"I, ah..." Kallian shifted uncomfortably and looked away.

"...she died, actually. Quite recently. She was elderly, had no one else... Our roles were very clear, she was teacher and I was student, she was not my mother or grandmother nor I her daughter or granddaughter. But... I handled her final affairs, and then I left to come here. There was no one left to keep me safe within the alienage. I would have been at the mercy of the elders, and no doubt they would be working to marry me off at this very moment if I had stayed," she explained, "And good luck to them finding me a match."

"So... to answer your question... I don't know if I was fully trained, but I had stepped beyond mere apprenticeship and was doing things mostly on my own, as much as one can when trying to keep such things under wraps." She sighed. "It doesn't take a Circle to be caged."