The Law of Isolation (45 page)

Kevessa headed for the desk below a window on the far wall. Josiah recognized the leather case Gevan had snatched protectively from his hands. What could possibly be inside?

When Kevessa opened it and removed the contents, he was no wiser. She carefully fitted one of the long metal tubes into the other, ending up with a tapered cylinder nearly as long as Josiah’s arm. She raised it to her eye, pointed it at the window, and slid the two tubes in and out until she was satisfied. For several minutes she stared into the tube, shifting it with delicate little movements. Finally she lowered it and held it out to Josiah. “Hold it up to your eye and look through.”

“What does it do?” She didn’t answer, only shook her head and thrust the device at him. He took it carefully from her grasp and looked it up and down. There were clear glass pieces closing off each end, but that didn’t give him any further idea how it worked. He took a deep breath, glanced at Kevessa, and held the small end of the tube up to his eye, just as she had. Maybe she was playing an elaborate joke on him, and would break out in peals of laughter when he made himself look ridiculous following her nonsensical directions.

He’d play along. A little humiliation would be a small price to pay to hear her laugh. He peered through the tube, ready to see nothing, or at the most some silly picture concealed inside.

A bright circle met his eye. He closed the other so he could see it better. Was that the sky? He shifted the far end of the tube downward, and the bright circle blurred into a swirl of colors. When he stopped moving, the colors were still only blurry formless shapes.

“If it’s not clear, move the tubes in and out a bit until the focus sharpens. Different people’s eyes need different adjustments.”

He tweaked the tubes a tiny bit further apart. That produced even blurrier smears of color, so he pushed them slowly together. Gradually the forms resolved. A bit more, a bit more…

Josiah gasped. There at the end of the tube was the wall of a building, with the edge of a doorframe and the lantern sconce next to it, looking as if were no more than a foot or two away.

He pulled back from the tube and looked out the window, baffled. The nearest buildings were far across the broad street. He frowned at the device and raised it cautiously back to his eye. This time he saw only a dark smudge, until he twitched the tube to the side and again caught a glimpse of a stone wall, this time with the corner of a window. He had to force his hands to make only tiny movements, or the bright circle swooped and blurred like a poorly controlled window.

A break in the buildings allowed him to glimpse the river. Even the shore on the far side was clear. He spent a few minutes studying the way the water lapped against the reeds growing in the sand of the riverbank. Finally he lowered the device and turned to Kevessa. “What is this?”

“My father calls it a window-glass. He invented it.” She spoke calmly, but Josiah could hear the pride in her voice. “He sought to prove that the ancient wizards used no supernatural power, only clever manipulation of the same forces anyone can master. This was his first successful attempt to duplicate one of their powers.” She smiled without apology. “Though we know now his theory was mistaken, in his investigations he discovered much about the world that no one, not even the ancient wizards, ever knew before.”

“Huh.” Josiah turned the metal tube in his hands. “I guess it is kind of like a window. Except you can only see straight ahead, if nothing blocks you, just like with your eyes. And you can’t see the past—can you?”

“No.”

Josiah looked through the tube again, out toward the horizon. “But you know, I think you can see farther away with this than with a window. The watchers brought us a man once who attacked a woman out in the marshes, and we had to travel across the river to get close enough to be able to show it. But I can see that patch of trees pretty clearly, and it’s way beyond where that happened. And of course, anybody can use it, not just wizards.” He moved closer to the window, sweeping the tube around, studying everything he could capture within the bright circle. “Your father made it? That’s amazing.”

“You really think so? You’re not just flattering me?”

Josiah pulled the window-glass away from his eye and looked at Kevessa in surprise. “Of course I think so.” He floundered a moment before finding words to express what he felt. “It’s better than if he’d only managed to do exactly what the Mother’s power can do, because then it would just be a copy. This is… something completely new, different. Not just the same thing wizards have always been able to do. It’s exciting.”

Kevessa flushed and looked away. Josiah turned to study the device again, both to give her a moment to regain her composure and because it fascinated him. Was the effect produced by the pieces of glass at each end? The big one bulged out while the little one dished in. Maybe if he asked Gevan very politely, without letting on that he’d already messed with his precious invention, the Ramunnan would show him the window-glass and explain the principles of how it worked.

