At the other end of the scale you get the excessively credulous types, who believe in magic just fine, as well as everything else. Today’s representatives of the latter group included a guy who’d come into possession of a vase that he wanted identified because he thought it was magical (it wasn’t), another guy whose girlfriend had left him and who was convinced that it was for supernatural reasons (it wasn’t), a woman who thought she was the reincarnation of Cleopatra and wanted to talk to me about her destiny (that one went downhill fast), and some bunch of lunatics calling themselves the Circle of the Serpent who wanted my help with initiation rites (don’t ask).

In other words, a normal day. Hey, at least it isn’t boring.

But mixed in with the ones who have no idea what they’re talking about are the ones who do. And mixed in with those are the ones who might not know how the magical world works but have enough common sense to figure out that if they’re going to be involved in it, then learning as much as they can is a really good idea.

“For the last time, I’m not checking up to see if your wife is cheating on you,” I said. “I’m not a private detective.”

The man left in a huff and I turned back to the person I’d been talking to before he’d butted in. The adept was shorter than average, with scruffy clothes and overly thick glasses, but the eyes behind the lenses were perceptive. “Kind of,” I told him. “I mean, the way the law is right now, it doesn’t actually draw any distinction between Dark mages and Light mages anyway.”

“So what is the proposal going to do?”

“The big issue is Council membership,” I said. “Some mages want the Junior and Senior Council opened up to Dark mages, some don’t. This proposal of Morden’s is going further than that. If it goes through, there’ll be one seat on the Junior Council that’s only open to Dark mages.”

“But why?”

“Affirmative action, I suppose. If it’s any consolation, it’s not going to affect you and your friends directly. It only applies to mages.”

“But it’ll make a difference, won’t it?” the adept said. “If there are Dark mages on the Council, then it’s like saying that they’re approving what they do.”

“Yeah.”

“So isn’t that going to filter down? Like that thing that happened with that Dark mage, Torvald. The next time that happens they’ll be even less likely to do anything, won’t they? It’ll just keep getting worse.”

I sighed. “You might be right.”

“So what are we supposed to do? It’s not like the Council’s going to listen to us.”

“I don’t know. I wish I had some better answers for you, but I don’t. And it’s not as though the Council’s going to listen to me, either.”

“But you’re still a mage.”

“There is that. Look, how many are there in your circle?”