Tallis paused just inside the doorway to the Praxographical Center. In the center of the room was one of her instructors, Wizard Borissean. Immaculate as always in his fur trimmed burgundy silk robes. He had apparently been conversing with the other occupant of the room.

Tallis was used to having to look up at Borrisean. Like most Ragada, he stood a bit over six feet, and despite the fact that he didn't pursue a very active lifestyle, he was still fairly muscular. However his companion dwarfed him.

Standing nearby was a grey-skinned, incredibly muscular man wearing mostly red tattoos. Judging from how much taller he was than Borissean, he had to be at least seven feet tall. He did have a gold-stitched red loincloth, but it was small enough and thin enough to be more accent than actual concealment. He wore no shoes, and his toes, as well as his fingers had talons rather than nails. There was the faint scent of smoke about him that implied he was from another plane, and the way his red eyes actually seemed to glow kind of supported that. He had small upturned horns at his temple, and a large blade slung at an angle over his back. The hilt of it was probably wider than one of Tallis' arms.

"Ah." Tallis wished that she'd had some sort of clue that Borissean had a guest. Walking in with her arms full of limpets, her clothing rumpled and stained by the leaves that she and the mud crab had climbed through, and one shoe off was not the way she would have liked to meet a probably noble visitor. She bowed as low as she could without risking losing the armful she carried. "Ward Tallis, sir."

He responded with a slight incline of his head. "Xivilai Kathukar." His voice was low with a thrum to it that she could feel in her bones.

To Borissean, who was clearly waiting for a response to his question about why she wasn't actually wearing her right shoe, she added. "Well, it's sort of a long story."

"The short version, then."

She took a breath. "Earana's new apprentice, Regulus Cassiana, used to be a mud crab, and one that Mariette Rielle and Councilmember Caryana were planning on, um, probably killing." Hastily she set the armful of limpets and pod on the table, and put her shoe back on.

For a moment there was quiet as Borissean looked upward, with a slightly pained expression. After a bit he murmured. "By Satakal, is simple study too much to ask?"

Then looking directly at her, he spoke in a more normal voice. "Perhaps you had better tell me the long version."

Gaspar came down the stairs just as Tallis was describing the stinkhorn incident. He laughed so hard that there were tears in his eyes, and she had to describe it twice before he was satisfied. When she finally finished the whole story, Gaspar was still chuckling, and actually gave a brief spate of applause.

"So what you are telling me," Gaspar concluded. "Is that Councilmember Caryana was planning on murdering an entity that even a Ward could determine was sentient. And that Scholar Earana not only knows this, but rescued the lad from his transformation and in the process has acquired herself an apprentice."

"Yes.." Tallis answer trailed off. Technically Scholars didn't usually have individual apprentices, but given the situation, she couldn't see how anyone could argue that the contract wouldn't be binding.

Gaspar sighed. "What I wouldn't give to be a fly on the wall at the next council session."

Xivilai Kathukar commented. "Unwise to willingly wear another's form. There are many risks, including the loss of one's memories and mind."

Tallis' eyes went wide. She'd only thought of poor Regulus as the victim of a curse. She'd never even heard that any kind of deliberate or controlled transformation was possible. Borrisean and Gaspar both gave rueful nods as if well aware of the dangers. But Regulus had found ways to communicate. Was it really that dangerous? Could it be done safely if you prepared for the experience?

Borrisean raised a finger to her. "No."

"I was only-"

“Wondering,” he commented dryly, “wonder all you like. Do not experiment without permission and supervision.”

Then Borrisean stepped right in front of her, staring down at her with an intensity that was somehow more frightening than if he'd offered violence. "You will not even mention the theory to any of the other apprentices."

The hairs on the back of her neck were standing up. She stammered. "I won't."

"Because Xivilai Kathukar is correct. Many, perhaps most who are transformed for any length of time lose themselves to the shape they are in. Earana was wise to claim this young Imperial as an apprentice; he's demonstrated an impressive strength of will despite his ordeal."

