Freedom, Humanity, and Other Delusions (Death's Handmaiden Book 3)

by Niall Teasdale

  ‘You’re fast,’ Taryn said as they walked across the room to the exit.

  ‘Don’t sell yourself short,’ Nava replied. ‘You’re quick, skilled, and good at using your environment. A worthy opponent.’

  ‘You still beat me.’

  ‘Yes. I look forward to facing you when you’ve improved.’

  Taryn flashed Nava a grin. ‘I think I’m going to like you, Nava Greyling. I’ve found a worthy opponent too.’

  ‘Pleased to be of service.’

  236/2/4.

  Nava watched as Taryn twisted her way through one of the obstacle courses set up by the Flight Club. Taryn was fairly good. She was a little faster than Melissa and had better control. She was nowhere near Nava’s level, however, and Nava had no desire to demonstrate that to her.

  Taryn was showing off. That kind of thing was not especially uncommon among combat stream students who frequently had a streak of overconfidence in them. Taryn was almost as good as she thought she was. That possibly made it worse. If she saw someone competing at her level, she seemed to consider it her duty to try to beat them.

  There was something else that Taryn’s performance was telling Nava: she could clearly run two active spells at once. She had been in the air for over thirty minutes and that either indicated a huge quintessence reserve or the ability to have Gather Quintessence active in parallel with Flight. Nava was pretty sure it was the latter. It took discipline to operate two complex thought streams at the same time. Mitsuko could do it, but then, Mitsuko was a disciplined sort of woman. Nava could do four spells at once, but she was not entirely human. Taryn did not seem to exhibit much discipline in other aspects of her life, so Nava was a little surprised that she could manage it when doing sorcery.

