Thero sipped the honey wine politely. “Are you a mead maker by trade, Aman?”

“I am. I have a shop in the Harvest Market.”

“You must do very well.” Thero took another sip, then rested his cup on his knee. “Tell me, when did you know that Mika is wizard-born?”

Aman sighed. “I figured you’d see it.”

“Are there wizards in your family, or your wife’s?”

“Not that we know of, but her great-granddad and my great-great-grandmother were ’faie, so Mika has the blood from both sides. But he’s the only one to show any sign of magic.”

“What have you observed?”

“Well, sometimes things move when he’s in a temper. He sent a bowl flying just last week. And he can turn fire blue if he stares at it hard enough.”

“Why haven’t you presented him at the Orëska House?”

Aman turned the cup in his hands. “He’s our only child, you see. And Yriani couldn’t bear to part with him.”

“Ah, yes. Well, I’m sorry to say this, but if Mika has the ability to move things without any training, then his power is very strong, and unless properly taught, he could hurt people without meaning to as he grows older and his gift more powerful. He might start fires without meaning to, or even kill. A gift like his won’t just go away. And I’m sure you know that he’ll not have a normal life span. He needs to have contact with his own kind if he’s to be happy.”

Aman stared down at the floor between his bare feet. At last he sighed. “What must we do?”

“I would like to take him on as my apprentice. He would live with me at the Orëska House, but be free to visit you and his mother anytime he likes, so long as it doesn’t interfere with his studies.” He could see the man warring with himself, knowing Thero was right about Mika’s future if he went untrained, but heartbroken at the thought of giving up his son. “A wizard’s apprentice is like his own child, and treated as such. My master was very kind to me, and I would certainly be so with Mika.”

“Is that the real reason you saved him?” Aman asked.

“Not at all. He’s only the first of what I hope are many to be restored.”

“But you’ve only just met him. How do you know if you’ll get on?”

Thero smiled. “A wizard knows when he meets the right child.”

Tears stood in Aman’s eyes. “We only just got him back from the sleeping death. I don’t know what his mother will say. It will break her heart!”