for it hard enough."

Vattus smiled.
"You are an optimist, a good quality in wizards." He changed the subject, "Will you be visiting Arisha during your stay?"

"I'd like to go later this week, Digger said he'd take me." Robbi answered.

"You should go, your relationship with Arisha is very special, besides it will drive some of your fellow wizards crazy. It'll be a real bee in their bonnet."

Robbi laughed.
"Shame on you again, High Magus. Sometimes you act like a schoolboy."

"Guilty as charged, but you have to admit that a few of our colleagues are pretty full of themselves. It's good for their souls to be taken down a few notches," Vattus said finishing up his meal and pushing the plate to the center of the table.

Robbi became serious, "I'm not clear why I'm the only wizard allowed on Sapphire mountain, or why the moles are forbidden as well. I've always meant to ask Arisha."

"I'll be glad to tell you, as a matter-of-fact the lesson I wanted to teach you before we take our break directly involves that."

Robbi leaned forward, "Please."

"All right then. First, you must realize that the wizards of Arisha's line have not been around that long, barely six hundred years. That was when she shared her essence with the original seven families of her line, yet Arisha had been with our world for millennia. Why did she wait thousands of years to share her blessing?" Vattus asked.

"I have no idea," Robbi said honestly.

Vattus smiled.
"Then let me enlighten you. There has always been magic on our world, even before Arisha. This world throbs with it. When Arisha arrived as our world's guardian, the world was both young and sparsely populated.

"Arisha was less a guardian than a sentinel, watching and managing the natural world rather than its occupants. As creatures became fluent in magic and the ambitions of the less scrupulous members of society became more extreme, Arisha became concerned that the balance of the world would be tilted to darkness.

"Magic has consequences, dark and evil forces offer incredible temptation to weak willed but proficient practitioners of the dark arts. Arisha became concerned. There must always be a balance. The universe is based on this balance between light and dark, chaos and order, good and evil, and that balance was tilting here on Eylysia. So she chose the seven families and called them to Sapphire Mountain to bestow her gift. They were to be a force for good to hold in check the forces of chaos.

"She gave them the Rubitar, keeping the Abitar for herself to monitor the world. But her gift was not without a price. Arisha knew that possession of both the Abitar and Rubitar together would create a magical force of such unimaginable magnitude that it would be impossible for all but the purest of souls to resist the temptations of power it would represent.

"To safeguard against the possibility that some future wizard would try to recover the Abitar to reunite it with the Rubitar, she required an oath from each of the original wizards that they or their kin and descendants would never again set foot on Sapphire mountain under penalty of annihilation.

"It was not merely a binding oath, it was a powerful spell which even the most powerful wizard could not counter. In your case, of course, it doesn't apply, since you are not of the seven families." Vattus smiled and ruffled Robbi's head fur, "You lucky girl."

"Why can't moles go there either?" Robbi asked.

"The Abitar and Rubitar were first unearthed by mole-miners as you know," Vattus began, "now you may have noticed, during the Wars, that there were pieces of the Rubitar and chips of the Abitar in the possession of non-wizards and common healers."

Robbi nodded. Vattus continued.
"We don't know how many are out there and each one is a powerful relic and all of them started as little bits and chips that the moles took off the mountain with them, most innocently, but some for profit. To stop this black market in relics, Arisha issued the ban on moles, not because she trusted them less than other creatures, but because they were good at what they did and knew where to look for the magical detritus.

"Unlike the wizards, there was no spell involved, only a binding oath on behalf of all moles," Vattus concluded and added, "any questions?"

Robbi thought for a moment.
"There have always been two things I didn't understand...I've read the annals of the Council of Wizards and there seem to have always been twenty-five members, at least until I was admitted, is it twenty-five for a reason? Also, after six hundred years, aren't there a whole lot more people with Arisha's essence out there that aren't wizards?"

"Well...," Vattus began only to be interrupted by Robbi.

"And," Robbi giggled , "I know I said two things, but I want to know why almost every Wizard is male, I mean I know Khalis was female and there are a few mentioned in the annals that are women as well, but the rest are overwhelmingly male, why?"

Vattus chuckled, "Very insightful. Remember what I said about balance? The Universe strives for it. Arisha, the most powerful magical creature is female, hence, her line is almost entirely male," he smiled broadly, "so it really is fairer that it seems at first glance.

"As to your other question, yes, there are many in Arisha's line that are not wizards, some are sorcerers, some alchemists and healers, others are totally unaware of their lineage.

"When a wizard passes from this existence to the next and his seat must be filled, we search the world for the most talented of those in her line to replace our fallen comrade and bring our number back to twenty-five. Of course, with your addition we now seat twenty-six, so when the time comes and one of us passes, we will not need to add another."

"The reason we have twenty-five is that when we all weave a spell together as one, it takes twenty-five to incant the most powerful spells or to disperse the most powerful curses. It is as simple as that."

"Well, I'm glad that me being a girl doesn't tip any cosmic balance. I think a girl is always a good addition to a bunch of old fogies, no insult intended." Robbi smiled shyly.

Vattus laughed loudly, "None taken and I couldn't agree more. I've noticed a new energy and determination in the Council since you joined us. It's a wonderful thing, despite the grumblings of some of our dinosaurs."

"Well," Robbi giggled, "You're my favorite dinosaur and a very handsome one."

"Flattery will get you everywhere, so much so that I declare this lesson ended. Let the fun begin!" Vattus said brightly.

Later in the afternoon, Vattus bid Robbi farewell. He headed to Yogi's palace, where the mole leader had done the same with Phoebe. The two leaders then set about the important business of playing chess and exchanging recollections, stories, and jokes, while Robbi headed out of the mountain to where Yogi's son Digger was preparing a swift landboat named The Valiant Claw, for their journey to Sapphire Mountain.

Robbi helped stock the boat with all sorts of goodies and drinks, including candied hazelnuts, Digger's favorite.

It was shortly before dusk when the two adventurers were done with their preparations. In a few days time, when the wind was perfect and all of Robbi's social commitments were complete, the two young friends would leave the security of the mountain and head south and east toward the distant Rubitar Range of mountains, whose tallest peak, Sapphire Mountain, was home to the Mother of the World, Arisha.