The Schooling of the Spell Caster

Grace stared at Jasmine. They all did. Then Daniel laughed. "See? I told you Jasmine was the smartest of us all."

Grace chuckled. "She is at that. I agree. The direct approach. I'll go have a chat with King Arbuckle. Alone." She looked at Jason and Brian and, after a moment, they both nodded.

Daniel frowned. "Alone? That doesn't seem safe."

Grace smiled at Daniel. "I am the eldest daughter of Rhiannon de Moroingi, Queen of the Night Fae. The King will speak with me."

Amy stared at Grace. "You're what?"

"I'm Night Fae, Amy," replied Grace, looking fondly at her and then the others. "You all never reacted to my last name and, to be honest, I liked that you didn't know. I prefer Grace Gales though. Although I am the oldest, my younger sister, Morgaine de Moroingi, is in line for the throne, should my mother fall. My mother's opposite is Titania de Feywild, Queen of the Light Fae and the Seelie Court. We constantly push at one another. This is the natural order of things, although humans always fail to understand. There is life and death in this world. The Fae are manifestations of that. But everyone gets them backwards. Night Fae are light-skinned and Light Fae are dark-skinned. One is born under the earth in darkness, with no sun to kiss their skin, and the other is born in the light of the sun, making their skin dark.

"The Night Fae, represent the decline of life back into darkness. The Light Fae, represent birth, from darkness back into the light. Both must exist. This extends to the seasons and the natural cycle of life and death. But both races embrace our roots, and it is here when most humans get it wrong. In truth, the Night Fae celebrates life and mourns its loss into darkness. We long for the joy and brightness of the light. The Light Fae celebrate the darkness where life originates. They look into the void and yearn for its embrace.

"The cycle needs one other thing, and this is the Wild Fae. Maeve is the Queen of the Wild Fae, and her very nature is chaos. If life just cycles to death and back again, the monotony will settle into neither one nor the other. The Wild Fae bring challenges to life, and serenity in death. There are two doors. Life to death, and death to life. The Wild Fae guard those doors."

Amy was looking pensive. "She's a fucking princess?" she muttered to herself. Grace raised an eyebrow at her, the only one hearing her.

Daniel looked up when Grace mentioned the Wild Fae. "If I were to guess where we should go next after talking to the King, it would be to go see Maeve. It sounds like she alone could understand what has occurred with the Phoenix."

Grace looked surprised. "That actually makes sense. But you have no idea just how difficult that will be."

"Ah, look!" giggled Jasmine. "Daniel is getting all smart-like! He's not just great looks and a big dick."

Daniel grinned at her. Grace looked worried.

They drank more wine and talked about the Fae for a time before Daniel stood and raised his glass in the air. He was feeling it now. His whole life, he had wanted to be an adventurer. Now he was a spell caster and had a circle of witches who loved him. He had survived the Academy of Adventurer Training, faced evil, and Loki the Trickster, even death, and came out victorious. His entire future lay before him, and he was surrounded by amazing, loving friends. He had never been happier.

He only had to figure out why he possessed some of the power of a Phoenix. Now that he knew the likely source, he could feel the fire running through him. What confused him was he had always kind of felt it, even as a child. He had always felt the summer heat and sweated, but it had never bothered him. The girls agreed they needed to explore this in greater depth. And they would. But right now, he was living in the moment and enjoying himself.

"A toast!" laughed Daniel, his glass held high. "A toast to the new company of nine adventurers. Grace, Jason, Brian, me, Amy, Jasmine, Amber, Jennifer, and Bitty! Here's to our success!"

"To us!" came a chorus in reply.

"What do we call ourselves?" asked Jasmine. "We need a name, don't we?"

Bitty smirked. "How about 'The Fellowship of the Cock Ring'?"

They all glared at Bitty, who shrugged, smiling, pulled a gold one out of the Bag of Holding, spun it around on a finger before tossing it to Jason, who pocketed it.

"My precious," he murmured.

Everyone threw out names, and all were discarded with groans.

"Um," said Daniel. "How about just 'The Circle'?"

Everyone stopped talking and looked at one another. Finally, everyone nodded.

"That's it, then," declared Daniel. "We are now called 'The Circle'."

The End of Book Two