'I would really prefer if we made the Pact first,' she murmured diffidently. 'Please, it would really be better so. And once the Pact is sworn, you may depart if you wish.'
That was a departure from the standard-if she had cast a containment circle, she would have said, 'I give you leave to depart.' But Jason's Salamanders came and went as they wished when he did not specifically need them, and he took no harm from them-if she was to follow in his footsteps, she must give the Sylphs the same freedom.
The books had all warned that when presented with the Pact that bound Magician and Elementals, the Sylph might turn angry and refuse to swear-another reason for the containment circle, which would prevent it from departing until it had sworn on behalf of all its kind.
But that did not happen, not this time; this seemed to be another example in favor of Jason's policy of cooperation instead of coercion. It laughed, long and merrily. 'Too clever, too cautious, too disciplined to be caught!' it crowed. 'You will be a good friend, and a good Master. Very well, Rosalind Hawkins, we will swear the Pact with you, for you will not abuse it, but neither will you be seduced by us!'
It remained solemn-although its eyes danced with merriment-just long enough to repeat the phrases that bound them Magickally together. But the moment the Pact was sworn, it became a laughing breeze again, and whirled around the room one more time, before vanishing.
And it took all her hairpins with it.
Rose sat down, all in a heap, right where she was, feeling completely drained of energy and emotion. Jason allowed her to remain long enough to catch her breath, then crossed the now-superfluous chalked lines to extend a hand to her.
She looked up at him without taking his hand. 'It nearly had me,' she said, reaction to what she had so narrowly escaped setting in. 'It nearly pulled me in, and I would never have come out again.'
'And depending on whether or not I could persuade the Sylphs to listen to my Salamanders, I would either have spent several days trying to bring you back, or regretfully sent what was left of you off to a lunatic asylum,' he replied gravely. 'Yes. I could not warn you; you had to face that danger, that temptation, all yourself. Now you see the danger inherent in treating with the Sylphs. The Salamanders invite one to unregulated passion when they first appear; the Sylphs to losing one's self in dreaming. The Gnomes tempt to the extreme of sloth, self-indulgence, and if you will forgive me-sexual excess; and the Undines to the extreme of self-deception, particularly where one's own abilities are concerned. That is the danger with all the Elementals; they can entice the would-be Magician into fatal excess of the worst kind-the kind that always lives within him, because of his unbalanced Nature.' 'You didn't tell me-the books didn't tell me-' She felt somehow shocked and betrayed.
'They hinted at it-though I will admit that I did not,' he told her. 'As I said, your Master is not permitted to give you an obvious warning; it is a test, and one you had to face without a real warning. You wouldn't understand it until you felt it for yourself. Now you do. And you will never fall prey to it, because you did not in your moment of greatest vulnerability.' He shrugged. 'From this moment on, your Mastery is largely a matter of increasing skill and practice. You have learned the trick of juggling; now you will simply learn to add more balls until you can juggle as many as I can.'
He offered her his hand again; this time, she took it, but she was still shaken. 'If you hadn't cleared your throat-'
'That is why I am the Master. It was my duty to remind you of yours.' Now he smiled. 'My own Master made a particularly cutting remark about fools who let their emotions get the better of them to one of his Salamanders when I was in danger of forgetting my priorities. You required a much subtler reminder, and that in itself is impressive. I cannot speak for every Apprentice, but I suspect most of them require prodding by their Masters at the moment of truth.'
'Oh.' She said nothing more, but felt immensely relieved that she had not done as badly as she had thought.
Now that she was on her feet, and the initial shock had worn off, she was able to think again. There would always be one Sylph about her now, waiting and watching. Whether or not it came when she called and did as she asked would be largely a matter of concentration and willpower-and her ability to persuade it. Jason no longer had to persuade his Salamanders, in no small part because they were in the habit of obeying him. She had to remember that although the Sylph had looked human, most of them were not particularly intelligent. Once they got into the habit of obeying her, they wouldn't think of doing otherwise.
It might also do things just because it thought she would like them done; and a rare, very intelligent Sylph would perform actions even because it thought she needed them done. Jason's 'pet Salamander' was certainly inclined that way. It held intelligent conversations with him, and even contradicted him if he was wrong. Perhaps one of her Sylphs would develop that kind of intelligence.
She had not realized that Jason had led her out of the Work Room until she found herself standing beside the sofa in the study.
She started to turn to go back to clean up the mess she had left behind. 'The Work Room-' she said, vaguely. 'The mess-' She couldn't have the Sylph erase the diagrams and clean up the remains of the invocation-that was impossible, by the Pact that bound her to the Sylphs and vice versa.
He put both hands on her shoulders and pushed her gently down onto the sofa. 'The Salamanders can take care of the mess,' he said. 'That is another aspect that is useful about having two Disciplines operating in the same
