“I’m sorry, what was that?” he asked Peter as the spirit ingenaire stood in front of him awaiting a response while he has woolgathered.
“I said not to worry about that trumped up claim. It was knocked out of the realm of something any reasonable person would even consider repeating, we discarded it with facts so fast,” Peter repeated.
“Thank you for defending me. I didn’t know what to say, and I hadn’t considered that Chester’s visit could do more for me that provide comfort at the time I was in such pain over Noranda,” Alec said.
“You are a brilliant ingenaire in many ways, but you know next to nothing about most of our abilities,” Peter said. “You need to know those things, especially if you’re going to take a seat on the council.”
Lanter, the stone ingenaire, approached him cautiously. “I voted against the idea of the council jumping into the business of raising ingenairii on a whim,” he said. “But I don’t have anything against you and the things you’ll do as healer ingenaire. As a matter of fact, I’ve got a couple of things I hope you’ll treat for me,” he said with a grin, then shook Alec’s hand and walked away.
“I think you can trust that one,” Straynon said coming up behind him and speaking quietly into his ear. “He has integrity, and almost always votes the right way. Congratulations,” he added, and walked away.
No one else was speaking to Alec at the moment. He took the opportunity, overwhelmed as he felt, and slipped out the door. It was only early afternoon, he saw. He could get away from all the ingenairii for a little while. He wanted to. Making a snap decision, he headed out the gate and towards the palace, to try his hand at fencing again and release some tension. Rain began to fall as he walked, and he remembered hearing an off-hand comment that the rainy season was due to begin. He took up a steady trot, ducking under awnings and porches as opportunities presented themselves. Along his way through the city he idly wondered which area would be the best to open up a medical clinic for Cassie to work in when he had her trained in dispensing basic medicines. He decided that one of the neighborhoods between the cathedral and the ingenairii hill would be best, and vowed to come back to scout out a site at his leisure.
He arrived at the armory a little earlier than his usual time. Only a few people were there, about the usual number of combatants, and a few observers, all appearing to be other guardsmen or army members. Alec was relieved to see the absence of the fast crowd of lazy nobles and gamblers. He entered the equipment room and saw Bannis.
The armsman saw him too, and looked at him with a startled expression. “I was told not to expect to see you here again,” Bannis told him quietly as he walked by. “Branham said that you would not be coming back after the last time we saw you. After all the stories about your powers,” he trailed off, uncertain about what to say.
“I’m glad to see you, though. You’re pure pleasure for a swordsman’s eyes. Will it be your right-handed tricks today?”
Alec appreciated the kind words. “The rumors are probably much different from the truth, so pay them no mind. As to swordplay, I’d like to fight one of your good ones left-handed, and then one of your, um, less-good ones, right-handed. Is that manageable?” he asked.
“It’ll happen in that order,” Bannis promised him, and went on his way.
Alec put on his protective equipment and sat in the room for a moment, further collecting his thoughts. He wanted to avoid appearing out in the public room for as long as possible, to avoid drawing any attention. He wanted to avoid thinking about being an ingenaire, or finding Noranda. He just wanted to be able to concentrate on the joy of making the sword move as a natural extension of his arm.
He thought back to the many mornings he had spent training with Inga in the Guard armory in the Goldenfields palace, and found his thoughts turning to Inga herself for the first time in many days. How would she and Lewis be getting along, he wondered wistfully. He strangely found himself thinking of Imelda, and unconsciously touched the scar on his cheek. Had she learned that his actions had been proper throughout his friendship with Inga, despite the rumors that had apparently flown through the ranks of the Guard? He felt greater appreciation for Imelda’s emotions, understood better now how some actions had been so misinterpreted. He wondered of himself if he had unconsciously demonstrated more affection than he realized in his friendship with Inga.
A clash of steel out in the main room revived him to the present, so he picked up his sword, and walked out to the practice room. The crowd was no larger than before, and his appearance drew no comment, for which he was thankful.
His first match was a fairly good challenge for Alec, though he felt confident that he would win, after analyzing his opponent’s skills. The mistakes he expected occurred, and he was able to take advantage of them. His second match was a draw, as he could not yet manipulate the blade right-handed to serve as such a seamless extension of his arm as he could left-handed. Alec left after two matches, and told Bannis he’d return again tomorrow. He hadn’t seen either Moriah or Nathaniel, but suspected they might have stayed on ingenaire hill looking for him.
On his way back to the hill he decided to go slightly out of his way, and ended up at the Pierpont Bank, grateful that the rains had ended. He went inside, and began the process of establishing an account to which he could transfer money from the bank in Goldenfields after Natha began making deposits on his behalf. He spoke to the man he had been told to ask for in the bank, a man who apparently knew the staff at the Goldenfields branch of the bank, and who could confirm the security of the transfer of funds. This too was something he had not thought about in a long time. How quickly do I leave my past behind me, he wondered. Perhaps everyone tended to live on the now, instead of the past, as he seemed to. Maybe it was necessary in order to move on, he speculated.
