Clariel

by Garth Nix

  As he spoke, he reached and began to sketch a Charter mark at the top of the wick of the spirit burner, only to be interrupted by a screech from Dyrell.

  ‘No, no, Lord Belatiel! The friction lights! Only a servant uses magic!’

  chapter six

  tea and arguments

  ‘Really?’ asked Clariel. ‘I thought that couldn’t possibly be true.’

  ‘Magic is tiresome and menial. It is work that only befits a servant,’ said Aronzo, pushing the metal box of friction lights to Belatiel. ‘Or a rat-catcher.’

  ‘Please do be explicit, Aronzo,’ said Belatiel sweetly. ‘Are you saying that the Abhorsens are rat-catchers?’

  ‘Would I insult such an … ancient and illustrious … family?’ asked Aronzo. ‘I was merely thinking of an old rat-catcher who used magic to herd rats to their … death.’

  ‘My lords!’ exclaimed Dyrell. ‘Please! Be civil, let us get on with the tea service, there is not much time remaining in this lesson.’

  Bel shrugged, took out a bright-yellow-headed friction light and struck it on the table. It lit instantly, spewing white smoke that smelled strongly of phosphorus and sulphur. Bel applied it to the wick of the spirit burner, then opened the other side of the box and dowsed the friction light in the black sand that filled it, before laying the burned-out stick on the table next to the burner.

  Denima immediately put the kettle on the trivet above the burner, and adjusted the wick so that it would heat the water more swiftly. Before she had finished Yaneem was passing around the cups and saucers, very deftly balancing two at a time.

  Clariel shrugged and transferred three spoons of tea from the tin to the pot, noticing that Dyrell winced at her inelegant motions and not very well-regulated measures, the first spoon heaped and the other two not even full.

  Everyone then sat in silence, waiting for the kettle to boil. Clariel stared straight ahead, not wanting to look at any of the others, or at the nervously hovering Dyrell. She couldn’t believe that she was stuck here in an absolutely ridiculous class, with people she had no interest in whatsoever. It made escaping to the Forest even more imperative, and then and there she determined that she would talk to her mother that night, even going into the workshop if that proved necessary, though this would be akin to entering the lair of a monster.

  As soon as the kettle began to whistle, Aronzo took it off and poured the water into the pot, put the kettle back, turned the wick of the burner down till it went out and put the lid on the teapot.

  ‘Now what?’ whispered Clariel. ‘Who pours the tea?’

  ‘We pour for each other, for whoever we choose to show favour today,’ said Aronzo. ‘Isn’t that right, Master Dyrell?’

  ‘Yes, milord,’ said Dyrell, more respectfully than he had spoken to anyone else. ‘Whenever you wish to proceed.’

  ‘I thought the form was to let it steep for a measured five minutes,’ said Belatiel, ostentatiously consulting a blue crystal timepiece that glowed with Charter marks. ‘And I can tell you, it has only been three since the water was poured.’

  Aronzo ignored him. Taking a gold-cased and jewel-encrusted clockwork watch of the newer egg type out of a pocket in his sleeve, he flipped it open and watched it with an air of civilised boredom till the appointed five minutes had passed. Snapping the watch shut, he replaced it in his pocket, picked up the teapot and leaned past Clariel to pour Yaneem a cup. She simpered, and when the pot was set before her, poured Aronzo’s cup in return, before passing it to Clariel.

  ‘I don’t even drink tea,’ said Clariel.

  ‘You don’t have to drink it, milady,’ said Dyrell. ‘Simply pour for someone who has not yet received a cup and when you are poured for, do not drink.’

  Clariel looked at Denima and then at Belatiel.

  ‘I suppose since you’re some sort of cousin I should pour for you,’ said Clariel. ‘Since I cannot choose from any other knowledge who is most deserving of the honour, such as it is.’

  ‘How very sensible of you, cousin,’ said Bel, as Clariel poured his cup and passed the pot to him, whereupon he poured for Denima, who smiled as she poured Clariel’s cup in turn, finishing the process. Clariel noticed that the smile was particularly for Bel, whose eyes sparkled in return.

  Bel and Denima certainly seemed friendly, but Clariel couldn’t tell whether they were amused at her or at the stupidity of this tea business. She similarly couldn’t tell whether the hostility between Bel and Aronzo was real or some kind of playfulness between old friends, or at least old acquaintances. All in all it made her feel tired.

