James Galloway - The Tower of Sorcery

Allia was there, and there were four others, two young men and two young women, all of them highly born, from the looks on their faces. Two in particular, a young man and young woman, looked noble to their fingertips, and the hot looks they passed at each other, an open animosity that bordered on rage, sizzled the air between them. The other young man looked like a Dal, and the swallow-necked young lady with her black-black hair and wide blue eyes was most defintely Shacean. No doubt that the two glaring at each other were nobles whose houses were at odds with one another. The other young man and lady were staying pretty well back from those two, but keeping them between themselves and Tarrin and Allia. From the looks of them, the two glarers were either Sulasian, Draconian, or Tykarthian. The three nations' peoples looked much alike. Tarrin joined Allia with a smile and an outreached paw, which was taken by his blood sister. She looked striking in his red Initiate uniform, a strange color on her after seeing her wear nothing but white since he knew her. She'd even had her silver hair trimmed and neatened from its long, ragged appearance for the occasion. "How did you sleep last night, sister" Tarrin asked.

"Well, but I felt lost within that large bed," Allia said. "I thought the beds of the Novices were soft. I fear I may grow used to your wetlander comforts."

"Maybe in another lifetime, deshaida ," Tarrin told her with a smile.

He was about to say something else, but Keritanima came around the corner, looking quite regal and splendid. The signs of her recent dunking had been totally removed. Her fur was soft and silky and properly brushed, her long auburn hair was done up into a coronet atop her head, one made of beaten gold and set with a rainbow of assorted jewels, tumbling down her back and over her shoulders in carefully arranged waves and curls. Her Initiate dress was of the standard cut and form, but it was made of the finest silk, and had lace at the sleeves and at the throat. The look on her face was more imperious than regal, the look of a self-centered brat who knew the power she held. Tarrin had to admit, she played her part perfectly. Had he not known better, he would have been totally convinced. In fact, he had been, until he caught her in her lie. She looked every inch a princess.

"That reminds me," Tarrin whispered to Allia in Selani. "Don't pay any attention to the Wikuni or her antics. Just ignore her. I already warned her to leave you alone. I'll explain later, when we have time to talk."

"I will," she promised with a faint nod, and a calm look at the Wikuni. Tarrin glanced at Keritanima and gave her a faint nod, which she acknowledged with a slight movement of her eyes.

Keritanima did not disappoint. First, she went off on the tall noble boy that had been giving hot looks to the young lady, dressing him up then down, and calling him about fifty types of scoundrel and ruffian. All because he didn't offer to kiss her ring. Then she bored into the young lady for not curtsying quite deep enough after Keritanima had demanded, in an ear-grating voice, to be afforded the respect due to her station. She invented several new terms of disrespect on the spot when the noble boy politely told her she was being too loud, then she actually slapped the other young man, whom Tarrin did not know, that had been standing on the other side of the young lady and young man that had been looking daggers at each other. For no reason Tarrin could fathom. When he gave her a hot look, she reminded him that she was the Crown Princess, and that if he so much as thought about laying a hand on her, Daddy's Royal Marines, two hundred of whom were now garrisonned on the Tower grounds as part of the agreement between Wikuna and the Keeper, would find him and use him as a target dummy.

Tarrin had trouble trying not to laugh. Her mind was fluent, and her acting was quite impressive. She flowed from one irritating state to another, cajoling, commanding, making snide comments, throwing barbs and darts at the assembled Initiates that rolled from her maw with ceaseless frequency, or demanding compliments on her great beauty, or her pretty coronet, or commenting on the rarity of value of the silk in her dress. In mere moments, all four of the other Initiates looked ready to kill her. Allia gave her flat, challenging looks, looks that cowed Keritanima every time she seemed to want to approach. Tarrin, remembering that he didn't like the Wikuni in public, affixed her with similar flat stares, and those kept her on the far side of the gathering. When Brel appeared around the far corner, Tarrin thought that the other four would rush forward and kiss the hem of the man's robe in gratitude.

"Hhhrumph," he grumbled, "well now, it looks like all of you are ready. Follow me. And keep quiet." They followed the withered old man out of the North Tower and back to the main Tower. They ended up in a small chamber near the Novice quarters, that had ten chairs arranged to face a point in the front of the room. Brel left them there with commands for them to sit and wait. Tarrin chose a seat near the back, giving the chair a bit of a wary look. It had a solid back and no padding, and chairs like that gave him nowhere to put his tail. He turned the chair around and straddled it, folding his arms on the back of the chair and leaning into them. Keritanima, not wanting to be outdone by a chair, left immediately after Brel, and Tarrin could hear her voice piercing the rock as she demanded a split-back chair with lots of cushions, and refreshment. Tarrin thought she would have demanded someone to fan her, if she thought she could get away with it.

"I may end up killing that, creature," Allia said quietly.

"Just ignore her," Tarrin told her. "She won't bother you directly."

"She's bothering me indirectly ," she grunted.

"May be, but you'll understand later. Let's meet after we get out of here, by the statue. We need to talk."

Allia nodded, and Keritanima returned, a smug look on her face. A minute later, a split-back chair was brought into the room, but no cushion. She berated the servant over the slight for several moments, then seated herself regally on the chair, her tail threading the space between the slats in the back of the chair. There was low talk, talk of expectations and wondering at what would happen this first day, and Tarrin joined in it mentally. He had no idea what would be done this day, the first day of the Initiate, and his mind went over the possibilities as they waited for whatever it was to happen.

The door opened, and the thin form of Sevren entered the room. He looked just as Tarrin had remembered, tall and thin with those wire-frame spectacles over his eyes, dark hair speckled with gray, cut short, and that same type of brown robe with the leather belt. It seemed no surprise to Tarrin that Sevren was the instructor. He was one of only two Sorcerers Tarrin knew well, and trusted. He had no doubt that the Keeper had put Sevren into the job to keep Tarrin at ease, and in a way, he did not mind at all. Tarrin's suspicions of the Tower made him wary of the people who lived within it. Sevren was one of the two exceptions.

"Good morning, Initiates," he said in his calm, pleasant voice.

"Good morning," they said in unison, except for Allia and Keritanima.

"My name is Master Sevren, and I'll be teaching you your first day's lesson. I have no doubt that all of you are wildly curious about what we will do today, and what you will be doing for the next few years." Keritanima's eyes narrowed at his use of the word years . "That is what today's lesson will be about. A tour of the parts of the Tower we use for instructing Initiates in the use of Sorcery, an oveview of what will happen in the next month, and a little bit of historical lecture, so you will know where the katzh-dashi came from, and where we hope to go in the future. Because it's early yet, we'll take care of that right now."