Adept

by J. P. Larson

  "You're not going anywhere," Ivarine replied forcefully. "Get back in that bed."

  "Ivarine, that tone might work on the people living here, but it doesn't work on me." I began levering myself to my feet, but she leaned over and pushed me back onto the bed.

  "I said, 'Get back in that bed'. We're not done talking."

  I flashed my eyes at her. "Are you that big a fool as to lay hands on me?"

  "You passed out from your use of magic. Eva gave me a pretty good idea just how much magic you had to use to do that. She also said you won't be able to raise a glimmer for two days. I think I'm safe."

  "Lunia!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. Then I waited.

  Ivarine smiled at me.

  "Where is she?"

  "Taking care of your things at the inn. She'll be at least another twenty minutes. Eva and Loralai are with her. Now, get back in that bed, or I'll make you get back in that bed."

  I stared at her and sighed. "Eva is wrong about my ability to summon magic, Ivarine. Do not get heavy handed with me. I do not respond well to it. As much fun as it would be to stay here and let you yell at me, I must tend to my needs."

  "Do you need to use the outhouse?"

  "No, I need to eat something. Why am I here instead of the inn?"

  "Get back in bed, Kia," she said. "We'll have some stew for you about when everyone gets back with your things."

  Instead of doing what she said, I leaned over, cradling my head in my hands, my elbows resting on my knees. A moment later, Ivarine was sitting on the bed next to me, an arm around me.

  "You're in no shape to go anywhere, Kia." It was said gently.

  "What do you want, Ivarine?" I asked.

  "Kia, climb back into bed. I'll get you some tea and check on the stew. Eva is going to yell at both of us if I let you out of bed."

  I growled at her, but I wasn't ready to escalate to using magic, so I let her tuck me back into the bed. She added more pillows behind me, then I lay back in place.

  "Are Maureena and the baby okay?"

  "They're doing very well, Kia," Ivarine said. "Thank you."

  "You're welcome," I said. "Have you heard more about Olive?"

  "Not since you arrived. I'll find out for you. Now, you are going to stay in that bed and let us take care of you."

  She slipped out of the room, and I must have dozed. The next thing I knew, Eva was sitting next to me. I opened my eyes. "Hey."

  "I heard you gave Mama a hard time."

  "She laid hands on me."

  "She's used to people doing what she tells them to do."

  "Will you please help me get dressed, Eva?"

  "No, I will not. You're staying in that bed until morning. But I have stew for you."

  "I'm going back to the inn, with or without your help, and if you touch me with magic, it is poor thanks for saving your sister."

  She smiled. "Tell you what. Hit me with a light spell, and we'll talk about it."

  I raised a light spell and smacked her in the chest with it. Then I raised an eyebrow.

  She brushed it away. "They haven't completely forgiven you, but there's no way Mama is going to let you stay anywhere else after you saved Maureena and Tendril."

  "There isn't room for everyone."

  "They expanded," she said. "Everyone has a bed, if you don't mind sharing with me."

  I sighed dramatically. "Do I have to?"

  "Yes," she said. She rose to her feet, turned to the dresser, then came back with a bowl of stew, a hunk of bread, and a mug of tea.

  I let her feed me, and as soon as the first taste hit my mouth, I was ravenous. Still, she fed me carefully from her own hand.

  "So sexy," I said, "having to nurse me."

  She smiled. "I like taking care of you."

  "What time is it?"

  "Late afternoon," she replied.

  I let her finish feeding me and clean me up. "I'm not an invalid," I told her.

  "Hush. I'm stalling. Mama wants to talk to you, and I'm killing time until you fall back asleep."

  I smiled wanly. "I'm not up to it, Eva."

  "I know, and you're going to be stupid tomorrow. We're stuck here another couple of days."

  "I'm fine, Eva. We can leave tomorrow if you want."

  "We're not traveling until you're ready to toss a dozen tangle spells, Kia. This is where you say, 'Yes, Magus Eva'."

