Skwyr Court

SolvingAProblem

She beat her wings. The ground rushed past far below her. The wind whipped her face. The people that had once cast her out were so small now. All of her old problems were nothing. She was free.

She tilted her wings and curved her tail, circling around the court. Her claws grazed the treetops as she glided over the forest. People pointed and ran from her, but she didn’t care. She didn’t have to care about anything anymore.

With another flap of her wings, she soared away. Away from the court. Away from the hate. Away from all her problems.

Roshil opened her eyes. She was on solid ground. Her bed. The blankets had been hurled about while she’d slept, but at least she was where she expected to be. She turned over and checked her identification orb. There was still time before the end of curfew.

She stared at the ceiling in the dark, or the black space where the ceiling usually was. What if she stayed in bed all day? For one thing, she’d never hear the end of it from Master Grund. He’d never had occasion to drag her out of her bed before, but there was a first time for everything.

Sitting up, she started to scratch a spot on her back, then caught herself. That particular spot burned, and she knew why. She didn’t know for sure — she refused to let anyone else see it — but she was confident that scratching it would only make it worse. Instead, she laid her fingers on it. Some small part of her thought that maybe it was getting better, that it’d shrunk. That part of her quickly ran for cover when the rest of her laughed at it, reminding her that life was never that simple nor fair.

She made her usual halfhearted attempt at making her bed (she was the only one that could enter her room, so why bother?), then climbed down to the floor. Grabbing clean clothes, she washed up. Before she threw on her undershirt, she examined her back again in the mirror. Among the scars that had once bothered her was that spot. Now that she could clearly see it, she could say for certain that it was not getting smaller.

“It’s spreading,” she grumbled, then threw on her undershirt and tunic.

While she’d been informed by Master Ekla that her body would be undergoing changes (she’d noticed many of them already), she was certain that wasn’t supposed to be one of them. Despite her grievances with the other ones, at least those were normal.

Roshil brushed her hair, then adjusted it so it was shielding her eyes. She’d learned that people didn’t bother her as much when they couldn’t see her eyes clearly. Master Grund didn’t allow her to take goggles out of the forge, and insisted that she didn’t need to wear anything over her eyes. He didn’t bother her about her hair, so she would have to make do with that.

She gathered up her belongings, then checked her identification orb again. Curfew was almost over, so Roshil sat in front of the door and waited.

“I’m starting my second year, and I still can’t leave until curfew’s over. What am I going to get up to that’s so bad?”

She could hear Master Ekla’s voice starting to list off everything, then Master Grund’s voice joined it, with the occasional comments from Kurgm and Oshal.

“I didn’t ask all of you!” she shouted at the empty room. She glared at the door, which she swore was judging her.

After another few minutes, her orb flashed to indicate the end of curfew, and she ran out of her room. Apprentices were filing out of the few doors that led into the rooms of the north tower. While in reality the rooms were stacked together, they all had magic doors that were connected to one of the four doors at the base of the tower. Roshil had asked how the system worked to prevent more than one apprentice ever leaving the same door at the same time, but Master Grund refused to give her an answer. Instead, he’d grumble something about her figuring it out herself.

“Hello, Roshil,” said a small voice.

Surprise, backed up by panic, shoved her frustration away. She drew a sharp breath and turned to face Aonva.

Aonva’s big eyes darted around the corridor, taking in every apprentice that walked past, working with her feet to keep her out of anyone’s way. They landed on Roshil, and she jumped and looked away.

“You’re… you’re up early,” Aonva said. “I… I was going to go to the library.” Her gaze dropped and her hands fidgeted. “Would… would you like to… um… I thought maybe you’d like to go with me. Not that you have to, I’m sure you’ve got something important to do this morning. I know you’re always busy with something, and I didn’t want to assume you’d be free now.”

“I’m free!” Roshil said. She didn’t know if she had anything to do, although she had a nagging feeling there was some schoolwork she hadn’t done yet. She was sure she didn’t have to work on it yet.

