Hannan

"You have a crush on Alberich? The Weapons Second? The evil Karsite Trainee?" Eldren and Elyssa looked at each other. Eldren was clearly leaning towards laughing, and Elyssa towards hysterical. Alys pouted.

"He's clearly not evil! In fact, he's my savior," she gushed, her eyes misting over into a sea of adoration. Hannan said nothing because he knew it would only come out as a whine.

If only I'd been there last night, he lamented. Wait, but what if it is fate? What if she is lifebonded like she says she is-

:Oh spare me,: Erron interjected, :She's lifebonded every other moon.:

:That's not true!: Hannan objected, but then admitted that Erron was right, at least in principle.

:I'm glad you still think my words mean something,: Erron bristled. Hannan scrambled to apologize, but Erron sent his forgiveness before he could put together a coherent thought-which was good, since that might have been never. :Anyway, her Companion's a joker. Everyone else agrees that she's delusional, but Lani isn't going to be nudging her in the right direction anytime soon.:

:She isn't delusional,: he replied automatically. Erron sighed through the mental link.

:I know you like her, Chosen-everyone knows except herself. Maybe if you were honest about your feelings, she wouldn't be chasing everything tall and mysterious that comes her way.: Well, it wasn't like he hadn't tried-but all his attempts ended with him gaping in front of her, tongue tied or incoherent. Fortunately, she was great at holding conversations by herself.

:Is that really a good thing?: Erron asked, though this Hannan was sure about. Alys's cheer and free spirit was what had attracted him to her in the first place-no matter the day or weather, she was as bright as the sun, and it was a quality that Hannan admired deeply.

Elyssa, however, clearly disapproved.

"Alys, are you even hearing yourself?" she asked, though her agitation didn't seem to be getting through to her friend at all. "You think you're in love with the Weapons Second, a man twice your age, because you think you saw his back in a tavern."

"Love is blind!" was the immediate response. Elyssa stared. Eldren saw this and evidently decided that the Borderkin had reached her limit.

"Honestly Alys," he drawled, "why would Alberich have any reason to be at a tavern? Sure he's a grown man, but as far as I understand, between taking classes, being Weapons Second, and being under watch as a Karsite, there's no way on Velgarth that he would be alone in a tavern. You must have seen some other guy who happened to help out a poor serving girl stuck in the middle of a brawl."

Elyssa rallied. "And you better quit that job soon or-"

"There's nothing wrong with me having a job, besides the fact that the Collegium doesn't want me to!" Alys stated defiantly. "Besides, haven't I met my love because of my job?"

"For Havens' sake, he is not your true love-"

"Oh you two, let's settle down, shall we?" Eldren placed his hand on both of the girls' shoulders, calming them with his smooth assured voice and clever words. Eldren always had a handle on any situation he was in: great in all his classes, he was the closest to his Whites of the four, and unbelievably suave to boot.

I should really get some tips from that man.

"Well, I've got to go do my house duties," Eldren stretched in his seat, having pacified the girls to his content. "What are you all going to be up to?"

"I have to practice my weaponswork," Elyssa replied, a response that recurred so often that her friends no longer bothered to ask why. Alys's face lit up again.

"I'm going to figure Alberich's schedule," she declared brightly and ran off before Hannan or anyone else could protest. Her tailing tendencies had surfaced once again-

:You realize you mean stalking, right?:

-and Hannan was going to find it difficult to spend time with her until it was over.

:You realize you're doing this to yourself.:

And one more

"You realize you're doing this to yourself?" Elyssa asked, echoing Erron's words a few moons before. Hannan sighed.

"Kind of, but for some reason I can't tell her how I feel." Their Companions settled easily in step, and they traversed the Field in a light canter. Elyssa laughed, a soft giggle fit for any highborn.

