<br/>Darius stood in the hallway, an imperious and authoritative figure reeking resentment for what was required of him. The handsome man’s stormcloud brows were not quite furrowed, but it would have been easy enough to imagine it so. Sunset hued eyes reflected the tightly-wound emotions of the man as he looked the half-elf over and beyond, to the other woman occupying her room. He snorted derisively, reading what he would into the situation.<br/><br/><strong>“It is time to go. We’re using the teleportation circle,” </strong>He said, announcing it as though she didn’t already know. Drawing a light satchel covered in magical runes over his shoulder – a bag of holding, capable of carrying more than it should, given apparent space – he turned his broad, muscular back to the girl and began the trip back up the tower, assuming that she would follow.<br/><br/>Following in his wake, she could catch his clean, magically neuter scent. Any hint as to what the man’s natural odor was had been artificially masked, as his flesh had been artificially woven to make him appear gloriously handsome. The man towered over the slight half-elf, even without being side-by-side, simply seeing him made it clear that he was chest and shoulders taller than her and, by the way he occasionally smiled or the dark twinkle in his eye, he was pleased with the fact that he could dominate others with his size.<br/><br/>What a weak, inexperienced shrew of a man! Rumor, in fact, said that he did not spend time with any of the female teachers, or female graduate students; more than a shrew. An isolationist.<br/><br/>The teleportation circle was at the top of the tower, covered in a glass dome the size of a small house. Used rarely due to the amount of power it required, the circle drew upon the Tower’s own protective wards and the magics of the teachers of the tower; risky business all around, and one best not announced. While a truly powerful Master of Correspondence magic could have teleported the two of them with relative ease, none such had existed for years; the Magi had to rely on artifacts of power to emulate those roles, now.<br/><br/>Standing at the top of the tower, two dozen of the Tower’s most prominent teachers stood – humans, elves, and other breeds, all yawning but clearly pleased to be there. To see Darius off. No love was lost for the temperamental magus – his flexibility was something some resented, but his aloof arrogance distanced all of his would-be friends. The High Magus was waiting for the two of them just outside of the deeply carved runic circles – each woven within nets of other circles, so elaborately that they’d be impossible to prize apart.<br/><br/><strong>“Stand in the center,”</strong>the ancient looking Magus commented, eyes twinkling with the wisdom of old age.<br/><br/>Darius moved there and waited for his pupil to follow. Already, the Master mages in a half-circle a distance away from the teleportation circle were whispering the incantations that would empower the travel.<br/>