Intrigues

by Sharon Green

  "Thank you," Honrita whispered, taking the paper the man had written on and turning to her right. It was all she could do not to clutch the paper as she walked to the line with the sign of Spirit magic above the two people sitting there, and she felt somewhat hesitant. No one else stood in line there, so she would have to be first…

  "Good morning," the man sitting there said with a smile, and the woman beside him smiled as well. "I think that paper is supposed to be given to me."

  "Oh, yes, of course," Honrita said quickly, feeling a bit foolish as she handed over the paper. She also felt less nervous, which was a true blessing.

  "You'll have to open to the power if we're to rate your strength," the woman told her in a kindly way. "Don't be afraid, it's perfectly legal now and in fact required."

  "I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm so foolish today," Honrita apologized with a small laugh. "Of course I have to open to the power. I'll do it now."

  After all those years of being told not to, opening to the power really was something of a chore. But Honrita did it anyway, and was immediately startled. Most of the people in the shop - office - were at least as nervous as she was, and some were in worse case. But the two people sitting behind this new table weren't nervous, they were as pleasant and friendly as they appeared. And for some reason they also seemed impressed.

  "Well, that's a pleasant surprise," the man said, looking up at her from where he sat. "She's a good, strong Middle talent."

  "More than that, she's a third level Middle talent," the woman said with brows high. "That means you're the strongest a Middle talent can be, dear. How did you keep from being sent with other strong Middles to fight in the army?"

  "Oh, no one ever really looks at me twice," Honrita said, a truth that wasn't as painful as she usually found it to be. "A noble came once and talked to me for a moment or two, and then he went away and didn't come back… But I'm not all that strong, not compared to him…"

  By then Honrita stood with her mouth open, staring at the man. His talent … towered above hers, so wide and deep and strong that Honrita felt powerless beside him. How could her meager efforts possibly compare to that…

  "No, now, you can't compare yourself to me," the man said quickly, and Honrita felt herself being calmed. "I'm not only a High talent, I've been through training as well. Once you finish your training - with other Middle talents - you'll have a truer picture of relative strengths. You'll probably find that you're stronger than most of the people around you, so you will try to not let that go to your head, won't you?"

  Honrita laughed softly with the man, knowing - really knowing - that he simply teased her gently. That sort of knowledge made all the difference in how a person felt, to know that the gentle teasing had no malice behind it. If only she could know that all the time…

  "I would recommend that you keep a touch on the power for as long as you can," the man said then after writing something on the paper Honrita had given him. "You'll find it tiring at first, but after a while the tiredness will go away. And tonight you'll be told that eventually you won't be able to release the power, but that's a perfectly natural step in your development so don't worry about it. We'll see you tonight, then?"

  Honrita knew she was being gently sent on her way, and it was a good thing. She had to be at work, and tardiness was frowned on. She thanked the two people with the best smile she'd ever been able to manage, turned away from the table - and stopped dead to stare with her mouth open.

  Two people had come into the shop, and now stood to one side of the doorway looking around. The man was tall and broad-shouldered and handsome, but the woman wasn't simply beautiful. She was also even stronger in Spirit magic than the man at the table was, which seemed impossible.

  "Leave it to Lorand and Jovvi to come see how things are going," the man at the table behind Honrita said with amusement he actually felt. "If the people of this empire let them and the others go after a year, they all need their heads examined."

  Honrita tried not to gasp, but it was a lost cause. The two people near the doorway were two of the Seated Blending, and they'd come in person to make sure everything was going properly! It was the most marvelous thing Honrita had ever seen, and she stood staring while the two people walked around and talked to those who sat behind the tables. They also spoke a word or two to some of those who had come to register for the classes, and as they walked toward the door again, the woman smiled at Honrita and patted her hand in passing.

  It was at least a minute before Honrita was able to do something other than stand and stare with vacant mind. By then the two beautiful people were gone, but every applicant in the office was abuzz with excitement and awe. The man next to Honrita babbled something with a big smile on his face, and Honrita nodded her agreement with her own smile. Being agreed with was what the man needed, and understanding what he'd said was unnecessary.

  But then Honrita realized that what she needed was to get to work, and that at once. She looked about as she hurried out of the office, but the two unexpected visitors seemed to be gone. They must have come in a coach, she realized, and increased her pace even as she wished she had one. But all she had was her feet, and they couldn't possibly move fast enough. She'd never before been even tardy to work, but today she would be out and out late.

  Honrita should have been out of breath by the time she reached the shop where she worked, but circumstance had kept that from happening. She'd been able to feel the emotions of everyone she passed in the street, and the fact that their emotions didn't, for the most part, match their expressions and/or actions had slowed her pace with confusion. She'd never realized that so many people hid their real selves behind behavior that didn't match at all…

  "Well, good afternoon," a cold and distant voice said, pulling Honrita out of introspection. "How good of you to decide to join us."

  It was Dama Listern, of course, the woman who owned the dress shop where Honrita worked as a seamstress. Dama Listern was a tall, handsome woman who catered to those in the city who had gold but weren't of the nobility, and her shop was never patronized by those of the lower classes. Honrita should have been flushed with embarrassment and all but incapable of speech, but instead she offered a timid smile.