Gaspar held up his right palm. "Borissean, she understands." His voice was gentle.

It was then that Tallis realized the stern expression on Borissean's face was more about pain than it was about simply being strict. She would have liked to know why, but it was probably better not to ask too many questions.

She glanced hesitantly toward the door. Normally she would have joined the lecture, and given Borrisean and Gaspar and their guest space to have whatever private conversation she had accidentally interrupted.

Gaspar's gentle hand on her shoulder interrupted her musing. She turned to see that he a sympathetic expression, and a twinkle in his eye. "I think that you're done for the day here, Ward."

He turned to face the door, looking sort of past it in the direction of the lecture area. After a moment of thought, he gave her shoulder a small squeeze and said. "Let's just give things a couple of days to settle down here. Tomorrow is Koomu Alezer'i anyway. Take some time for yourself."

He gestured to the table. "We'll wait on examining your pod for a couple days; come back to us Tirdas morning, and we'll do some more work." In a more amused voice he added. "And as we don't keep pets here at the University, perhaps you might drop those limpets into Rumare on your way back to your quarters."

"Yes Wizard Stegine." Tallis gave him a small curtsey, and turned to formally take leave of the other two in the room. If she had blundered coming in, she could at least demonstrate proper respect while departing. "Wizard Borrisean, strong Koomu Alezer'i to you. Xivilai Kathukar, I'm honored to have made your acquaintance."

Borrisean nodded slightly in return. At least he didn't look quite so intense, which was good.

As the door closed behind her, she heard the approving bass chuckle that was Xivilai Kathukar's voice. "Lord Dagon would like her."

Borrisean frowned.

Gaspar looked thoughtful.

After dropping the limpets from the University Walkway Bridge, Tallis headed back home to the Imperial Prison Sewers. She felt restless, though, and instead of just seeking out her bunk in the third women's barracks area, she started walking through the sewer tunnels. Her training as a mage, or as a potential mage, meant that she was granted access to the Arcane University, but most of the time she lived here, underground, as did all of the prisoners and most of the Wards and some of the guards.

The tunnels of the sewers, the parts that weren't currently being used as cells or as some sort of living space, were extensive. Occasionally a criminal or wild animal would seek refuge in the less used sections, but the Imperial Guard patrols were frequent enough that this didn't often happen.

While much of the sewers had been built of worked stone and brick, Tallis preferred the other sections, the less used ones that were mostly some kind of natural cavern, or hewed out of stone with little brick or construction other than support arches to keep the place safe.

She usually took a torch or other light source with her, but in most of the prison sewers and tunnels at regular intervals there were grates that allowed some light in, so that even if the torch went out, if it was daylight there would usually be a little light to navigate by. There was one area, just under such a grate, that was what she called her thinking place.

She'd discovered it by accident. It was quite far from the more traveled sections of sewer, in one of the more natural areas, and the grate that allowed light, and the occasional trickle of rain, was one of the larger ones. It was fairly near the North Watch Tower in the Market District, and sometimes she could see groups of legionnaires, or at least their legs, as they marched by. On rare occasions, it would be a group led by one of the very few officers to have a trained war dog. It always made her happy to see the cheerful swish of one of the war dog's tails.

She knew from talking to J'banna, the Kajiit enigma that was either a prisoner, or a security officer or both, depending on who you talked to, that the most recent group of war dogs were the pups of Charlotte, and that Ria Phillida, one of the newer guards, hoped that her father would assign her to have one of the young dogs.

Charlotte was a huge white and black dog that belonged to Salmon Genoette, a famous composer and one of the few people in the city that had both the money to afford a dog and the connections to legally own one. Someday if she could somehow do something wonderful for the Empire, maybe she could get a dog too. Maybe even one of Charlotte's puppies.

