“How did it feel?” she repeated. It felt wonderful, but how do I describe that? “It felt—I’m not certain. I think I must have felt the way an opera singer feels, when everything comes together in a perfect performance. As if I was born to do this, as if nothing in the world was more natural or right for me. There was a joy, a feeling of completion, a feeling of coming home—” She shook her head. “All that, and more. I can’t describe it properly.”

He sat back, and there was no mistaking the satisfaction in his eyes. “You don’t have to. This was something du Mond never felt, and I should have known then that there was something wrong with him. The true Magician, the one who is born to it, comes to his work with pleasure, and not as if it is work. I suspect this must be the case with anyone who is doing what he is truly suited to, whether he be a Magician or a singer, a poet or a priest, or even a plumber. You had that joy about you; this is what you were born to do.”