Convergence (The Blending Book 1)

by Sharon Green

  He looked around as he said that, apparently expecting something, but he didn't get it. One or two of the men shifted uneasily, but no one said a word.

  "My goodness, you are becoming a promising group," he said with a laugh after a moment, his narrow face wearing a sarcastically patronizing look. "There's usually at least one among the newcomers who blurts out his horror at the idea of someone using their talent to harm someone else. That sort needs to be reminded that the laws aren't quite the same among us as they are everywhere else. But you already seem to know that, so let's get on with getting you started. Watch closely."

  He took two paces back, and then a long rope of fire appeared in front of him. I say a rope, because that's what the section of fire most resembled. It burned as greedily as fire always does, but I could feel the way his talent held it firmly in the shape and state he wanted it in.

  "Again for the newest newcomers, the first thing you will practice is achieving this exact shape," Adept Forum said, obviously not straining in the least. "What you want is an obedient length of hemp, and once you have it you must learn to divide it in two. When you have two obedient lengths, you'll then practice twining them about each other like so."

  He'd separated his rope into two narrower ropes, with both of them still under perfect control. Then he began to wind the two lengths of fire around each other, but they weren't allowed to merge. They stayed individual lengths from top to bottom, which seemed to shock some of the others. Their gasps gave me the first hint that what was being done was considered unusual, since I'd been able to do the same for years. I didn't know whether or not to admit that, then decided to wait and see how things went.

  "Please don't be overly impressed," Forum said then, his tone very dry. "You'll be expected to master that and more before you're allowed to compete with our more experienced applicants, and you must bear one very important point in mind: bonuses in gold are won only with a victory in a competition. If you don't manage to qualify for the competitions, you can't possibly win a bonus. Now follow me."

  He led the way up the narrow hall to the right, and at the end of it put each of us in a separate area that was rather small, lit by a glaringly bright lamp, and which contained a single chair. The chair was a crude wooden thing that promised to be very uncomfortable, but I'd seen much better chairs in the areas closer to the door we'd come in by. That had to be another way to convince us to do the best we could, along with the threat of holding back the gold most of us needed to pay for food with. They were determined to find out what we were really capable of, but I'd decided to be determined about something too.

  I sat down in the chair inside my little cubicle, but still had no trouble seeing the others through the transparent resin. Even the man in the cubicle opposite mine was behind resin, as the door to his cubicle wasn't lined up with my own. That had to be a precaution against someone losing control of the fire they'd summoned, which made a good deal of sense. Those who lose control also occasionally lose their heads, and I had no desire to need to defend myself.

  But that only applied to someone's runaway fire. Where the people conducting those sessions were concerned, I meant to defend myself by hiding in a forest of other applicants. I would never be the first or the last to master some technique, at least until I'd had the chance to look around and maybe even speak to Jovvi. She and I had wondered what these people could be up to, and by remaining as invisible as possible we might find out. I'd have to qualify for the competitions and try to win there, of course, but that would come later. Right now what I needed was camouflage.

  So I watched my fellow applicants out of the corners of my eyes, and when two of them had managed to gentle their pillars of flame, I did the same. It took the same two a bit longer to separate their ropes in half and keep them separate, but I followed along with quite a lot of shifting in my chair. And once things began to happen, I discovered I didn't have to hide my looking around. By then everyone was doing it, to see who was doing better and who worse.

  About an hour after we started, four more people arrived. They were two men and two women, and their clothing and identification said they were also applicants. Adept Forum put them in another set of cubicles, ones with better chairs, and we soon discovered why. They all began with three strands of fire, and the patterns they wove were fairly intricate.

  An hour later two more people came in, both men. When they took their places they began to form four-stranded patterns, and an hour beyond that brought a single woman who practiced with five strands. By then everyone in our original group had two separate strands, and winding them into a coil was the objective. I couldn't wait until we were beyond that point, because I wanted to try three strands. I'd never done that much on my own, and was looking forward to seeing how long it took me to master it.

  About an hour after that, Adept Forum came through with a placard announcing lunchtime. I let my flames die out and got painfully to my feet, wondering if my back would ever be the same. Four hours of sitting in that chair had almost crippled me, and trying to stretch out the kinks hurt even more. I glanced around to see that the others were also on their feet, but Beldara was looking at me rather than trying to twist her body back into proper shape. Her face wore a look of spiteful triumph, and I didn't have to wonder why. She was the one I'd followed directly along after, which apparently had convinced her that she was my superior. Well, if it made her happy, let her think it. Only time would tell both of us the truth.

  Our group had to wait until everyone else had left the room before we were free to go, but there were still plenty of empty tables where we could take our solitary meals. I'd hoped to be able to join Jovvi in either her area or mine, but the three aspects were being kept strictly separated. Most of our six stood or walked around their chosen table until servants appeared with trays of food and drink, but two of the men had collapsed into the more comfortable chairs as though they were exhausted. One of those two had only just managed a tentative coil before lunch was announced, and the other hadn't even gotten that far.

