Disclaimer: I think you guys know the drill by now. What you recognize isn't mine, everything else is.

Yay! I hit 50 reviews! That's halfway to my goal of 100, which, according to my calculations, I should reach somewhere around chapter 16. Thanks to all my wonderful reviewers who have helped me get this far. There's no way I would have continued with this story without your praise, advice and general well wishes. Speaking of reviews, I believe I have a few to respond to –wink-

Fireblade: Thanks! :D

Breezefire: Yeah, I know, nothing much happened. This was mostly exposition and, since we're almost in Haven, I needed to get the Karissa problem sorted out so that I can torture Treet with a whole new set of difficulties.

Vaches: Yeah, actually, it was supposed to be a bit funny. I know them sitting around talking isn't too exciting, so I tried to slip in a bit of comic relief, since there was no action.

Lurks in Shadows: Yes, not reviewing is bad! That's ok, though. Not writing is bad too, and it took me ages to get the last chapter up. This one wasn't too speedy either, come to think of it.

Wizard: Yes, thanks. I had to bend the "show don't tell" rule a little in the interests of exposition. Hope nobody minded too much.

Tenshi: Tsk Tsk, cynical Tenshi. I told you, I'm resolving the Karissa issue. I'm using my special authoress powers to keep them friends, and it will play a part in the later action, I promise.

Ok, I'm afraid this chapter won't be too much action. They'll be riding and talking, mostly, but the next chapter should be as jam-packed with action as any five pages could possibly be, so bear with me.

Horrible writers block. –kicks it- I know the chapters haven't been very fast or all that good, but I'm hoping the next one will be much better, and I sort of like my little dialogues.

Anyway, on with the show and enter a new character, Lirain!

Chapter 9: Shocks

Treet was floating along in a glow of happiness. Even the harsh rubbing of his increasingly many saddle sores and the growling of his stomach from having eaten almost nothing but porridge for nearly a week could not dampen his good mood.

Ever since he had left with Karissa on this journey, he had had his doubts. Even if he did supposedly have some powerful Gift that could help him to find a place in the world, he had never lived outside the Holderkin lands. Gods, he had never even been off of them for more than a night or two at a stretch.

How would he do out there with people who had always lived their lives in a drastically different way than he? The question had haunted him and when his first attempt at social activity had been met with Karissa's habitual stoniness he had despaired of ever fitting into his new world.

Now, though, things were different. Although he was heading into the unknown, he was doing so with a friend beside him and the knowledge that even he could manage to get by in a social situation every once in a while.

Karissa was useful to him in another way as well. Having lived in this Collegium herself for a number of years, she would be able to tell him more about the place he was to spend the rest of his life in.

He hoped they would not be too hard on him. Perhaps, if he was lucky, they would only beat him for his disobedience and not Exile him or refuse to feed him.

He had wanted to press Karissa for more detail about the Collegium when she brought up the subject previously, but he had been too afraid of making her angry. Now that they were friends, however, surely she would want to help him as he had helped her, although his efforts had been slightly less than skillful.

Karissa was staring blankly between Veria's ears, trying to strengthen her shielding. She was not a strong enough Mindspeaker to pick up Treet's thoughts through his own shielding, inexpert as it was. She could feel, however, that he was thinking about something very hard.

She figured that she had better find out what it was or he would continue to disturb her thoughts with his mental mutterings for the rest of the ride. Besides, she honestly didn't want him to worry about the Collegium any more than it deserved.

"So, we're almost in Haven. We'll be there by tonight." Karissa said, leaving the sentence as neutral as she could, waiting for a response of some kind from the silent youngster.

"Yes." Treet said, as bland as she was. Then, as though he feared that he would run out of time to speak or be told to shut up, he crammed his words into one compact ball and hurled them at Karissa as fast as he could.

"Do you suppose they beat Trainees very hard at this Collegium?" He asked, trying not to sound as though he minded too much what the answer was, as though he was brave enough to take whatever came like the man he despaired of ever becoming.

"Beat them? Of course not!" Karissa exclaimed in genuine surprise and shock. "What good would that do, except to teach them more violence? Besides, beating a Healer Trainee, or a full Healer, just isn't smart, if you want to know the truth."

"Why?" Treet asked, puzzled.

"With gifts like that? You'd have to be insane or actively looking to seek the Havens. The Trainee or Healer would explode sooner or later. Truthfully, your family is lucky that you didn't strike at them with your mind. I mean, a person with the Healer's Gift won't hurt anyone if they can help it, but every mind has a breaking point, and you could have made them regret every strike if you had so chosen."

Seeing the stricken look on Treet's face, Karissa regretted her words instantly, trying to smooth them over with the pleasant little introduction speech that most Trainees got about the Collegia at some time or another. The last thing she wanted was for him to fear his own abilities.

"Of course, if you were a Herald Trainee, I wouldn't be allowed to tell you anything until you got to the Collegium, but since Healers generally have fully or partially awakened Gifts by the time they are found, there is no such rule." Karissa said. "So, what do you want to know?"

"Tell me everything!" Treet demanded, eyes wide at the unexpected generosity of her offer.

"Well, the Collegia are on the same grounds as the Palace, where the King lives. There are three Collegia, by the way. Healers, Bardic and Heraldic. You will be training in the Healer's Collegium, which adjoins the House of Healing."

Treet's jaw dropped as he tried to imagine being trained on the same grounds that hosted the home to the King of Valdemar.

