‘Ye gods – I’ve seen letters delivered in a better state attached to the legs of blind eagles’ he muttered to himself as his long thin fingers, much like those of a musician, snatched the letter from her grasp most unceremoniously. Flipping it over in his grasp, he took note of the burgundy seal and sighed long and loud in a rather theatrical fashion. ‘I might have guessed…’ he muttered again – each time loud enough that there was no way the girl would not have heard him. Holding the letter with one hand, he drew his finger across the seal with the pointing finger of his right – the seal slicing in half neatly as if a hot knife had been dragged through it, then causing the envelope to curl up and reveal the letter inside. Pulling it free from its envelope he shook it with a flourish in front of him – opening it up fully, his thin neat eyebrows raising as he began to read the words written within slowly, mouthing out each word as he did so. Occasionally he stopped to scratch his chin before continuing – and on one occasion he stopped completely, clicking his tongue inside his mouth as he let his bright blue eyes wander slowly down, up and then back down the figure of the girl standing in front of him.<br/><br/>When had finally finished, he reached up with his free hand and ruffled his short dark brown hair – the slight curls making his hair look rather unkempt, and even more so for the way he ruffled it. He couldn’t have been more than his late thirties by the looks of him – incredibly young for an Archmage, although given the many whispered reasons for the Council requiring he leave the City it perhaps shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise that he had rose to such power so relatively early.  After all, it seemed he had quite an array of otherworldly sources of information and power… ‘Well, this makes for quite a read… Tell me, just how long have you wanted to learn to harness the powers arcane for yourself hmm?’ he asked, peering over the top of the letter even as it burst into flame, the ashes falling from his fingers to the ground in front of him. ‘Well? Come now, answer me’ he snapped – having barely given her more than a second to think on his words as his arms crossed across his chest, the dark blue and silver silk shirt almost gleaming even in the lessening light.<br/><br/>Before she could reply, he turned away from him – making his way over to a large Elm to his left, squatting down on his heels with his back facing the girl as his fingers brushed over the thick waxy violet leaves of a plant that rested in the trees shade, short and stout and looking altogether rather dangerous. The sort of plant that only the most foolhardy would touch – yet it didn’t seem to bother the mage in the least. ‘More to the point’ he continued after a time, still not facing her, his voice seeming somewhat more level and composed this time ‘what exactly does your father offer me in return for schooling you, hmm? As much as a fool as your father is, I doubt very much that he thinks I would teach you out of the goodness of my own heart like those so called wizards that lounge about inside their little stone cages like plump canaries back in the City…’ There was a significant amount of distain and venom within his words as he spoke, and at the word wizard he spat forth onto the leaves of the plant his fingers had just brushed, the spittle hissing as it dissolved upon the leaves, as he stood up and spun upon his heel to face her. ‘Well? I haven’t got all day you know’