A/N: This idea came to me some time ago and I tossed it out because I didn't think I'd have time to work on it and the other stories. Then Enaid Aderyn mentioned that she'd love to see some stories of Josslyn's time in the tower when she was younger. So, here they begin. They won't be in any chronological order but they will feature Joss, Joseph, Brin (eventually) and others.
Thank you, lisakodysam, for your willingness to beta yet another story!
Tomorrow
Joss skidded down the hall, hands stretched out on either side for balance. There was nothing more glorious than freshly-waxed floors. Her laughter echoed off the walls as she slid towards the first big curve.
"Look out for Senior Enchanter Swee – never mind!" Niall called, his voice cracking with shock and puberty.
Senior Enchanter Sweeney had his legs neatly taken out from under him as Joss ploughed into him. They fell in a tangled heap.
"Young lady, just what do you think you're doing?"
Joss felt herself picked up by the back of her robe and set on her feet. She pushed her tumble of curls out of her face and looked up into steely grey eyes.
"I'm sorry, Knight-Commander Greagoir. I accidently bumped into Senior Enchanter Sweeney," she replied and opened her eyes as wide as she could, because Petra had told her a lie was much more believable if one opened their eyes wide. It couldn't hurt to test her friend's theory.
He didn't seem all that impressed. She looked down at the floor, scuffing her stocking-clad feet against the smooth surface. A tickling sensation ran up her leg. Dismayed, she realized she had ruined her favorite pair of lisle stockings. Her big toe poked through and seemed to wiggle accusingly at her.
Knight-Commander Greagoir harrumphed several times, still not speaking. His armor, shiny and new because he'd only been the Knight-Commander for a month, creaked like an old woman as he moved back a step.
"Sweeney? What have you to say on the matter?" the templar asked, folding his arms across his chest and staring at the man.
"As she says, an accident, Greagoir. No harm done."
Joss turned a bright smile on the senior enchanter and then one on Greagoir. "I'm very sorry, Senior Enchanter Sweeney," she said sweetly.
Sweeney winked at her and then went about the business of collecting the vellum and book that had flown from his hand when he'd been bowled over. Joss stood waiting patiently for her punishment. Knight-Commander Greagoir did not approve of the young apprentices running about willy-nilly at all hours of the day. Those were his words, heard several times a week by most of the youngest apprentices.
"Apprentice Josslyn, come with me," the man ordered.
Josslyn's heart skipped across her chest, and she glanced over her shoulder to see that Niall, Owain and Petra were nowhere in sight. Bunch of cowards. She straightened her shoulders and fell into step beside Greagoir.
People thought he was a cranky, cantankerous old man. Joss didn't think he was cantankerous so much as constantly tired from wearing all that heavy plate armor. In fact, she decided, slipping her hand into his, she liked him. He was stern but not mean, and he never lectured like Enchanter Wynne did. Sometimes, he looked sad and would stare into space. Other times, she saw a gleam of pride in his eyes when he looked at the mages and templars. Sometimes, he even looked at her that way.
"This is the third time this week you've been caught sliding around the halls without your boots on, young lady. What do you think your punishment should be?"
"I know, Ser Greagoir, but it's irrepressible."
Greagoir snorted briefly and she wondered if he had something stuck in his throat. She would thump him on the back, like she'd been taught to do when someone was choking, but she was sure she'd break her hand if she did so, and she hadn't taken any healing classes yet. That was mostly because she thought Enchanter Wynne, who taught the healing arts, was the meanest, most boring woman in the Tower. Maybe even in all the Towers everywhere. Yes, she thought, that was highly likely.
"I believe you are irrepressible, Apprentice Josslyn. I believe sliding down the halls is irresistible. Now where did you hear that word? It's a rather large one for someone so young."
"Enchanter Wynne says it to me all the time, when I do something I shouldn't, or say something I shouldn't. Her lips go all tight and prim-like. Besides, I'm not young, Ser Greagoir! I'm ten, now."
