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If the Cap Fits

"This way."

The red-headed woman led Mancini down the path, away from the sounds of the city. Mancini looked around, trying to spot a familiar landmark. "Where are we going?" he asked.

"You wanted to be a magician?" the red-headed woman replied. "Well, that's where we're going. To see what can be done."

"But, I thought you - ?"

"I said I could help you become a magician. You have the talent and the ability, but do you have the temperament?" The red-headed women shook her head. "That is not for me to say. But I know somebody who can."

The pair made their way down the increasingly overgrown path, past ferns and bramble tangles, through rhododendron castles and thickets of buddleia, until they arrived at a crude canvas tent draped over low-hanging branches. A fire, more smoke than flame, hinted that the campsite was inhabited.

"Hey! Corvus!" the red-headed woman called out. "I've brought him!"

A man dressed in shabby clothes looked around the tent flap. "Who?" He peered at Mancini through a mass of yellowed hair. "Ah. Yes. Tea?"

Mancini was about to reply, but the red-headed woman laid a hand on his arm. "No," she said. "Thank you. Your offer is kind, but this man is not of the Brotherhood. Not yet. I have brought him here to see if he is suitable."

The old man - Corvus? Mancini wondered - nodded. "Very well. Come here. What do they call you?"

Mancini looked at the red-headed woman. "He is called Mancini the Great," she said.

"It's just a stage name," Mancini added. "I'm just an entertainer, but this lady said - ."

"I know what she said," Corvus snapped. "She has said it many times before, to many others. But why to you. Give me your hands." Mancini did as he was told. The old man gripped him hard and stared into his eyes. "Hmm. Perhaps. Tell me, young man, what would you do if you were to become a true magician - one of the Invisible Brotherhood? What would you do?"

Mancini opened his mouth. He didn't know what he was going to say - perhaps something about privilege and power - but what came from him was, "I honestly don't know."

"Heh." Corvus cocked his head to one side. "You are a fool, young man. But at least you know you are a fool. And a fool can always speak wisdom, even if nobody hears it." The old man reached into a pocket in his tattered coat and pulled out a motley cap. "Here. Put this on. I want to see if it suits you."

Mancini looked questioningly at his guide. She nodded her head.