The door way of the Assembly's guildhouse in Icehaunt reminded her of all the others she had seen . But this was the first time she had entered the guild with a sense of apprehension that set the hairs at the nape of her neck on end. She took a moment to take a few short deep breaths before she approached the entrance with it's twin animates of stone guarding the door . To many a passers-by they would look like nothing more than statues, unless they were sharp eyed enough to see the tiny movements that rippled the stone. Tiny sparks of blue and red light, the magic that gave life to the stone.

Still though they stood they would bar the way of any interloper who sought to trespass in the Assembly's halls. And it took a brave or foolish man to try and force his way past the Assembly's creations.

The badge on the arm of her robe tingled slightly as she passed through the portal and entered the guild house. The animates, knowing their masters, never moved of course, but it was always a strangely unnerving experience to pass between them. For all her long association with the gathering of mages she always had the nagging feeling that the animates would bar her way one day. She was not a woman for whom trust came easily,  even of those who were as brother and sister to her.

The young acolyte who stood as gateman to the guildhouse smiled as she entered, " The peace of the arch-mage be with you sister." he said formally. "And with you also," she replied. The greeting was customary, dating as it did from the days when wielders of magic were not as welcome in the world in general. The Assembly was then as much a refuge for those accused of witchcraft and other dark magic as a place of study and learning. Even in these enlightened times magic was still looked upon by many with suspicion and distaste. Out in the remote villages far from the major cities it was still not unusual for witch hunts to form and young men and women to be hounded from there homes. The peace of the arch-mage still stood as welcome to any who came to the Assembly's doors, though it was a small mercy that seldom did it become a refuge for those in fear of there lives these days.

She smiled at the acolyte then made her way across the courtyard, the circle room would be where it always was , each of the guilds guildhouse was the same in that respect. Each built to the same plans as the first. At the centre of the courtyard she took a moment to refresh herself from the fountain that feed the wash basins and drinking cups for the travel weary, before she released the sphere of protection from around her and set her pack to the flagstones. "Take my things to an appointed room," she told one of the acolytes who stood on station at the fountain. The guild, like most others, kept rooms for it's members to use when at the guildhouse.

For a while she just stood there staring into the circular base of the fountain, its waters ever disturbed by the falling water. She realised she was close to panic for a moment. The tests of the mystic circles were not a thing you entered lightly. Only the experienced could dare to risk the tests.  A false move within the testing circle could cause great harm, after all. But she knew she was ready, past ready if truth be told. Her travels had taken her many places since she last had a chance to sample the delights of the guild. From Miasma to Mirrormane to face the craven Maximus, not that the craven ever showed for that dual. Truth told she was glad of that now. As time had past she had come to believe it would have sullied her Warder’s memory to have slain the arrogant mage. Time heals many wounds she had decided. Or perhaps I am just getting too old for such foolishness she had thought, shaking her head with a smile.

From Mirrormane her path had lead her to the south, far from her beloved Moonward, on a track without good reason to the Snow Queen’s court, that strange collection of stones on the ice moors of Winterward. For another fool’s arrogant vanity that was in the last misplaced. A trek that cost a companions life, only to be told the need had passed when they had succeeded in there aims. A debt that she would someday make the vain fool pay for. Now at last in the frozen halls of Icehaunt she had returned to the guild. Strange, it was almost like coming home after all this time , albeit to a different guild house from the one she had first known.

Now she was ready to take the test of the First Circle. In the circle was power, something she craved despite herself. In the circle she would find new strength , if she could only pass the test of the circle. She made her way through the guild's halls and into the inner sanctum , passing as she did the shelves of ancient texts in the library and the study halls were the masters taught the young acolytes the wisdoms of the Assembly
.
Finally at the door to the circle room she paused and took more deep breaths, before raising her hand to the door and speaking, " Open." The door swung at her command and then shut behind her as she made her way into the centre of the circle room. The floor  was laid out with a complex mosaic of circles. She came to a halt at the heart of the mosaic on the black tiles of the central circle.

" Speak that you be known !" a voice from out of the air said. There were no watchers or others in the room . The voice was mealy the echo of the charms that made this place. She took some comfort in the fact the voice was familiar to her . The arch-mage created the circle rooms, she should have known better than to be surprised.

" I am Jesslar Taboner , Enchantress of Moonward, and of good standing in the brethren," she replied. Her voice had more strength in it than she felt at that moment.

"You take the test of the circle of you own will ?" the voice spoke.

" I do," she replied.

"Then it is begun," the voice said and suddenly the room span around her .

From the walls thin wisps of blue and red light erupted to spin around her. For a moment she marvelled at the beauty of the light. Then suddenly one of the spirals of light struck out at her sending sheering pain through her body. She cried out despite herself and almost stumbled then. More lights came from the walls, spinning and spinning around her, as she fought for calm . Trying to focus her mind with the mental tricks taught to her long ago in the halls at Miasma. As a second burst struck her she forced herself to ignore the pain and fight through it.

Closing her eyes to the dancing lights she fought for control , whispering the words of the mystic circle enchantment as she did so, fighting for calm at her centre and to grab hold of the spinning lights and bend then to her will.

It seemed like an age she struggled, each time the sheering pain struck her she lost a little of the battle for control. But then in the last she caught a trail as it spun around her and bent it to follow a path she dictated.

It was as if a veil was lifted from her mind, suddenly she saw the pattern. The trick of the mystic circle was not to bend the streams but to bend your own mind to the streams.  She had control and suddenly the dance was over.

" You have passed the Test of the First Circle ," the voice of the arch-mage said from out of the air, and Jesslar smiled. In time she would take the second test. But for the moment it was time to lick her wounds and take heart in the knowledge of another victory on the road of her life.