James Galloway - The Tower of Sorcery

"What's the routine in the morning?" Tarrin asked.

"We all have to bathe first," he said. "After that, we eat. Then we either go to class or to our work."

"All the Novices at once?"

"No, they do it a floor at a time. We have to go bathe first."

"What do the others do while they wait?"

"They wait," he said. "They have to get up at the same time we do. But we have to wait on them to finish before we can go to eat, so it evens out."

"Well, what happens in you want to take a long bath?" he asked.

Dar laughed. "Tarrin, you don't see many Novices take long baths," he said. "At least everyone but Torians."

"Why is that?"

"Because they have to appear naked in front of the others," he said. "The Torians have communal baths, so it doesn't bother them. Most Novices jump in, jump out, and then wrap a towel around themselves as fast as they can."

"Humans," Tarrin sighed. "You're so quirky. After you see someone naked once, does it matter how many more times you see it?"

"I don't like doing it either," Dar told him. "I think having to take a bath with the girls is the worst part of the day."

"I'll go with you," he said. "I feel like taking another bath. That bathing pool is just too handy."

"It'd be real nice if I didn't have to take my clothes off in front of girls," Dar grumbled.

Tarrin laughed, which made Dar blush. Which made him laugh even more. Now he understood why Jesmind was so amused at his own discomfort. And now that he seemed to be closer to Jesmind's way of thinking, it was just as amusing to him as it was to her. It was such a silly custom, almost ridiculous, for humans to be so ashamed of themselves.

Dar and Tarrin left their room and fell into step with the other Novices that lived on their floor. They all seemed as sulky as Dar. Tarrin also noted that many of them stared at him in wide-eyed amazement, and not a few of them wouldn't get that close to him. That made him sigh a bit. It wasn't like he was some unholy monster there to drink the living blood from their veins. He was a person, after all. He even had a name. He understood that to them, he was a very strange creature, but it was silly to be afraid of him. He was a Novice, just like them. It wasn't like he'd gotten himself into the Tower so he could eat the unwary young Novices.

He ignored them as best he could. He was more interested in a hot bath than anything else. That he attended to with a brisk businesslike manner of which Dar seemed to approve. They disrobed and jumped right into the water, and he waded out into the hot water quickly, before others could get over there and intrude on his space. He had plans for the day, several of them. The first was to take his staff outside and start working out the differences that there would be. He had larger hands now. He was stronger, faster, and he had natural weaponry. He needed to work with them more than the chaotic, half-instinctual way he'd been using them. He needed to know exactly what he could do, so he would know exactly what he was capable of doing. In a fight, that was dreadfully important. His life would hinge on it. Then he would go to the library and start reading about Sorcery. He'd discovered from talking with Dar last night that they didn't start really teaching Sorcery until the Initiate. Well, he wanted to know now. And he was pretty sure that he could talk Dolanna into giving him lessons, whether or not they were sanctioned by the Tower. Before he started doing that, he wanted to read about it. Besides, he was rather sure that they'd watch him very closely for a while. He'd just arrived, and they had no idea what he was about. They'd watch him carefully until they were certain that he wasn't going to do anything unusual. At least for him. After that, if he had time, he wanted to explore the rest of the grounds more thoroughly. That, he knew, was a purely Cat instinct, to know his territory, but he was more than willing to go along with the idea. He was curious to see what all there was out on the grounds, which were about three times the size of Aldreth. And after that, he would meet with Dolanna in the library at sunset.

He'd been right about his body repairing itself, though. He wasn't half as thin as he'd been this time the day before. His ribs were again sheathed in a layer of muscle, and the little aches and pains had faded quite some time ago. It had only taken a single day with a huge amount of food for his body to restore what had been consumed during his period of near-starvation. He looked healthy, and he felt healthy. He was strong again, strong enough to take his staff out in the field and work with it.

"Man, this is hot," Dar complained as he lathered his hair.

"I like it like this," Tarrin said.

"It's tolerable, but only just," he said.

"For you."

"Hey, I'm the only one that matters," he said with a grin.

"You might think so," Tarrin shot back.

"You mean the world doesn't revolve around me? I'm crushed."

"You look it."

Dar answered that by splashing water at him. Tarrin retaliated by snaking his long tail around the boy's ankle, and then yanking. Tarrin's tail was by no means as stong as the rest of his body, but it was strong enough. Dar disappeared under the water with shocking speed, and then came up spluttering. "Cheater," he accused after spitting out a mouthful of water.

"Oh, did my tail catch on your leg? I'm so sorry," Tarrin said with false sincerity. "Let me help you up."

"That thing is long," Dar remarked, looking behind Tarrin in the water.

"About half again as long as my leg," Tarrin told him calmly. "Long enough to be useful."

"I noticed," Dar said after he stuck his tongue out at the Were-cat.

"It doesn't look it because it moves all the time, and it's always bent," Tarrin said, washing the soap out of the fur on his arms.

Dar laughed. "Your tail reaches farther than your arms."

"I guess it does."

"And you can grab things with it?"

"Yes. It's not as delicate as my fingers, but it's got enough agility to grab things."

"That's the first time I ever heard of the butt grabbing the hand."

Tarrin gave him a face, then laughed. "Wait til it smacks you. Then you can say that it's the first time a butt ever smacked back."

Dar laughed with him as they climbed out of the bathing pool. But it also made Tarrin consider the possibilities. From a combat situation, his tail was a tactical advantage. It gave him a third arm, as it were, one that didn't have an elbow and was as supple as a snake. He made a mental note to ponder that. He was rather sure he'd thought of that once before, but he hadn't pursued it last time. Most likely it had been during his flight from Jesmind, and at that time he was too busy trying to survive.

They went back to their room and dressed, then they stood at the hallway leading to the Hall, waiting for the Mistress of Novices to appear and lead them in. Dar explained that the food was already laid out on the tables, but those unlucky Novices that had pulled kitchen duty, and only awaited them to come in and sit down. They had the same thing for breakfast every day. Cooked eggs, slices of bacon, ham, porridge, bread, milk, and fresh fruit, when it was in season.

Elsa appeared a short while later, and she stopped in front of Tarrin. "You look a whole world better, boy," she noted.

"I feel just fine, Mistress," he assured her.

"Good. You're entering the Noviate tomorrow. Oh, and don't forget to pick up your clothes from the Quartermaster after breakfast. He's waiting on you."

"I'll take care of it, Mistress Elsa," he promised.

"I saw that staff in your room, boy. You're not supposed to have that. Unless, of course, it's of sentimental value."

"I've owned it for five years, Mistress. I made it myself. It's got a great deal of sentimental value."