Stained Glass Monsters

Chapter Sixteen

Stupid, stuck-up, full of himself, know-it-all, pampered…

Kendall ran out of new things to call Sebastian Montjuste-Surclere and started the list over, stomping a foot in time to each word. What business was it of his to look down on her? She hadn’t been learning magic since she could crawl.

Well, enough was enough. Sebastian could admire himself as much as he liked. The idiots at the Arkathan could gossip and nudge and whisper and smirk at each other. Kendall didn’t need to hang around for that. She had money enough to find a place to stay, and smarts enough to find a job. She’d practice holding pebbles in the meantime, and if it ever looked like she might be able to do more she’d find a teacher. There were plenty of mages outside the Houses of Magic. Better mages.

At least, now that she’d decided to leave, she would be able to see the city. Who would have thought she’d have spent all this time in Asentyr and not even looked around? It was a stupid rule that students of the Arkathan couldn’t leave the Houses of Magic without permission, and Kendall felt as if she was kicking off chains as she marched down Aliace Hill.

Someone walking the other way stopped and turned around, following after her. Busybody. Kendall shot them a withering glare, which didn’t have much effect on Rennyn Montjuste-Surclere. The woman only seemed entertained by Kendall’s expression.

"Been arguing with Seb?" she asked, unexpectedly perceptive.

"No!" Kendall increased her pace, but found her elbow taken in a firm grip.

"Let’s go eat something. There’s a nice-looking teashop down here."

"Don’t you have a kingdom to save?"

"Tea first, then kingdom."

Kendall debated pulling free. "Look, Lady Mon-"

"Oh, call me Rennyn. I don’t have a title and we’ll dump the stupid surname as soon as this is over. Rennyn Claire, no more complicated than that."

"Then why introduce yourself as Montjuste-Surclere?"

"Because it’s simpler right now. Expediency excuses many sins."

Her voice was so bitter that Kendall had to stare, and she was curious enough to follow meekly into a tea-shop full of snotty types who were even less impressed with Kendall than the lot up at the palace. Without the all-concealing blue and black uniform smock, her worn dress marked her as exactly what she was.

"Spiced tea for two and a selection of cakes, please," Rennyn Claire ordered, tucking her bags under the table and gesturing for Kendall to do the same. "So you bored of the Arkathan?"

"They weren’t teaching me anything."

"Are they teaching anyone anything much at the moment? I understood the Arkathan teachers were covering the Hand’s duties, while the Hand mages are off helping the Sentene, who are hopelessly overstretched. They can barely keep up with the natural breaches, let alone the larger ones."

"I know all that," Kendall said, crossly. "I’m not asking them to stop or anything. I’m just putting my own time to better use."

"Having argued with Seb."

"I haven’t argued with anyone."

"Bah. What did he say to you that’s annoyed you then?"

"You’re as bad as he is – you always think you’re right."

"That’s because I usually am." Rennyn Claire smiled provocatively, then sat back as the snooty ladies filled their table with tea things and cakes. "So what is he wrong about?"

"This has nothing to do with your brother."

"If you say so. Have a cake."

It was early for lunch, so Kendall picked at a piece of seedcake, and watched Rennyn Claire put away enough for four. The woman ate with a straightforward enjoyment of all things sweet and sticky, her attention on the people walking past outside. Every time Kendall saw her the circles under her eyes were darker, but except for that brief remark about expediency she acted as calm as she had that day in Finton. Almost as insufferable as her brother.

"Do you think if you just sit there eating I’ll suddenly decide to tell you?"

"I think that the more times I ask the same question, the less likely you are to answer. You’re the one who has to decide whether it costs you anything to tell me."

In other words, she was curious but she didn’t really care. And Kendall had to admit there was nothing stopping her from answering the question.

"…he called me a would-be rote mage."

"What, to your face? Seb’s manners are slipping. Why does it matter what kind of mage Seb thinks you’ll make?"

Kendall groped for words. "It’s what he thinks matters. He acts like the world is full of two kinds of people: real mages and everyone unimportant."

Rennyn laughed. "Not so bad as that. But – Seb is like a musician in a world of the tone-deaf. He loves magic and adores talking about it, and if people can’t tell one note from the other they won’t understand what he’s saying. Does it matter to you what kind of mage you become?"

"A well-paid one." Kendall wasn’t going to pretend otherwise. "Anything that will earn more money than I would selling vegetables and running errands."

"How much more? A deviser, one with the depth of understanding to do more than just repeat back spells they’ve learned, is ten times more valuable than any rote mage."

"Maybe. But I’m not going to suddenly be this magic-is-my-life person. I’ll try and get good at it, but I’m not going to act like it’s the only thing in the world worth doing."

"Fair enough, though treating magic as a profession doesn’t prevent you from becoming a deviser – or being a real mage if you want to call it that. The thing I don’t understand is how leaving all the free food and accommodation helps."

"It lets me get some peace and quiet. The Arkathan is full of idiots who want me to tell them everything about you two, and won’t leave me alone when I won’t."

"So tell them. I doubt there’s anything that most of them don’t know already."

"I’m not there for their benefit."

"Hah." Rennyn drained her teacup and dropped some money on the table. "If nothing else, being able to stand your ground will come in useful when you’re casting. How about this – for the next five or so days I get to be dragged about Tyrland pinpointing incursion points again. Come with me and I’ll give you some tedious lectures on magical theory. When you get back you can decide if it’s worth hanging around the Arkathan any more."

