Thawed Fortunes (7 page)

Mar'li gasped, and On'li held up a hand. "You
could always tell that I'rone would kill someone at the drop of a
hat if he thought it was necessary, but Betreec used to tell me
just how badly he would beat himself up after he scared some poor
village guardsman into backing down. I don't know that there is a
single person I've ever met that hated killing more than he did.
The fact that he never flinched away from it if he felt it his duty
is part of what made him so special, but that's why both of his
wives were made of pretty stern stuff."

On'li continued with a frown. "Va'del on the
other hand doesn't feel that kind of regret. He's not bad, and he
doesn't kill capriciously, but he never expressed one bit of sorrow
over the bandits he killed during the fight when I'rone and his
wives were killed. With a good wife or two to make him consider his
actions, he'll never really go wrong, but linking with him had to
be a shock for poor Cindi. Jain probably would have been in a
pretty bad way too, but she's not very powerful, so the link is
correspondingly less invasive. Between that and the fear of what
would happen if the mage killed him, she may have never gotten a
really good feel for some of those kinds of things. That or maybe
she trusts him so implicitly it didn't matter to her when she did
see what he's capable of."

Mar'li's fingers had stopped operating her
loom, and she looked up at On'li with tears in her eyes. "How did
you do it? How did you link with him?"

Those aren't just for Va'del, this is about
Javin too.

"You know that most of the Guadel don't have
children, it seems like there is always too much going on for any
of us to slow down long enough for that. Most of the healers do
though. My best friend the whole time I was one of the Daughters
became a healer about two years before I married Javin."

On'li knew that her sister-wife must be abuzz
with questions, but if so, the younger woman did a good job keeping
her silence. The poor thing was always struggling to be brave, but
On'li knew Mar'li sometimes wondered if Javin could possibly love
his second wife as much as his first. It was a natural fear
considering the decades of history that had occurred before her
marriage to them and nothing that On'li had been able to do had
made things any better.

"She was a year older, and the training for
healers is shorter, so she was married and had just given birth to
a little girl when I married Javin and thought my world was going
to fall apart."

Mar'li started at the information, obviously
surprised to hear that Javin and On'li hadn't always been as happy
together as they were now.

"I was deeply disturbed by what I saw in his
mind. I kept trying to change him, to make him less violent. The
fact that I was so obviously disapproving of such an integral part
of Javin made him just as miserable as I was. Who knows what
would've happened if our patrol hadn't taken us to my friend's
village."

It was obvious that she had Mar'li's
attention, so On'li continued. "We were sitting there watching her
baby sleep when she told me that she'd been wrong all along. She
had only thought she was a pacifist. If it came to protecting her
little girl, she'd kill someone in a heartbeat and never look back.
I think I realized then that almost all of us have a capacity for
violence. It is just that certain people, like Javin, like Va'del,
are more honest with themselves about it all."

Mar'li was in tears, and it would have been
obvious now to anyone that her question hadn't been about how On'li
could stand linking with Va'del. "I try to link with him, but it's
so hard. The violent texture to his mind makes me think about what
happened to me when I was little."

On'li was kneeling before her sister-wife
now, arms wrapped around the younger woman. "Is that what's pulled
at you all these years, what's kept you from ever completely
trusting him? It's okay. He understands and he doesn't love you any
less for it. Just remember that he isn't your father, and although
he does have a bit of a temper, the only time he's ever done
violence was to stop something bad from happening."

Her sister-wife nodded, and On'li felt more
than a little hope that the one small barrier that had remained
between the three of them for so many years was finally about to
come down.

Jain thought once again about retreating to
her room to study, but knew each time she did so it was that much
harder the next time to stay out and endure the silence as the rest
of the Daughters continued to ignore her. Actually, now that she
thought about it, having the Daughters just ignore her had been
relatively pleasant compared to the constant, sniping attacks Mali
had instigated since she returned.

Speak of the Dark Powers.

Mali walked over with one
of her friends, and the pair just
happened
to sit in the two chairs
closest to where Jain was trying to make it through a text
outlining the very dry, unimportant history of the smaller towns
established within the last two centuries.

"I know; I only wish I'd been there to see
it. Be'ter said that Va'del tried to run away. That's why the
clumsy coward got hurt. Of course Be'ter really did try to pull his
blow, but how could anyone possibly have expected for their
opponent to suddenly turn their back on him like that?"

Mali giggled and tossed her
long, black hair in response to some comment from her friend. "I
guess since we are talking about
him
, maybe Be'ter should have
expected as much. I just wish I could have been there to see it
all. Be'ter's so brave. I mean, it's a stain on all our honor that
Va'del is able to take classes with the candidates,
someone
needs to stand
up to him. Especially after he beat Be'ter in that honor match by
using such underhanded, sneaky tactics."

Jain was seething inside, the breathy way
that Mali said Be'ter's name was almost enough to make her sick,
but she flatly refused to let the two girls know they were getting
to her. The way Be'ter was constantly bullying the younger
candidates into doing whatever he wanted should have been enough to
warn even Mali off, but she instead seemed more and more smitten
with him by the day.

Jain tried, unsuccessfully, to ignore the
rest of Mali's conversation, which revolved around Be'ter's many
supposed virtues, all of which ended up being compared to Va'del's
lack thereof. Under other circumstances Mali's gushing might have
been humorous. The stupid thing couldn't even decide whether Be'ter
would have craftily tricked the bandits into surrendering without
spilling a drop of blood, or whether he would have single-handedly
cut them all down, showing no mercy because of the many crimes
they'd committed.

People that blinded by love should have a
sword put through them, a dull, rusted one.