At length Kevessa spoke again. “Do you think this will allow us to see into the chapel while Master Dabiel speaks to the Mother?”

He pictured the little chapel and its surroundings. “Maybe. It depends on whether there’s a tree to climb where we can get the right angle.” He tilted the tube, imagining aiming it down at one of the small, dark windows.

“I’d like to try.”

Josiah looked at Kevessa, surprised at the determination in her voice. “Why is it so important to you? You believe me about the Mother, don’t you?”

She evaded his eyes. “I wish to believe you. But my father has always taught me to believe only the evidence of my own senses. And even then, senses can be fooled by clever illusions. I can’t help but be skeptical. But, Josiah, I do want to believe that the Mother is real, and that she spoke to you. That she might someday speak to me.” She stared at her hands, balled into fists in her lap. After a moment she raised her eyes again to Josiah. “Even if I were able to take your words as truth, my father would not. But he might believe me, if I told him that I had seen her for myself.”

Josiah nodded slowly. If Gevan fully accepted the reality of the Mother, and how the wizards of Tevenar were bound by her will, surely that could only help Master Dabiel in her dealings with him. And he desperately wanted to fulfill Kevessa’s desire.

He handed the window-glass back to her. As she disassembled it and fitted it back into its case, he spoke in a quiet voice. “Let’s do it. Tomorrow is Restday. After the service in the morning I’ll be free for the afternoon. I usually take Sar out to a meadow so he can graze. There’s one in the same direction as the chapel. If the Mother comes, it will be late afternoon, around the same time Master Dabiel started her vigil. We’ll have to get there early and hide somewhere we can see, but be out of sight ourselves, because Elkan and some of the other masters are going to meet Master Dabiel when she’s finished.”

Kevessa nodded at each of his points. “Shall we meet after the midday meal? Say, outside by the fountain. I’ll bring the window-glass.”

“I’ll be there with Sar. I don’t think he’ll be suspicious if you come along with us. He’ll just think—” Josiah flushed and looked away. “Anyway, once we get him settled grazing we can head off to the chapel.” He hesitated, blushing even hotter, but he had to say it. “Do you think you can climb a tree in that?” He gestured toward her voluminous skirt.

She showed no sign of discomfiture. “I have a garment that will be more suitable.”

“Good.” Josiah shifted. He didn’t want to leave Kevessa, but there seemed nothing more to say, and he’d hate to get caught here if her father came back to his room. “It’s going to be time to eat soon. I guess we should head back down to the dining hall. Do you think… I’m sure all the apprentices would like it if you sat with us again.”

“I’m sorry. I promised Father I would return to his table. He was not entirely pleased that I deserted him earlier.”

Josiah strove to hide his disappointment. “That’s all right.”

“I need to go to my room for a few moments. You may escort me there.” She set the window-glass case on the desk in the precise position they had found it and moved to wait expectantly by the door.

It took him a moment to realize what she wanted. He hurried to hold the door open for her and let it close again behind her swirling skirts. She waited for him and paced gravely at his side the few steps down the corridor to her room. He opened that door as well. With a little smile she sank into one of the low bows she had told him was called a “curtsy” and swept through.

He let the door close, feeling bemused. Sometimes she was so formal, holding serenely to the strange customs of her foreign homeland until he had no choice but to go along. Other times she was so casually bold. He’d never have dared attempt the venture they planned if she hadn’t proposed it. Maybe she didn’t fully understand the audacity of what they were going to try. Maybe he should attempt to talk her out of it.

But the next day, when he left the main doors of the Mother’s Hall with Sar and found her seated on the bench by the fountain, window-glass case in her lap, he only grinned, heart racing, and altered his course to pass nearby. She rose as he approached. With a friendly nod to Sar, she asked, “Would the two of you mind if I accompany you on your walk? My father suggested that I might enjoy escaping the city for the afternoon, but I was hesitant to go alone. Master Elkan said you wouldn’t mind escorting me. I persuaded the cooks in the kitchen to pack a snack we can share.” She displayed the leather case.

