A meeting of the minds

“Magic is power. You know this. You can shape the world to your will. But there are limitations.” Adrianna's hair is brushed and her face is mostly clean. Your tent is spacious but spartan, a bedroll and a folding desk, few mementos survive on the campaign. However there is room to lay out the many books and scrolls your instructor insists on bringing everywhere. “What are they?”

A fat candle burns between you, unnaturally bright and hot.

You recall your studies with a bored ease. “Magic cannot create or destroy, only change. Magic cannot move time or distance. Magic cannot give life, only end it.”

“And?”

“And what?”

Her stare is a shield-wall. At times you forget she is a fanatic as much as any clergy. Your mother was right, the Coven had their hooks in this one.

“The final limitation. Magic cannot affect the minds of men.”

“But it can, just as I have heard of spells to resurrect the dead or create a Gol-

“It is forbidden. That magic is the power of demons and malifcarum.” The flame rises as Adrianna speaks, burning white hot.

“Magic is evil when it is used for evil. But if your intentions are good.”

“Your intentions are just that, yours.” Her tone shifted now. She always enjoyed philosophy. “If you bring rain to the farmers, you may save their crops, but you flood the river and wash away the village.”

“You're saying there are no wholly good acts, only intentions? Two people coming together in love to make a child is wonderful thing.” You take her hand and she flushes deeply.

Adrianna lifts your palm and pulls the fire from the candle. For a moment she holds it and it lights her entire face. Her constant stern demeanor falls away and you see a young woman who cherishes her gift of magic. Her pale skins glistens with a light sheen, her blue eyes sparkly with mirth and her hair is fire itself, her lips part and a wanting look passes over her face. You stare deeply into her eyes, a hundred sparkly shades of blue shine eagerly back. You find yourself wondering what she was like before the conclave. Thoughts of an unrepresented Adrianna dance through your mind, uninhibited and powerfully sexual. The moment ends, her eyes fade back to grey and she places the fire in your hands.

“I'm saying that all things have consequences, including magic. Even an innocent child, conceived in love and raised in love can still grow up to be a monster. You must think before you act. Please.” Her voice has lost that droning quality you know so well, instead it is simultaneously knowing and sympathetic. How much does Adrianna know?

“Sometimes rules must be broken, my lady.” You probe hoping to find the sensuous woman from moments ago. Her face remains frozen.

“Things are forbidden for a reason, Magus. With your power you could level a mountain. But it would shatter the valley below. You need control. The rules that bind us, Mages and rulers both, also free us. Do not attempt the Forbidden.”

Adrianna may play at being the ice queen, but you've seen the volcano below her frozen depths. Even now, you watch a bead of sweat trickle dangerously down her neck before disappearing beneath the high cut of her dress, to a place you desperately wish to follow.