  Clariel did not like trying to make friends, or the business of keeping up with them. As far as she was concerned, people might hunt with her, for example, or otherwise work cooperatively. She had no time for simply talking or the lounging about doing nothing together that had seemed to her one of the prerequisites of the groups of friends back in Estwael to which she had never really belonged. Here seemed no different, save that she could not escape these enforced sessions of conversation or whatever was supposed to happen.

  ‘Now, as you sip your tea, considered conversation,’ said Dyrell. ‘A suitable topic might be the weather, or any striking matters of business observed in the market or suchlike.’

  ‘I observed something in the clothier’s quarter yesterday,’ said Clariel, turning to look at Aronzo, who once again annoyed her with the faintest wink. ‘A strange attack upon a goldsmith’s daughter. A piece of mummery and –’

  ‘No, no, Lady Clariel,’ interrupted Dyrell. ‘That is not an appropriate topic. Lady Yaneem, perhaps you might start?’

  ‘I thought today less hot than yesterday,’ said Yaneem, slowly and without emotion. ‘And the day before that was hotter.’

  ‘Odd that it should be growing cooler so soon,’ added Denima, also speaking slowly, again without energy or feeling. But Clariel noticed the corner of her mouth quirked up, showing some effort at not laughing at herself.

  ‘We must hope that it doesn’t rain too much,’ continued Aronzo, his deadpan delivery slightly spoiled by a sideways glance at Clariel, who looked away.

  ‘Excellent, that is the way it is done in the best houses,’ said Dyrell. ‘Please continue, till the Academy bell tolls the eleventh hour. I have something … some work I must attend. Lord Aronzo, I deputise my authority to you.’

  Dyrell was hardly out of the door before Aronzo spoke.

  ‘Fussy old fool. And tea is a disgusting drink. Whoever thought up all this rigmarole should have been thrown off the seawall at the Shark Pool.’

  ‘But you go along with the rigmarole … when anyone’s watching,’ said Belatiel.

  ‘I don’t lack for sense, unlike some people,’ said Aronzo. ‘There are advantages to having our elders think well of me.’

  ‘Why did you attack me yesterday?’ blurted out Clariel. ‘What was the point of that?’

  Aronzo yawned.

  ‘Must you keep harping on about that?’

  ‘What attack?’ asked Belatiel and Denima at almost the same time.

  ‘A faked one,’ said Clariel. ‘Aronzo, under a hood, pretended to take a dagger-swipe at me, then ran off while his father came up with a whole troop of men and made a speech about not attacking goldsmiths, which seemed to be the whole aim of the stupidity.’

  ‘We shouldn’t be talking about this sort of thing,’ said Yaneem stuffily. ‘Dyrell could come back, or Mistress Ader might come in.’

  Everyone else ignored her. Aronzo shrugged at Clariel.

  ‘That was the point of it. Father wanted an excuse to warn some of the weavers and tailors who’ve been talking trouble. I merely volunteered to help out, and you happened to be a convenient target. Besides, I wanted to take a look at you.’

  ‘Why?’ asked Yaneem, with a sniff that suggested no one would want to look at Clariel at any time. Particularly not if they had her to look at instead.

  ‘Sometimes one wants to … see something new,’ said Aronzo, with a sigh. Yaneem
coloured and pursed her lips while Denima and Belatiel exchanged a swift glance.

  Clariel noted all this and inwardly sighed, though she was careful to show no outward emotion. Back home in Estwael she had avoided becoming involved or even necessarily knowing about all the complicated romantic entanglements of her former school-fellows, simply by not being around.

  Clariel’s own sexual experimentation with a twenty-two-year-old Borderer the previous year had happened out of curiosity, not love, or even very much desire. She had liked Ramis well enough and he had certainly desired her, but though she had slept with him three times to be sure of what she was feeling – or not – she had not particularly cared when he was posted away and neither had she sought out a new lover. Though her aunt Lemmin had suggested her feelings might change as she grew older, Clariel wasn’t so sure. She simply felt she had better things to do. Or she did have, when the Forest lay close by.

  But though Clariel was not a captive to such feelings, it seemed to her that Yaneem was in the grip of just such emotion. Clearly Aronzo and Yaneem had some history as bedfellows, and Yaneem considered the relationship to be more important than Aronzo did.