Joss shook her head. She had finally moved into the dormitory where her friends were, out of the baby dormitory, as everyone called it. She had been there for six years and had hated it for as long as she could remember.
"So you are, young lady. Old enough to stop sliding around the halls."
"But Lucian Caravel says that it helps polish the wax into the stone, Ser. He thanks me for doing it," Joss assured, feeling sorely put upon.
"When Lucian Caravel is running the Tower, he is free to have all the mages skidding around the corridors. For now, I am in charge of everyone's well-being, Josslyn, and I'll thank you to remember it."
Joss tried very hard to look apologetic, and no matter how much she wanted to appear that way, her smile insisted on coming out. She felt a reassuring squeeze of fingers that was a bit painful because of his gauntlets, but her smile brightened because it made her chest warm inside.
As they entered the First Enchanter's office, Joss felt a momentary flutter in her stomach. The same day that Knight-Commander Greagoir had taken up his new duties, Senior Enchanter Irving had become the new First Enchanter. He was mean in a sneaky way and Joss thought he was heaps worse than Wynne. He was like Apprentice Poppins, who pinched the girls very hard, but never hard enough to bruise skin, just hard enough to make their eyes smart and their skin sting. Sneaky. Both of them.
"What have you done this time, Josslyn?" Irving asked. His voice sounded like he'd been eating lemons, all sour and puckery. She bit her lip to keep from smiling at the picture of him sitting in the midst of a pile of lemons.
She explained why she was, yet again, standing in front of the First Enchanter's desk. He didn't look happy. At. All. She sighed, waiting for her punishment.
"You are to help Senior Enchanter Mendric catalogue the artifacts in the basement for the next two days, Josslyn. There is a cot down there and your meals will be sent to you."
"But…but there's spiders down there, and rats! And Senior Enchanter Mendric sings very badly, worse than me, even! And tomorrow is…" Joss trailed off.
Tomorrow Joseph was arriving, but telling them she knew that bit of information meant telling them how she knew it. She pressed her lips together to stop the words from tumbling out.
"Tomorrow is what?" Irving asked and one of his brows rose so high it disappeared into his graying hair.
She looked at Greagoir, who was, conveniently, looking at her. He gave her a very small nod of encouragement. Well, she wasn't going to tell them, and they couldn't make her. If they knew she could walk in the Fade whenever she wanted, they'd most likely make her tranquil and she'd eat spiders before she'd let them do that.
"Tomorrow is another day," she said, crossing her fingers behind her back.
Cook Killdare had once told her that crossing one's fingers made keeping secrets allowed. Joss loved Cook Killdare because she always smelled like freshly-baked bread and cinnamon. If she said it, it must be true.
Joss was about to whistle, because the cook had also told her that whistling was a wonderful distraction, but she couldn't actually whistle, no matter how hard she tried, or how much Kinnon had tried to teach her. In fact, whenever she tried, the others all hooted and giggled at her. She pressed her lips together and waited, shifting from one foot to the other.
"Report to Senior Enchanter Mendric immediately, child."
"Yes, First Enchanter."
As soon as Joss was out of the room, she cupped her ear against the wall, just outside the office, and listened.
"That seems a bit harsh, Irving. The child is merely exuberant."
"I think it best if she is not present when her brother arrives. The reports indicate he is boisterous and headstrong. They are twins and apparently very much alike in temperament. It will be difficult enough once she sees him. She does not need another excuse to continue her willful disobedience."
"It might be the very thing they both need."
"A meeting can wait a few more days. This will give the lad time to find his footing. Maker help us all when she finds out he is here, if she does not already know. The walls seem to have ears."
Joss jerked her head away from the wall and grabbed her ear, sighing with relief when she realized it was still there. She'd never seen an ear on any of the walls but she had seen a suspicious bulge in one once. It hadturned out to be a leaky pipe, though.
"She's been here since she was four. I doubt she remembers her brother."
"They are twins, Greagoir, and I can assure you that she remembers him. It will be interesting to see if they share the same affinity for primal magic."
