GROUNDLING 3: THE TAKING OF NAMES
by ardavenport
- - - Part 10
It was all over the Collegium that Onie had gone into town with Bron Childorn and everyone wanted to know every detail about it. Having completely missed all her morning classes they came after her as soon as she had Lillis unsaddled. Her Companion winked and galloped off leaving her to deal with the curious horde. Throwing her hands up, Onie let them follow her back to the Collegium.
Food was being ferried to the Common Room from the Palace because the Collegium kitchen was still full of artificers fixing pipes and Onie could not eat there or on the second floor. She let them all follow her to her room while three of them ran upstairs and then back with food and drink and more people. Onie got the chair and desk while the others found their own places on the bed and floor. Most were Herald-trainees, from her classes and the kitchen. Others she knew in passing, plus a couple of younger Heralds. Onie ate her fill first; if they wanted to know something so bad they could ask. There was talk about the kitchen. It would not be ready until the next morning at the earliest. The kitchens in the Palace would fill in the gap until it was and all the Trainees would help bringing food and cleaning up the Common room. Nyle had been burned badly on his arm and side by the hot water, but the Healers said that he would recover fully.
That was welcome news, but it was Slatha Ivyhill from Onie's equitation class who finally got impatient enough to directly ask.
"So, what was he like?"
Onie took a bite and gazed back at the girl. "Who?"
"Childorn." Her tone lowered; her lower lip stuck out. "You took his food out to him every day. Have you seen him before? Is that why you went out with him?"
"I dinna see'im before today. I was late on account o' tha pipes an'ee was waitin' thinkin' tha Queen'ad lost'er patience wit'im."
"Well, why'd you go bolting out like that?" Swan Morenthallen asked from the bed with three others.
"Ee wanted ta take care'o his fam'ly business without ev'ryone fussin' over him when he come out. Thought'ee could get it done quick, but when 'ee got ta tha house 'ee found his daughters fightin' over their mother's things. I stayed outside while all that was goin' on."
"Well, what's he like?" Slatha demanded again. "Is he sad like Talamir?"
"Not sad. Least not 'less he mentions'is wife. Came right out an' said it that tha gods had ripped her right out'o his heart. An' who's Talamir?"
Talamir had been the Queen's Own before Herald Talia. He had been a Herald whose Companion was killed in the Tedrel Wars and was Chosen a second time by Rolan. But everyone said that he was never the same, his soul half gone with his first Companion.
Onie shook her head. "Ee's not sad like that, 'cept like I said, when he talks about 'is wife. Ee's a Mind Speaker 'an'is wife was, too. Learnt how ta use 'is Gift from foreign Mages on account 'o'is family being traders, too, and travelin' an' all. An'ee could tell what me home town jus' from hearin' me speak na two sentences."
"Well, that wouldn't be that hard. I mean, your accent's pretty thick, Onie," Trainee Cheeter amended quickly.
She did not like the word 'thick' being applied to her. "Seems like ev'ryone understands me fine."
"If Childorn and his wife Mind Spoke to each other," a girl on the bed wondered aloud. "Do you think they were life-bonded? And that was why Childorn was going to kill himself?"
Everyone looked at Onie. She shrugged. "Don' know. I did na ask 'bout 'is wife. Seemed too pers'nal." If Childorn and his wife had been life-bonded then that would explain quite a lot about his long solitude in Companion's Field. A life-bond was something like the pair-bond between Companion and Chosen. Or more so, depending on who you asked. There were plenty of tales about pair-bonded couples and adventurers and the tragic separation of them was a favorite dramatic topic of the Bards. "He was only sad when 'ee mentioned'is wife. Otherwise, 'ee seemed right ta me. Think'ee even enjoyed breakin' out'o the Palace an' all. An' Hyer . . . Bron's got tha same blue eyes as Hyer. Exact same."
The discussion moved on to one of the most reclusive members of the Companion herd. To Onie, Hyer seemed no more sad than Childorn.
They all startled when they heard a bell and realized that they had taken much too much time for lunch. Onie hustled them out, making sure that they took all their plates and cups and food with them. Everything was being put in a tub in a side room to the kitchen that the artificers were not using. The Palace servants would pick it up later and make sure everything was cleaned.
Onie was late for equestration class, but since Slatha and Cheeter were also late their tardiness was shared. Onie wondered if Bron Childorn was going to show up at some equestration class as well. From the way he rode Hyer it did not look likely that he needed any instruction at all. They all went back to the Stable together when they were done and tended to their Companions.