  Tea was brought to everyone rather quickly, but food was another matter. The lone woman was served first and then the two men, and then there was a delay, as though only small amounts of food could be produced at one time. I poured a cup of tea and sat to drink it, at the same time beginning to rethink my position, It looked as if we were going to be arranged according to ability in everything, and the front of the line was quite some distance ahead.

  Which brought back memory of the speculation Jovvi and I had indulged in. Not everyone testing could end up as a Seated High, or even qualify to try for the position, but everyone there was a potential High. One position for those who didn't quite make it was Adept examiner, obviously, but Adept Forum was someone who considered himself a good deal more important than he actually was. Important people don't spend their time with newcomers, showing them how to do beginning exercises.

  So the position of Adept was one I had no interest in, for more reasons than simple prestige. I needed real power and standing to stay out of my father's reach, which at times stretched even to certain members of the nobility. That meant I couldn't afford to stay down near the bottom of the group, even if we didn't know what happened to everyone who showed strong ability. Not showing it would doom me as surely as anything the testing authority might do, since there was no doubt that marrying another man like Gimmis would break my mind. The first time Odrin Hallasser hurt me I would turn him to cinders, and then probably not even notice when they sent me to the Deep Caverns.

  I took a long swallow of the tea to warm the chill from my insides, determined to keep any of that horror from happening. It was a shame that so few people knew those with more than ordinary ability, or fewer women would be savaged. No one tried to rob or attack a stranger, not when that stranger might be capable of anything, but those who were known were another story. If it was understood that even those supposedly known might show stronger ability under stress… Well, that was a dream. P
eople knew what they knew, and facts weren't going to change their minds.

  It was quite some time before food was brought to my group, and predictably enough I was the third to be served. Beldara luxuriated in that fact, all but preening herself and laughing aloud. Such spoiled-child behavior really irritated me, and I couldn't wait until the session started again.

  Which didn't take long. When you're served last you have only a short time to eat, and I wasn't quite through when Adept Forum appeared to order us back to the room. I knew I should have anticipated that, so I was more annoyed with myself than with the testing authority when I reclaimed that awful chair in my cubicle. If I wanted to be free of harassment, I'd have to use ability to achieve it.

  Which was not quite as easily done as decided. I opened myself to the power, formed two ropes of fire and coiled them about each other, then separated them again. That was to show I could do again what I'd done earlier, and was also something of a warm-up for my confidence. I wanted to handle three strands, but a lifetime of being doubted makes you sometimes think your critics might be right.

  So I had to prove they weren't. Merging the two original strands and then separating them into three strands wasn't hard, but that was just the beginning. I had to open myself to more of the power to keep control of the three, and then had to concentrate on moving the strands while keeping them from merging back into a single pillar again. Fire must spread to live, and unifying with other parts of itself lets it spread more completely. I was in the midst of denying the very nature of fire, not an easy battle under any circumstance.

  By the time I had a simple plait formed, the sweat on my forehead had begun to thicken. But I did have three strands of fire braided together, and only one of the others around me, a heavy man, had done the same. Beldara couldn't seem to keep two of her three strands from merging when she tried to weave them together, and the last three men couldn't seem to produce three strands. One of them was still having trouble handling two, and seemed about as far from achieving a coil as he'd been that morning. I wondered about that … and after a moment had a fairly good guess. The man's face was as covered with sweat as my own, but it was the sweat of fear rather than of effort. He seemed to be afraid to open himself to enough of the power to get the job done, a handicap I'd heard about once. It usually affected those who'd seen someone burn themselves out trying to accommodate more power than they could handle, and getting past the problem took more determination than most people had. Happily, though, that was something I didn't have to worry about. I'll take being burned out over being married off again any time.

  Most of the afternoon had gone by while I fought with the three strands, and the woman and two men who had arrived last had already left. But Adept Forum hadn't come by to release us so I started all over again with the three strands. Doing it a second time proved easier, and by then Beldara had tamed her three strands and had plaited them half way. She'd also sweated with the effort, but the heavy man who'd managed his plait along with my first sat cool and serene. He hadn't tried it a second time, only maintained his first effort, and maintaining is a good deal easier than doing.

  Just a few minutes later Adept Forum came through with a placard that said the session was over, so I let the strands go with a lot of relief. The more power you use the more your strength is drained, and the less strength you have, the less power you can handle. Exercising an ability is like someone without Air magic walking a tightrope: one miscalculation can send you falling through empty air, to end broken and dead on the very hard ground below. You tend not to think of that when you're well-rested, but when you're tired…

  Adept Forum gathered us in the area near the doors again, then looked around and said, "You will all be here tomorrow morning at the same time, to practice the same exercise. For those of you who have been at it quite a while, let me remind you that this week is your last chance. If you haven't qualified by week's end, you never will."

