"Drin the Mage" by Colleen J Sweeney

The sky was still dawn-gray when Sage Drin awoke. His bones ached from the damp and cold of the room, and also the hard matressed bed. He would be thankful when he was back in the Temple of Flowin. He was given his due respect there, and the beds were more comfortable. Drin drew back the thin covers and put his bare feet on the worn, wooden floor. He brushed his hands over his time-weathered face and gazed out the window at the approaching sunrise. The land lay still, fallen rain creating a thick mist that whispered through the empty streets. In the distance Drin could see Casovant’s slender white towers reaching up out of the fog to greet the day. Saki were beautiful stone mansions. Hardly a beautiful race, though. They had fallen far from the True Magics of Fairy and did not pay proper respect to their creators the Fairies. They were corrupt.
Drin shut his eyes, breathed in deeply and reached out with his mind to the Land. Tapping Fairy Magic came easy to him now. It filled him with the sweet caress of life. Never can one truly be alive until they felt the Magic. Some said it was un natural but the Magi believed it was un natural not to Tap the Magic. When the Magic filled him he saw the True Shades; color was nothing until the Magic opened your eyes. Drin he could no longer feel the ache of his bones, he no longer felt old with the Magic in him.
“Master?” A quiet knock came at the door. “Master are you awake?” It was Lynlear, one of the more foolish in training, she’d never sucessfully Tapped the Magic. Drin had brought her with him hoping to teach her as they traveled. So far she had only proven to be a waste of time and better off scrubbing the floors of the Temple.
“Yes, child, I am awake.” He replied with an edge in his voice. He hated interruptions. Drin heard the door latch open slowly and then the door swing inward on it’s creaky hinges.
“I’ve brought you breakfast, Master...” Lynlear said respectfully, too respectfully. The girl annoyed him.
“Yes, yes, leave it by the door.” he waved at her, looking over his shoulder at the slender black robbed girl.
“Of course Master. I’m sorry to have disturbed you.” she bowed meekly and scurried out, barely remembering to deposit the tray she held.
“Wait Lynlear,” said the Sage, changing his mind.
“What is it you wish?” asked the girl.
“Come here” Lynlear walked silently over to the bedside of Drin.
“Master?” she whispered.
“When is the council to begin?”
“Mid-morning,” she answered quietly.
“Get yourself ready, you and Flynn will come with me. Make sure he is awake.”
“Me? But I cannot even Tap yet...”
“Do you want to go or not, child?” he growled back.
“Of course I do,” she bowed excitedly, “I will be ready. Thank you Master.”
“You may leave now.” he said, waving her away. Drin waited until he heard the door close firmly before getting up. Drin took his decretive robe off of a peg and donned it. He did not know what this council would bring but he hoped some resolve would come out of it. Hard times were coming and the Magi could not hide forever in the mountains. Drin would have to offer his services along with his knowledge. Everyone had to pull together or be defeated, no matter how reluctant he was, he knew that for a fact.