Free Daughter of the Disgraced King by Meredith Mansfield

gasps and exclamations from the shadows
around her. She didn’t look up until she’d finished.
    The master looked grim. “I will certainly bring this to the
attention of the emperor.”
    Ailsa gasped. “Oh! Please don’t. It will only cause more
trouble.”
    The old man looked at her and his eyes softened. “I have no
interest in the internal politics of Far Terra, except as they impact the mages
under my care. An attack on a student coming to this Institute is certainly
within my sphere and the emperor’s. Anyone, king or commoner, who
questions that is playing a fool’s game.”
    He sat back and studied Ailsa for a long moment. “Hmm.
Perhaps.” He looked into the shadows behind her. “Hmm. It’s a rare gift. So
rare it’s usually among the last things we test for. Still . . . Skipped a
generation, eh? Well, stranger things have happened.” He looked back at Ailsa “It
occurs to me that there is more than water at an oasis or lake. More than one
kind of mage might have had the reaction you describe. A green mage, for
example, would react to the increase and decrease in live, growing things.”
    A green mage? It was not something Ailsa had
ever dared dream of. A grin spread across her face and her heartbeat seemed to
thunder in her chest, but her hands curled into fists and she hid them in the
folds of her skirt. Sav. If she was a green mage, how could she give that
up for Sav? Her throat ached at the thought.
    This time when the master raised his hands, Grandmama
stepped up to the bench on Ailsa’s left, but the right-hand bench remained
empty. Was this gift so rare that even the Institute of Magical Arts didn’t
have three of them? The master looked around, clearly better able to see the
people in the shadows than Ailsa was. “Someone send for Jathan, please.”
    “I’m here, master,” a voice called from above. “Father asked
me to observe.”
    Ailsa looked up for the first time to see a balcony ringing
the room. Even more people must be watching her from up there. She swallowed
hard.
    “Of course he did,” the master said. “Very fortunate, too.
Come down and take your place, there.” He pointed to the right-hand bench.
    Two servants carried in a large planter filled with soil.
One dropped a single seed onto the dirt before scurrying back into the shadows.
After a few moments, a young man, not much older than Ailsa, stepped out into
the light and sat on the right-hand bench. An unruly thatch of red-blond hair
was his main distinguishing characteristic. Apart from that, and a cheerful
expression, he was quite ordinary in appearance—neither tall nor short, heavy
or slim. He grinned and winked at her.
    Ailsa held her breath as the magic began to build around
her. She closed her eyes and tried again to find that calm place. She had to
stifle a gasp as the serenity of it engulfed her, feeling like the most natural
thing in the world. She opened her eyes to find that a vine was already growing
from the planter, coiling as it climbed upward. At every turn, it leaned a
little farther toward Ailsa. A slow smile spread across her face. Surrounded by
the surging green magic, she stood and reached out to the seedling. She touched
the vine as it swung toward her. It coiled loosely around her wrist and burst
into bloom. The large pink flowers suffused the air with perfume.
    The master stood up. “The test is complete. We have found a
green mage. It now remains only for her studies with us to reveal how strong a
mage.” He smiled. “The evidence would suggest that she may give you a run for
your money, Jathan.” He chuckled. “Let’s see how you handle a little
competition, eh?”
    Ailsa sat back down on the bench, too stunned to even think.
It had never occurred to her that she might be a green mage. Images of what she
could accomplish with that kind of magic bloomed in her imagination. Somewhere
in the back of her mind was a small consideration for what this would mean for
her relationship with Sav,