student who came to his teacher as if he were a “blank slate” upon

which knowledge could write freely. So deeply affected had the

warlock been by that remark that he had translated “blank slate”

as “empty space” or, more literally, that space that is purposely left

blank or white upon a canvas. That was how Yohaku got his

magename. Kanno had lost track of how many times Sensei had

told that story.

At first, he had been thrilled and deeply honored that Japan’s

highest ranking adept had seen fit to accept him as an apprentice.

With his standing in his graduating class, there had been many

other wizards whom Kanno could have approached and most of his

fellow students had thought it was the height of arrogance when he

chose to petition the venerable Yohaku, but Kanno had always been

ambitious and his pride and the strength of his desire had seen him

through the ordeal of sitting on the master’s doorstep at his small

and modest home in Kyushu.

The mage had known about his presence from the moment he

arrived, and yet he had let him sit there, through all hours of the

day and night and through the rain that soaked him to the skin. He

had kept him waiting for a solid week while Kanno sat there,

unmoving, numb in his extremities, without food or sleep,

subsisting only on the cups of broth that the master’s housekeeper

brought out to him three times a day. It had taken all of Kanno’s

will and concentration to endure the wait of his petition, mumbling

spells under his breath to keep himself awake and give him

strength, even while those very spells served to sap his energy. But

Kanno had endured and at last the housekeeper came out and

spoke to him for the first time since he had arrived.

“The master wishes me to ask you, ” the housekeeper had said,

“what makes you think that you are worthy of his tutelage?”

Kanno had a long time to think about how he would reply when

the inevitable question came. The question itself was like a koan. It

was fraught with pitfalls. If he gave some reason for his

worthiness, regardless what that reason was, he would appear too

proud and would undoubtedly be dismissed. If he gave a humble

answer and said he was not worthy, but hoped to prove his worth,

then he had no doubt that he would also be dismissed, as why