Gro-Tagnud answered first. "I've some advisors with me who are good with assessing mages. I can leave him in their hands for about half an hour to perform some drills and they'll give me an answer."

"I can run you through such drills personally," Teroiah said to Rossarm, virtually interrupting Gro-Tagnud. "In fact, [i]my[/i] drills will be more meaningful than any Legion checklist. In the Dominion, battlemagi must be adaptable, for their roles are core in the army." She turned to Meesei. "But for the sake of expediency, we can perform one here that shall be a strong filter. Rossarm? Take three steps back and raise your ward." Teroiah pushed up off the surface of the table and walked to a point a short distance from Rossarm.

Rossarm complied without a word or gesture. He raised his ward swiftly and precisely between himself and Teroiah.

Teroiah, now a safe enough distance from the meeting table, brought a simple lightning spell to her hands and cast it loudly onto the ward. Rossarm held it without a flinch. Without warning, Teroiah switched to a more powerful form of the same spell. Rossarm did not so much as blink, keeping his off-hand behind his back. The pose he had whilst warding almost had a decorum to it.

As greater spells continued to strike Rossarm's ward, the relative level of power also grew between them. Teroiah clearly wanted to make sure her initial spells were not overly harmful, but now they were well into the realms of lethal.

Rossarm's lips pressed together when the strain started to affect him, but he kept his stance.

[hr]
"Yes," Janius said. "We could."

Glancing down and up, Janius lifted Julan's chin with the side of his curled finger until their eyes met again. "...But you didn't answer my question, son."