Distance
Owain had once informed Josslyn that it took exactly five-hundred and thirty-five steps to get from the apprentice dormitory to the infirmary. He was full of astonishing bits of information that served no practical purpose but he claimed it calmed his mind to count things. Joss wasn't sure if he was crazy or just plain bored, but a calm mind was definitely a good thing to possess if you were a mage, so she didn't tease him about it.
Now, as she hurried along the gently-curved halls of the Tower, she wondered if maybe he just couldn't count any higher than that, because it felt a lot longer to her. No, that couldn't be right because he'd once counted the number of beans that Cook Killdare put in her bean soup, and while Joss couldn't remember the exact number, she knew it was a lot more than five-hundred and thirty-five. Maybe the fact he had longer legs than her meant it took him fewer steps? Not that it mattered how fast she got there – Ser Haggerty was blocking the entrance to the infirmary anyway.
"Are you hurt, Apprentice Josslyn?"
"No, Ser Haggerty."
"Are you feeling poorly?"
"No, Ser Haggerty," Joss replied.
"Then you'll have to wait."
"But, Ser Haggerty, my brother's in there!" Joss exclaimed, trying to coax a few tears out. It didn't work. She had never been any good at crying on command. Instead, she tried to meet his eyes. Maybe if she looked really, really sad he'd let her in?
Trying to meet someone's eyes when they wore a silver pail on their head was no easy task. He was new to the Tower and still followed all the rules, including keeping his bucket on his head so the big, bad, scary mages wouldn't see what he was thinking. She wondered, gazing up into the dark space where his eyes should be, if he slept in his helmet, too? That would certainly explain why he was always so short with everyone.
Joss had asked Ser Greagoir, when he was just a templar, why templars wore their helmets even indoors. He'd explained that it was to remind the templars to keep their distance from the mages, because some day they might be forced to do their duty and kill the mage. At the time, she'd been standing right beside him. Obviously wearing a helmet didn't work. She was surprised the templars hadn't figured that out after so many years.
"The others warned me about you, Apprentice Josslyn, and I'll not fall prey to your wily mage ways," Ser Haggerty warned, standing in front of the door, arms folded.
Josslyn tried very hard not to smile at that because nobody had ever told her she was wily before. Not that he made it sound like a compliment, exactly. She'd have to ask Petra what that word meant. Petra read the dictionary for fun and knew more words than just about anyone else in the tower. Josslyn loved to read, too; just not dictionaries.
She wondered if he would stop her if she put her ear to the door and listened, but then thought better of it. She didn't really think the wall would steal her ear, but she lived in a magical tower and decided she wasn't willing to risk it. If the walls did have ears then they took them from somewhere and she liked where her own ears were. Instead, she paced and tried to count. If it worked for Owain, maybe it would work for her.
Butterflies that felt like they were the size of griffons fluttered around in her stomach as she waited outside the infirmary. He was inside, but she wasn't allowed in because she wasn't sick. Not that Joseph was sick, but all new apprentices had to go to the infirmary, just in case. Just in case of what was never explained.
Joss gnawed on her lower lip, her butterflies growing. She continued waiting, wondering if something was wrong with Joseph because he'd been in there for a very long time. She paced back and forth, counting the number of butterflies in her stomach.
She knew, by heart, what the routine was for new mages arriving at the Tower. As soon as new apprentices entered the Tower they went to see the First Enchanter, who told the new apprentice all the rules for mages. From there they went to see the Knight Commander, who told the apprentice all the rules for templars and mages, as well as something called fraternizing. As soon as the Knight Commander was finished with the apprentice, a young tranquil came to take the apprentice to the quartermaster for new clothes. After that, they met with a Senior Enchanter to have their abilities tested, and then, finally, they were sent to the infirmary.
"Maker's hairy chin, what's taking so long?" Joss asked nobody in particular. Which was just as well, since Ser Haggerty wasn't likely to answer. He was probably asleep, anyway. Who could tell what was going on underneath the shiny helmet? Maybe that's why they wore the things.
The dinner bell had rung ages ago and all her friends would be gathered at the long tables, eating. She was missing her favorite meal: apple and pork stew. Not that she thought eating was a good idea, as nervous as her stomach was. Then again, feeding the butterflies might settle them down. She sighed and continued counting the butterflies in her stomach.
Just when she was sure the butterflies were beginning to move up her throat, the door burst open and Ser Haggerty uttered a muffled 'ungh' as the door banged into the back of his head. She thought the new templar still had a lot to learn, including how far away from a door he should stand.
She stood frozen, sure her mouth was hanging open. Good, the butterflies could make their escape, she thought as she stared at her brother. He was staring backat her, his hazel eyes big as coins and he looked nervous. And angry. And then he pointed his finger at her and she braced herself, wondering if he was going to cast a spell at her. Ser Haggerty shifted, probably wondering the same thing.
"You didn't tell me I had to wear a gown," Joseph accused heatedly, but then he grinned at her, and her butterflies were gone.
Joss threw herself at him, hugging him fiercely. He hugged her back and then they were both talking at once and, even when she stepped back to look at him again, he held onto her arm. Then, he surprised her by pinching it. Hard. She yelped.
