Silas’s eyes shifted to the tree limbs just above Phen’s head, and he looked off into space.
“No,” he said softly as he felt the world tremble beneath his feet, or at least he imagined it did.
“Thank you. The evaluation is complete, the board of judges are dismissed. You’ll allow me to consult with the candidate and his family?” Phen looked at the two adults on either side of him.
“Better you than me,” the woman muttered softly. She and the other judge turned and walked quickly away, wanting to separate from the dismal conversation that was about to take place. Neither one had even experienced the ultimate disappointment of facing a child who did not develop the ability to track, and they felt virtually disoriented by the confusion and suffering they imagined that was about to be unleashed.
Phen waited for several seconds, to allow separation to open between the two judges and he and Silas.
“This isn’t a judgement about you as a person, you know that, don’t you?” Phen asserted to Silas. “You’re not the first and you won’t be the last. And you’re still a good person.
“You do the best job at tracking that any mortal can do. You see all the clues, you jump to the right conclusions, and you anticipate the likely next twist incredibly well,” Phen continued to speak positively.
“But I don’t have the senses that every other person in the village has. I’m the only one!” Silas exploded with frustration.
“I can’t explain it,” Phen answered. “I know you drank the water from every spring, and bathed in the thermal pools, and did all the other things that every other child has done. I’m sorry for this mystery.
“Now, let’s go have a talk with your parents and start thinking about the future,” Phen, placed a comforting hand on Silas’s shoulder, and the pair began the walk back towards the village.
Chapter 4
Tella, Rheme, and Silas stood in front of an imposing stone gateway. It was only the latest of several eye-opening sights that Silas had experienced during his journey with his parents during the previous few days. They were in the campus-city of Heathrin, set in the foothills of the mountains south of Brigamme. Heathrin was a city – really a large village – which housed inns and taverns and shops and the everyday purveyors of goods and services, as well as the homes for the people who owned the business establishments.
But Heathrin was really all about the settlement on the other side of the gate Silas was looking at. Past the gate, inside the walls that held the gate, was the campus headquarters of the Wind Words Guild. The Guild was one of the most influential and wealthy organizations on Ellan Sheeant, and a few of its members even served in the port cities of Rolemica.
Beyond the gate nestled a separate city of gleaming white buildings and manicured gardens. The members of the guild lived in relative luxury, paid for by the fees that their invaluable services commanded – services that Tella and Rheme had decided would be the best for Silas to learn to develop a life outside the village of Brigamme.
Silas was willing to comply with the decision. His parents had offered him opportunities to discuss what he wanted for his own future, but he had offered little input. He was too shocked by the final realization that he was not ever going to be like everyone else he had ever known. He was never going to be a Brigamme Tracker. Instead, he had passively listened to his parents’ studied considerations, and gone along with their recommendation.
His father and Phen and one or two other trackers who had been out in the world frequently had considered the many careers that were available, and had considered the positive and negative elements of each as they knew them. Together, the men and women of the hastily arranged cabal had decided that the Wind Word Speakers were the next most prestigious career after Brigamme Tracker, and so they had decided that Silas would become a Speaker.
Many people in the village had come forward with unsolicited donations to help Silas’s parents pay the fees needed to enroll a student in the Heathrin academy of the Wind Word Guild. The donations had been generous and kindly-intended, but Silas darkly wondered in the deep recesses of his mind whether the motives for the donations included a desire to hurry him away. He was too visible a reminder of something that was unnatural, something that had gone terribly wrong, something that might in some manner represent a threat to the future generations of the village.
And so, after a few months, and some correspondence, the family had taken the trip south, out of the mountains, through the cultivated lands on the edges of Ivaric and Avaleen, and then back into the foothills of the mountain chain again, to Heathrin. They’d traveled at the beginning of the winter season; they’d descended from the mountains rapidly, going west, then traveled due south through the foothills of the great mountain range
“Our appointment is with Cinda,” Tella told the guard at the gate, recalling Silas’s attention back to his present moment.
“What’s the nature of your business?” the guard asked as he began to look at a chalkboard on the wall, while his partner spoke to the next application waiting in line for admission to the campus.
“Our son is going to attend the academy. We’ve brought him and the fees for him to learn the craft of your guild,” Tella spoke matter-of-factly.
The guard looked over from the blackboard to Tella, then to Rheme, and then to Silas.
“He’s a little old to join the Guild, isn’t he?” the guard asked. He looked back up at the blackboard. “What’s your name?” he asked further, without waiting for an answer to his first question.
“He’s not too old, is he?” Rheme immediately asked. She looked from the guard to Tella, worried.
“No, I’m sure he’s not. What’s your name?” the guard repeated.
“The name is Tella the father, and Silas, the son,” Tella answered the guard.
“No, how would any craft group turn down a boy from Brigamme?” he answered his wife with a tone that dismissed her fears. “They’re lucky to have someone from our village willing to branch out and try their Guild,” he explained his view of the world, a view shared by most of the others from their village.
