A New Master

[Ishtari 13]

"It took some time, I'll admit, But I'm glad you finally brought them to me," Whis said as he sat comfortably in his favorite, fluffy chair. The leather squeaked a little as he shifted to cross his legs.

Jikdur sat the heavy box up on the table. There was a slight echo in the room they were in. "Tell me, why did you move your office to somewhere...so desolate?"

The room was empty. It was empty of even the normal, ornate decorations of his previous office.

"With all this cure...hmm. With the search for the cure going on, I felt like people were...too close to my office. I have nothing to hide, however, I do not like being disturbed when I'm working."

"Makes sense. There was a note, as well." He handed the note to Whis.

Whis, read it quickly, as there was not my writing on there, to begin with. "'I'm done.' Interesting. I was really hoping that he would conquer Rhaast, just as I did." He had a regretful look in his eyes. He folded and then lay the note down on the table. "He was so close...Maybe I moved to fast." He had a straight face as he spoke his next words. "I am upset. I am truly upset."

"Yeah. It's totally obvious. What are you going to do now?"

"I have...I have a student in mind. He was my first choice, but, I became very interested in that furball. I truly thought he would fully conquer Rhaast. Maybe mortals are just too weak."

"Maybe...Or maybe it's because he wasn't already involved in shadow magicks," Jikdur said.

 "No, no. I wasn't involved with shadow magicks when I started using the shadow artefacts."

"Who, then is your choice?"

"Jon," Whis said, simply. "He is a perfect student. Since he's started studying, he has become a much better magic user. I knew that all it would take was a push and he would start doing great things."

"If you knew that, then why didn't you train him yourself?"

"Jon...Jon has only been in our lives for a short while, but, he sees me as a father figure, much in the way that I see the two of you as my sons that I never got to have."

"And what does that have to do with the price of milk in Ardougne?" Jikdur asked jokingly.

"I cannot bring it upon myself to train him as hard as I would an actual student. Which is why you will be training him with these tools."

"Excuse me?"

"Yes. You have much training to do, so let's go. Bring the box with you."

Jikdur stood aghast. He had wanted to learn how to use these weapons, but Whis never allowed him to. Even the book was off-limits, except in the direst of circumstances. "The cave, then?"

"Yes. And one more thing. If you see Tonlim, let him know that he will never truly be free of Rhaast's influence. There will forever be a tiny sliver of Rhaast within him. But I'm sure he'll figure that much out for himself."

Jikdur grabbed the box. "Fine." He vanished.

Whis grinned before he himself vanished.