With that accomplished, Alec returned to ingenairii hill and climbed up the hill to the warriors compound. At Rubicon’s house all was silent downstairs, but when he went upstairs he found a large group gathered on the balcony.
“There he is!” three voices shouted simultaneously. All heads turned, and Alec was bombarded with questions and congratulations and suggestions. Rubicon had ordered several bottles of Goldenfields wine to be brought up and opened, and Alec observed almost everyone there having wine poured in their cups.
“There won’t be a specific meal to celebrate tonight, I’m afraid Alec,” Rubicon told him. “Cook was very upset and said he didn’t have enough of any one thing to serve several people, but we are going to eat small portions of many things, so help yourself to any of the foods you see. Cook has really done a very good job of preparing them all.”
Alec, always followed by some congratulatory person, walked from tray to tray, trying the many different food items, which were all very good and ranged from creamy to spicy hot to crunchy. Finally he walked over to a table in a corner and sat alone, watching the people enjoy themselves, and wishing that either Noranda or Inga was with him to talk to. Looking around he realized that Cassie was sitting alone too, so he walked over to her table.
“May I join you?” he asked.
“By all means have a seat, but only for a minute, if you don’t mind,” she said gratefully but with a blush. “I really need to go someplace discreet, and didn’t know who to ask to help me get there, if you understand.”
Alec imagined sitting with a bladder ready to explode. “I’m ready this second Cassie, let’s go,” he said. “Put your arms around my neck, yes like that, now hold on, and …” he picked her up and carried her off the balcony, several people cheering without knowing what was going on.
Alec took her downstairs and then waited in the hallway, until she called.
“Could we try to walk a little bit of the way back?” she asked as though it were asking for a big favor.
Alec tried holding her arm on one side while she held a hand against the wall on the other side, but she still did not have enough balance to make it work. “Hold on again,” he told her,
and sweeping her up, he carried her back up the steps to the balcony so they could retake their table.
“Alec, I only understand some of the things people are talking about here today, but basically, you’ve been told by a council that you are a healer ingenaire, right?” Cassie asked. Alec agreed. “That’s stupid! Everyone already knew you were a healer ingenaire, after you created these legs for me. Shouldn’t they have celebrated that instead of holding a vote?”
“I agree,” Alec said. “The new title’s not as important to me as seeing your legs, either. Let’s get Nathaniel over here and start practicing walking with you!”
“Oh Alec, not in the middle of a party!” Cassie giggled.
Alec was already standing though, looking for Nathaniel, who he couldn’t find. He did see Appel, an air apprentice who he knew slightly, as the young man walked by the table. Emboldened by his status as the guest of honor, Alec called out. “Appel, come here,” he said.
“Oh yes, high and mighty master healer ingenaire,” Appel replied with a smile.
“Appel, this is Cassie, whose legs were healed yesterday. She needs a couple of human crutches so she can learn to walk, and I thought you looked like a likely strong person for her to lean on so we can take a stroll around the balcony a couple of times,” Alec explained. “Let’s give her a hand right now.”
Appel gave a ‘why not’ shrug, and put down his wine cup so he could help. With the air apprentice on one side and Alec on the other, Cassie slowly walked her legs around the balcony, moving among people and being introduced. For her it was more social contact at one time than she had ever had before, but with Alec always at hand to direct the conversation and introduce her, she found it easier than she had imagined. Appel also knew many people there who Alec didn’t, and soon began to make introductions of his own for Cassie.
By the time they finished their third time around the balcony, the sun had set, people were leaving, and Cassie felt wonderfully at home with the people she’d met, not just a crippled girl receiving sympathy. They returned her to her table so that her tired legs could rest.
“Thank you Appel,” Cassie said, as the apprentice prepared to go home.
“Thank you for letting me join you,” Appel said to Cassie and Alec. “That was fun. Let me know when you’re ready to try walking again; I’d like to help again,” he said sincerely.
“I think he likes you!” Alec said to Cassie when Appel had gone.
“Really?” Cassie asked in wonder. “He seems like a very nice boy. Can we ask him to come back some more?”
“We’ll make sure we do, Cassie,” Alec assured her, then introduced a new topic. “You know Cassie, I may move out of Rubicon’s house in a few days to go to the Healers House.”
He saw the look of trepidation on her face, and decided to plunge right into his proposal. “I wondered if you’d like to move there with me, to help me with healing activities?”
Cassie’s face broke into a smile, and her eyes began to glisten with tears. “Alec, do you really want me to help you do healing work? I don’t want to do anything else in the world more than that. Please take me with you.”
“I think you could learn a lot about healing so that you could do some things on your own after I train you for a while,” he assured her. “But I think first we’ll need to go back to your village and let them know that you’re okay and doing fine.”
Cassie made clear that she didn’t care what the village thought, after the way they had ignored her plight for years. “I understand your bitterness,” Alec said. “But you can help the ingenairii and healers by letting your village know that you had a happy ending when you came among us.”
There was a long silent pause as they looked out at the torchlight on the empty balcony. “Alec,” Cassie said as they still sat on the balcony. “Do you like me, like Appel likes me?”