Kendall glowered at the woman while she worked their bags free from beneath the table, but waited until they were outside to say anything.

"I’m not some charity case."

"Would you like me to charge you for lessons or something? It’s not going to cost me anything to talk at you, and will pass some time for me since I don’t find it at all easy to read or write while travelling. Though I do warn you that I’m planning to sleep most of the way to Knifecliff."

"That’s where the next breach will be?"

"Just south of it."

The idea of returning to the front row of the drama of Tyrland’s defence was a good deal less attractive after seeing one of the Night Roamers far too close up. Kendall would never forget that crab-thing’s fleshy mouth. But still, to be able to witness one of the battles which would shape the whole kingdom’s future: it was definitely tempting. And she had to admit that the Montj– the Claires at least acted like they knew more about magic than everyone else put together.

"They’ll start to fret if I don’t show up soon," Rennyn said, starting back down the street. "Come if you’re coming."

Kendall went.

The stable yard of the Houses of Magic was full of horses and coaches. After Rennyn found them the right coach to put their bags in, she disappeared into the Sentene’s barracks. Kendall went to collect her dictionaries, which she’d left on her bed with her smock and a snippy little note resigning from the Arkathan.

Sukata Illuma was reading it. She gave Kendall a long look when she came in the door, then handed the note over. "What changed your mind?"

Kendall hesitated. She liked Sukata, so far as it was possible to like someone who kept herself separate and hardly ever spoke. It wasn’t so much explaining that was the problem – it was convenient that someone was around for her to give a message to – it was just that it was Sukata. Not only was her mother probably going to be in danger on this trip, but the offer of personal tutoring from Rennyn Claire was something Kendall suspected most would-be mages would value a good deal more than she did. And that wasn’t even counting how strange the Kellian were about the remnants of the Montjuste-Surclere family.

"Guess I saw the sense of not cutting off my nose to spite my face," Kendall said slowly. She chewed her lip. "Sukata – why do you stay over here if your mother lives in the next building?"

"That is a rule of the Arkathan. Few are granted an exception, though of course many have now been given leave to return to their families for the duration of the Grand Summoning. And while the building is repaired."

"Are you going to go into the Sentene when you’ve finished with the Arkathan?"

"Perhaps. Sentene mages need to learn how to apply their knowledge in trying situations. It’s a good proving ground."

"Proving what?"

With rare physical expression Sukata lifted one shoulder. "Whether I am capable of more."

More. Just as Kendall had guessed, Sukata wanted to be a real mage. "Walk back with me," she said, picking up her uniform. "I don’t think I’ve much time left."

Kellian could be deceptively obliging. Even though Kendall had barely spoken to her before today, Sukata had answered her questions and followed along now quite as if she would do whatever she was told. But that, Kendall would bet, was because she was more than curious about what was going on. Kendall went back to the stable yard, reaching it just before Rennyn, who was carrying a funny-looking crystal and metal thing attached to a chain.

"Wait here a moment," Kendall told Sukata, and followed her would-be teacher around the other side of the coach. "You can lecture two people as easily as one, can’t you?" she hissed.

Rennyn glanced in the direction where Sukata waited, hidden by the coach. For a moment there was the faintest hint of – dismay? – on her face, but then she shrugged. "True enough." She moved so that she could see Sukata, whose wide eyes and frozen stance made clear that Kendall had spoken too loudly. "Though, unlike Kendall, I expect there’s people you’ll want to ask permission of before going on tours of Tyrland."

"I – yes." Sukata recovered rapidly, making a smart little bow. "Thank you, my Lady. I will be quick." She vanished through the increasing tangle of Sentene and Ferumguard getting ready to depart.

"Nice gesture," Rennyn said, when the Kellian girl was out of sight. "I didn’t expect it of you."

"I knew it would really matter to her," Kendall said, ducking her head. "I couldn’t just tell her where I was going, knowing that."

"Troubling to have a conscience, isn’t it?"

That was the sort of comment which made Kendall remember that this woman was a descendant of Black Queen Solace. Rennyn climbed into their coach and sat fiddling with the crystal thing, fixing a thick bracelet around her wrist, but Kendall stayed outside watching the Sentene and Ferumguard organise themselves. Sukata must have run at full Kellian speed, returning clutching a small bag just as Lady Weston showed up flanked by Captain Faille and Captain Illuma.

"Well, child. You do have a talent for attracting would-be teachers." Lady Weston’s wry tone acknowledged that she herself had failed to teach Kendall anything. "It is good of–" She broke off, looking into the coach, then shook her head, smiling. Rennyn Claire was curled up on one of the seats, deeply asleep. "I will save my speeches, then," Lady Weston continued in a lowered tone. "Take care, you two. Follow the orders you are given. I need not warn you of the dangers, since you have already witnessed what you may face. Most of all, listen. Make the most of this opportunity."

Be good and listen hard. Kendall muttered something appropriate and climbed into the coach, deciding that Rennyn Claire was just as good at taking people over as Ma Lippon. Deciding how things should go, and getting her way by pretending not to care whether you did what she wanted. Or, no – more that she knew you’d do it, because her way was the right way. Surclere arrogance.

Not that Kendall hadn’t just done the same thing to Sukata, who was sitting very upright gazing out of the window not because she was interested in the stable yard, but because she’d really rather stare at Rennyn Claire. Her face was perfectly composed and her eyes were totally lit up. Happy beyond words. Maybe this was why they did it, those people who tried to take you over, who thought they knew what was best.

More likely they just wanted to make themselves feel good.