"What do you suppose will happen when I get there?" He asked, still nervous.

"I've never supposed anything in my life." She said, glaring at him sternly. "I can tell you what I know, though. When you get there, as I think I may have told you when we met, I will deliver you to the Dean of the Healer's Collegium, who will talk with you for a while and assign you a mentor if he decides that you are worth the training. Don't worry about that, though. The only time they turn away a Trainee is if they would use the knowledge given to them for harm, and it is obvious, knowing you, that you would never do that."

"A mentor? What will he be like?" Treet asked, taking Karissa's promise at face value and concentrating on the other part of her words.

:It's all right, Chosen, I actually do have some information you can give the boy.: Veria interjected, stopping Karissa from asking how in the Havens she was supposed to know anything about his future mentor when it had been a year since she had last been in Haven.

:You know? Already?: Karissa asked, shocked that Veria had been finding these things out and not sharing the knowledge with her Chosen, and also shocked that such a decision had been made without even meeting the Trainee in question.

:I took the liberty of informing the Heraldic Dean of our imminent arrival, and he informed the Dean of Healers. Usually they don't know this far ahead of time, but Treet was a special case, once they heard about his upbringing.:

:Well, who is he? Who's Treet's mentor going to be? Don't keep me in suspense!:

Treet stared at Karissa's back; patiently waiting for the conversation she was having with her Companion to end. He could always tell when she was talking to Veria. She always tilted her head slightly to the side, and got this look on her face, like she wasn't quite all there.

:Actually, Kari, it's not a he.: Veria said, sounding amused.

Karissa snorted. Her sense of humor was slightly odd sometimes, but the thought of Treet running around after a girl was funny to her, especially when he was so obviously expecting a male. She doubted if he even knew that students were of both genders in all of the Collegia, and that in fact female students were in the majority in the Healer's Collegium. She would leave that part for the Dean to explain, she thought, even more amused.

:A girl, then? How old?: Karissa asked.

:Only a year above him in training, actually. Daughter of two Heralds. She's lived in the Heralds Wing all of her life, so she knows everything about the Collegia. Probably more than some of the older Trainees from other areas would, actually.:

:Not Lirain?: Karissa asked, thinking of the daughter of the only pair of Heralds she knew who had decided to wed and have children. :I always thought she would be Chosen. She showed the Healers Gift?:

:Yes, she did. A strong one, too. Must have been just after we left. She's gotten a tad unconventional since then, though.:

:Ah, the joys of adolescence. She'll certainly shake our Treet up a little.: Karissa said, figuring that the shy, mousy-haired child she remembered had simply become a little more assertive since her admission to the Collegium.

:More than a little. She seems to have managed to turn her hair green.: Veria said, a small and uncharacteristic giggle in her Mindvoice.

:Bright Havens! Why did she do that?: Karissa exclaimed.

:Nobody knows. If you ask her, she just tells you she wanted to match her hair to her future robes. Apparently she managed to get hold of some Healer's headache potion that had gone a little bad. You know what those things can do when they go off. It was one of the ones charged with Gift-magic, and the combination of the magic in it and the bad herbs turned her hair bright green when she drank it. Only the hair on her head went green, though, thank the Gods: Veria added hurriedly, presumably imagining a Trainee with green eyebrows.

:Lovely. And it didn't occur to them that she would scare our Treet half out of his wits upon their first meeting?: Karissa asked in a protective tone that had probably never before emerged from her mouth.

:Well, it probably did, but there's more to it than that. She's a Mindhealer and her Empathy is very strong even for one of them. If she does scare him a bit at first, they figure she should be able to determine what he needs better than anyone else, with a Gift like that. He's actually been assigned to her as a project, a sort of mini-Cause.:

Karissa snickered. A project? She would enjoy hearing the tales of the two of them that she suspected would be circulating the Collegia before too long. Such an unlikely pairing had probably never been wrought since Sunsinger and Shadowdancer.

Karissa turned back to Treet, aware that he was watching her with a slightly bemused expression on his face.

"Sorry, I just found out a little about your mentor. She's actually female. Her name is Lirain." Karissa said, not sure of how much to tell him. Too little, and he would be in for a severe shock. Too much and he would be so terrified that she would never get him into Haven, even with the help of five Companions, their Heralds and a lead rope, none of which she had handy.

"She's, well, a touch unconventional. Don't let her scare you." Karissa advised.

No matter how much Treet begged, Karissa refused to tell him anything else about the mysterious Lirain. When they finally reached the outskirts of the city of Haven, Karissa turned to him and began to speak again.

"You know, our ride together is almost over. I'll probably end up assigned to the Collegium for a little while, so if you need me, just ask for Herald Karissa. I meant what I said, about us being friends. I'll be here for you if you ever need me." Karissa said a little stiffly, but meaning every word.

Treet just gazed at her, tears pricking his eyes. He knew how much effort it must have taken for her to say that aloud.

"Thank you, Herald. For everything."

"Any time, Treet. Like I said, I'll be here for you."

:See, that wasn't so bad, was it, love?: Veria teased, bringing Karissa back into reality before she could start to brood on what she had promised.

:Yeah, well, don't expect me to do it again any time soon. One tagalong is enough. And I only like him a little bit.:

Veria let that one pass, although anyone with even a touch of a telepathic Gift could have told the falsehood in Karissa's words.