  The exhausted-looking man who hadn't even managed to coil his strands paled even more, but he didn't say anything. Two of the other men showed determined expressions, but the last of them was very upset.

  "How can you do that?" he demanded in an unsteady voice. "I'm just about out of silver, and if I can't compete for gold I'll starve! You have to give me more time!"

  "More time is not mine to give," Adept Forum returned, the sympathy in his voice so exaggerated that there wasn't a chance of its being real. "The Trials will soon be upon us, and everyone's efforts will be going into that. There will be no more sessions, no more residence for those who haven't qualified, no more chances of any sort. You have until week's end, and that's all there is to it."

  The man who'd protested seemed about to cry, but he didn't say anything else. Adept Forum waited to be certain of that, and then he looked at me.

  "You, my dear, may ignore what I said to the others," he purred, now more sleek and ingratiating than sarcastic. "If you wish, you may report here an hour later than these others and you'll no longer be seated among them. Achievement earns many rewards, and your work with three strands has earned you those."

  "Why just her?" the heavy man who'd formed his plait along with mine demanded, his round, fleshy face no longer cool and calm. "I did the same thing she did, and at almost the same time!"

  "You did indeed," Adept Forum granted, looking the heavy man up and down. "But after that accomplishment you simply basked in its light, making no effort to repeat the performance and gain greater facility. You're like the rest of those left here, content to be just a little better than those around you, and you'll certainly join them in being left behind. This lovely young lady will forge ahead to the competitions, and the rest of you will be obscured by her glow. You are now dismissed."

  He turned then and walked away to the left, leaving me with the urge to commit physical mayhem. He'd singled me out deliberately as an object of hatred for the others, someone they would now want to best at any cost. He obviously hoped to provoke them into making more of an effort, and the glares they sent toward me before stalking out said they meant to try. But even if they succeeded they would still hate me, and if they didn't…

  I stretched my back gingerly as I followed them, forcing away consideration of possible spiteful retaliatory actions in order to think about what was really more important. What we hadn't been told earlier was that these would be practice sessions and that after this week there would be no more of them. Those who had passed the initial test months ago would have had all this time to practice for the Trials, but all we would have was this single week. If I'd thought the testing authority had any sense of decency and fairness, this latest fact would have quickly changed my mind.

  There appeared to be less than twenty people left in the large building, but the others were all heading for the front doors rather than the side one I'd come in by, so I did the same. It would be nice if it had stopped raining, but it would be nicer yet if I could rid myself of the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Adept Forum had said the people left in my session were those who would never qualify, and they'd obviously been trying for a good deal longer than a week. What if I turned out to be just like them, and couldn't qualify either? What would become of me then?

  I discovered I'd stopped in the middle of the floor, one hand to my middle to hold back the sickness, so I hurried on toward the doors. I needed very badly to be home, to help me come to grips with the stark truth: in less than a week and in one way or another, my future would be settled forever.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  The new Rion Mardimil thought he would take the opportunity of being in the same carriage with Jovvi to speak to her, but once they were all settled in place he changed his mind. What he most wanted to say to her would be awkward in front of two other women, especially when one of them was Tamrissa Domon. She attracted Rion almost as much as Jovvi did, but in a slightly different way. He wasn't certain why that was, but for the moment was unprepared to delve into the question. To go lit
erally overnight from being all but unaware of women to pursuing two of them would have been far too much.

  So Rion endured the silent carriage ride, accompanied the ladies into the building they were brought to, then went in the direction of the banner with the symbol of Air magic on it. The door beyond the banner led into an odd sort of room, large but separated into individual cubicles, all to the left and right of the area just inside the door. In that area stood two women and a man, and a moment after Rion joined them another woman, without the identification the rest of them wore, appeared from the left.

  "Now that our newest addition has arrived, you may all take your cubicles," the woman said, her tone and manner almost as haughty as that of Lady Eltrina, the testing authority representative. "Go and begin your practice, and I'll see to him individually."

  The others nodded and obediently moved off toward the right, making Rion frown. He was the only newcomer, and all the others were ahead of him? The thought of that was an uncomfortable one, but he wasn't given time to consider the point.

  "I'm Adept Aminto, in charge of applicants in Air magic," the woman said almost immediately, her pretty face still showing disapproval. "You'd best be courteous to those who wear white ascots like mine, as they are also adepts in our aspect. I'll show you to a cubicle now and demonstrate what must be done, and then leave you to it."

  "Just a moment," Rion said, stopping her before she might turn away. "I have one small matter I'd like to see to before we begin. This identification card which was given me has an error which must be corrected. My given name is Rion, not Clarion, so your records and the card have to be changed."