  ‘I trust your curiosity has been entirely satisfied,’ said Clariel coldly. ‘You were lucky I didn’t kill you.’

  ‘Oh I don’t think you could have done that,’ drawled Aronzo, displaying massive – and to Clariel deluded – self-confidence. ‘I was a little surprised to find you so suddenly beclawed.’

  ‘I would have liked to have seen this combat,’ said Belatiel. ‘My money would be on my cousin if it happens again.’

  ‘Oh, I’m sure we could find better things to do together than fight,’ said Aronzo, looking at Clariel and smiling. He was very handsome, and his teeth were very white, so white that Clariel found herself wanting to smack him in the mouth with her teacup, for his assumption that she would swoon and lie back when he paid attention to her.

  ‘I doubt it,’ she replied, through gritted teeth. ‘I doubt I shall see you at all outside of this ridiculous Academy.’

  ‘Of course you will,’ soothed Aronzo. ‘We are both goldsmiths, and your mother and my father are working so closely together, we’re practically family already.’

  ‘What do you mean “practically family already”?’ asked Clariel. Her fingers were tightening on the teacup, knuckles almost white. She could feel the anger growing as she thought about what he was implying. Her mother and his father … it was an insult that could not be borne. She half rose out of her chair, the teacup shattering in her hand. She held a jagged segment of china, and then Denima was calling out.

  ‘Clariel! Don’t react! Aronzo likes to tease and cause trouble. He likes people … women in particular … to get upset.’

  Aronzo chuckled and deliberately leaned past to say something to Yaneem, who laughed in turn. Clariel, standing above, for a brief, white-hot moment of anger considered punching down with the sharp ceramic shard, straight into his neck, but the moment passed as quickly as it came. Frightened by the intensity of that sudden emotion, Clariel slowly subsided into her chair and let the fragment drop onto the table.

  ‘It’s true. Aronzo is like a troublesome thorn in the foot,’ said Belatiel. ‘A little prick –’

  ‘Shut up, rat-catcher,’ said Aronzo. He leaned back in his chair and smiled again at Clariel, this time more easily, showing less of his ever-so-white teeth. ‘I apologise, Lady Clariel. It is true that I like a jest or jape, sometimes too much. I most humbly beg your pardon.’

  ‘I accept your apology,’ said Clariel shortly. Inwardly she decided to keep away from Aronzo. She just didn’t understand this stop-start behaviour, or what his true intentions were.

  ‘Where is it you have come from?’ asked Yaneem, apparently politely returning to the proscribed small talk for a tea party.

  ‘Estwael,’ said Clariel, with a pang. What she would give to be there now, and be able to walk out through the town gate, and leave the high road a hundred yards south and take the track that wound up into the hills, into the Great Forest –

  ‘I’m not even sure where that is,’ tittered Yaneem. ‘Do you know, Aronzo?’

  ‘Of course I do,’ said Aronzo. ‘Haven’t you ever looked at a map?’

  Yaneem flushed again, and was silent.

  ‘Another delightful lesson,’ murmured Belatiel.

  ‘Don’t you be mean, Bel,’ said Denima. ‘We might as well try to be nice to each other, since we’ll be doing this till the Autumn Festival.’

  ‘What!’ exclaimed Clariel. ‘This same tea business every week?’

  ‘Or more,’ said Denima. ‘If Mistress Ader thinks we need it.’

  ‘So we will be seeing each other,’ said Aronzo. ‘Won’t that be amusing?’

  Clariel didn’t answer him.

  ‘In fact, why don’t you come and take supper with me this evening?’ continued Aronzo. Yaneem turned her face away as he spoke, and Clariel heard her bite down on a sob. ‘So I can make amends for my bad behaviour?’

  ‘No thank you,’ replied Clariel. ‘I’m afraid I will be busy.’

  ‘Tomorrow then.’

  ‘I shall be busy tomorrow evening as well.’

  ‘Come to luncheon. Starday tomorrow, no Academy.’

  ‘I will be busy,’ reiterated Clariel.

  ‘Doing what?’ asked Aronzo.

  ‘Being busy,’ said Clariel. ‘As I shall be busy on any other day you might ask me to luncheon or supper or any such thing.’

