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"Most are not Most are only what you would call ard" Leicester shrugged dismissively "We recruit students who’ve had difficulty elsewhere because often that includes persons like yourself The untrained gifted" The header of his left hand "How uilds and the elements of power?"

"A little"

"Tell ifted are born with Weirstones, a crystalline source of power that sits behind the heart," he recited "The power runs in families The … ah … kind of Weirstone you have deteruilds you belong to"

When Seph paused, Leicester nodded, encouraging hiuilds include sorcerers, seers, warriors, enchanters and wizards In the specialty guilds, the ic is more elemental, more direct Wizards are the ic ords"

"And who told you all this?"

"My foster mother She was a sorcerer"

Genevieve claimed she’d proerous world of wizardry So she’d left him with a thousand questions and a power he couldn’t control

"And where is your foster o"

"Pity" Leicester mustered up the familiar, sympathetic look "So you don’t have any family"

"Not really"

"What is your House affiliation?"

The saet souess I don’t know much about the Houses"

Leicester studied hi to decide if he was telling the truth "As the ruling guild, wizards have been required to develop systeeddon on our hands"

Seph sensed that Leicester had delivered this speech many times before

"There are two major Houses of wizards, the Red Rose and the White Wizard fan theo back to the War of the Roses in fifteenth-century Britain Interactions between the Houses have been governed by a docuement, the treaty that ended the war

"For centuries, power has been allocated between the Houses by a series of tournaht as proxies for the Roses The winning house rules the Weir--the uilds--until the next tournament is held It’s a system that has worked well"

Seph leaned forward His weariness seemed to have disappeared "Why haven’t I heard of this?"

"Here in the States, ifted Old connections have been broken Some who came here made a conscious decision to leave their Houses behind" Leicester sighed "I suppose the underguilds saw it as an opportunity to escape fro people like yourself have no guidance or instruction And that can be disastrous Our purpose here at the Havens is to re you can trainthat, yes"

"And I’ll learn how to control ic, and how to avoid…accidents"

"Yes"

After the warehouse, Seph had wanted to have nothing to do with ain But he had no choice In his case, power had a way of surfacing in uncontrollable ways To be able to control ic, to use it properly … that would be a ifts

"What’s in it for you?" Seph asked

Leicester stood and walked to theHe gazed out at the harbor, hands clasped behind his back Then turned back to face Seph

"These are troubled tier Back in the sueuild rebels has taken sanctuary in Ohio An anarchist who calls hi wizards of both houses all over the world Alliances are shifting If war breaks out between the Houses again, we are all at risk"

He paused, as if expecting a reaction, but Seph said nothing He’d always found that he learned more if he kept quiet

"To answer your question, I am still nominally affiliated with the White Rose But it is h our work here at the Havens we can create a new path, a new order that ends the bloodshed and eliminates the constant warfare between the Houses Think of e could acco each other"

That uilds here?" Seph asked "Like warriors and … and sorcerers?"