“Here’s the name, Silas,” the guard put an end to the worried conversation before discussion might lend strength to the concerns the mother felt. “I’ll have a guide take you to Cinda’s office in a moment.” He disappeared, then returned with a small girl.
“This is Pippe; she’ll led you on your way. Good luck,” the guard waved the family through the gate to join their small leader.
“Welcome to Heathrin,” the girl smiled as she began to lead Silas’s family through the green lawns of the campus of buildings.
“Are you a servant here?” Tella asked.
“No, I’m an apprentice. It’s my second year. We all have to work chores in addition to our classes and studies, and this is one of my chores,” Pippe replied gamely.
“She’s a second-year apprentice?” Rheme asked softly of Tella. The second-year student was clearly much younger than Silas, who hoped to become a first year student.
“She started early, but Silas will be fine. He’s bright and sharp, and he’s from Brigamme,” the husband assured his wife as they followed Pippe while she turned a corner around a building.
“Here’s Cinda’s office,” Pippe stood next to a door in a yellow stucco building and held the door open. Her dark hair contrasted visibly against the building’s wall. “Just wait in the lobby and someone will get you. Thank you for visiting,” she said, then skipped off as Silas held the door for his parents to enter the building.
He felt worried. The girl appeared to be at least five years younger than he was, and she was a second-year apprentice.
“Silas will catch up in no time. He knows how to study,” Tella assured Rheme. They had entered a room with pale yellow interior walls, and simple furniture. A dark wooden door and a pair of windows with dark frames were the only interruptions to the plain walls.
Silas took some comfort in his father’s view. He wa
s bright, he told himself. He’d always been able to see clues while tracking, and he’d jumped to conclusions faster than everyone else – conclusions that had been right much of the time.
A door latch clicked, and a middle-aged woman entered the room. She had short dark hair and an exotic look that intrigued Silas.
“Welcome to Heathrin,” she spoke. “I’m Cinda, and I welcome you to our humble village. Come with me, please,” she held the door open, watched the trio of visitors pass through, then escorted then to an office, where she sat behind a desk as they took seats on a bench.
“And please tell me your names again?” she asked as she lifted a rolled bundle of papers and began to shuffle through.
“I’m Tella, my wife Rheme, and our son Silas. We’re from Brigamme,” he paused a moment to let his words sink in. “Silas is here to join the Wind Word Guild. We’ve brought the funds needed for his apprenticeship.”
Cinda looked over at Silas, her expression inscrutable as she examined him.
“May I see the fee you’ve brought?” she asked after an awkward silence.
Tella and Rheme each took time to pull out numerous coins from a variety of seen and unseen pockets, stacking the funds on the front of Cinda’s desk.
“This is quite sufficient,” Cinda said briskly. “Thank you. We look forward to Silas’s residence among us.”
“How long?” Rheme asked hopefully. “How long will it take for him to be a full member of your guild?”
Cinda looked up from the coins who was counting. “If he studies diligently, and learns the secrets of the arts, perhaps three years. It’s very complex work that we do.”
“I’ll take him to the preparatory building now. I’ll have a guide lead you out, so that you can return home.”
“Just like that? Already? We’re parting?” Rheme was surprised by the sudden move to act.
“We find that it’s best for our new students to jump right into their life here on campus so that they can focus exclusively on their future as a Speaker,” Cinda explained. “Please say your farewells. I’ll step out for a moment, and be right back,” she scooped the lode of heavy metallic coins into a basket, which she carried with two hands supporting the bottom as she exited the room.
“Oh Silas, I can’t believe we’re parting so suddenly,” Rheme squeezed her son tightly.
“You knew we were heading towards this dear; give the boy the room he needs to grow!” Tella spoke in a positive tone. “The boy is going to do great!” He awkwardly patted Silas on the back.
“Well now, let’s be on our way,” Cinda reappeared with a young boy, who was to guide Tella and Rheme back to the gate.
And then it was over. Silas watched his parents leave the room, with backward glances, and tears streaming down Rheme’s face.
“Come along Silas, we have to find a place for you. You’re an unusual one, so I’m not quite sure how we’ll resolve this. Do you have luggage waiting at the gate?” Cinda asked.
“No, just what I brought,” Silas lifted his pack, causing Cinda to purse her lips, then nod. After a second’s pause, she led the way out the back door of the office, through a short hall, and outside.
They crossed one of the manicured lawns, walking on a path surface of finely ground, leveled stones, lined by manicured flowering plants on either side.
“I’m going to put you in the blue house,” Cinda decided, as they headed towards a medium-sized building that was painted blue. “You’re too old for the green house, although that’s the curriculum you ought to be instructed in. And there’s certainly no justification to put you in the lavender house,” Silas saw the smaller building off to the right. “Other than your size.
“We’ll just have to give you some extra instruction for a few months to see if you can catch up,” Cinda seemed to speak to herself as much as she spoke to Silas.
“I’ll do my best, my lady,” Silas spoke up for the first time in the midst of the leader’s monologue.