  Nava set off for the tent the Flight Club were using to house their recruiters. Melissa was in there, doing a stint on the desks, and Nava had said she would drop in. Taryn had distracted her. Having seen Taryn in action twice now, Nava had come to one definite conclusion…

  ~~~

  ‘She’s competitive,’ Nava said. She was up to her neck in the house’s sento with Mitsuko and Melissa opposite her. Courtney was out handling some SSF business. ‘Very competitive. She doesn’t like losing, but she does cover it well.’

  ‘Are you suggesting she might play dirty?’ Mitsuko asked. ‘Did she seem like she was cheating in the MagiTag game?’

  ‘She would probably have been caught, so she did not cheat there. Besides, I suspect she considers combat, even in MagiTag, an honourable competition. Cheating would have negated her win. Politics may be another matter. In fact, I might suggest that dirty tactics in politics are expected to some extent.’

  ‘I’d have thought you’d think dirty fighting perfectly okay,’ Melissa said.

  ‘I do, but I don’t expect Taryn Borchardt to think the same way.’ Nava paused, looking up as though considering; both of her companions had, by this point, figured out that it was for show. ‘I’m not positive about that. The Firmins have produced a lot of mercenaries, and mercs are noted for getting it done rather than doing it honourably. Still, they are Clan Worlds mercs…’

  ‘You’re just saying I should watch out for dirty tricks then?’ Mitsuko asked.

  ‘Yes,’ Nava replied. She closed her eyes and relaxed into the hot water. ‘None of my sisters may be gunning for you this year, but Taryn may be almost as dangerous.’

  236/2/5.

  ‘As expected,’ Rochester said as he put his tray down on the refectory table, ‘your speech was a good one, Suki.’

  ‘Thank you, Chess,’ Mitsuko replied. ‘You didn’t see Taryn’s opening speech, did you?’

  ‘I was busy with the Metaphysics Club. I plan to watch it on the News Club’s feed tonight.’

  ‘And I wasn’t really paying attention to either of you,’ Courtney said. ‘I was more concerned with watching the audience.’ She shrugged and gave an opinion anyway. ‘It seemed to me that Taryn Borchardt was focused on what could have been done better last year. She seemed kind of negative.’

  ‘As I suggested yesterday,’ Nava said, ‘she’s competitive. Concentrating on what she would have done differently seems to fit with her personality. I agree that it came over as rather negative.’

  ‘As a strategy, it could work,’ Mitsuko said.

  ‘Only if the majority of students believe you are to blame,’ Nava replied, ‘and think that the office of student president might have changed the outcome.’

  Courtney nodded. ‘I think it would work better as a strategy if she were running for SSF captain. I’m going to be stepping down at some point this year. She could be setting herself up to take my job when I go.’

  ‘Expecting to lose to me but pushing her case for leading the SSF?’ Mitsuko asked. ‘I’m not sure that fits…’ She looked at Nava, who shook her head.

  ‘She’s running to win,’ Nava said. ‘Her personality suggests she won’t enter a race she doesn’t think she has a chance of winning. That doesn’t mean she won’t go for SSF captain if her presidential bid fails. However, I do expect her to do her best to beat Suki.’

  ‘I’m starting to feel bad about missing both speeches,’ Carina said. ‘I guess I can watch them on the News Club’s feed…’

  ‘You should,’ Melissa said. ‘It’s important. This is going to be the only chance you get to participate in a diplomatic process.’ She frowned a little. ‘I wonder what Trudy’s view of the election would be.’

  ‘I’ll ask her. We can watch the speech vids together. Uh, though I was just going to vote for Mitsuko. I mean, what if I listen to what Taryn Borchardt has to say and think she makes more sense?’

  ‘Then democracy will have worked,’ Mitsuko said, ‘and I will not think less of you for voting for Taryn. Despite being a member of one of the most powerful families in the Alliance and so quite invested in the status quo, I believe in democracy, especially in limited forms.’

  ‘But the chances are you’ll vote for Suki anyway,’ Melissa said. ‘Nava is going to vote for Suki. At least, I think she is.’

  ‘So far,’ Nava said, ‘I am.’

  Melissa nodded. ‘If Nava thinks Suki is the better candidate, then it’s likely to be true.’

  ‘But Nava’s Mitsuko’s girlfriend,’ Carina said. ‘Doesn’t that mean she’s biased toward–’

  ‘No.’ There was a chorus of negative statements from pretty much everyone on the table aside from Nava.

  Even Mitsuko shook her head and added to the negatives. ‘Nava would never let something like a personal relationship get in the way of an accurate assessment,’ Mitsuko went on. ‘My only consolation is that she would probably explain why she was voting against me and give me the chance to correct my attitude.’

  ‘That’s… kind of cold,’ Carina said. ‘And awesome. It’s kind of awesome too.’

  Nava nodded. ‘I’m awesome. I’m glad people have begun to notice.’

  ‘No, you’re not,’ Mitsuko said. ‘You’re never happy when people notice how good you are.’

  ‘Ah. She knows me so well…’

  236/2/6.

  The News Club had a number of poll results up on their site and some of the figures were a little worrying. Nava scanned them as Luca Newton went through the morning announcements. There was nothing too worrying at this stage in the process, but they would need to be addressed.

  The primary worry was that some of the student body were believing Taryn’s negative take on the previous year. The current student council’s approval rating had dropped from seventy-two percent to sixty-three. That could partially be accounted for by the influx of new students who had not actually experienced the year before and had only heard Taryn’s view. Partially, but not entirely: clearly, some of the older students were easily influenced.

  The assessment was backed up by the general polling figures. Taryn was polling highly among first years and combat students. Mitsuko was getting better results in the older students and had a near monopoly in the
support stream. It seemed that the combat stream still had some misgivings about Mitsuko’s egalitarian view of school life. It seemed likely that the race would be a relatively close one, but the campaigns had only just begun and Nava had confidence in Mitsuko’s political skills. It remained to be seen whether Taryn could present some useful policies and solidify her voting base. And there was still the possibility that some dirty tricks could be played before the end. It was definitely something to watch for.

  236/2/8.

  A susurration of sighs ran through the class as Miles Paris Sonkei walked into the classroom to begin the afternoon’s metaphysics lesson. Nava found it intensely amusing. The man had been teaching class 22C for a while now; a fairly large proportion of the female students were still reacting like lovesick teens.

