Not So Simple (A Half Year Adventure by Tasha)
an excerpt

PROLOGUE
A Small Cafe, Pekka, Illanos
3rd Spring, 6826

Dmitri Skylor Ellisande was not exactly someone who could blend into crowds. Tall even for an Ailran, a tall and skinny race, at 6'11", he stood a head above most crowds. Add to that his long silver hair, excessively skinny frame, his long sharp nose, and the piercing ice blue eyes that almost all Ellisandes had hidden behind thick glasses, and the fact that he was and looked only twenty, and you had an almost unforgettable sight. It almost made him wonder why the Royal Family had made him spymaster. He certainly looked nothing like a spy; he would stand out anywhere he went and then some. But if he chose to listen to the (very few) rumors concerning the topic, he would have to admit they were probably right. The gossip (and most of the truth of the matter) was that he had been chosen for two talents. The first was his unprecedented ability to pass unnoticed, when he wanted to, without an absolute invisibility spell. The second was the fact he could memorize anything, be it written, spoken, or visual, almost immediately. Dmitri sighed, and sipped his cup of chai, watching the crowd flow past him, sitting outdoors at his favorite small cafe. Of course, having all of the magic he did helped. It certainly made his cover job much easier to maintain. Even his immediate superiors didn't know he was spymaster, and as spymaster answerable only to Queen Zyianna. Simulacra could do all of the things he did as a minor Court Scholar, and he liked it better that way anyway. He'd gotten used to not wanting to be seen. But not today. Today he was trying his hardest to be seen. And he had been seen. With a very faint smile and a wince for injuries still healing, he set his chai down, seeing a small figure dashing across the square.

"Uncle 'Mitri! Uncle 'Mitri!" The small girl shouted in delight before running into his arms. "You're back!" Dmitri smiled, a large, genuine smile, as he picked the girl up carefully. She already had so much magic it astonished him. But what else could he expect from Nessa and Searen's daughter? They were the two most powerful mages of the century, and his best friends. He usually loved seeing them.
"Yes, Chandra, I'm back," Dmitri said, “but not for long, I'm very sorry to say. Now where are your mother and father? For that matter, where is your brother? We have to talk."
Chandra giggled. "Oh, Uncle 'Mitri, I left them all so far behind! They all must be a half a sunmark 'way!"
Dmitri gasped in mock-astonishment. "Half a sunmark! You must be fast. There are only fifteen in a day, you know."
Chandra giggled again. "I knew _that_, Uncle 'Mitri. That- stuff you're going to talk about? Is it grown-up stuff?"
Dmitri nodded, setting Chandra down, and tucked his hair behind his ears absently. He could see Searen and Nessa coming. Chandra followed his line of sight, and took off with a delighted squeal, running back to Nessa. Dmitri smiled, then it fell off of his face. He wasn't looking forward to this.
"Over here! Momma!" Chandra squealed, her black hair flying loose. Searen smiled a relieved smile and scooped Chandra up in his arms. Dmitri could hear his voice get louder as they crossed the square.

"...We were worried about you! Don't do that again!" Dmitri waved slightly, seeing Nolan peek out from behind Nessa's robes. It amazed him how different Nolan and Chandra could be, even being as close to identical twins as they were.
"Why," Nessa teased as they sat down at the table, "who is this somber old man sitting at our table? It CAN'T be Dmitri; his hair is all silver. This is just gray."
"Nice to see you too, mage-sister," he retorted, using the expression that meant someone was closer than blood, that they had shared their magic with you, "even with all those new stress lines on your face. Tell me, did your children cause all of those?" Searen laughed until Nessa jabbed him with her elbow.
"Oronthi," she said warmly. Touché. "What did you want to talk with us about?"
"I wanted to speed up our process of looking aged," he joked, signaling them in hand-code to shield the conversation. "I want to talk with you about the old days." As soon as Nessa had put a shield up, Dmitri's face fell, and he became entirely serious. "I'm going out of Illanos again. I don't know how long it'll take me." Nessa set Chandra and Nolan down to play with some toys she had conjured, suddenly somber.
"So soon?" Searen asked in astonishment. “But you've just gotten back! Are you-" He hesitated. "Are you whole? I know that last mission-" He hesitated again.
"Was hard on me, I know, mage-brother. And no-" Dmitri finished, smiling bleakly, "I'm not completely healed. But this mission is too important for me to worry about my health. I have to go."
"Why you?" Nessa demanded. "Why not one of the younger agents?"
"They need someone with experience. And I'm the only one with enough experience to go that's still active. The rest are retired or dead, killed in the Mage Wars." Searen bit his lip and looked down guiltily.
"You still shouldn't be going," he said quietly. "No matter how urgent it is. You're still half starved; you can see your ribs through your shirt." Dmitri covered his torso self-consciously.
"It's easy to gain weight," he replied, just as quietly. "When there is a rogue Ailran sorceress threatening to take over two worlds, and she's already made her mark on a world we are supposed to protect, you need someone out there that knows as much as they can about getting information. And all of my magic didn't help my case. Zyianna thinks I'll probably have to terminate the sorceress. She’s a sorceress and a mage, book learning and iron control. Not a good sign for me."
Nessa grabbed his hand, and said with a quiet resolve, "And you are a mage, and a better one than her. You will be able to stop her. I have faith in you. And we can help you." Nessa grabbed Searen's hand, and Searen grabbed Dmitri's other hand, forming a triangle. They both sent pulses of magic into Dmitri, increasing his power slightly and giving his body more time to heal, instead of having to make more magic. "I can't heal you, and no one can heal your mind except you, but that should give you strength, enough to fight her and the missions you’ve already been on."
Dmitri nodded, and looked them both in the eyes, ice blue in black and gray. "I'm frightened," he confessed in a whisper. "She's supposed to be very powerful, I heard rumors that she would have been the next one of us if she had gone to the Mages Academy. And she's from here. What could make someone who _came from_ Pekka turn against us so strongly?"
Nessa exchanged a troubled glance with Searen, then they all went into the more intimate, private mode of talking known as Mindspeech.
: Don’t try and explain it: Searen advised, grabbing Dmitri's hand tighter. : You’ll only make yourself sick. Some people just- do things, because they want the power or they'll come up with their own, obscure motives. Just go. The less you think about that, and the more you think of stopping her and coming back home, the better. Come back unharmed, you hear?: Searen hugged Dmitri tightly.
: We both need you: Nessa added,: And _whole_. Good luck.: She also hugged him.
Dmitri smiled a sad smile, hugging them back desperately, then turned and walked away without a backward glance. He didn't believe in goodbyes.