Free White Hall (The High King: A Tale of Alus Book 10) by Donald Wigboldy

soon Iris no longer had to lead him.
    “There you go, Piotr. Good job,” she encouraged him with her smile.
    The boy let out a deep breath and tried to return the look. Iris refused to let him go and taught him a few more dances, though Piotr doubted that he would remember all the steps when it came up again. At least, if he wanted to dance with another girl in the future, Piotr thought that he could.
     
    Morning came and Katya pulled herself together to go down for breakfast. Darius and his wizards were already there as was Ardost and Vord. Brenner had slept late, or at least come down last, the previous two days as well. There were times where the girl almost thought that she should thank him for that. If not for the wizard slowing the procedure for leaving, the day’s ride could be even longer; though they seemed to stop in certain towns as they had on the way to Hala from Mera, so maybe it did very little.
    Cheleya and Kel’lor had a table as well, so the younger girl joined the two with a smile given and returned by Cheleya.
    “I wonder if we’ll be traveling together today,” Katya asked as she waited for the waitress to bring her order over to the table.
    Shrugging at the question, the other blond haired girl replied, “We don’t have to travel with Magnus and his group of wizards. They were just leaving at the same time and could introduce me to the leaders of the school, though Raven Leros and the high wizards of Hala gave me letters of introduction which will work just as easily.”
    Noticing the change from ‘we’ to speaking of herself, Katya asked, “So you are joining the school to be either a battle mage, or to learn how to heal from what you say; but what is Kel’lor going to do while you are there? Is he going to join as well?”
    The big man frowned at the question, but more from a lack of an answer than that the girl was prying into their plans. Cheleya brightened in contrast and shrugged her shoulders. “He hasn’t decided beyond making sure that I make it safely to White Hall. Acting as my big brother doesn’t mean having a true plan, I suppose. He is older than I, but sometimes Kel’lor makes me do all the decisions.”
    “You are a child,” he complained, but didn’t truly dispute her answer.
    Giggling at the giant, Cheleya retorted, “but I am a prodigy, aren’t I?”
    “Whatever,” Kel’lor replied with a wave of his hand as he pretended to ignore her to look at the other travelers in the room.
    “I wonder if they found any other people with magic in Delanne,” Katya mused following Kel’lor’s eyes seeing most of the same people she had the night before. Brenner still hadn’t come down as her meal was placed before her though.
    “Talking to the wizards and apprentices in the search team last night, I was told that the boy, Piotr, and his brother were all that were found to the north. The second group working the south found two more apparently,” Cheleya answered; and made Katya wonder how she had managed to get the information. Any time she had tried asking that question the girl had been stonewalled. If she was supposed to become a diplomat wizard, Katya thought having her powers limited by Darius was making it more difficult. Having her magic go off unexpectedly was a far worse option though for all of them after seeing what her ability running amok could do.
    “Will they come with us then?” Katya asked testing Cheleya’s knowledge yet again.
    This question didn’t have an answer at that moment, however.
    Magnus walked over as they were finishing their meals and said, “We planned to leave early, but the search team wizards asked if we would be willing to wait until midmorning to help deliver these new kids to the school. I guess that they are sending two of their group with them, but would appreciate having more wizards to escort them.”
    Shrugging, Cheleya replied, “I guess that we are in no hurry, though we could also accompany Katya’s group and meet