"Janica," he says without hesitation. He holds a hand up. "I know she's a bit young. There are three on that list older and with more experience. However, she not only keeps a cool head in a crisis, she's no zealot. She thinks things through, and she's reasonable. Reasonable with a backbone is what I feel we need here more than raw talent or a scholarly bent." He'd had decent relations with her before the crisis, and since then she has been one of the only mages willing to meet his gaze directly and without a heavy cloak of suspicion.

"Wilken would be my second choice. He's sometimes a firebrand if his back is up. He's not quick to get there, and he doesn't have ego issues like Regnen." For all of his flaws, Orsino hadn't been an egotist, either. He had the interest of the mages at heart, but he lacked the patience. And apparently had been dabbling in things Meredith was right to suspect.

Sometimes he feels the weight of the empty office across the hall. All the more reason to get this done.