  Miles was an attractive man. Very attractive, in fact. He came in around a hundred and eighty centimetres, fairly tall and with a strong physique. His black hair had a carefully tousled quality: clearly cut by a skilled barber, but still with a hint of the wild about it. He had a strong jawline, high cheekbones, and thin but sensuous lips. Blue eyes sat under finely drawn black eyebrows. The whole was very easy on the eye and, objectively, Nava could see why the other girls liked him. Even Melissa was charmed, though her interest in academics had been blunted by Rochester.

  To his credit, Miles did not react to the dreamy looks he received from around the room. Nava was yet to work out why he was oblivious to the attention. Rochester had suggested that their teacher was, in fact, not interested in female attention, but Hoshi had countered with the information that Miles had been in a couple of relationships with female students prior to graduation. None with men. Unless Miles had had a change of heart, he was not gay. That left a professional attitude or a disinterest in younger women. Nava’s classmates were almost all under seventeen and so off-limits; maybe he would become interested in a year or so.

  ‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ Miles said. The words had an almost immediate effect: the room went silent. ‘Let’s get started. We’ll be discussing the nature of the Q-field in considerable detail today and for the next several lessons. It’s a subject I personally find interesting, so I hope you’ll enjoy it, but it won’t be easy. Those of you who don’t plan to go on to purely academic studies are likely to hate me by the end.’

  There was a rumble of laughter from around the room. Nava could imagine Rochester sitting up straighter; that was one student who would not be hating the teacher when this was over, unless there was not enough detail.

  ‘We do have someone in this class with more knowledge than most regarding the nature of the quintessential universe,’ Miles went on. ‘Rochester Hunt, I have read the paper you co-authored with Hoshi Horne. Fascinating. I’m currently working to meld some of the information from that into these lectures. Frankly, I would love to interview the unnamed person who went across into the Q-field.’ The teacher’s gaze shifted, moving over Nava; he knew who he was talking about, but it seemed he was not going to say anything unless Nava came forward. ‘However, since that person was not named, we can assume that their privacy is a matter of concern. I won’t press.’

  ‘Thank you, Mister Miles Paris,’ Rochester said. ‘The, um, subject of the experiment would prefer that their name remained concealed. If they chose to contact you, that would be another matter, but I cannot reveal who it was.’

  Miles nodded, a smile on his lips. ‘I admire your loyalty. Now, let’s go over what we already know of Q-field theory and see where we can expand your knowledge.’

  236/2/11.

  ‘She’s pretty good,’ Melissa commented. Taryn was threading herself through one of the obstacle courses at Flight Club; Nava and Melissa were watching her aerobatics.

  ‘She’s faster than you by a narrow margin,’ Nava replied. ‘She does have you on manoeuvrability, but it’s due to her sorcery talent rather than skill.’ There was a slight shrug. ‘She may be a little more nimble than you too.’

  Melissa giggled. ‘So, she’s just as trained as me, but she’s superior in every other way. If you’re trying to console me, you’re failing badly.’

  ‘I possibly could have done better. Do you really need consoling?’

  ‘Not really. There are plenty of people in the club who are better than me. One more doesn’t really matter. I mostly fly for the pleasure of flying anyway.’

  ‘Hm, yes. Which makes it all the more important that you learn Gather Quintessence.’

  Melissa grimaced. ‘I almost have it. Maybe next Sunday I won’t need to wait so long between flights.’

  ‘That would be good. For now, however, I’m going to leave you for a while.’ Nava lifted into the air, coming to a hover just above three metres. ‘I’ll be somewhere up there.’

  ‘I know. I’ll come up and get you when I can.’

  Nava gave a nod, looked upward, and accelerated into the sky. She had no fixed rule about how high she would go and no means of measuring her height most days; she simply accelerated upward for a few seconds, decelerated for a similar time, and fell into a hover at whatever altitude she had reached. She figured she was a little under two kilometres up most Sundays. The campus stretched out below her and she settled in to contemplate the view.

  ‘Nice view.’ It was not Melissa’s voice. Melissa was probably still on the ground, regaining her energy. This was someone else.

  Nava shifted her position in the air so that she could see Taryn hovering behind her. Taryn did not seem to be looking down. ‘I enjoy the view from up here, yes,’ Nava said.

  ‘Huh. You’re quite something, Nava Greyling. I saw some of your runs down there. You’re good. Really good. Your friend’s not bad, but you’re something else. I heard you refused to take part in the games last summer.’

  ‘You heard right. I’m not interested in that kind of competition.’

  ‘And you wouldn’t be in the MagiTag tournament, even though you helped train the ones who went.’

  ‘I’m not really interested in competition in general.’

  ‘Then why play MagiTag?’

  Nava regarded the other girl for a second or two before answering. Was Taryn competitive about everything? Even being competitive? ‘It allows me to engage in combat exercises without killing anyone. I don’t play when I’m in a MagiTag session.’

  ‘And you’ve only been in one duel since you started here,’ Taryn said. Her tone suggested this was something she could not understand at all.

  ‘I’m really not into games, Taryn Borchardt. Duelling is a game I have no interest in.’

  ‘You can just call me Taryn, you know. You fascinate me, Nava Greyling. You really fascinate me. I want to get to know you better. Like, a lot better. We could–’

  ‘One of the main reasons I come up here on days like this is that I enjoy my solitude.’ Nava was watching the shifts in posture Taryn was making. There were also the micro-expressions evident on her face. Mixed signals. Mixed, but the overt aspects suggested flirtation. Taryn was coming on to Nava, but probably not with pure motives. Also, Taryn was about as subtle as a battle tank. ‘I realise you’re just trying to be friendly, but I’d really prefer a little time to myself.’

  Taryn drifted closer. ‘I promise I’m worth your time.’ Sighing, Nava shifted her posture and began to accelerate in the general direction of north. Taryn grinned and followed. ‘If it’s a race you want…’ Taryn called out.

  Nava looked back. She was already pulling ahead. Two metres, then four. ‘No,’ she called back. ‘I’m not interested in racing you.’ Six metres. Eight.

  The grin vanished from Taryn’s face as she capped out her own speed and watched as Nava, still accelerating, ploughed on to the north, quickly vanishing into the distance. ‘Damn,’ Taryn said as she turned back and down. ‘Bitch is fast.’