Well, of course she wouldn't forget her own brother. Greagoir might be the Knight-Commander, but sometimes he was just silly. And now she wasn't going to get to see her brother when he arrived. She went in search of Niall to let him know she wouldn't be able to help him with his spell-crafting after all. Her chest hurt and her eyes kept watering. She wasn't going to cry, no matter how much she wanted to. Crying was for babies and she was ten, much too old to cry. She sniffed loudly.
~~~oOo~~~
Listening to Mendric sing off-key, Joss took the dusting rag and swiped at the large bust of an ugly man with a hooked nose that looked a lot like Uldred. She spat on the bald pate and rubbed it fiercely, wondering if it was possible to learn a silence spell. Mendric's voice made her ears hurt.
"What time is it, Senior Enchanter Mendric?"
"Ten minutes later than the last time you asked," he replied and launched into a new song about the skies being knighted or something equally stupid. She sighed and put the bust back on the shelf.
Dinner arrived and Mendric gave her a pat on her head as he left for the night. Apparently he was too important to sleep in the bowels of the Tower. She immediately cast a wisp and the soft green glow was oddly reassuring. She wasn't actually supposed to know that particular spell yet.
After she'd eaten everything, including the extra cookie that had been tucked under her napkin, she tried to find a way out of the basement that wouldn't attract attention. If First Enchanter Irving thought she would miss her brother's arrival, he was just as loopy as Godwin claimed. Not that Godwin wasn't a bit loopy as well, but in a harmless way.
The door squeaked as she pushed it open and she jumped, sure a mouse was nipping at her. She stooped and pulled her sock over her toe. There was no reason to present a mouse with such a tempting treat. Everyone knew that Enchanter Torrin had lost part of his little toe to a mouse. She shivered, glancing around to make sure no mice were after her. Maker, she hated creepy crawlies.
She crept past the dormitories on the first floor, scurrying by the open doors where the templars stood. On the third floor, she hid behind a tapestry, hoping nobody would notice that King Maric had an extra set of feet. She listened to the soft clank of metal as the templars moved along the corridor.
She finally found a window that opened on the fourth floor. After a brief struggle with rusty hinges, she pushed the window open and rested her head on the wooden sill. It was so late that the moon was already low in the sky and she sighed, wondering if Joseph was already asleep and in the Fade, waiting for her. She was afraid to go to sleep, in case a templar caught her napping by an open window. That would be hard to explain.
She blinked, startled awake by a warm hand resting on the top of her head. Maker's beard, she'd fallen asleep. It was tomorrow! Or it was actually today, but it had been tomorrow yesterday. Now she was just confusing herself. She rubbed at her eyes.
"Josslyn Amell, what are you doing here? This is the templar's floor," Greagoir asked quietly. She was surprised that he wasn't in his uniform yet, just plain clothes. He looked smaller in them.
"I – I wanted to see the sunrise," she lied, rubbing her eyes.
"He won't be here for hours, you know."
She blinked again. "Who?" she asked, trying her best to sound like she didn't understand.
"Who, indeed," he rumbled, pulling her to her feet. "I think we both know who you're watching for."
"Yes, Ser. I'll go back to the basement," she finally said with a sigh of disappointment.
"You've missed him a great deal, I imagine. I always missed my brother when he went off on his adventures," Greagoir said and his voice was as kind as she'd ever heard it.
"You have a brother?"
"I do. He died a few years back, but I miss him still. I suppose I'd find a way to watch for his arrival were I given a chance."
Joss found that oddly comforting as he walked her back down the stairs to the basement. He opened the door and motioned for her to enter the artifacts room.
"You'll be able to see him tomorrow, Joss. That's just one more day."
She felt that warmth in her chest again and gave him as bright a smile as she could muster. She didn't think it was probably very bright, but he returned it. And he was right. After six years, what was one more day?
"Tomorrow," she breathed and it was a promise, a secret between the Knight-Commander and a lowly apprentice that made Joss feel ten feet tall.
"Tomorrow."