  I laughed lightly. "Yes, Magus Eva. I think I'll nap a little more, but please don't make me stay in bed all evening."

  "We'll see how you feel after your nap."

  Northmere

  Eva had been right; I was stupid the next day. We left two days later, but I was able to check on both mothers and babies; all four were doing fine.

  Four days later on a late autumn Threeday afternoon, we arrived at Northmere. We dropped our things off at the house, sent Lunia and Loralai to the stable with the horses, and we escorted Lillyanne to Senior Magus Quartain's office. If she wasn't in, we would just have to find her.

  Conveniently, she was in. More conveniently, Adept Balarta was with her. We knocked at the door and were bade to enter. Eva poked her head in first, and I heard Quartain say, "What are you doing back? You're not due for a few more weeks. What happened?"

  "We have someone for you to meet," Eva replied. "If now is a bad time, we can come back."

  "We were done," Adept Balarta said.

  "Stay, please," Eva replied. "Kia?"

  She opened the door wider, and I ushered Lillyanne into Quartain's office. The girl was a little nervous, and I had to prod her forward a little bit.

  "Mother," I said. "She followed us home. Can we keep her?"

  Quartain rose from her chair. "Well hello, child," she said. She moved around her desk and offered a hand.

  "Lillyanne Softheart, this is Senior Magus Quartain. And this is Adept Balarta. We told you about both of them."

  "You're the head of the school?" Lillyanne asked Quartain.

  "Yes, I am," she said.

  "And you're the initiate dormitory mother?"

  "Yes, Lillyanne," Balarta replied.

  "Are you going to be one of my teachers?"

  Quartain raised an eyebrow, and Eva and I grinned.

  "Lillyanne," Eva said, "why don't we show Senior Magus Quartain and Adept Balarta what you can do?"

  The girl nodded nervously. "I won't get into trouble, will I?"

  "Make it a brief demonstration," Eva directed.

  So the girl raised her hands and produced a ball of magic.

  "As I said, she followed us home, Mother." And we all grinned at each other.

  "Oh child," said Quartain. "That is beautiful. Perhaps you should put it away now. Do you know how?"

  The girl nodded, and her magic burst into light and was gone.

  "We haven't tried to teach her anything," Eva said. "Although we told her everything we could about the school."

  Lillyanne turned to Eva. "It's Threeday."

  "Why, yes, it is," Eva replied.

  "You said they play games on Threeday afternoon."

  There were chuckles.

  "That is true," Quartain said. "Adept Balarta, when is the last time you played capture the flag?"

  "I believe it has been a great many years," she said. "Are you suggesting we join the students?"

  "I believe I am," Quartain said. "Won't that be a surprise for them?" She ushered us out of her office. Once we were outside, we gestured in the right direction, and Lillyanne ran ahead, then kept coming back for us as we walked at a somewhat more sedate pace. We arrived at the practice field just as teams were being picked. Astari and Lenda saw Eva and me and ran over to greet us and collect hugs.

  "Are you playing?" Lenda asked.

  "I believe we all are," Quartain said. "Lenda, this is Lillyanne. Lillyanne, this is Lenda, and this is Astari. Lillyanne is a brand-new student of the school."

  Lenda was a little surprised by what Quartain said. "You're playing, Senior Magus Quartain? And you, Adept Balarta
?"

  "Are we welcome?" Quartain asked. "I do hope it's capture the flag, but football would be fine as well."

  "Well, it was going to be football, but perhaps we can convince the swordsmen to change their minds."

  I leaned to Eva. "I'll go leave a note for Lunia and Loralai."

  "Don't bother." She gestured, and when I turned, our swordswomen were walking across the field to us.

  * * * *

  Everyone had a good time. The girls were very kind to Lillyanne. Quartain and Balarta, however, were popular targets. During the second game, Quartain got caught early. I taunted Eva, and the two of us met in the middle, stopping a few paces apart.

  "You and me," I said, "right here. No help."

  She smiled. "Sure, Kia," she said. "No problem."