  ~~~

  ‘Where’d you go?’ Melissa asked as Nava came in to land beside her near one of the aerobatics courses.

  ‘I needed to put some distance between me and Ta
ryn Borchardt,’ Nava replied.

  ‘Oh. Is that why she’s been looking like she wants to beat everyone here since she came back down?’

  ‘Possibly, but I think she’s just that competitive.’ Nava paused, considering. ‘I did leave her in the dust, figuratively, when she tried to chase me. That may have exacerbated things.’

  ‘Huh. Maybe. I don’t think anyone in the Flight Club is going to be voting for her in the election.’

  Nava watched as Taryn stalked toward one of the buildings being used as changing rooms. She looked annoyed. Really, really annoyed. ‘That temper of hers is going to be a problem if she does replace Suki.’

  ‘If that happens, I’ll be resigning.’

  ‘Then let us hope our housemate’s political skills are up to the task of defeating her opponent.’

  Melissa grinned and started for the obstacle course. ‘I think Suki’s perfectly capable. Also, I think I’m ready to run the course again. Coming?’

  ‘Now that Taryn Borchardt is leaving, yes.’

  236/2/17.

  For once, Nava was not the fox. There were a group of first years out in the school’s forest, trying their best to hunt down one of the third years. Nava was watching on the remote monitors, mostly to determine whether there were any standout competitors. So far, there were not, but there were some who might be worth additional effort.

  ‘Is it my imagination,’ Francis asked, ‘or is Taryn Borchardt avoiding you?’

  ‘I’m not entirely sure that avoiding is the right word,’ Nava replied, her eyes never leaving the screens. ‘I may have annoyed her at last week’s Flight Club, and I did beat her in the battle royal at the fair. I am possibly not her favourite person at the moment.’