  "Dama Listern, you won't believe it but I saw two of the Seated Blending," Honrita blurted, somehow knowing it was the right thing to say. "They actually stopped and talked to ordinary people, and the woman patted my hand. I've never been so excited and overwhelmed in my life!"

  "Well, no wonder," Dama Listern exclaimed with brows high, no longer cold and distant. "How could you not be excited and overwhelmed? Seeing even two of the six… You do know there are six now, rather than five? I was at the Seating ceremony yesterday, but I don't think you were. Do you know which two they were?"

  "Someone said they were … were Jovvi and Lorand, I believe," Honrita answered, gently encouraging Dama Listern's new mood. "Did I get the names right?"

  "Yes, you certainly did," Dama Listern told her with a smile and a pat on the shoulder. "Spirit magic and Earth magic they are, and I find myself quite envious. I would have given much to be as close to them as you were."

  "I wish you had been there," Honrita confessed with a small, breathless laugh. "I just stood there gaping like a fool, but you would have found it possible to speak like an intelligent human being."

  "Well, some of us do have more self possession than others," Dama Listern allowed with a pleased laugh, then she patted Honrita's shoulder again. "You'd best get to work now, before we begin to fall behind. These days we need to keep every order we get."

  "Yes, Dama," Honrita agreed with a small curtsey, then hastily made her way to the back of the shop. All the others were hard at work, of course, but Dama Wislet put down her sewing and stood to confront Honrita.

  "I'm sure Dama Listern has already seen to exacting a price for your inexcusable lateness, woman," Dama Wislet said, every inch the head seamstress. "If this ever happens again, you can expect to be
dismissed instantly. Is that clear?"

  "Yes, Dama Wislet," Honrita whispered with a curtsey, her head deferentially down. The older woman nodded once and turned back to her work, allowing Honrita to hurry to her own place. The embroidery on the hem of the skirt she'd been working on was almost done, but Honrita quickly went to work before she allowed her thoughts freedom.

  Dama Wislet had never had a friendly word for anyone in the shop, and all the girls thought that that was due to the woman considering herself to be too far above the ordinary workers for her to bother with them. Now Honrita seemed to have learned better, as the older woman was filled with fear and bitterness. It was fear that kept Dama Wislet aloof from everyone, an emotion that seemed somehow linked with the bitterness.

  Honrita sighed for the woman's carefully hidden pain, and couldn't keep from soothing Dama Wislet a bit before giving her complete attention to the embroidery. She also had to release the power for a while, but silently vowed to keep the rest time as short as possible. She'd never known there were so many people who needed soothing at the very least, and she didn't mind doing them that favor. Maybe, after the training, she'd be able to do even more than that…

  * * *

  Driffin Codsent entered the shop the way he entered most places, furtively and with an eye out for guardsmen. He was of average size - if a bit thin - with average brown hair and eyes and very ordinary features. Most people never noticed him, which was just the way he wanted it. If no one noticed him, his description couldn't be given to anyone in authority.

  There were a lot of people in the shop, but Driffin couldn't see anything being offered for sale. And yet people were on line in front of others who sat behind tables, so something had to be going on. If they were giving away silver or even copper or maybe food chits, Driffin was very interested. If they were offering jobs, his interest would quickly disappear.

  One line seemed shorter than the others, so Driffin put himself on it without any fuss. Just as he resigned himself to something of a wait, the line abruptly moved up. The man ahead of him now stood at the table, and Driffin heard the man being asked his name and talent. The man answered without hesitation, and then was asked whether he preferred days or evenings. The man's answer of evenings sounded very relieved, as though he'd been afraid he'd be told something else. Then the man was given a slip of paper and told to move to the appropriate line to the right, and it became Driffin's turn.

  "Name and talent, please?" the woman seated behind the table asked with a smile. "And don't look so worried. I won't take the name and use it myself."

  "'Course you ain't gonna," Driffin said with a laugh that had been surprised out of him. "I just been wonderin' why this place looks s'different. Most places I been, they's do th' runnin' don't know nothin' 'bout smilin'."

  "That's because everything used to be run by the nobles," the woman said with her own laugh. "If I had to work for one of them, I wouldn't do much smiling either. So, what's your name and talent?"

  "I'm Lisso Varn, an' m'talent's Earth magic," Driffin answered smoothly, using the made-up name without hesitation. "You like that there comb'nation?"

  "Oh, I love it," the woman answered while she wrote on a piece of paper on the table in front of her. "And which do you like the idea of better, Lisso Varn, a class during the day or one at night?"

  "I kinda work nights, so I gotta go with daytime," Driffin answered, wishing he knew what kind of classes she meant. For the time he'd been in school, he'd enjoyed himself in a way…

  "Daytime it is," the woman agreed, writing again, and then she lifted the paper and held it out toward Driffin. "Take this to the Earth magic line by the side wall, and they'll tell you what to do next. Good luck."