About the time Mali started in about how
handsome and tall (without being too tall like Va'del was certain
to become) Be'ter was, the time sphere sitting on a shelf opposite
the doorway completed its slow change between colors, and Jain got
up and left.

Thank goodness Ah'bi gave me a reason to be
out of the dormitories after curfew. Extra assignments indeed.

Jain had just left the dormitories when one
of the newest candidates came barreling around the corner and ran
into her. Luckily the boy was so small that even running full tilt
like he was, the impact only sent them staggering into opposite
walls rather than knocking them both over.

The boy threw a muttered apology back over
one shoulder as he sprinted off, a folded scrap of paper clasped
tightly in his little hand, leaving Jain to stare bemusedly after
him. It was more than a little unusual for one of the younger
candidates to wander the area just before curfew. A moment's
thought placed him as the newest arrival to the Capital, a shy boy
named Tim'i, who Jain would have expected to cut off his own finger
before knowingly breaking a rule.

The rest of the trip to the cavern where
Va'del had originally come to soak his feet after a day of
harassment by the other apprentices and trainees was as uneventful
as expected.

Carefully making her way around the last few
dark corners, Jain was happy to hear Va'del's breathing, but
surprised when she realized it was coming from the very edge of the
shelf they used as a bench.

"Are you soaking your feet again?"

Va'del groaned slightly as he shifted to make
room for her. "Yes, it turns out that a large number of the
trainees have become incredibly clumsy again now that Alir has been
kicked out of the Guard."

Jain felt disbelief wash over her. "I don't
understand. After all that's happened, after the things you've
done, they've started that kind of petty harassment again?"

Va'del hugged her and then
nodded. "I suspect everything that's happened probably makes things
worse. They look at me and tell themselves I'm not anything
special, that it was just luck, or favoritism, that got me where I
am. Most of them probably think it should have been
them
in that cave
cutting down bandits so they could return home to a hero's welcome.
The fact that Be'ter then proceeded to wipe the floor with me means
that none of the candidates are scared of me either, especially not
while I'm still weak and recovering. They'll probably start in on
me soon too."

"I suppose it completely escapes them that
the only welcome you got was being thrown into a cell without food
or heat."

There was a slight splash as Va'del pulled
out one of his feet and put the other one in the hot water of the
pool. "I guess not."

Jain could hear the discomfort in Va'del's
voice and consequently didn't protest when he changed the
subject.

"Not that I'm unhappy to see you, but I
thought you weren't going to be able to come visit me anymore."

Jain opened her mouth to tell him the lie
she'd spent the last several days preparing, but found she couldn't
get the words out. She'd never been anything but honest with him
and wasn't sure she really wanted to change that now. Even assuming
she was ready to lie, she wasn't sure she could actually lull him
to sleep. All the things that could go wrong as a result of being
honest with him flashed through Jain's mind, but she still found
herself telling him the truth.

"I have to tell you something."

Feeling Va'del stiffen beside her, the
teenager rushed on before he could assume something worse than the
truth.

"One of my instructors sent me here.
Supposedly I'm in her rooms receiving supplemental help as a result
of a 'sudden deterioration of my classroom performance,' but that's
just a cover so I can come here without getting in trouble with the
Mistress."

"Which one?" Va'del's voice had the
distracted sound of someone who was grasping at inconsequential
details in an effort to avoid thinking about what he thought was
coming.

"Ah'bi. You know, my law instructor, the one
who is married to Fi'lin."

Va'del's sudden start revealed that he hadn't
known the last piece of information, and Jain wondered if that was
because the boys didn't gossip as much as the girls did, or if it
was just the result of the way the other boys shunned him.

"I was there helping when Ah'bi and the
healer patched you up. Fi'lin was there for most of the time too,
and he was angry about what happened. Not the yell and throw things
around the room kind of furious, but he was definitely mad. I
didn't understand most of what they said, but he seemed really
worried about what your loss would mean to discipline among the
candidates."

Jain hoped that Va'del's silence was a good
sign and pressed on. "He said he'd all but given up hope on most of
the class as a result of Be'ter's influence and bullying until you
came along and gave them an example of someone who successfully
stood up to him. It seemed like he figured your loss would lead to
things going back to the way they were, so he asked Guadel Ah'bi to
make sure that you would have better odds of winning the next time
you faced off against Be'ter."

"What do you mean?"

"You told me that Jasmin made it easier for
you to put on muscle. It wasn't an augmentation that came with the
link, but a permanent change to your body, kind of like what they
did to make you able to survive outside where the air is thinner.
We did some things like that so that you'd have a chance to beat
him next time."

"So none of you thought I could do it on my
own?" The bitterness in Va'del's voice momentarily surprised Jain
until she made a conscious effort to place herself in his
shoes.

"No, it wasn't that. I mean it was, but not
like you think. We all knew that you weren't fully recovered from
everything, but the kind of changes we did to you are things that
Be'ter's sponsors must have already done to him while they were out
on circuit. I don't think they were supposed to, at least not until
they had approval from all of the instructors. Based on how mad
Fi'lin was, I don't think they ever got that approval."

Jain felt something inside her start
quivering as she realized just how much they'd overstepped their
bounds. Somehow she'd never really expected that he'd be mad, never
thought it would take more than a moment's thought for him to
forgive her. She firmly pushed aside thoughts of all of the other
girls who would line up to be with him if he evidenced any kind of
interest in anyone besides her, and took a deep breath.

"All we did was level things out so that
things were fair again. I'm so sorry, Va'del, I should have tried
to make them get your permission first, but I didn't think. I
didn't want to see you get hurt like that again. I knew he'd keep
trying, and it wasn't fair that he might win again because of
something someone else did for him. He's so terrible, so violent.
He'll kill you if he can, and I couldn't bear that."