"Considering all the silly things she tells us, there's no reason to be nervous," she remarked, her voice light now that she wasn't fretting over Alys. "You could say you were Karsite, and she'd take it in tow. In fact, she might even start following you around." Hannan briefly wondered if such a thing would work, but suppressed the thought. Elyssa gave a shudder. "On that note, I can't believe we'll be having a second Karsite Trainee-and an assassin to boot-" She cut off, her anxiety clearly overwhelming her. Hannan had to sympathize-a moon ago, both of them had received panicked calls from their Companions of an attack on Selenay. By the time they arrived at the road, they saw none other than Alberich fending off a would-be assassin with ease. Only scattered Companions and their Chosen were present on the abandoned road, as they had received notification from Caryo and Kantor. Other Heralds rushed about, searching for any sign of another assassin in their midst. Most of the Trainees, however, only watched with morbid fascination. Their Weapons Second was good, better than they had imagined. No matter how hard a beating they had taken from him, they now knew he had been going easy on them. The man could move like a demon, and one for Valdemar.

Alberich was the clear hero of the hour-until he struck his final blow. When his opponent fell, robbed of the vigor that he had seemingly possessed with no end, Hannan had spared a good look at the assassin, and was shocked. The opponent, that had looked like a dervish with the Karsite features of Alberich, was in reality a boy no older than Hannan. His limbs splayed out uselessly, pitiful in appearance, and his face twisted but agony. The other Trainees had taken a step back, barely audible gasps revealing that they, too, realized what Hannan had.

And then, as if the Havens hadn't shocked them enough, a powerful neigh trumpeted through the air, its owner galloping at the full speed of a Companion. People scrambled to get out of her way, though she had complete control of the situation. The Companion stopped in front of none other than the assassin, who then closed his eyes in a bliss that Hannan had never before seen. Bards might have called it fey, a happiness that appears in one about to leave this world-though it was clear the Companion wasn't going to let that happen.

No one knew how to react; a would-be killer of Valdemar's Heir, Chosen? Only the Healers reacted immediately on the scene, rushing to the boy's aid.

That was already more than Hannan could stomach in one day, but later he, along with everyone else present, were then given express orders to claim that the assassin had died. Since everyone consisted only of Greys, Whites, and Greens, them conforming was a nonissue, but the implication of it riled many, particularly Elyssa. An heir to a Holding on the Border, Elyssa was a tough nut; she only trusted Alberich after seeing him protect Selenay, and honestly Alberich had done nothing before then that would rouse the suspicions of anyone.

Besides be in Alys's tavern. But Alys had yet to see him there again, so it could have been a mistake.

"Since they put him through Truth Spell, I suppose I can give him a chance," Elyssa continued, as though the compromise cost her everything she had, "but I don't know if I'll be able to talk to him without twitching. Well, I don't expect that I will be forced to deal with him-I'm sure they would know better than to assign me as his mentor." Don't worry about that Elyssa, I bet they all know. Hannan sighed and decided not to tell her.

:Girls scare you, don't they? You know she's going to find out eventually,: Erron admonished.

:Not necessarily,: Hannan replied uncertainly, :He might not want me to help him all the time. Didn't you say he's integrated pretty well into Valdemar already?:

:Trainees have lived here all their lives and still need mentors,: Erron pointed out. :And what if he needs relationship advice-oh, well I suppose you couldn't give that to him anyway.:

:That-er-well, you're mean.: He could almost hear the chortle coming from between the stallion's ears.

"I suppose," Healer Crathach remarked dryly, "that we should just start rounding up every Karsite that spouts off about honor. Maybe then we can get them Chosen before they get themselves half killed." By the end of that sentence, Crathach wasn't the only one looking to Alberich, and the Weapons Second gave them all a scowl that would have scared off half his students.

:This boy does resemble you, Chosen. Doesn't it feel nice to have a fellow Trainee friend?: Kantor quipped playfully. Alberich gave him a mental scowl as well.

Admittedly, he had noted the similarities between them-their aspiration to live by a code of honor, their shock when they discovered Valdemar wasn't full of witches and demons, and not least of all their strange status as Karsite peasants that were Chosen in rather unconventional ways.

As though Alberich's story of being kidnapped by a White Demon who had smuggled himself across the Karsite border wasn't incredulous enough, the boy in front of them had been Chosen after he tried to kill Alberich and Selenay. In his defense, he was pretending and apparently was trying to get himself killed instead-though that blatant disregard for his own life was hardly any better.