  "Yeah, thanks," Driffin muttered, taking the paper and getting out of the way of the next person on line. The woman behind the table had obviously already dismissed him, and curiosity had begun to burn inside him anyway. What in the name of chaos was going on here…

  A woman stood in line by the table in front of the Earth magic symbol, but she walked away even as Driffin approached. This time there were two men seated behind the table, and the one on the right smiled faintly and held out his hand.

  "Good," the man said when Driffin handed over the paper he'd been given. "All right, Lisso, we need to find out your talent strength so we'll know your standing in the class. Open fully to the power, please."

  Driffin knew his stare at the man was filled with shock, but there was nothing he could do to change that. Didn't the fool know it was against the law to use talent anywhere but behind closed doors?

  "No, it's perfectly all right," the man said with a warmer, more comforting smile, apparently reading Driffin's mind. "People aren't forbidden to use their talent any longer, and if we don't know how strong you are normally, how will we know if you make progress in the training class? If you make enough progress and you have the strength to go with it, you might even be offered a job training others."

  "Damn," Driffin muttered under his breath, keeping his eyes from widening by sheer willpower. Those rumors about the new Seated Blending changing things had to be true, then. Driffin hadn't believed anything but the people in power would change, but it looked like he'd been wrong. And by sheer luck, he'd stumbled on a way to take advantage of the new arrangement…

  But all that hesitation he now showed could well make the men in front of him suspicious, so Driffin quickly opened himself to the power. It was something he'd been doing in private for about twenty-five years now, ever since he'd been five, and both of the men in front of him smiled in approval.

  "That looks like a solid Middle talent to me," the man who had been doing all the talking said, turning his head to the man beside him. "What do you think?"

  "I think 'solid' is a less than adequate description," the second man said with clear amusement. "He seems to be trying to present himself in a … downplayed sort of way, but he's definitely a third level Middle."

  "Well, good," the first man said in surprise, turning raised brows to Driffin. "We can use all the third level Middles we can get. But how did you avoid getting grabbed up by the nobility along with everyone else?"

  "Those fools din't know nothin'," Driffin assured the man, remembering his role just in time. "They couldn'a found - well, they din't find me. But you ain't no Middle."

  "No, I'm a High, and I wish we'd met a lot sooner," the man said with wry amusement. "I would have enjoyed learning how to keep the nobility from finding me, something I wasn't able to do on my own. But you're set now to start the first class, so be back here at two this afternoon. That should let you get some sleep after your night's work, to give you a better chance in class. Good luck."

  Driffin nodded his thanks and walked away, so deep in his thoughts that he forgot to move furtively. Unless he was completely mistaken, he'd just been given the chance of a lifetime. He'd have to look around carefully, but if he couldn't find some way to take advantage of this unexpected break, he'd give up his old life and take an honest job. Not that there was much chance of that happening…

  Before Driffin had taken many steps outside the shop, he was back to showing the world nothing it could use against him. He shuffled his way home in his usual inconspicuous manner, really looking at the old warehouse for the first time in a very long while. The place appeared to be ready to fall down, and that was due only in part to its "disguise."

  The wood of the building was painted some long-faded and peeling color, the front doors looked flimsy and ready to fall in, and what windows weren't boarded up were too filthy to see through. Driffin had been careful to keep the warehouse looking like that, and to completely disguise the rebuilding he'd done. When a place seemed to be ready to collapse, there weren't many about who tried to take it away from you. That's not to say that no one had ever tried, but very soon now all that ought to be changing.

  Shuffling around to the back of the warehouse brought Driffin to the only door that had an actual working lock. The front
doors just looked to be feeble, and anyone trying to open them was meant to think they were warped closed. Pushing and kicking would cause some of the wood to rattle, but the stronger, braced wood inside would keep the doors firmly closed. Other doors around the sides were sealed closed on the inside and boarded up on the outside. The single working back door also had a bar on the inside, to be dropped into its brackets in times of emergency.

  Using the key he carried hidden in his shoe heel, Driffin let himself into the warehouse and then quickly relocked the door behind himself. There wasn't a sound from the heavy shadows looming all about, but Driffin didn't need light to know what the shadows hid.

  "It's all right, it's just me," Driffin called softly, making sure his voice would not carry outside. "Is everything all right?"

  "Yeah, no problem," Tildis Lammin answered, stepping out to join Driffin in the dim light coming through the small and filthy window not far from the door. The boy carried a cudgel just the way he was supposed to, just the way the other boys in the shadows did. "We ain't had - We haven't had anyone come near the place all morning. Why are you back so early?"

  "I'm back because I stumbled into an incredible piece of luck," Driffin answered, smiling to himself. Tildis, like the other boys and girls Driffin looked after, had started out speaking as badly as street kids usually did. Now the boy was almost as good as Driffin at hiding his street accent when he had to, or, to be more precise, when he wanted to. There were times when survival meant sounding as low-class and ignorant as possible, and other times when eating depended on sounding completely different.

  "Do you remember all those rumors we heard about the new Seated Blending?" Driffin asked as he slowly walked more deeply into the building, speaking to the other boys in the shadows as well. "We laughed when people said things would be different, but we were the ones who were wrong. The new Blending has people setting up classes to train us in using our talent, to make us stronger than we are normally."