Tower of Magi

He frowns slightly, but doesn't really seem upset, maybe a little disappointed? "I've lived with pirates until I was fourteen, I can tell when someone is lying. It's the hesitation you put in, it shows thought. Please do me the courtesy of telling me your real name."

"Well, if you were to look at the right birth certificate, then you might think it was my name," She states, attempting to defend her lie. "My name is Myra Tane."

He nods "Well, that is true. Official or official-looking documents are convincing. And I guess it's good that you're last name is Tane, your brother is here. I saw him on my way here."

"That doesn't make any sense," Myra says, "Because, to my understanding, he is dead, and/or in love with an illusionist."

He sighs "Well, your understanding is false on the first account. He is very much alive, and a knight in the Templar order. And to the extent of the illusionist, I have no idea."

"Aren't templars supposed to hate magic?" Myra asks.

he shrugs "Some do, Personally I don't hate it, I'd just prefer it's not used on me. Many Templars actually only sign on because they have no choice."

Myra becomes silent.

He shrugs "Personally, I didn't have a choice. I enjoyed pirate life, it was fun living on the open waters."

"It seems like nobody does." Myra sighs.

He shrugs "Well, I guess things weren't the best on the ship. But during our raids it was the most exhilarating thing I'd felt in my life. I even kept the daggers I used, I have them in my boots in case I lose my other weapons."

"I used to protect my people with knives sometimes," Myra says, "But now, they have been stolen."

he shrugs"Well, I guess once you're done here, you can go back to your people. And you'll be going back with a stronger weapon than a knife."

"I know, magic, magic, magic." She sighs. "Which means I have to follow special rules."

He nods "Yeah...everybody has rules, and the rules are usually there to keep things from falling apart. Tell me, how did they find you out? Was it something big and destructive?"

"I lit a river on fire." She sighs, "A small one."

He nods "Yeah, destructive. The rules mages have are there to keep things like that from happening. I met a mage when I first started being a knight, he told me that they found him after he accidentally blew up an entire village food store. That village entire village starved and was wiped out because they couldn't replenish their supplies quickly enough.."

"But what I did didn't do anything bad. If anything, I was a great help to everyone!" Myra explains, "The river was full of bad water, and I got rid of it!"

He nods "Yes, I understand that. But the past has shown that a mage's powers can be destructive if left unchecked."

Myra goes silent.

He sighs "So now you see, we don't do this because we enjoy it, or because we want to do it. We do it out of necessity and fear. We do it because it lets the normal people feel safer at night, and so that mages don't destroy themselves as well as the rest of us."

"So, instead, we make mages seem evil and destructive, all of them?"

He shakes his head "No, we let people see mages how they see them. But in essence we see mages as blades that have yet to be honed. People with potential not yet discovered."

"So, I'm assuming what you mean is that we are tools?"

He sighs "That's the metaphor I'm using. I'm comparing the community of mages to tools, I do this because it's the easiest thing to compare them to. I could compare them to blades, but that would signify that they are inherently dangerous, whereas tools are used to build and destroy. Tools create art, they also create destruction. Blades cause nothing but death, but that isn't what magic is to me."