The Rossem Project

Departure - Part 4

     "You have good reason to suspect that your son could be a wizard?" said Gantry when they'd finished, fixing his glittery eyes on the boy, who smiled shyly back. In that moment, Thomas thought he looked just like a rak, except for the smile of genuine warmth and compassion that spread across his face as he regarded his son, and he allowed himself a moment of idle fantasy as he imagined what their reaction would be if they ever met a real rak. It could so easily have happened, many times over the previous century, if the valley's cloak of secrecy had failed and the invading Shadowarmies had broken in. Most Havenites, he knew, had absolutely no idea how much they owed the rest of the world, despite the continuing danger they still faced from them.

     "I think so," he said, putting the fantasy out of his mind. "He is the child of two wizards, after all, and he shows a curiosity and an intelligence far in advance of his years. I think he deserves to be given the chance."

     "But he is still so small,” said Moeslo, also peering at the boy. "Why not wait a few years, wait for him to grow a few more inches? He is, after all, half shayen, and so has plenty of time ahead of him. What, two, three hundred years?" Thomas and Lirenna nodded. "Well then, why not let him enjoy his childhood while he can? He'll grow up soon enough. You'll be surprised how fast the years pass. Take it from me."

     "But these first years are so important to a developing intellect," said Gantry, unexpectedly supporting the wizards. "We pride ourselves on the quality of our schools and teachers here, but the fact remains that we cannot train wizards, and we need wizards to help us preserve the secrecy of Haven." He glanced through some of the papers he'd brought with him. "The reports of his teachers confirm the opinion of his parents. They feel that he has exceeded their ability to teach him. He has effectively been teaching himself for the past year at least.”

     “He may have the intellect of a sixteen year old,” said Moeslo, “but what about his emotional age?” He reached for the papers Gantry had been reading and pulled one of them out, looking down at it. “His teachers believe that he is still emotionally young, that he has not yet reached the age at which he commits his loyalties. If he spends an extended period of time away from Haven at this tender age, he may begin to see Haven as just another place."

     "He need not be away for an extended period of time," said Thomas, playing his trump card. "Now that I can teleport, I can bring him back as often as you like. He won’t be becoming an apprentice yet, he has several years of mundane preparatory education ahead of him first during which he can come and go as much as he wants. He could spend a few months there, a few months here among his shayen relatives, learning the shayen side of his heritage. That way, his Havenite teachers could ensure that his moral education remains on course as well, and you'd be able to keep an eye on him. Satisfy yourselves as to his continuing loyalty to Haven."

     Gantry nodded, but he looked doubtful, while Moeslo frowned is open disapproval. "I don't know," he muttered. "Teleporting..." He shook his head unhappily.

     "The other advantage of teleporting is that, going instantaneously from here to there, he sees none of the places in between. None of us do. Even if we were captured by an enemy and forced to tell everything we know, we would only be able to give them the mental image needed to guide a teleportation spell. We could not betray the location of Haven, because we still would not know it."

     "But teleportation spells can be traced, can they not?" said Moeslo.

     "Yes," conceded Thomas, "but the spells involved are very powerful, very high level. I should think there are only a dozen or so people in the world capable of such a feat. For all practical purposes, teleportation spells are untraceable."