Approval

Heron had to wander around a bit before he found his sister. He finally did find her in the library of the castle after asking some servants if they had seen her.

Almost as soon as he entered his sister leaped into his arms, leaving Asrar behind where they had been sitting together, with a cry. "Brother!"

She pulled back a bit and looked at him a grin growing on her beaming face, "You look healthier than last I saw you."

Heron ruffled her hair and leaned down to kiss the top of her head. "Jarenkul really did do wonders for my immune system. How has my little sister been doing?"

"I'm fine." She answered cheerfully. Then for some reason her smile faltered as if something had occurred to her.

"What's wrong sis?" Feeling concerned, he brushed her hair out of her face. "You are making a weird face."

Releasing him, she stepped back, her smile returning back to its prior beaming glow. "What are you doing here?"

He was a bit surprised by the fact she had not answered him. His sister told him just about everything. Excepting some things to do with her feelings towards her best friend. Ah, well, he would let his little sister change the subject if she wished.

So he just answered her question, "Ah, I just needed to talk to King Jayesh. Thought that since I was here anyway I should say hi to you and Asrar." He finally turned his attention on the young sorcerer knight, "Hey Asrar. It looks like you have been doing a fairly good job of keeping my little sister safe."

At this the knight smiled, just a hint of warmth on his face. It was good to see emotion easily visible there, "It tis my duty as well as my pleasure."

His sister was right! Asrar was talking more normally now! Still a hint there, but that was some improvement!

Heron moved to sit across from Asrar. At the fact that Hazel was just standing there a bit awkwardly he raised an eyebrow, "Are you going to sit down, Hazel? I want to warn you about something and it's probably best that you are sitting for this."

"Okay." She sat down beside of Asrar, a bit closer than was normal between them.

Ah. So they had made progress. He tried to suppress a smile, "Looks like I might need to have a talk with Asrar, sis."

She feigned innocence, "What about?"

Heron shook his head, suppressing an urge to laugh, "Eh. I probably don't need to. Honestly, I can't even imagine him hurting you." He really had just been teasing anyway. He trusted Asrar. Still, as Hazel's sister he felt it was his duty to at least say something, "For the record though, Asrar, you ever hurt my baby sister in any way and I will make sure you regret it."

Hazel blushed but Asrar merely smiled softly and nodded. Obviously, he had no thoughts of ever hurting her. Heron hadn't even needed the reassurance. However, by having this conversation he was making it quite clear that he approved of the relationship.

Hazel changed the subject, "Anyway, what did you want to warn me about?" She nervously brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Well." He cleared his throat, frowning a bit, "Amriel is going to go through a few changes. Or else they are going to lynch me for daring to mess with their sacred laws."

Alarm and confusion on his sister's face, "What do you mean?"

Carefully schooling his features, he answered, "I am going to legalize magic to be learned and used. With restrictions of course." He wondered how she would react.

She frowned, obviously puzzled. Though she did not seem upset. "Why? Does father know you are doing this? Is he okay with it?"

With a nod Heron answered, "I talked with father and he agreed it might be best. After that attack, well, a good magic user could be rather useful for preventing such things. And then there are wicked magic users out there, and laws against magic hardly work against them as they simply do not care. So having a few magic using people with a contract stating that if called they need to come to our aid sounds like a really good idea."

After a moment of stunned silence, Hazel nodded, "Okay. Out of curiosity, how would the magic users prove that they are reliable enough to be um, allowed."

"Well, I think I will take a page from some of the other countries and decide that sorcerers are immediately considered okay until proven otherwise. Wizards and others who study spells will need to provide a reason for their decision to learn magic and it will be decided from there what to do with them. That is what Jayesh suggested. Amriel is not ready to have the same level of openness as here, after all."

He did not miss a look of relief on both of their faces.

"Brother can I ask you a question?" Hazel spoke hesitatingly. "What are your own personal opinions on magic?"

By habit, he almost deflected but instead laughed softly, "I bear no ill will towards magic users. If I could I would have our kingdom be like Carendlus in how it handles it's laws on magic."

That elicited a bright smile from his sister. "Can I ask why?"

"I may know a few people who have magic I would like to see live in our kingdom without any fear of their life. And I think we may have more spell casters living among us then we might realize. Is that a sufficient answer?"

Asrar then suddenly narrowed his eyes and spoke, "Wait a minute Heron. Did you know about me? You have always been observant, so -?"

"I knew. Not much I could do about it before. I kept your secret for you though, both of them." So Hazel did know, he took it.

Hazel almost pouted at this, "How did you know about Asrar's, uh, magic?"

Aw, was his little sister jealous he had noticed before she had? "He did not have much control over it right after it awakened. I happened to notice something when no one else was really looking. Anyway, it made me think about the whole law against magic and how unfair it was to sorcerers."

She seemed satisfied. They talked a while more together, she plied him about Elswyth, making some not to subtle hints that she liked her and would gladly welcome a sister-in-law. Heron was confused by this on several levels. Why was his sister so fixated on this misconception? And how had Elswyth won her over with one letter? What had been in that letter!?