“Okay.”

They stood still until some apprentices shoved past them.

“We should get going,” Roshil said.

“Right.”

They started the walk through the castle, heading toward the door to the library.

“Um… your hair’s different,” Roshil said.

“Yeah.” Instead of her normal twin braids, Aonva had put her hair in a bunch of distinct strands, much like Lady Durwey did with her hair. “My hair doesn’t grow like yours. Because my family’s from Bywin, so our hair grows differently, and I didn’t like doing it in the braids, they were actually really uncomfortable, not that I’m complaining, I know people don’t like it when I complain, but Our Lady Grand Weaver gave me a book on different ways to style my hair that would work with it naturally, and this is a lot more comfortable, so I’m trying it this way.” She fidgeted with one of the strands for a moment. “Does it… is it bad?”

“No!” Roshil exclaimed. “It’s fine.”

Was “fine” the word she wanted? She wasn’t good with words. It was easier to ignore people. Except Sirshi; Sirshi didn’t care how weird she was. She didn’t think Aonva cared either.

“It took me a few weeks to get through the book with all the other work I have. Does Our Lord High Artisan give you a lot of work? That’s a stupid question, I know he does. I get work from Master Kaernin, of course, but I’ve been doing research with Our Lady Arch Mage, and that’s taken a lot of time too. It’d be so nice to read books faster, but I don’t want to miss anything.”

That gave Roshil an idea. What if they could read books faster? It’d help her get her work done faster and skip past the boring reading parts. It had been so much easier to learn when the other members of her tribe had shown her instead of telling her to read a dull book that would take her several hours. There couldn’t already be a spell to do it, otherwise Aonva would know about it, but maybe Roshil could make one.

#VolumeThree #SolvingAProblem

Roshil went to the library later that day on her own. She didn’t want to tell Aonva what she was doing yet, lest she send her into a panic. Most things sent Aonva into a panic, but Roshil tried to avoid it if she could.

I’m not going to enchant something without thinking this time, she told herself. I’m not going to enchant it at all. I just want to know if it’s possible.

What’s the point of this then?

The spot on her back burned, but she ignored it and ventured further into the library. She didn’t know exactly where she’d start, but she vaguely recalled something Master Grund had told her about finding out if someone else had already solved a problem before trying to solve it herself.

If some other idiot already solved it, then don’t be an idiot’s idiot.

Roshil still wasn’t sure what an “idiot’s idiot” was, but she was determined not to be one. She’d been told all her life that she was smart, and that meant she had to have the answers when people asked. That was another reason she liked spending time with Aonva; if Roshil didn’t have an answer, then Aonva would. Unlike Roshil, who tended to get bored, Aonva wanted to learn as much as she could.

She took out books on magic, figuring that was a good place to start. Reading books faster was something all mages would want to do, so it made sense that someone else would’ve tried solving the problem already.

Hours passed, but Roshil was no closer to solving the problem. If anything, she’d learned that the library needed some sort of system for searching through all the books. Her normal approach would’ve been to ask Aonva, who seemed to have the entire library tucked away inside her head. Knowing Aonva, this wouldn’t have surprised Roshil.

Roshil left for class without getting any closer to a solution. During history class, she decided that no one had worked out such a spell yet, which meant it was up to her.

“As more immigrants arrived at the court, the citizens began to realize they would soon run out of space. While some people believed the solution was to close the gates and never let anyone else inside, the council ultimately decided to address the situation in other cities. Apprentice Roshil, because I’m sure you’re hanging on my every word as usual, can you tell us why the council decided this?”

Upon hearing her name, Roshil stood up. She thought fast, recollecting what her father had taught her about human nature.

“Because if they took over cities they’d have more room to live?”

There were a few giggles around the room, and the teacher narrowed her eyes at Roshil.

“No.”

Roshil took her seat as the lecture continued.