When she returned to the Collegium, Onie got a very rude surprise. There was no hot water for her tub to clean up in. The artificers were still working in the kitchen. She very briefly considered waiting to see if there would be hot water soon, but then decided against it. She grew up with cold water baths. Wood was often too costly to heat water with all the time except in winter when they needed the fire for warming the house. She stripped, stood at the side of the tub and washed her whole body with soap and water and then dunking her head in the tub after she had unbraided her long brown hair. She had goosebumps the whole time but she was clean afterwards. She put on fresh clothes and went to her room. She met a Palace page in the hallway, coming downstairs. He bowed.
"The Queen's Council requires your attendance immediately, Milady."
He led her to the Queen's Council Chamber which was thankfully on the first floor just off the Palace's great hall. The Queen, Prince Daren, Princess Elspeth, Dean Teren, and a couple other Herald-Mages were there. Bron Childorn sat at the table as well. He was clean now and had shaved off his scraggly beard, but the gray mustache remained, neatly trimmed over and at the sides of his mouth. His longish hair was tied back. And he wore a new set of Whites. Everyone in the room was a full Herald. Except Onie.
Onie curtsied to them. Dean Teren asked her to describe the talisman that Sunwing had given to her. She gave them a description of the horned head with it's pink eyes and squiggly symbols. Bron raised his brows, apparently impressed. They asked a few questions about it and the box it came from. Prince Daren asked if she had told Lillis about it and, embarrassed, Onie admitted that she hadn't. Since it was under her clothes all the time, she mostly forgot it was there except when she changed. After a few more questions, the Queen thanked and excused her. Onie curtsied again, but Bron held a hand up.
"If I might say, Selenay," he addressed the Queen by name. "I think you should tell Onie here more about exactly what Sunwing did. And what's got to be done about it now." Everyone looked at him.
"If you ever find Torgle's hidden stash of the dark Magic that he's been peddling, then Onie here might be the only person you have who can safely shovel it out for you." The Queen seemed to consider this and with a glance toward Daren she addressed Onie, still standing before them.
"Onie, Sunwing admitted - under Truth Spell - that he acquired the talisman he gave you from a trader here in Haven. He did not know his name, but knew he could acquire certain magical artifacts from him. That talisman was the most dangerous thing that Sunwing acquired from him, but this trader hinted that he had access to other more powerful things that had been shielded from the Mage-storms. Unfortunately, this trader has left Haven, but Bron here has identified him from his description as a Sebeth Torgle from the lands south of Valdemar. We will be searching for this hidden stash to destroy it, which unfortunately may take some time, probably many months or longer. Bron is correct that we may need your help when we locate it since you seem completely immune to any magical ill effects."
"I'll helps anyways I can - -" Onie stopped the 'your Majesty' that was about to come next. The Queen had specifically requested that no titles be used when she was speaking only among Heralds. But Onie did not feel herself up to address the Queen by her first name. "Ma'am," she finished. The Queen advised her that the mission to search for Torgle was a state secret and not to be spoken of to anyone outside the Heralds in the room.
"An Lillis?"
Selenay smiled. Yes, she could tell her Companion, but only if no one else who did not already know was around. Then Onie was excused. After that, she went looking for dinner.
She headed off to the Palace kitchens. Onie got her food and took it back to her room. Even though the Palace kitchens were more than three times the size of the Collegium, able to produce anything from the Queen's luncheon to a full-scale banquet, the Cook told her she could not eat there. By the time she got back to her room, everything was cold. After eating her solitary meal by candlelight she took the plate to the kitchen. The pipes were all restored and the artificers were checking them by banging and turning their valves. Onie asked about the hot water for her bath and after getting a blank stare from one young man, she had to take him back to the laundry area and show him.
"Oh." He gazed up and down the length of the pipe leading to her tub. "Oh." He looked embarrassed. "We'll have to fix this." Onie sighed, letting him go. She did not care how they fixed it, so long as they did. But she felt a little embarrassed that after a lifetime of cold and lukewarm baths, she had gotten so attached to hot water since coming to Haven, like she was getting soft. Or worse, old.
She settled down to reading a book on Valdemar law (on the chapter that one of the other students had told her was discussed in the class she missed while she was out in Haven with Bron). It was incredibly boring and difficult. She wondered that any Heralds could give out any law at all if it came from books like this. The only law she had heard of or seen given out in Fair Fields when someone committed a minor crime or some property dispute came up had sounded very sensible. She had seen Heralds come through her home town, but she had never once had reason to be witness to any of their courts except for curiosity along with most of the rest of the populace.
Under the noise of pipes and occasional shouts down the hall, Onie sensed a much quieter step. She smiled and opened the door just as Saston reached it. He straightened to attention and then smiled.
