There must be something about this Collegium, Kerchen mused, watching passerbys from his cold bench in the gardens, that makes people act like this all the time. Even in the current cold, they're still talking about...that. Kerchen had become acutely aware of any kind of-trysting talk. Although the most obvious "talk" were the noises around his room, he began to notice more subtle hints-a slight nudge or whispered question that just somehow managed to lead to a sleepless night. These concepts weren't one of Father Goroch's concerns, so he didn't have a real opinion on if this was acceptable or not.
All the Trainees seem to be doing it. Should I be too? Is it required? The idea was baffling, but the contrast between here and what he knew at Father Goroch's temple was too great, so he couldn't know for sure. Alvira gave tepid answers, which made him wonder why she wouldn't give a real one. Well, she seems to want it... Alvira was hardly celibate, as Kerchen quickly discovered. He tried to shield himself as best he could and go to bed early, but she would go at it at all hours, which sometimes made for awkward lessons.
And as far as the whole shay'ch thing was concerned, he remembered the Writ having a passage that called it sinful-and yet, in another copy in the annals of Father Goroch's temple, there was a much abbreviated passage that only considered nonconsensual unions as sinful. He wasn't sure what to make of that, but since he wasn't interested in any kind of union, he wasn't concerned about it. But if I'm expected to tryst as a Herald-Trainee-no, something's strange about that...
As Kerchen struggled with this foreign concept, something slapped his back.
"Yer still twiddlin' yer thumbs, ya bastid!" Startled, Kerchen jumped up and palmed the intruder's face before he registered the voice.
"Dieder!" he exclaimed, his mouth hanging open as the sandy-haired boy cradled his nose in pain. Besides the now slightly red nose, the week thief was exactly as Kerchen remembered, though better clothed. What is he doing here?
"Ouch-hey you! What's wrong with you? Is this 'ow ya greet all yer friends?"
"I'm sorry," he apologized, recovering from the shock of seeing Dieder himself. "But you are my only friend anyway." Dieder made a strange face between a scowl and pity.
"'Course yud start wit' somethin' so depressing," he sighed. "Y'ain't gonna say somethin' like, 'Ey Dieder! Long time no see!' or 'I'm a Herald Trainee! Surprise!' huh?" Dieder shot him an accusatory glare, but Kerchen shrugged in response.
"No, why would I?"
"Um. Fer all that ya think a lot, y'sure ask some stupid questions."
"Hey!" But he couldn't stay mad at the boy's impish grin, and Kerchen already felt his mood lifting. The cold no longer felt biting, but he led Dieder inside anyway. His old occupation still a part of him, Kerchen haunted that spot in the gardens because he could overhear many visitors and passersby, but he didn't care to be placed under the same scrutiny.
:You're a stalker, that's what you are,: Alvira sniffed. :So this is the infamous Dieder you keep telling me about?:
:Stalkers only tail one person-and I wish you wouldn't put a bad spin on all my habits.: The only rituals of his she hadn't found fault with were his SunDescending and SunRising prayers to Vkandis Sunlord, and that might only be because she knew it was a line she shouldn't cross. :And yes, this is he-though he looks considerably better than last I saw him.:
"You look better," Kerchen echoed out loud. "What pastries have you been snatching lately from Grandma Magdee?"
"Well apples've been-oi! Watcha tryin' t'say?" Kerchen gave a knowing leer. "Anyway, I ain't been freeloadin' off 'er much-me an' m'ma's been sharin' the cookin', though we always go t'Magdee's-she ain't up fer too much walkin', yea?"
"Oh, your mother is again well!" Dieder flashed a toothy grin, and Kerchen found his delight infectious.
"Yea, we some'ow scraped up enough t'take 'er t'some proper Healers-though they ended up not takin' most the payment! Didn't seem right, that we tried so hard t'pay an' in the end didn't matter anyhow-but suppose we're that much fatter, eh? Anyhow, durin' the process, m'ma got hired by the Palace as a seamstress-so 'ere I am!" Well, that explained a lot-Kerchen had been worried that Dieder had resumed his old profession to outfit himself. Dieder's a good person-I shouldn't have suspected him.
"That is good to hear, but though you are around the Palace, you talk still weird," Kerchen noted contemplatively, and was rewarded with a scowl.
"Yea well, y'still talk funny yerself! Though-ya've gotten a lot better. Takin' speech classes?"
"Actually, I learned mostly from Alvira, my Companion."
:And you're very welcome.:
"O yea, 'course, yer Companion." Dieder glared at him. "'ey, I just remembered somethin' funny-ya said if ya didn't come back in a moon ye'd be dead. Yer lookin' pretty fine fer a dead man."
"I said probably," he pointed out, but Dieder's ensuing disapproval was understandable.
"Not only're ya lookin' pretty chipper, but yer in Trainee Greys? Last time I saw ye, ya couldn't 'ear the word Herald without reachin' fer a knife!" Kerchen rubbed the back of his neck.
"It's a long story," he said awkwardly, ushering his friend to the dining hall to placate him. Dieder tried to keep indignant, but Kerchen knew his weaknesses well. Is it alright if I let a nonstudent take from the pantry? I suppose I'll just eat less later.
"Uh, I've got time," Dieder grinned, already helping himself to the swaths of food Kerchen placed in front of him. "Y'might as well start from the beginning." Kerchen was only too happy to do so.
So he does have a friend, Hannan thought, with relief. It had been weeks since he had been assigned to the Karsite boy, and not once did Hannan see him with anyone. I should still probably invite him to sit with us-but what if Alys decides to like him next? Urgh, I shouldn't be so petty-
"Your new habit of studying in the dining hall confounds me," Elyssa remarked, interrupting Hannan's thoughts. She set her sack down across from him as he laughed awkwardly in response. It's because I can usually spot Kerchen in the courtyard from here, but I can't tell her that.