  ‘I’ll just have Father ask your parents to have you visit,’ said Aronzo. ‘They’re very keen we should … acquaint ourselves.’

  ‘Does your father do everything for you?’ asked Clariel. ‘I trust you can at least wipe your –’

  Her words were lost in the sudden tolling of a bell, ringing in the corner tower far above, its echoes reverberating through the floor. But Aronzo caught the gist of what she was saying, and his handsome face flushed red with anger, and he spat some insult back that Clariel did not hear, and could not guess from watching his mouth. He made to lunge at her, but suddenly stopped as she drew her smallest dagger, a leaf-shaped blade the length of her little finger, from its sheath inside her left sleeve.

  Clariel smiled, stood up and pushed her chair with the back of her knees, to give herself space. She backed away another two paces as the bell continued to toll through its eleven strikes, marking the hour. The others also stood, but none drew weapons or reached for hidden arms, though Clariel noted that Belatiel’s right hand was clawed back in a gesture typical for preparatory spellcasting, though whether any spell would be directed against her or Aronzo she couldn’t tell. Perhaps it would be purely defensive.

  As the last note of the bell faded away, Denima clapped her hands suddenly and called out, ‘Dyrell will be back in a moment. Please sheathe your blade, Lady Clariel, and sit. You too, Aronzo. None of us want to be dragged up before Mistress Ader.’

  ‘I do not take orders from cushion-sewers,’ said Aronzo. ‘But to show I bear no grudge, Lady Clariel, I will sit down.’

  He sat down and turned away from Clariel, pointedly looking at the empty chair next to Belatiel.

  Clariel slid her small dagger home into the sheath along her left wrist, under her sleeve, and also sat. Yaneem, Denima and Belatiel sat down as well. There was complete silence for a moment, then Denima suddenly laughed.

  ‘That was more interesting than most tea service lessons!’

  ‘It’s not supposed to be like this,’ muttered Yaneem. Whether she was talking about the lesson or her relationship with Aronzo was unclear, thought Clariel, though the spiteful glance she then received suggested it was the latter. An enemy found without wanting one, with little chance of repairing the situation. Yet another reason to be away from the city as soon as possible.

  They sat in silence for a minute, until Dyrell came in, holding a great sheaf of papers and appearing quite flustered. He looked at the table, saw the broken cup in front of Clariel, dropped
the papers and flapped his hands around in what in other circumstances might have been the beginning of some kind of dance but here was an expression of great upset.

  ‘You broke a cup!’

  ‘It was an accident,’ said Denima as Clariel said, ‘I didn’t mean to break it!’

  ‘It’s only a cup,’ said Aronzo. He carelessly reached into the purse at his belt and withdrew two gold bezants, throwing them on the table. They rang true as they hit and one rolled on its edge over to Belatiel’s saucer, clanging again as it struck.

  ‘It is not the cost of the cup, Lord Aronzo,’ said Dyrell. He took a deep breath and bent down to pick up his papers, continuing to speak as he crouched on the floor. ‘It is the principle. The opportunity for such a breakage should not have occurred. You must aim for greater delicacy when handling a teacup, Lady Clariel. Really you must try harder.’

  Clariel bit back an extremely rude response as she saw Denima smile and shake her head, just a little bit. It was a warning and a friendly gesture and as soon as she saw it Clariel realised that entering into any kind of discussion with Dyrell would only prolong the awfulness of this tea service lesson.

  ‘I will try my best,’ she said primly.

  ‘Thank you,’ said Dyrell. He put half his papers on the table and bent down to pick up more, but continued to speak, so that his voice appeared to be emanating from the floor. ‘Now, you may go to your next lesson. Please do not dawdle or delay.’

  Everyone pushed back their chairs. Clariel waited a moment, letting Aronzo stalk out first as he clearly expected to do. Yaneem was close in his wake, trying to catch up with him, one hand almost plucking at his elbow, but not quite landing there, as if she didn’t dare to make that touch. Both Belatiel and Denima stayed back, and followed Clariel close as she went out into the corridor.

  ‘What is your next –’ began Belatiel, as Denima said, ‘What have you got next –’

  They stopped talking at the same time and both gestured to the other to continue.

  ‘Please, go on,’ said Belatiel, but Denima was saying, ‘After you, sir.’