Hanner turned and saw Mavi standing near the entryway, silhouetted in the light.
She was more beautiful than he remembered. He instantly forgot about Nerra and hurried toward her, leaving his sister laughing at his back.
Mavi heard his approaching footsteps and turned; she recognized Hanner, and her face lit in a shy smile.
Hanner was overwhelmed by the sight of that smile; he had feared she would frown or turn away.
“Hello,” she said.
“Hello,” Hanner replied, stopping a respectful distance away, unsure of his reception. She seemed happy to see him, but he still remembered the look on her face when he admitted that he was a warlock.
Mavi’s next words dispelled some of his remaining concern. “I missed you,” she said.
Hanner made a happy, wordless noise of agreement.
Mavi stepped toward him. “You know, Hanner, I think I’m getting over my aversion to warlocks,” she said. “You and your Council have really done an amazing job of making them respectable.”
Hanner smiled broadly and took her hand; she did not pull away.
“We could make you a warlock,” he said. She laughed. “I’m not that fond of warlocks!” Then she stepped into his arms and added, “Yet.”
Epilogue
It was later established, by a commission of scholars appointed jointly by the overlords of the Hegemony of the Three Eth-shars, that the creation of the warlocks began four hours and eighteen minutes after sunset on the fourth day of Summerheat in the Year of Human Speech 5202. This seemed to hold true throughout the inhabited World; the nightmares did not arrive any sooner in Aldagmor than in the farthest corners of the Small Kingdoms, nor did those who later became powerful warlocks receive them a moment earlier or later than those who never again showed any sensitivity to this new sort of magic. Everywhere, and for everyone, the dreams and the magic came at the same instant.
In Ethshar of the Spices the final count of persons reported missing on or immediately after the Night of Madness was 1,108. Forty-one people died in the confusion; how many of the 41 were warlocks or other magicians was never reliably determined.
In Ethshar of the Sands there were 983 missing, 38 dead.
In Ethshar of the Rocks there were only 622 missing, but due largely to the actions of one particularly dangerous warlock, Shemder Parl’s son, who was eventually removed by the Wizards’ Guild, the death toll still reached 42.
No adequate counts were ever made for the rest of the Hegemony, or for any of the lands outside the Hegemony. The number of disappearances for the Baronies of Sardiron unquestionably ran well into the thousands, and the deaths and acts of destruction were numerous and widespread there, while the more southerly Small Kingdoms were barely affected-for Sardiron the Night of Madness was a major crisis, yet in Semma and Ophkar it went completely unnoticed. Reactions by those governments were in proportion; however, the decree of a death sentence for performing warlockry in the Baronies of Sardiron was rescinded in the month of Leafcolor after several unpleasant incidents involving Called warlocks on their way to Aldagmor.
By the Festival of the Year of Human Speech 5203 the Council of Warlocks under the direction of Chairman Hanner reported a total membership of 7,976 acknowledged warlocks, counting apprentices.
The ruling triumvirate of the Hegemony found this entirely acceptable.