Alec looked at the pretty girl coming out of a shell across from him. He realized that she’d never had any affection shown to her before, other that her uncle Plad’s sense of responsibility for her.
“Cassie, you’re a pretty girl, and that’s what Appel saw, and that plus your laugh and great smile are what he knows about you. Any boy who gets to know you on those terms is going to like you. That’s just bound to happen,” Alec explained carefully. “I like you because I know all those things about you plus I know you’re a good person with a good heart.
“But my heart cared about a special friend who just disappeared a few days ago, and I can’t think about someone else in that way,” he explained. “I like you as a friend, enough so that I want you to join me in the healer house. And remember,” he added with a grin breaking across his serious face, “the healer house is very close to the air house, where Appel is.”
Cassie grinned back at Alec, and he felt good inside, believing that he had avoided hurting her feelings.
“Have you had enough to eat?” he asked.
“More than enough! I’ve never had so much food in my life!” Cassie told him with a smile, although in her heart she felt sorrow that Alec had not told her he liked her. She was new to socializing with others, and was unaware of how complex the heart could make friendships.
“Let’s head downstairs for the night then. Tomorrow’s a new day and there will be lots to do!” Alec said, and he picked her up and carried her to bed for the night.
Chapter 16 – Shopping in Oyster Bay
When Alec awoke the next morning, he went upstairs to the balcony, feeling refreshed, as though yesterday’s vote by the council had relieved him of more stress than he realized. He found Rubicon waiting for him instead of Nathaniel.
“What, a master ingenaire coming to take a lesson? This must be a mistake,” Rubicon said with a smile as he stood to greet Alec. “But I’m here waiting for you because I suspected you were the type of student who wouldn’t quit in the middle of something that needed to be done.”
Alec thanked him for the compliment. “Before we begin, can I ask you some things about yesterday?” he asked.
“Certainly, Alec,” Rubicon said, sitting up a little straighter. “I think I talked to everyone else but you about yesterday while we had our get-together last night.”
“I don’t know what to think about the fact that I was accused of improper conduct. First of all, how would Dosta even know I knew Noranda, and know enough about us to almost get some of the facts right? Granted, the paralyzed, blue-light thing was pretty well known, but I don’t think anything else up to that point was public knowledge. I don’t think anyone but she and I knew when we got together or how often or what we thought or felt, not that we did anything bad or wrong, and he also knew that I am a swordsman. Then beyond that, how does it affect everyone, especially me, to have been accused of such poor behavior? And even more, how does it affect the council to have it split so closely that Aristotle has to break a tie? What does it do to his effectiveness? Do they know who stabbed Noranda? Have the police caught anyone?” Alec shot out question after question, all of which he wanted to know, though most of which he didn’t think would affect him in the long run since he planned to eventually leave for Goldenfields anyway.
“Alec, you’ve asked the very questions most of us had fun speculating on yesterday, although we probably didn’t put as much emphasis on the questions about you as you do. But you do raise a good point; somebody had to know several different pieces about you. They had to know you work with a sword better than anyone in Oyster Bay; they had to know that you and Noranda were an item in a sense; and they had to know you were the healer in question. I hadn’t thought about all those different threads being woven together. Obviously, now that I think about it, Dosta had to have spoken to non-ingenairii to get some of that information,” Rubicon mused.
“As for some of the other things you ask, well you’re just not considered a sordid, bad character, not by reasonable people. Having the Spirituals able to automatically rebut Dosta, within five seconds, was so overwhelmingly in your favor that you lo
st no credibility. Dosta on the other hand did, and you’ll probably suffer some slights from him and his sort for that. For the next year he’ll wait to see how you vote for something, then vote the opposite way because he’s going to be so upset at being made to look bad,” Rubicon explained with a smile.
“Aristotle always has to face a split on the council, but the stone ingenaire, Lanter, usually votes the way I think Aristotle would like, so usually the votes are 6 to 4, and Air wins. Now of course he’ll have your vote - I presume he will, that is - so he should win votes by 7 to 4.”
Alec sat back. “You mean I’ll be voting on the council from now on?”
“Not immediately,” Rubicon said with a grin. “First the members of the Healers House will have to elect you to be their high ingenaire leader to sit on the council. Do you think the other healers will vote for someone else?” he laughed.
“What if I’m not going to be here much?” Alec asked. “You know I want to go back to Goldenfields, not stay in Oyster Bay, or maybe travel to Stronghold.”
“Well, that’ll be worked out. Usually, the council meets very seldom anyway. These just happen to be unusual times,” Rubicon explained, as though there was no real concern over the issue.
“I think Aristotle comes across with increased power because he has picked up a new vote, and because he is seen as having been shrewd enough to arrange to pick up that vote,” Rubicon continued. “You are supposed to talk to him yourself, I recollect, later today to figure out your staff and budget and other mundane matters for your house, so you can discuss these things directly with him.”
Alec felt thrown off-guard by the notion of having to deal with council votes and house budgets and other ‘mundane’ items as Rubicon called them.
At the Seat of Power: Goldenfields and the Dominion Page 15