Josiah was impressed by her duplicity. He couldn’t tell which parts of her story were true and which invented. Maybe she really had talked to her father and Elkan. Surely it would fool Sar. “I don’t mind, if it’s all right with Sar.”
Well?

Why should I object if you wish to spend a lovely Restday afternoon with a pleasant young woman?

Josiah hoped Kevessa didn’t notice his blush.
Thanks.

They set out on the main road that led west. The weather was beautiful, the air crisp, the sun bright and just warm enough to offset the chill of the fresh breeze. Kevessa easily kept pace at Josiah’s side. He noticed she was wearing the promised tree-climbing garb. The skirt was plain, made of sturdy fabric, and much less full than her others, divided so it was almost like loose breeches. It looked as if it wouldn’t restrict her movements much.

They left the tall buildings of the city behind. Soon the small scattered homes and shops thinned out to occasional clusters. The meadow Sar favored was a series of rolling green hills along a small sparkling stream. The herder who tended her flocks of sheep there was always happy to accommodate a wizard’s familiar. Josiah opened the gate in the fence and let Sar through. If it weren’t for that necessity, the donkey could make the trip by himself, but although he was clever enough with his teeth to open the gate, he couldn’t fasten it behind him. They couldn’t repay the herder’s hospitality by letting her sheep wander loose.

Josiah swung the gate shut, hooked it closed, and leaned against it. Sar buried his nose in the waving grass and began tearing up mouthfuls. Usually while Sar grazed Josiah would flop on the warm hillside by the stream and take a nap or struggle through a few more pages of the Histories. But sometimes he’d go off with his friends, so he didn’t think his request to do so today would raise any suspicions in his familiar’s mind. He tried to think of words that would sound natural and casual.

Kevessa made it easy. After a few moments watching Sar graze, she gestured toward the stream. “Where does it go?”

“Down to join the Tarath. A little way upstream is a nice big pool. In the summer sometimes we go swimming there, but in the fall it’s even prettier. There’s a big stand of maples that should be nice and red now.”

“Oh, I’d love to see that! In Ramunna we have nothing like your color-changing trees.”

“All right, I’ll take you there. Sar, we’ll be back before sunset to let you out.”

Sar didn’t pause in his grazing.
Are you sure you don’t need to spend a few minutes with me first?

It took Josiah a moment to understand what Sar was hinting at. When he did, he blushed fiercely hot, ducking his head so Kevessa wouldn’t see.
No! It’s not like that.

As you wish. Just be careful. Enjoy your walk.

Josiah set off toward the stream before Sar could make any more embarrassing comments. By the time Kevessa caught up to him, the flush had mostly worn off, though it was several more minutes before he was able to speak to her. “Once we’re out of Sar’s sight, we’ll branch off and head toward the chapel.”

“Would it be terribly far out of the way to visit the pool you spoke of? I really would like to see it.”

Josiah glanced at the sun. “We should have plenty of time. Come on.”

The maple trees by the pool were close to the height of their color, blazing brilliant red against the green pines that made up the bulk of the woods. The stream fell a few feet from a ledge of rock into the wide pool with a pleasant burble. Kevessa seated herself on a boulder and set the window-glass case on her lap. She opened it and produced a flat bundle wrapped in a white napkin. “See, I spoke the truth. I did bring a snack.” She passed Josiah a round flatbread flecked with herbs.

“How did you persuade the cook to part with that? Flour is like gold to him these days, even with the promise of more in the spring.”

She flashed him a dimpled smile. “I merely asked. He was eager to please me. Men usually are.”

Josiah looked away. His voice was rough. “Do you take advantage of that often?”

She didn’t answer for a moment. When she did, her voice was quiet, and a little reproachful. “Only in harmless matters such as this.”

“Good. Because I’d hate to think we’re only here because I can help you get what you want. I hoped we were becoming friends.”

She had the grace to take him seriously. When he glanced at her, her face was thoughtful. After a moment she said, “I suppose there might have been a bit of that, at first. But mostly I’m here because I enjoy your company, and because you understand my desire to glimpse the Mother.”