Tallis was most of the way to her thinking place before she realized that she hadn't brought a torch. Well, she would just have to make her way back home before it got too dark. Turning a corner, she saw ahead of her the patch of slanted light that marked the North Watch Tower grate. It illuminated a moss-covered section of the wall that she'd been using as a place to practice her plant-enhancing spells. The moss hung as luxuriant coiling green ribbons and green-gold feathery fans, with many tiny yellow flowers turning their faces up to the afternoon light. Across from that wall was a large worked brick with a corner section missing that she usually used to sit on.

Someone was sitting there now, looking at the flowers and mosses with an appreciative smile. As she came to a surprised stop, the visitor turned to her and beckoned her forward. "A most lovely and unconventional garden, Tallis. I have always loved gardens."

He was an older Imperial gentleman, silver-haired and wearing furs and embroidered silks much too fine for someone wandering about in the sewers. Despite his rich attire, his gentle smile was as welcoming as the rich afternoon sunlight, and he patted the stone next to where he sat. "I think we should talk." Beyond him, she saw movement, as a dark figure stepped forward just enough for Tallis to note his presence, and then faded into the shadows again. Well of course such a personage would have guards of some sort.

She was within a couple feet of him when it registered that among the bullion stitched red of the silks was a large red stone set in gold, and even without deliberately seeking it, she couldn't miss the power of the energies emanating from it. A large red stone surrounded by eight smaller ones. An incredibly powerful amulet.

"The Amulet of Kings." She hadn't meant to say anything out loud, and hearing her shocked whisper, she felt herself turning red at not having recognized her emperor.

She dropped to her knees. "Your Wisdom, I meant no disrespect."

"My dear child, it is all right. Come, do have a seat."

She looked up to see that he was again patting the stone surface right next to him. Slowly she rose to her feet again.

"As I said, it is time for me to tell you a few things, young Tallis."

Hesitantly, she came forward and was rewarded once more by that smile that made her feel like the sun had chosen to shine just for her. Cautiously she sat carefully near him, trying to make sure that none of the stained parts of her clothing would come into contact with his finery.

"Tallis, there are some who think that the Emperor would simply order his subjects to do this or that, like they were pieces on a chess board. But people are much more than chessmen; they have their own ideas and their own ways of doing things."

She nodded, interested but uncertain where he was going with this.

As he continued, his voice took on the cadence of a storyteller. "Sometimes, when there is great need, it is an unexpected choice that is the right person to send."

She thought of the story of Aevar Stone-Singer, and how despite not being an elder, or a warrior or a priest, he had been the right choice to retrieve the lost gifts of the All-Maker.

"Young Tallis, there are things that need to be done, things that I cannot do myself. So I look, and I find the right people, and I send them to where they need to be, to answer fate's calling. My dreams have shown me your face, and thus I must ask if you are willing to be set on this journey."

He was asking … the Emperor himself was asking her to do something? Tallis thought vaguely of kneeling again, but she would have had to stand up to kneel, and she felt stunned enough by his words that actually getting to her feet seemed as impossible as flying to one of the moons. "Yes." Was all she managed to actually say.

He looked down at her affectionately. "The Nine guide us all, as they will guide you. Tomorrow when you wake, go to Captain Gepard Montrose's offices in the bastion. You will have fellow travelers for the first part of your journey, but in time you will each find your proper path."

"What is it you need me to do? I mean of course I will do it." Inwardly Tallis swore to herself that whatever it was, she would not only do it, but well, and fantastically, and she would make her emperor proud.

Emperor Uriel considered a moment, and then said. "There is something lost, and lost now for too long, that must be found and known. The stars bid me tell you no more than that for now."

As she wondered what this could possibly be, he slowly rose to his feet. Gently he put a hand to the side of her cheek, and then kissed her on the forehead. "I must go. We will not meet again in person, I am told."

Tallis sat, silently as he moved away, shadowed by the presences that must surely be his bodyguards, some of the Blades.

As the sound of his passage receded, she put a hand to the cheek where he'd touched her. It was wet. She was weeping, and she didn't know why.