"Yes, well, it's fairly quiet around this time," he observed instead. Also you know that Karsite Trainee who's always alone and you think is still a spy? Well little did you know I'm his mentor, and yes I've been nice to him and no I haven't been torturing him for information on Karse. I also think you are wrong. No, that would all go unsaid. Elyssa's pessimism was as severe as Alys's optimism, minus the charm and plus a considerable amount of ire.
Thankfully, Elyssa was not a Thoughtsenser, so she sat down with an amiable smile on her face, unaware of Hannan's less than flattering observations.
"I just visited the town," she said casually, tossing a set of rather uncasual looking gauntlets onto the table.
"Visited or fought?" She gave a small laugh, an elegant giggle that contrasted the iron spikes in her gloves.
"These were just a precaution. Actually, I stumbled across something more important than beating up knaves on the street." Oh really? "Word is the nobles have been taking part in some-shall we say, unscrupulous games in the worse half of Haven."
"That's odd-they normally wouldn't touch a lowborn with a ten foot pole." Elyssa scoffed.
"Try ten fathoms. No, these highborns wouldn't deign to get along with any peasant-they're using them for the sole purpose of these games, no doubt. I couldn't tell you the specifics, but I don't think it's any different from their usual hobby of bullying, albeit with higher stakes." She crossed her arms and then her legs, her body a work of tight anger. "You know what kind of scum lurks about in Haven's darker corners. Whatever these brats are up to, it's nothing good-no good comes from a bored noble," she hissed, as though her mother wasn't noble, too.
"Elyssa, if you want me to stop them-I mean, I suppose I could keep an eye on the younger Trainees like Theela, but-" Elyssa waved the idea off.
"No, that's impossible, and we both know it." She leaned in, her dark blue eyes watching him seriously. "Their business is happening right around Alys's tavern. As you know, I'll be returning home soon-I need you to look after her."
"Sure." He was always watching Alys anyway; in this respect, Kerchen had done him good-something to think about besides Alys's depressing obsession with Alberich. Elyssa nodded with approval.
"I don't expect you to stop her from working either-though if you manage to gather the guts to lock her up in her own room, you will forever have my gratitude." Hannan laughed weakly. Elyssa looked more serious than made him comfortable.
"I suspect nothing could lock up that free spirit of hers," he remarked, a little fond. "But I'll see what I can do-no, I don't think I'll be needing to borrow your gauntlets. Would they even fit me?" She reluctantly put them back in her sack.
Dieder's face twisted rather unpleasantly. "I can't believe yer a Karsite assassin."
"Was, for the tenth time now," Kerchen corrected. "What is important is that now I am one of Valdemar's Trainees."
"No wunder yer always wavin' a knife around," he muttered. "Fer all yer spoutin' "this is wrong, that's wrong"-"
"I would never harm someone who did not deserve it. That is why I am where I am." Dieder opened his mouth to object but couldn't quite decide on what to object to.
"Yer a real piece o' work, y'know that?"
"I don't know what you mean." Dieder squinted at him for a bit, then suddenly laughed.
"Aw hell, what's it matter? As long as y'ain't gonna knife me, suppose I'll take yer word fer it." He reached for Kerchen's head and tousled his hair.
"Hey-stop that!" Dieder paused to stuff his face further with some cheese while Kerchen smoothed out his hair in the meantime. It was getting long and needed to be cut again.
"When I saw ya sittin' on that bench, I nearly didn't recognize ya. Saw yer bag and knew then, but what happened t'yer face?"
"Oh, this?" Kerchen touched his face subconsciously, feeling the unusual smoothness of his complexion. "I put makeup on to hide my scars. I was told to hide my origins, so I thought my scars too suspicious looked." Dieder raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"
"Yer pretty good wit' makeup."
"Yes-when I was training as an agent, a mentor of mine taught me how to use it." Even though she seemed always busy, Adelinne had always found the time to teach him the skills he needed-it was a debt he could hardly repay, but even if he could, he hadn't seen her for years now. He wondered if she might have been killed in a mission-but Adelinne was the most talented person he knew, so surely not...
"Oh yeah, 'course, forgot about that. 'ey, ya know what, no more o' this, this's boring!" Dieder suddenly bolted up. Kerchen startled, looking around for something amiss, and Dieder grabbed his shoulders and shook him like a child's toy.
"Hey, what do you think you are doing!"
"What's important is that yer here, yah? Shudn't we celebrate? Tonight, what say you to a bit o' tavern hoppin' agin?" As Kerchen refrained from throwing Dieder, he mulled the idea over in his head. Dieder's "tavern hopping" often ended in a wild escape from a brawl, and it didn't help that he had a penchant for the seediest of places. Though they had mutually decided to stop going to the worst taverns at some point, something told Kerchen that Dieder had long forgotten about this vow.
Then again, he was ahead in his classes; save for his rides with Alvira, he had been studying and not much else. Since everyone else was taking considerable time for their own escapades, why shouldn't he take time with Dieder now and visit Grandma Magdee later?
He felt Alvira stir in the back of his mind with excitement. :Honestly Chosen, you must think entertainment is a sin. You're too serious-from now on, I command you to take time off every day!:
:Every day seems a bit much-:
:Every day!: Well, there wasn't much negotiating with her, so he caved in. Admittedly, this time her stubbornness felt like a reward.
"That sounds good," he said, and found a smile on his face.