“The council felt that it was important to address the problem in other cities because if the people coming into the court were happy where they were, they wouldn’t be inclined to move into the court. As a result, the council sent servants out to investigate the situations in other cities. Over time, they learned that the situations were indeed grave, and offered the people of those cities a chance at a better life. The first of these cities to come under the rule of the newly formed Kingdom of Skwyr was Torpn, earning it the title of Skwyr’s Second City. Apprentice Roshil, I’ll give you an easy one this time. What is Torpn most known for?”

Roshil stood up, confident that she knew the answer this time. “Music, theater, good food, and people who don’t keep a close eye on their valuables.”

More giggles from her classmates.

“Good enough,” the teacher said.

Roshil spent the rest of class picking apart the problem. With the goal of trying to read books immediately, she’d have to first translate the book into something magic could use, which probably meant words. Books themselves were often printed with magic, that was how news was circulated around the court. That meant there was already a spell to copy a book. Now she had to figure out how to get it into the caster’s head. She’d have to see the spell for copying books, then change it to send the words to the caster’s head as a messenger spell.

That idea stopped when she remembered the bracelet she’d made for Aonva. If she wasn’t careful, she’d end up only giving the caster a huge headache and a panic attack (although she suspected the panic attack was an Aonva-specific problem).

After class, Roshil went to dinner. Oshal and Kurgm were sitting with Oshal’s new friends. Roshil stole a glare at Kurgm that he didn’t notice. She didn’t know why, but Aonva became noticeably upset whenever the topic of Kurgm came up. Fighting the urge to yell at him on her way past, Roshil went to her usual spot in front of the officers’ table and sat down.

Aonva walked to the table later. Roshil knew this not because she saw Aonva’s face attached to her body, but because she’d never seen anyone else that could walk and read without running into anything.

“Good book?” Roshil asked, glancing at the title. Names of Nature.

“I’ve got a test in nature studies tomorrow,” Aonva said. “I’ve only read this four times, and I’m sure there’s something I’m forgetting. What if it asks for the uses of the strontum flower, or enchin vines?”

“What’s an enchin vine?” The name rang some sort of bell, but she couldn’t place it.

“They grow wild in the forest around dead trees. They soak up nutrients and water, and they’re safe to eat, so they can be used as a source of clean water if there isn’t a river nearby.”

“Right! My father told me about those. No, not him, it was someone else in our tribe. Father said if you ever needed a drink, look for an outdoor restaurant and wait for someone to turn their back.” Roshil waited for a moment, hoping Aonva would try to continue the conversation. She wondered if Aonva realized she already knew all the information. “What’s the strontum flower used for?”

“Healing mostly. It can be rubbed on wounds to disinfect them. Healing spell cards often have it infused into them. When the card is torn, the spell activates, applying the flower to the skin.”

Aonva continued reading during dinner, occasionally informing Roshil about something Aonva insisted would be important. Any attempts to ask about Aonva herself were deflected in favor of her book.

If she had something that could read a book faster, she’d be able to spend more time with me.

While Aonva read her book, Roshil began working through her plan to find a way to help her read books faster, more determined than ever to find the solution.

#VolumeThree #SolvingAProblem

The printing press, while a revolution in the way information was circulated, is not a complicated invention. Animation is the most simple form of magic, and, like the printing press, most inventions are created through some means of it. In the case of the press, a stencil is created, then ink is pressed into the paper.

Roshil growled at the book, then tossed it aside. She looked up at the shelves around her. Every book had either been copied with a printing press or handwritten. The idea of storing a book in some other form of magic crossed her mind, but that was the entire problem she was trying to solve.

What makes you think you can do it if no one else can, you little monster?

The spot on her back burned. She kept flinching, wanting to scratch it again.

“Roshil?”

She nearly jumped when she saw Aonva standing over her.

“You… um… I heard something,” Aonva said, sitting down next to her. “Is… is everything alright?”

I can’t do this. I’m trying to figure out a problem, and I can’t solve it.