  "You don't need help," I said just loudly enough for her to hear. "I want to talk to Quartain. And have Balarta guard us."

  She smiled. We closed the distance, clasped hands, and then began to struggle. It took her a minute, but she finally dragged me into her territory. On the way to prison, we stepped past Balarta, and soon the four of us clustered together.

  "I presume you have questions," I said.

  "Yes. Why did you let her catch you?" Quartain asked.

  I laughed. "To talk to you."

  "What's Lillyanne's story?"

  I explained how we had found her. Then I told her, "We made some promises. We promised she would have especially kind roommates. She is very sweet, but she's only eleven."

  "Trust me," Balarta said.

  "Of course, Adept Balarta," I said. "Also, she's arriving mid-term. She's bright, but she's starting behind. If she needs a tutor, perhaps Astari would do."

  "Astari doesn't have time," Quartain said.

  "Well, give her someone better than Becka was for me," I said.

  "Did we do the right thing?" Eva asked.

  Quartain laughed then said, "Oh, that wasn't rhetorical?"

  "We cut our trip short," she said. "But we would be due to return if we leave again."

  "You did the right thing," Quartain replied, "or you did as far as I am concerned. Sytara may have another opinion."

  "We were worried they'd get cold feet if we didn't bring her right away," I said, "and I didn't want you sending Erin to get her. Quartain, do Eva and I need training in evaluating the girls? Should we have done the tests that Malla and Erin did when I was twelve?"

  "For Lillyanne? No. She clearly has enough magic to be worth training. But this winter we'll have Jeanine include some training on how to evaluate girls with lesser or less obvious magic."

  "Oh, oh," said Balarta. "Lillyanne is in trouble."

  We all snapped our heads towards the front in time to see Lunia snatch the girl up from mid-field then run back to the far end of the field. Lillyanne squealed with laughter as Lunia carried her to prison.

  "Bad trade," Eva said. "We caught you two, and you got the eleven-year-old."

  * * * *

  We would need to report to Magus Sytara. Surprisingly, she came to us at the school, arriving in time for dinner. Eva and I were invited to dine in the dining hall, and so we received our summons to Quartain's office after our meal.

  The first thing Eva said once we were in Quartain's office was, "I'll have a complete, written report in a day or two. We found nothing that I thought was worth lingering to investigate, but there are the usual mutterings." She then gave a brief summary.

  "You are back early. Why?"

  Eva explained how we encountered Lillyanne.

  "You should have reported her via the post and let Quartain send a qualified team to pick up the child."

  "Begging your pardon, Magus Sytara," I replied, "but given my background, do you really think I was going to let Magus Erin ruin another little girl's introduction to the school?"

  "It was not your decision, Adept Kia," Sytara replied. "You report to Magus Eva." She stressed both titles.

  "And so it was my decision," Eva said, "As the child asked us to bring her, I agreed with Adept Kia's assessment of the best choice. It was a month from our schedule, but it was a month that could have made all the difference in the world for Lillyanne for years. Kia continues to make decisions based on events from eleven years ago, and I would have this girl receive a gentler introduction."

  "A month?" Sytara said. "You arrived only two weeks early."

  "Lillyanne could not travel as many miles in a day," Eva explained, "and as Neecor's Harbor was on our way home, we decided to stop by for a night or two but ended staying five. I consider it personal time for me but professional time for Kia."

  "So you just decided to give yourself a little vacation?" Sytara said. "I thought you were more responsible than this, Magus Eva. I see I am going to have to reconsider future assignments."

  I never had liked Sytara. I could see that wasn't changing.

  "You're angry about two nights spent with Eva's family?" I asked.

  "No. I am concerned about five, especially after you felt it was so important to return here with the new student."

  "That wasn't Eva's fault," I said. "I wasn't fit to travel. While Eva visited with her family, I set up as a healer. I overdid a healing. There were two mothers who went into childbirth in the same evening. I attended both. I was only expected to attend the first, but then the second went awry, and I wore myself out ensuring the life of mother and son. I required a few days to recover before I was fit to travel."