"Ouch! Why'd you do that?" she asked.
"Just making sure," he explained, before hugging her again.
"Making sure of what? That I bruise?" she groused, trying to frown, but her smile just didn't want to go anywhere.
"That I'm not in the Fade again. And why didn't you tell me I had to wear a dress? A scratchy dress. Why'd they take my trousers?"
Joss took his hand and dragged him away from Ser Haggerty, because he certainly didn't need to know that Joss met regularly with her brother in the Fade. He'd flip his bucket if he knew that.
"Don't talk about the Fade like that, Joseph. They'll take your head and mount it on their wall," Joss warned in a whisper, and then was sorry she'd said anything, because he turned as pale as chalk.
"Come on, let's go eat." Food, she'd learned, could cheer anyone up.
She pulled him along, giggling when he tripped over his robes for the third time. He glared at her, which made her giggle even more. She stopped walking for long enough to hug him again. He was warm and solid and not in the Fade, and she couldn't wait to tell him the real rules of the tower.
When they entered the dining hall, it felt like the world had stopped to Josslyn. Everyone stopped talking and they all looked up to see who had dared enter so late. Joseph gripped her hand so tightly she let out a gurgle of protest.
"Find a place to sit, the both of you, and don't look so worried, young man. Everyone's already eaten so I doubt they're still hungry," Senior Enchanter Sweeney said with a smile.
Noise filled the room as everyone went back to their meal and conversations started up again. Joseph loosened his death grip on her hand and she moved among the tables with him in tow, looking for one that had room for both of them. She wasn't about to be separated from her brother so soon.
As they set about attacking their stew, she noticed Petra, two tables away, waving at her and she grinned around a mouthful of bread and stew. "See the girl waving at us? That's Petra. She once ate an entire bowl of cherries, stones and all, because one of the older boys told her that if she ate the cherry stones she would become a tree. But it just made her sick. She's very smart, except for believing that malarkey.
"And that dark-haired boy beside her? That's Niall. He's also smart, but Ser Greagoir says he suffers from being melancholic, whatever that means, so we call him Melon. He gets very homesick sometimes and misses his mother, but he admits he doesn't really remember that much. He was five when he came here."
Joseph nodded around another mouthful of stew and, when he'd finished swallowing, he asked about the tall boy sitting across from Niall. Before she could answer, he scratched violently at his chest.
"I hate this gown. It's so scratchy it feels like I rolled around in nettles," he grumbled.
"It's a robe, not a gown. A magical robe with magical thread sewn in to help with your spells."
"What a load of hooey, Joss. Magical thread? It's just a scratchy old gown."
Joss frowned, suddenly worried that her brother would be very unhappy in the Tower. It was her home, the only one she could remember, and she'd been wearing the woolen apprentice robes forever. For a minute she felt an odd ache in her throat and her eyes burned. What if he hated it here? What if he hated her because she loved the Tower?
"Hurry up and finish eating, and I'll show you how magical thread works," she finally said, wondering just how exactly she was going to do that.
"So, who is that big guy across from Melon?"
"That's Owain. He's thirteen, now, and has just started shaving. Don't talk to him about demons and such, because he gets very agitated and starts counting out loud when you do."
"Who's the goofy looking guy who's grinning at us?" Joseph asked, pushing his empty bowl away from him.
"That's Godwin. He's only eight and still sleeps in the baby dormitory. Enchanter Torrin says he's a natural born merchant because he's a schemer, but he's alright."
After dinner, she led him along the curving halls and down to a practice room. There were no templars around, which meant she really wasn't supposed to go in and practice her magic, but making Joseph happy was more important than a stupid rule.
As soon as the door closed behind them, she whispered a spell and snow began to gently fall from the ceiling. She shivered as the temperature dropped, but Joseph grinned, sticking his tongue out to try and catch a snowflake.
"See, magical thread," she bragged.
Joseph hadn't learned about the different schools of magic, or a mage's natural ability for certain schools of magic. When he did, he'd realize that the thread wasn't really magical, but Joss hoped by then he'd be used to the robes and life in the Tower. As if reading her mind, he turned to her and grinned.
"Bet they'll be sorry to have both of us in the Tower," he said with a wicked gleam in his eyes.
She felt the worry ease. He would be happy, once he'd been there awhile. The Tower was a far cry from their small estate in Dragon's Peak and would take some getting used to, but she'd be patient. And, she vowed to herself, she'd do whatever it took to make him happy.
Then Joss did the one thing she'd sworn she wouldn't do when Joseph arrived. "Did Mother and Father miss me?" she asked, and then wanted to bite her tongue off.
What a stupid thing to ask. Of course they didn't miss her, or they'd have written or something. She was such an idiot to even wonder about that, let alone ask the question out loud. She looked down at the floor where snowflakes were beginning to gather, feeling a sharp pang of envy that her brother had memories of their parents that she didn't. She couldn't even remember what they looked like.
Instead of answering, Joseph slipped his hand into hers and squeezed. "It doesn't matter because I missed you, Jo. Heaps and heaps."
"I missed you, too, Joey."