"Well, come in. It's cold out there."
He hurried in and climbed up onto the bed. She took the book from him and leafed through it. "Got one ye wants ta hear?"
He nodded. "The one about the lazy Mage, please. They think I'll grow into a Mage Gift. So, I wanted to read that one."
Brow furrowed, Onie opened the book to look down the list of fables at the front. She had never heard any tales about Mages when she was Saston's age. She ran her finger down the lists; the book contained dozens of short tales; many were titles that Onie had heard her mother and sometimes her father tell her and her siblings when she was young. She, her mother and her sister Mec told them to her nephew Sami and sometimes read them from the borrowed books from Brother Callus's Temple, copied for sharing by the two acolytes. She saw several titles with Mage or Magic in the titles that she did not know at all.
"Hmmmm, I never heared that one." Her eyes shifted to Saston, sitting next to her. "Now which one would it be." She ran her fingers down the list of titles. Then she turned the page.
"That one!" Saston pointed at the title where her finger stopped. The Lazy Mage. Onie flipped the pages to the story. The little drawing on the first page was of a room with dishes on the table and things strewn about on the chairs and floor.
Naren the Mage was too busy doing Magic all the time to do anything else, including cleaning, cooking and even bathing. He expected others who came to him for Magic and his students to do these things for him. He was a great Mage and a learned teacher, but very lazy in his personal habits. But finally the people and students stopped coming because of the mess, and they stopped inviting him to their homes and festivals because of his grimy fingernails and smelly feet. But Naren, who had only time for Magic found a way around doing any tedious cleaning. He cast illusions that he and his clothes were clean and that his home was tidy. It worked wonderfully for a time and Naren because popular again. But even a Mage as great as Naren could not do Magic all the time and one day after staying up the whole night doing very difficult and complicated Magic and eating a big meal before going to bed, Naren overslept very late and the illusions faded away. Some other Mages came at midday and found his tidy home all gone to ruin, clothes on the floor, dishes on the bookcase, tables grimy, flies, crawling bugs, mice, dirty socks hanging from a mirror.
Saston giggled at Naren's long list of housekeeping sins, but he turned more serious when Naren and the other Mages found that under the illusions (which worked just as well on Naren as on other people) that bugs had come and eaten through all his Magic books and scrolls, including the ones that he had borrowed from his fellow Mages. And his home had become so infested that the vermin were going to the homes of his neighbors, who had not been able to find the source of all the mice and bugs because of the illusions. Everyone was mad at Naren and a big mob gathered and took him to the river, dunked him with all his clothes on and scrubbed him with soap. They went to his house and emptied it of all the broken and rotten things and scrubbed it and everything in it with soap and strong ammonia. And Naren had to re-copy the things he had borrowed.
Onie paused. Someone was in the hallway, she could hear soft step coming closer. She put her finger to her lips to stop Saston's question. A moment later there was a knock at the door. Putting the book aside, Onie got up and opened it.
Healer Luba stood there in green robes and holding her own candle. Between the flooded kitchen and Bron Childorn emerging from Companion's Field, Onie belatedly realized that she had completely forgotten to inquire about Chellie at the House of Healing.
"Oh, sorry, I forgot - - "
"Oh, that's quite alright." Luba bustled out. "I heard about the pipes in the kitchen. That happened a few years ago in the House of Healing and it was horrible. And everyone has heard about you and Bron Childorn." Luba's eyes sparkled and Onie wondered what anyone could possibly be said about her and Bron Childorn in the House of Healing.
Luba clapped her hands together. "Oh, but I see that you have a little guest." She smiled maternally. From the looks of Saston's squirm, she thought that he did not care for the 'little'.
"Oh, aye. He comes over an' we reads together. They give him a book'a'fables fer catchin' up on'is letters so quick. We even read the one 'bout Lord Rumpige."
"That's wonderful." She pointed at Saston as if he was about to snatch a pastry from the table. "You mind your sweets if you don't want to grow sideways when you grow taller, too." She turned back to Onie. "But what I came to ask is if you could come over to the House of Healing tomorrow? Chellie would be very happy to have you come over for dinner."
"Aye. I can be there. I don'ave kitchen chores fer dinner tomorrow." Finally! Onie felt a flutter of excitement that her patience and caution might be rewarded.
"Good," Luba answered happily. "It's at the same time as dinner at the Collegium. I'll be expecting you." Luba turned to go, but paused in the doorway for a final warning. "And you mind your sweets young man, or you'll end up like Lord Rumpige."
Onie closed the door. "See what I says about Healers an' that story?"
Eyes wide with new understanding, Saston nodded back.
- - - End Part 10