“Yes, of course. You better, after your parents spent all that money to place you here. Someday you’ll have to tell me what you did to get exiled from your village,” Cinda reached the front step of the blue house, opened the door, and sauntered in.
The pair entered a lobby with several young people sitting in chairs and even on the floor, in small groups and singly, a dozen or so. All looked up as Cinda and Silas entered, and a moment of quiet inspection filled the lobby. All appeared to be three or four years younger than Silas.
“This is a new apprentice. Would you introduce yourselves please?” Cinda turned to the students and asked.
“He’s big for a new apprentice,” the first apprentice to speak said as he stood. “My name’s Fran.”
“My name’s Griss,” added the boy he had been sitting with.
The others introduced themselves, as Silas gave up on trying to hear and remember all the names he heard. They all were younger than him, all about the age of children who were about to enter puberty. It was just like being back in his village, where he had been unable to advance with his peers, and had fallen back among younger, untested children. Except now he was among strangers, instead of the kith and kin in his home village.
Though, he reflected, that very closeness had made it so hard to see his friends leave him behind in Brigamme. He thought of Tagg and Forna, then forced himself to stop, as he felt his eyes begin to moisten.
“I’m going to take Silas upstairs to find a room so that he can live here,” Cinda said.
“You’ll have to go to the third floor for an empty room,” one of the girls pipped up.
“Then we’ll find a room on the third floor,” Cinda agreed. She led Silas upstairs to a landing in a lobby on the second floor, and then up a second flight to the more modest hallway on the third floor.
Silas took the first room Cinda pointed out as an empty one.
“Very well, just follow the other children to meals, and I’ll work on arranging your classes and assignments,” Cinda told him.
“Will I have classes today?” Silas wanted to know. It was only midday, with plenty of time available.
“No, today’s a holy day. We’ll have a service this evening; you’ll need to attend that of course,” Cinda answered. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must return to work.”
Silas remained alone in his room, looked out the window at the lawn and chapel behind the dormitory, then put his small bundle of possessions away, and sat on his bed. He’d been in his room for ten minutes. He didn’t know what to do. A walk around the campus seemed in order, a way to start to learn the layout of his new home.
Downstairs, he passed through the lobby with the other children, and exited without a comment from any of them. He turned right, turned right at the corner of the building, and went around to the rear of the dorm to see the lawn that his room looked upon. There was still a chapel across the lawn, a chapel to Kai, the goddess of the air. It seemed logical, he decided, since the Wind Word speakers presumably sent their words traveling through the air when they delivered their messages across long distances. Silas stood and looked at the chapel, with its stylized wave pattern that denoted winds blowing freely.
There were more buildings visible beyond the chapel, and beyond them, a low range of mountains was not too far away. Silas walked to the chapel, then into the empty building. He’d never been in a chapel before; in his former village there’d not been any such structures built. The people had held ceremonies in the open-air square on the appropriate holidays.
The building was largely open, using columns instead of walls to support the roof as well as delineate spaces. A statue of the goddess stood in a sunken pit in the center of a circular sanctum in the building’s center. She was a beautiful being, Silas thought, worthy of being a goddess; he’d only ever thought of her in vague terms, as a female deity, without any definition of her actual appearance. Vents in the floor and the ceiling somehow managed to make the air in the building gently flow, appropriately for the goddes
s of the winds, it seemed to Silas.
He stood in contemplation for several minutes, then left the chapel and wandered away, meandering among a variety of buildings. They varied in size, color, and shape, yet seemed to have some overarching aesthetic that tied them together as part of a uniform collection of buildings on the campus of the guild. On the back side of the campus he found that a wall separated the civilized and controlled lands from untamed greenery that crept up the side of a hill, on its way to the nearby mountains. A locked gate in the wall provided access to a path through the trees and bushes behind the Guild property, though no one was evident walking that way, and there was no evidence of civilized buildings beyond. Even using his tracking skills as he peered through the iron-barred gate, Silas could see no sign of any recent passages along the path.
He turned and wandered a circuitous route back to the blue building that was to be his home. As he arrived, the door opened, and the occupants came streaming out in a pack. As they did, a gong began to sound from a building nearby.
“We’re going to dinner? Are you hungry? Come along – there won’t be anything else until breakfast in the morning,” Griss, one of the boys he had first been introduced to, offered advice.
Silas ate dinner at a table with his dorm mates. The dining hall was filled with a spectrum of children, whose skin tones, clothing styles, and ages ranged from those as young as Pippe, the girl who had led Silas and his family into the campus, to many who were about Silas’s own age, and a handful who appeared even slightly older. The diners tended to congregate by age it appeared, making Silas a notable exception as he sat quietly at his table among children smaller than he was.
He sat and listened as the others at the table talked about teachers, classes, pranks, jealousies, and, infrequently, notes from their home places. Few comments or questions were directed towards him as the other students socialized within their normal daily routines, where Silas was not yet a factor. He let his mind wander, paying little attention to the conversations down the table, until he realized that Cinda was standing at his end of the table, with two boys who were nearly his own age at her side.
The Mirror After the Cavern Page 3