:Chosen, are you still calling us White Demons?:

More of a question was how this boy managed to stop calling Companions that. Was it because he was young, and Valdemar was able to make a stronger impression on him? Was it because he came here by his own will? Perhaps dealings with his temporary employer in Haven? The number of questions Alberich still harbored about this boy was surprising, considering he had been questioned for a good two marks and the Truth Spell had never wavered.

Admittedly, he did refuse to answer quite a few questions.

Young though he was, the boy had recognized the interrogation for what it was. The Karsite assassin had staunchly refused to disclose information about his employer in Karse (though it didn't take much for Alberich to guess it was a Sunpriest), refused to talk about other possible spies he might have known, and drew a total blank on the impending war with the Tedrels. All the information he had of the Tedrels were from word of mouth in the Collegia-which Alberich still found interesting, since that information was not public yet. To prepare the citizens for future hardship, King Sendar had made a warning about the Foreseers having predicted small harvests; perhaps wisely, he was waiting for everyone to enjoy their last Midwinter Festival before he sent out official messengers about the truth to the Borders.

"Well," Talamir began, his light voice indicating the end of the interrogation, "it appears you've integrated yourself with Valdemar fairly well already." The boy nodded, his nature as a spy absent.

"I like Valdemar," he said, which contrasted so greatly to Talamir's first talk with the newly Chosen Alberich that half the adults smothered their laughter. "I want to return to tell Karse about what I've learned," the boy added.

"That, I'm afraid, you can't do," Talamir said, giving a look to Alberich, who gave a silent nod. "Though only the Heralds and Trainees that arrived to aid Selenay and Alberich know of your identity, all of the Council and Court knows there has been an assassination attempt at the Heir." And quite a ruckus that made-at least now the Council can't accuse me of trying to kill Selenay myself. The boy opened his mouth to object, but Talamir raised a hand to quiet him. "To correct their impression would be to risk exposing your identity as the culprit. Although the Heralds will learn to accept the reasons for your actions," Talamir continued, his tone saying that he would personally make it so, "it would not be so easy to gain the trust of other Valdemarans. Therefore, we will be keeping your true origins secret. Your command of Valdemaran is superb, so you will easily be able to pass off as one from the Border. However, as you will be expected to act as an average Valdemaran Trainee, you will essentially have to give up your Karsite heritage for now."

"I will try my best to follow your instructions," the former assassin agreed, "though I will not lie if questioned." Talamir frowned.

"Should someone ask you what country you are from, I ask that you reply Valdemar."

The boy's brows knit to a stubborn furrow. "I won't, because lying is wrong." The former Sunsguard captain wondered once again how the boy had retained such earnestness in his line of work. He was so stupidly honest that Alberich found himself worried about how he would integrate in Haven. Even here, there was sometimes need to be duplicitous. The boy could have been putting on an act, as the Truth Spell did not detect mannerisms, but Alberich suspected this was not the case. Well, that stubborn righteousness certainly fit in with some Heralds-

:Shall we take that as a compliment?: Kantor asked, his presence settling in Alberich's mind again.

:Depends on the situation,: Alberich replied. Kantor left often lately, to keep order among the Companions. As assured as they now were of the boy, the Companions disapproved of his Companion Alvira. Apparently she had Chosen without a clear Calling, thus the other Companions had suspicions about both the boy and the judiciousness of Choosing him. Supposedly Heralds were often Chosen when they were needed, so Alvira had possibly given up Choosing someone more integral to Valdemar's survival than the Karsite assassin. Mysteries were aplenty, but Alberich could hardly concern himself with them.

I know when something is out of my hands. Talamir's interrogation was thorough, so I can't imagine any Companions suspecting him like when I arrived. And even I can tell Alvira is not going to change her mind at this point, so we might as well play the cards we're dealt with rather than worry about what might have been.

And this, Alberich suspected, was going to be the only way for the Collegium to deal with Kerchen.