  Sytara turned her gaze to me. "And so twice you are the cause of disruption to Magus Eva's schedule. My misgivings over this arrangement grow."

  Eva's eyes narrowed, and I put my hand on her arm.

  "I was to let them die?" I asked. "If there was something so desperate requiring Eva's immediate return to the capital that I was to let someone die to remain on schedule, I wasn't aware of it."

  "People die," she said. "We cannot save all of them."

  "No, but I will save the ones I can," I replied. "I made the right decision."

  "I will be the judge of that!" Sytara spat. "Some distant farmer's wife is not important. We need to remain focused on far more important needs."

  "You're a fool if you believe I'm going to walk away from someone in need," I said hotly. "And you're an even bigger fool to jump to conclusions on who it was. Not that it would have mattered. I would have done the same thing for anyone."

  "Which is why it's not your decision! It is Magus Eva's."

  "Enough," Quartain said firmly.

  Eva turned to me. "You were right to run."

  "What?" screamed Sytara. "Not you, too!"

  "Sytara, be quiet!" Quartain said. "What is the matter with you?"

  "Do not speak to me in that tone!" Sytara said.

  "Perhaps you should collect all the facts before you fly off the handle," Quartain suggested. "Perhaps you should stop treating your agents as if they are brainless, soulless creatures. It would be reprehensible to expect any healer trained by this school to leave someone to die simply because it is inconvenient to a schedule."

  "There are reports of unrest all along the southern border," Sytara said tightly. "I need a proper investigation. I thought these two would perform one. Instead, they visited half the villages I required, and I presume that's because that one-" she pointed at me, "-slowed them down. Then they terminated their trip a month early to bring back one possibly worthless student and dally on the way to heal some unknown farmer's wife."

  "It wasn't an unknown farmer's wife!" Eva screamed. "It was my sister!"

  The room echoed with her voice. Sytara closed her mouth then had the grace to look away.

  "Not that it would have mattered who it was," I said softly. "Mother and son are doing well. Thank you for asking."

  "Maureena?" Quartain asked gently. Eva nodded. "Congratulations, Eva. You're an aunt. Would you mind if I mailed a congratulations to your family?"

  "They'd like that," Eva said.

  "What is the boy's name?"

  "Tendril
," Eva replied. "He was a late delivery. Kia was brilliant."

  "Senior Magus Quartain, I kindly request childbirth training this winter. I was inadequate. I don't have the right spells."

  "I understand, Kia, but you need to focus on your magus abilities first. There are childbirth spells you could learn now, but they are of lesser quality. I know it's a compromise doing it this way, but in the long term, you'll be far more effective if you learn to cast spells at magus level sooner rather than later."

  I thought about it then bowed my head. "Of course. Thank you."

  "Magus Sytara," said Eva. "Kia was brilliant during the entire trip. There is not a single decision I would change except this: I question the wisdom in agreeing to work for you."

  Sytara's head snapped back.

  "I understand you have priorities, and the duties of a healer are inconvenient to those priorities," Eva said. "But we're a package deal. Period. If the only thing we accomplished on this trip was finding Lillyanne, I would consider this trip a success. If the only thing we did was save my sister's life, I would consider this trip as critical. Kia understands we cannot linger for weeks in one village to save one life, and we made the decision to move on at least once-"

  "Three times," I said.

  "But I did not waste my time while she was performing her duties. I have no intention of pulling her away from a life that hangs in the balance, regardless of whose life it is. If you can't work within those boundaries, then we will approach the queen and ask for work that is more suitable to both of us."

  Sytara took a breath. "You're right. I'm sorry. I don't like some of the mutterings I hear from the border, and I would rather you were based down there for the winter. I hate giving you up for the next several months, but I understand the necessity. You rushed to magus, and there is more for you to learn. And Kia needs to spend time here. I would send you alone-"

  "I won't go," Eva said.

  "I know. But I need you both down there in the spring."

  "After the wedding," Eva said.