Alara Alara The Place

“No,” Diana Faust said, facing the Council. “No, I will not be bound to a ring. My teacher is dead; by the laws of the arcana, I am free, and I will so stay.”

“See thou reason, woman,” Fa Guang said impatiently. “Thou’rt a journeyman and young for it besides, still in the fullness of your first life—”

“I have taken more than one client prime,” Diana said. “’Tis far from my first life.”

“In body, yes,” Amyntas said patiently. “In years, thou’d hardly be old enough to have children grown—”

“I have no children.”

“And if thou hadst them, they’d still be in their youth. Thou wert an apprentice for less than ten years.”

“Despite which, I avenged my teacher and earned the rank of Journeywoman.”

“See reason!” Fa Guang shouted. “One as young as thou art should not be unbound! Accept the ring, take a new teacher. Amyntas has offered to take you, as have Nikolaus and Ismail both.”

“Master Nikolaus was an apprentice for six years, and was accorded the rank of master within forty. He is hardly a century old. Wherefore should the rules be different for me?” Diana smiled coldly. She knew well exactly why the rules were applied differently now.