Sarah was almost ready for the day's lesson.  The 34 year-old wizardess looked in the mirror, combing back her reddish locks.  Not yet dressed, she looked at her very womanly figure, that despite bearing two children, still only had a few pounds of fat...unless you counted what padded her breasts.  But she was not prone to narcissism, nor to undue worry about her appearance, so she only looked at herself a moment before putting on her robes--blue with two golden bands on each sleeve, denoting her status as a Second Circle Educator.<br/><br/>Getting into the Second Circle had not been easy.  Wizardry was, at least in this part of the world, a male-dominated profession.  Some wizard academies would not even admit females.  But the Blue Willow Academy was fairly enlightened.  Still, some worshippers of Peani, the God of Magic, believed his teachings forbade the arcane arts to women.  Their influence, though not as strong as it used to be, was still difficult to ignore.<br/><br/>Which was another reason Sarah was glad to have Teri as a student.  Teri, now eighteen summers old, had all the makings of a good wizard: the ability to channel, an intuitive understanding of the weaving of dweomercraft, and courage.  If anything, too much courage.  Not enough fear.  Every wizard had to have some fear, Sarah knew...not the kind that made you quiver in your shoes or run away, but a fear that engendered respect.  Respect for the unseen and powerful forces wizards worked with.  Forces that could turn around and bite you in ways that could barely be fathomed...<br/><br/>But Teri had no fear.  And that was something that had to change, Sarah knew.  And today it would.  She had a little exercise in summoning that would give Teri a taste of what could happen in the realm of magic.  Putting on her sandals, and walking over to her cabinet, she pulled out the ingredients for the spell.  Among them was sulfur...this created a connection to the lower planes.  Pure sulfur would create a full-fledged Gate, permitting passage of creatures into--and from--the lower planes.  Not something to be done lightly.  But she took the sulfur, mixed it into a bottle of fine sand.  About four parts sand to one part sulfur.  Thus diluted, the sulfur and volcanic sand mix would only create a Window, permitting visualization.  Not enough for anything to come through.  But what would be<em>seen</em>would be enough to scare some discretion and respect into Teri.<br/><br/>She sealed the vial, gathered her things, and went to Teri's door.<br/><br/>Teri was already waiting...a lithe young girl, with blonde hair tied back in a ponytail.  Wearing the white robe of a Senior Learner.  The robe showing a little of her developing cleavage.  The robe was a size too small, but it did not seem to bother Teri at all.  Sarah supposed the Third Circle--the senior professors and deans--might look askance, but they were in the quarters two stories up.  This was a one-on-one tutorial, Sarah helping a student and fellow female.  Teri was all ready, with her wand and apothecary in her robe.  "Hi Sarah," Teri said, "thank you so much for this extra lesson."<br/><br/>"Someday you will wear one of these," Sarah said, gesturing at her blue robe.  The two women went together down the staircase into one of the Summoning Rooms.  Their footsteps echoed in the rocky passage.  Down below the Academy here, the summoning chambers were cut directly into the bedrock.  The two women lit the torches that illuminated the room.  "Now, the first step is to set the ward on the door.  This way, if anything goes wrong, the summoned beings are confined to this room."  She did so as Teri watched.  "Next comes the actual gateway.  Now, for this gate, we're going to summon some...creatures from the Abyss."<br/><br/>She looked for fear in Teri's eyes.  Maybe a flicker.  But more excitement.  "Oh good...finally we get to do something interesting!  What should I do?"<br/><br/>"I'm going to line the summoning circle with batwing dust, and wormseed."  Sarah reached into her supplies, pulled out the diluted sulfur.  "You draw the Runes of Gating with this chalk, sprinkle this sulfur at each of the five Earth Points."<br/><br/>Teri nodded.  Sarah went about her work.  Teri drew the runes.  When she was finished, she then reached for the vial...and realized she had left it at the other side of the platform.  No problem.  She had come prepared.  From within her own robe, she proudly drew a vial of sulfur, and completed the preparations.<br/><br/>With pure sulfur.<br/><br/>"Let's begin," Sarah said, not realizing her apprentice had made the substitution.