Everyone in the neighborhood knew who Karin was. Not because she desired the attention. It was just the result of living some distance away from any shops and not having a car. Her transportation method of choice was her trusty mount with saddlebags.

  She had stopped leaving Cosette outside the shop, instead she tied her to a tree in a patch of wood close by. Too many complaints about her mount leaving pears everywhere.

  While carrying her shopping bags back to Cosette, she heard a helicopter somewhere. That wasn't too unusual; occasionally a helicopter would be called in to help someone in the forest. A broken ankle, a sudden heart condition etc. She didn’t think too much about it at first. However, as she rode home, it was hovering around the area her farm was. That was unusual. If one of the neighbors had a medical emergency, she’d expected an ambulance, not a helicopter.

  Her phone rang. Unknown number.

  "Hello, this is Karin."

  "Karin Olivia Smith?"

  "Yes, that's me."

  "I represent the Consortium. We need to meet with you. Where are you?"

  "On my way home."

  "Good. We're waiting for you there."

  So, the Consortium. Was the helicopter theirs? Most likely. Was this related to what Martin spoke of? Who else had the resources to pull off a slaughter like Martin described and keep it out of the public eye?

  It should have been obvious when Martin told his tale, but she hadn't connected the dots. It didn't make much of a difference now. On the bright side, the Consortium were unlikely to harm her unless she gave them an extremely good reason.

  Regardless of their reasons, she was concerned for the horses. They could seriously hurt themselves within their confines if they were sufficiently scared.

  For the last stretch, she had to get off Cosette and lead her on foot. Too large a risk of getting thrown off if Cosette got spooked. A woman clad in a mix between a marine and a climber's outfit walked up to meet her.

  "Karin Olivia Smith?" she shouted.

  "That's me."

  "I'm Agent Siri of the Consortium. Agent Solitaire is waiting for you inside."

  "Okay. Is it your helicopter? Can you make it go away? It's scaring the horses."

  The woman nodded. She turned around and shouted some military lingo into her earpiece, or however these things worked. Karin recognized most of the words, such as ‘perimeter’ and ‘target’, but could only guess the meaning thanks to her own request.

  After some back and forth, the helicopter flew away. Still within hearing range, but much less overwhelming. She followed the agent to the farm. One other agent was lingering at the edge of the forest. It wasn't immediately obvious whether it was a man or woman. Since Agent Siri ignored them, Karin did the same.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Another three agents waited inside. One was a brisk-looking man, with piercing brown eyes. The next was a tall woman who at least knew how to smile when greeting others. The last was a shorter man, unshaven and seemingly uninterested.

  Agent Siri went outside again, leaving the four of them alone. But where was Mina? They hadn't done anything to her?

  "Ms. Smith, I am sorry for the intrusion on your home,” the woman began, “I am Agent Sigil, and these are agents Solitaire and Willow. We need to ask you a few questions. Shall we take a seat in the kitchen?”

  Agent Sigil and Karin took seats at the kitchen table, while the other two lingered in the background. It seemed like agent Sigil was the leader of their little group. Or their interrogator.

  "Have you recently been in contact with Martin Schneider Kinsley?"

  "Wait, before that; where is Mina?"

  "We deported her, of course," the shorter man interjected. Karin forgot who was who.

  "What?"

  "Just kidding. We don't care about your little illegal immigrant."

  "She's not…" ...an illegal immigrant? While it was true she hadn't crossed any border to get here, she lacked all documentation and registration. In that sense, she was an illegal immigrant.

  "...Never mind," she stopped her outburst.

  "Agent Willow," agent Sigil sighed, "I would appreciate it if you kept your jokes to yourself. Miss Karin, we asked Mina some questions, and then she was allowed to go upstairs."

  Karin nodded. "Okay, thanks. As for Martin, I found him outside my farm yesterday morning."

  Agent Sigil's eyes practically lit up. Karin went on to explain how she'd taken him to the witch, and that he had died there in her care.

  "He's fucking dead already?" the shorter agent cursed, "What a fucking waste of time."

  The woman glared at him for a moment before turning back to Karin.

  "I think you may have skipped over a few details there. Why did you take him to the witch?

  “He was seriously injured. I … hoped she could help.”

  “Why did you not instead call an ambulance?”

  “He begged me not to. I knew him from my childhood, so I trusted him.”

  “I see. What happened to the body?”

  “I … don’t know. I assume the witch took care of it.”

  “Okay. Tell me more about this witch.”

  Karin shared what she knew of Ms. Redwax, which wasn’t very much. Only that she had lived there for a while when Karin stumbled upon the hut. She had occasionally brought food and visited because she felt bad for the old woman. On one such visit, Karin caught Ms. Redwax red-handed working magic. Since Karin was unveiled, she didn't mind spilling the beans.

  "If you didn't know what magic she could weave, why did you choose to go to her?"

  "It was a long shot. It didn't work out the way I hoped."

  "I understand. Where does Ms. Redwax live?"

  The no-nonsense agent brought a pad with a map app open. They spent quite some time figuring where the hut was located. The problem was that while she knew the forest paths well, she almost never used a map of the area. It took a lot of back and forth until they had a reasonable guess where the witch lived.

  "It seems to me that it would be much easier if you could come with us."

  "I hope you'll forgive me for saying I'd rather not meddle in the Consortium's affairs more than strictly necessary. Besides, I have guests arriving in a few hours."

  "For what it's worth, I think you have the right opinion. For regular unveiled people like you, the presence of the Consortium is a sign of bad news."

  "Done yet? Can we leave soon, ladies?" the shorter agent popped his head into the room. He had left while they struggled with the map, too impatient to wait around.

  "One moment," Agent Sigil replied. She turned to Karin. "You are to keep your phone charged, in close proximity and with the volume turned on in case we need to contact you. Here’s a number you need to call if you need to leave the area within the next three days.”

  With that, they left, leaving Karin alone. At least for ten seconds until Mina burst into the room.

  Mother of Learning. My excuse is that I'm treating it as research for my own writing. Unlike the previous times I read it, this time I tried to figure out why I think it's so good. So far, I've made these observations:

  2. On a similar note, Zach's and Zorian's motivations are always clear and makes sense, and their conclusions are logical.

  3. None of the characters that the story focuses on are in any way one-dimensional or flat. They have conflicting feelings, inner contradictions and so on.

  4. All the characters are interesting! This is separate, but also somewhat related to the other points. Take Zorian's classmates. Every one of them have something special going for them, something that makes them unique. It helps that it's a high magic setting, so you have a lot of potential for shenanigans there.

  5. The character growth feel well earned. It never broke my suspension of disbelief, unlike many other stories. I've always struggled getting into a story which starts with the protagonist getting some extremely overpowered ability through sheer luck or other weird circumstances.

  6. Also on the suspension of disbelief side; it makes it more believable that it doesn't use LitRPG elements like XP and messages popping up. There are many great stories that employ these elements, but there is an associated cost for the reader in the aforementioned disbelief apartment.

  7. The story is clearly planned and executed extremely well. From the very start, it's clear that this is not mere improvisation. I strongly admire it because I could never pull something like that off. Alternatively, it must have been rewritten countless times to make the earlier chapters consistent with what happens in the later chapters, and that is honestly just as impressive.

  8. The worldbuilding. An interesting world with an even more interesting history that is well connected to the plot of the story. What's not to like?

  9. The magic system. It's both powerful, logical and subtle at the same time. Just excellent.