The Wheelwright's Apprentice (23 page)

37

Art greeted Vanni cordially. He actually liked her a lot. She was a sweet, innocent girl who had the Will, and whose life he had saved. That was the way she saw it. His view was that they had saved each othert a s lives. Ever since then she had been interested in him. An interest he didn’t return. Today he was unhappy to see her not only because he knew she brought a summons to see his father, but also as he definitely didn’t want her and Ellary to bump into each other. Nevertheless she deserved courtesy. “It’s good to see you, Vanni, but perhaps not to hear what you have to say.”

She smiled sweetly. “It’s good to see you again too.” She then gave him a big hug. Fortunately as she was so much shorter she was unable to attempt a kiss. “I think you’ve grown a couple more inches.”

“That’s why you look smaller.”

Her slap bounced before it hit. “You’ve been avoiding someone else’s slaps. Have you been a bad boy?” Her smile was definitely flirtatious.

“I’ve been a very good boy. I just wanted to try that idea out.” The one thing he truly wanted to avoid was any suspicion that he had again found someone important to him. He was sure it would get back to his father, the Count. His father had known more about his late girlfriend than he had. Art had done a lot of thinking about his father in the last few months and, setting aside the fact that their father/son relationship wasn’t exactly a usual one, he still had no idea of the agenda his father had set out for him, or why. He had decided that the less his father knew the better. He hoped Vanni hadn’t studied truthreading yet.

“You had better get the news over with. When does he want to see me?”

“Now, of course, when else?” This was the answer the fatalist in him had expected.

A quarter of an hour later they were outside his father’s study in Red City. “Did he tell you to escort me all the way to his door?”

“No, he told me to see you all the way inside.” She gave him another impromptu hug. “That’s alright, as I wanted to see you for a bit. You are the only other person my age I know with the Will. If you have time, I would like to talk. We have a lot in common, and it might help us both to share our experiences.”

Art couldn’t deny that it was a good idea. “On his past form I will be lucky if he gives me much more than five minutes before he has me doing something horrible. Perhaps I’ll be cleaning out the sewers. Let’s see what he says.” He opened the door for her.

His father was more serious than Art remembered, but otherwise was his usual abrupt self. “That was fast, Vanni. Good to see you, Art, it’s been a while.” His father had noticed the same thing as she had. “You’ve grown.” He had a closer look. “Filled out as well, work is good for the body. Just as well, bearing in mind what I want you to do next.”

“Here it comes!”
Art waited to find out.

“It’s time to learn soldiering.”

This was something decidedly different, and Art wasn’t sure he was going to be enthusiastic when he heard the details. His response was neutral. “Yes, Master.”

“Someone is visiting your Master to explain that you are leaving, and I have already arranged for a replacement apprentice so his business doesn’t suffer.” His father was, as always, way ahead of the game.

This was one of those times to be truthful, as he didn’t think Master Jangon would be happy to hear the news. “Three weeks ago my Master had a heart attack and I had to heal him on his kitchen floor while his wife and das wife aughter watched. They know and won’t be too surprised.” He spread his hands. “I’m not the type to let him die.”

“I never thought you were. I hope you learned a lot. It’s amazing what little things can give you away.” Art silently agreed with him. “From tomorrow I will expect you to report to my Arms Master here after breakfast. Vanni here will show you the room I have set aside for you, and since you have never had a proper tour here, she has agreed to show you around.” Art smiled although he knew that Vanni would have a couple of hours monopolizing him. He would have to be careful.

As soon as they were outside the study, Art made Vanni the subject of conversation. “So what have you been doing with yourself, still tailoring?” He pitched his voice as to be matter of fact. Art’s hope was that she, like a lot of girls he knew, would be happy to talk about herself for a while.

This initially proved to be the case. She had been tailoring, she had also been helping her mother and she was much more wired in to what was actually going on in the country than he could have imagined. He managed to get all sorts of fascinating pieces of information out of her as they toured around from stables to kitchens, to herb gardens and the offices where the functionaries worked. She knew all about relations with the neighbouring countries, some of which he had never heard of. She had financial information at her fingertips and she even had insights to local issues.

They stopped by a plasterer who was working on a corridor wall. “Construction is a big issue at the moment; all the building trades are arguing as to how much work Arch and the other Willed builders should be allowed to do.”

“Arch is a builder?”

She gave a cute little grin. “I was surprised too. I thought he did other things. Turns out his name is simply short for ‘Architect’. When he was young he designed buildings. He has quite an eye.”

Art had never even wondered about Arch’s name. It was a reminder to look more carefully at things in plain sight. He tried to steer the conversation back towards her. “You seem to know an awful lot about...” He conjured up a bemused expression. “...lots of different things.”

“I know.” She giggled. “Your father has had me learning a lot of things. I’ve probably been working harder than you with your wheels.”

“Don’t forget the healing.” His mind suddenly caught it. His father had something in mind for her as well. She was being force fed stuff that was varied and useful, but for what? She was just as much in the dark as he was when it came to what the Count intended. They were both part of his curious plans for the future. What was that future? He wondered. “When my father decided that you needed to learn all these things, did he tell you why?”

“Not really. My mother has me learning stuff too.”

Another thought struck. “How well do...I mean your mother and my father...er are they close?”

“It’s alright.” She took his hand. “We’re not related at all!”

He had just fallen down the hole he had been carefully avoiding all day. He had even dug it a bit deeper. He kicked himself for not taking into account that she would be thinking a lot differently than he did. He tried digging himself out. “I meant, are they well attuned to each other?”

