James Galloway - The Tower of Sorcery

"As easy as trying to tie a triple-hoist knot with your tongue," she said sourly. "I've learned that doing Sorcery takes practice . I've been practicing on my own after class."

"I thought that was forbidden," Allia noted.

"It is, but I've never been one to follow rules that don't suit me," she said with a faint grin. "How have you been doing?"

"It is still, difficult," she sighed. "I can feel it out there, but I can't quite manage to find it."

"Open your eyes," Tarrin told her.

"What?"

"Open your eyes," he repeated. "Try to look for it. That's what did it for me. Given your eyesight, it may help you focus yourself better."

"I'll have to try that," she said after a second. "I've been keeping my eyes closed."

"I'd like to have all three of us able to touch the Weave before we start with the plan," Keritanima said. "Because if we can arrange some private tutoring from Dolanna, I want her to be able to teach us as fast as humanly possible. That means that she won't have to go over the basics."

"When did you want to start?"

"In a couple of ten-days," she replied. "There's enough buzz going around to where we don't have to incite it, so let's capitalize on that while we can. Oh, Tarrin, I think you know my new next-door neighbor."

"How do you mean?"

"They moved a new Initiate into the room by mine."

"I thought your maid had that room."

"The other side," she elaborated. "He's a young Arkisian named Dar."

"Dar!" Tarrin said, memories of his Novice friend flooding through him. Then he laughed. "He made good time."

"How do you know him?"

"We were roommates in the Novitiate," he told her. "He's a very nice young man. I like him a great deal."

"He's tolerant, I'll give him that," she said with a wolfish smile. "I unleashed the Brat Princess on him, and he was exquisitely courteous."

"He's the child of a merchant family," Tarrin told her. "They taught him a great deal."

"Yes, they did," she agreed. "Anyway, we need to get in touch with Tiella," she said. "Since Novices and Initiates aren't really allowed to mingle, we'll have to do it in here, when she's bathing. Do you think you can arrange to be in here tomorrow? I'll find out when her floor bathes for you."

"I can manage it," he replied. "Dolanna's a bit lenient as far as punctuality goes."

"This will also have to be how we exchange information with her," she added. "It's the only place where a Novice and an Initiate talking won't arouse suspicion. Mainly because there's no uniform to distinguish them when they're both naked."

"I'm a rather striking person, Kerri."

"Yes, but Dar isn't ," she said bluntly. "If we're going to do this, we need at least one person that doesn't stick out like a cannonball on a banquet table. That means that we have to find someone we can trust. Do you trust Dar?"

Tarrin answered immediately. "Of course," he replied. "He's a very good friend, and he's already keeping quite a few secrets for me already."

"Then you should have a talk with him," she said. "Explain things to him, but leave me and Allia out of it. Just tell him you want to relay information between Tiella and you, and that the information may be sensitive. Make sure he understands it could get him in trouble. There's no need to send him off without understanding the danger."

"He'll do it for me," Tarrin said confidently.

"Good. After we leave here, I'm going to have to be careful. Jervis is here, and he's already setting up his spy network. Our meetings like this are going to have to be only for important matters. I've already set up mine, so we're going to be sneaking around each other for a while."

"How do you manage spies without letting them know who you are?" Tarrin asked.

"Miranda," she replied with a wink. "From the way everything looks to someone outside the loop, it's Miranda that protects me, not me protecting her. There have been any number of attempts on her life, so that tells me that our ruse is very effective. Miranda is a very clever young lady who does a remarkable job being my puppet."

"You dishonor her to use her so, shaida ," Allia said disapprovingly.

"I don't use her, sister," Keritanima replied. "We have what you may call a friendship within a business relationship. I pay her quite handsomely for her service, and she and I are very good friends. She helps me keep my identity secret, and I repay her by making sure that she'll never want for anything when I pension her. She's very good. I almost don't have to instruct her anymore. She'll make a killing as a spy or head of intelligence when I release her. If she doesn't simply retire, anyway."

"Well, that's different then," Allia said. "You do honor her in her task, and you respect her for the danger she faces in your stead."

"That I do," she agreed sincerely. "Anyway, since you can penetrate the Ward, I want you to leave your calendar open ten days from tomorrow night," she continued. "Both of you. We're going on a field trip."

"The Cathedral?" Tarrin asked.

She nodded. "No doubt the priests have a cache of very useful information over there, and I find myself curious to see what they've managed to find out."

"Why so long to wait?" Allia asked.

"Because it'll take me that long to arrange a way for me to disappear for that long without being noticed," she replied. "Jervis is good, so I can't just walk away any time I feel like it anymore. I'll have to carefully set up my free time."

"You give this Jervis much honor," Allia said.

"He's the best," Keritanima said bluntly. "If I can beat him, then it'll prove to him, and my father, just who the best really is," she said with sudden fierceness. Then she blinked and looked down at them. "Well, I think you two will want to expand your minds. That means you need to start visiting the library."

"What are we looking for?" Tarrin asked.

"Anything that may hint at some specific weaves that the Ancients used to use," she told him. "Anything that may give us an edge."

"I don't read the human words very well, shaida ," Allia admitted. "It's an ugly writing. It looks like two rock lizards fighting in a sandcrawler's web."

"I'll appreciate what you can do, Allia," Keritanima replied. "I can't ask for more than what you can give."

"We'll time our revolt with the excursion," the Wikuni mused. "We can start revolting after we're back from the Cathedral. That will give us some extra time to look over what we find."

"That's a good idea," Tarrin agreed.

"It also means that I'll have to flaunt my friendship with you over the next few days. Jervis hasn't been here long, and you've been mainly out of sight, Tarrin. Best to club him over the head with it now, before he starts looking for information. That way, he won't give us speaking too much attention. We could probably slip in all sorts of things that way." She looked at Allia. "You too," she smiled. "You'll just have to come up with a reason to like the Brat, Allia." She thought about it so quickly that Allia didn't have a chance to reply before she spoke again. "Actually, let me handle that. You're exotic, and the Brat is attracted to exotic things. She'd tone her attitude down if it meant being friends with someone unusual and exotic. The only thing even close to academics that the Brat pursues is geography, so she'll use that to break the ice with you. The Brat Princess is strangely fixated by it. It gives her a bit of depth."

"I would say so," Tarrin said. "It also hints to others that she's not a total airhead."

"Yes, but it was a defense I designed a while ago, just in case someone started thinking I was more than I showed to others," she replied. "It also gave me a very good excuse to be in the library."

"Alright, so tomorrow, I talk to Tiella, talk to Dar," Tarrin said.