“My mother told me she had a fling with him that lasted twenty years, but that rs, but was almost a century ago. Nowadays they are close friends.” She turned serious, squeezing his hand. “I’m told that if you spend a long enough time with someone you end up loving them, hating them or simply not being able to stand their company. With our parents it seems they got on each other’s nerves in the end.” Art had no idea what to say so he kept silent. “I think they started talking again about thirty years later.”

A short time later the tour finished back at the room Art had been given. He could see that Vanni wanted to come inside, and have a few private moments with him. He knew that he would have to spend some private time with her eventually, but right now he desperately needed a break. “Can I entertain you some other time?” He took her hand. “You’ve been a great help today, but there are more than a few things I have to do now.” This time he pulled her into the hug, making sure their heads didn’t come near each other.

* * *

His return to the yard was not a happy one. It took him only two trips to move all his things from his room there to Red City. After that he went looking for Ellary. She was in her room with her head buried in a pillow. He sat beside her and put his hand on her shoulder. She stirred slowly, and turned over. He lay down and held her for a long time.

“I will come back when I can. You know that, don’t you?” was his first effort at verbally comforting her. It wasn’t very effective. They had been lovers for less than a month and were now being torn apart. There was probably nothing he could do short of eloping with her to another country to perk her up. They both knew that with his father’s plans it would never happen.

Art got up and carved a hole in the wall beside her bed, right behind her nightstand. He deepened it, smoothed it and began carving an intricate pattern inside. Ellary was at last moved by curiosity to get up and watch what he was doing. “What exactly is that?” she was eventually motivated to ask, as he finished shaping a brick to serve as a door to the little cubbyhole he had made.

“It’s a small version of the way our ambassadors pass messages to and from home. I can write you and I can Will it here. That’s why I made the pattern. As long as you get something from me, you will know where I am and what I’m doing. I know it won’t be the same as me being here but it’ll be a lot better than not knowing anything.”

“Won’t you be able to flit over here?”

“I really don’t know. He wants me to learn soldiering. He had me doing that for a few days once and I was exhausted and in agony. That was simply with a couple of hours training. After doing it for a full day I may not even be able to stay awake!” He hugged her. “I may be sent so far away I may be unable flit. I may be told to hide my Will or I may be sent to another country. I really don’t know what’s going to happen.” He released her and kneeled back by the hole. “This is a precaution so you will know I’m alright.” He closed the hole with the brick. “If I have to write, don’t expect more than once a week.”

Ellary didn’t think it was too encouraging although she was sure that Art was doing his best. She kept him in her room as long as she could.

* * *

Training with the Arms Master was just as horrid and grueling as Art thought it would be. He never saw a weapon of any sort in his first fortnight. It was made even worse as he was told not to use his Will to make the pain go away pain go. Pain, the Arms Master told him, was a friend that would tell him when he had done enough. Although he could heal himself if he damaged himself, that day’s training would be wasted. “The whole idea right now is to get you in shape!” the Arms Master, Master Jeffy, had said. Art had been thrown into a regimen of running until he dropped, and then working on muscles he only knew about from his anatomy lessons, muscles he now knew much better than he ever wanted.

He had been right; a full day working with the Arms Master left him completely drained. It was so bad that he had to eat a huge breakfast and a moderate lunch, as by the time he finished, it was an effort to get out of the bath. Unfortunately since his muscles ached so much, it was an absolute necessity for him to be able to sleep. Vanni had to wait the length of that fortnight until he got a day off before she could claim some of his time. It wasn’t until the evening as he spent the day in bed. It gave him time to think of what to say - and what not to say.

He only got up reluctantly after Vanni rapped on his door. He was still so stupefied that he had called out “Come in” before he dropped to the fact that he was still in bed. Vanni expected him to be dressed.

She smiled happily at him. “Ready to face the day?”

His position dawned on him. “No, but if you give me a few minutes I will be. Make yourself comfortable.” He Willed an illusory screen for the sake of privacy, patterned with wheels, behind which he made himself presentable. He dropped it when he was finished.

“I’ll have to remember that if I ever want to make an entrance.”

“It was fueled by embarrassment. I seriously deserved to goof off today. You have no idea what it’s been like.”

She grabbed his hand. “I owe you an apology from when I saw you a few months ago.”

“I can’t see why.” he blurted out. Then he recalled. She had helped him design a new face and then asked him, no, told him, that it would wow his girlfriend. His girl who had died days earlier. He squeezed her hand back. “It wasn’t your fault. Nobody told you.”

“My mother knew all along and didn’t say anything.”

“As I said, not your fault.” He sat back down on the bed and looked up at her. “I wouldn’t be surprised if my father expected you to make some comment like that, and wanted your mother to see how I reacted. He is very devious and even though he is a parent, he has never behaved like one. He manipulates my whole life and deliberately keeps me in the dark. Until he explains what he wants of me, I won’t trust him. It’s a hard thing to say about one’s father, but he is not a normal dad.”

They ate together at a place Art had never visited before. Vanni however, was known there. “This is my mother’s favourite,” she explained, “She told me that whenever she wanted to say something really important, she had a good meal here and said it at the end.” She gestured, drawing attention to the plush but sensible surroundings, the relaxing atmosphere and the discrete behavior of the staff.

“This is it,”
Art thought, “
Be nice to her. You like her. She is a good girl who is being manipulated just as much as I am. She is an important friend both now and for the future. Be nice.”
He leaned forward and resolved to listen carefully.

“I believe that we are going to be important to each other in the future.” Not quite to Not qui the point, Art noted. “I believe that your father has plans for both
of us.”