“It’s nothing.”

Like me.

“Are you sure? I’m not trying to pry, honest, but I’ve never seen you throw books before.”

Roshil opened and closed her mouth a few times. After last time, Aonva was certain to panic if Roshil told her. But Roshil wanted to tell her. Maybe Aonva could help. Roshil knew she could do it alone, but it’d be faster with Aonva’s help.

She opened her mouth again, but couldn’t find the words. What if Aonva panicked? What if she ran away?

I don’t need anyone.

I don’t need her to know. I want her to know.

“I’ve been trying to figure out a way to read books faster using magic.” Roshil spat out the words before she could change her mind again.

Roshil waited for the panic stricken lecture from Aonva. Something about not learning from her past mistakes, or about how dangerous magic was. Thinking about it more, a lecture about not learning from past mistakes sounded more like Master Ekla, and one on the dangers of magic sounded more like Master Grund.

“Hm,” Aonva said. “That’d be interesting. We’ve figured out how to send messages to one another, so it’d be possible to convert the text of a book to something we could take in our heads. Sort of like a long messenger spell.”

Roshil remembered how Aonva’s bracelet had worked and shook her head. “No, that’d be bad. It… um… a constant messenger spell is what… that bracelet… did.”

Aonva frowned at her. Roshil could tell she was thinking about something, but that something usually came out of her mouth as fast as possible.

“That’s what that did?” she said at last.

“Um… yeah. I… It’s stupid now that I think about it, but… I wanted you never to forget about me, so… so I enchanted the bracelet to send a messenger spell with my name to you every few minutes.”

“Oh.” Aonva’s mind churned away again. “I thought you were mad at me.”

“No!” Roshil shouted, then lowered her voice. “Of course not. I just… No, I wasn’t mad. Why would I be mad?”

“You gave me a bracelet that made my head hurt. I thought you must’ve been furious, because it took so long for me to feel the effects. And…”

Roshil waited for her to answer. And what? What was Aonva going to say?

“And what?”

“And… well I’d been studying dragons to try to learn more about your curse because I wanted to try to fix it, which is stupid now that I say it out loud, because of course I can’t fix it, but I wanted to try, because no one had ever cared about what I said before I met you, and you listened to me that night when we researched dragons, but then I stopped researching them because Kurgm was always so happy when I talked about the Temple of the Rising Sun, so I thought you must’ve been mad at me for stopping my research and focusing on that, but now Kurgm hardly talks to me anymore, and it feels like I’m losing everyone, so please don’t be mad! I didn’t want to tell you any of that because I thought it’d upset you to talk about dragons, and I was so scared when you were taken to the hospital last year, and then the other time a few months ago, and I didn’t want to tell you anything in case it happened again!”

Roshil tried to take in everything Aonva had said. It was always hard to keep up with Aonva, since she talked so fast, but Roshil was sure she caught the word “dragon” in there somewhere. Aonva had been researching the curse to help her. More importantly, Aonva wasn’t mad at her about the bracelet. And there was something about Kurgm in there too.

“I wasn’t mad at you,” Roshil said. “I didn’t know about your research. Although… did you find anything? Like… other symptoms?”

“Not a lot apart from what we already knew. The symptoms vary, sometimes the eyes or hair, like you, but then other times it’ll be strange marks on their faces. It’s almost always the face, though. No one knows much, but you already knew that. I think Our Lady Arch Mage is doing her own research, too. She mentions it sometimes when we talk. She’s really nice.” Aonva’s smile faded. “Why? There’s nothing wrong with asking. I mean…” She glanced at the shelves as though they’d tell her what to say. “It’s fine, you don’t have to—”

“There’s something new,” Roshil said. “I don’t think it’s normal.”

“What is it? I don’t see anything different about you. Are you sure it’s still there? Well, of course you’re sure, why wouldn’t you be? But it’s probably nothing to worry about.”

Aonva gave her an unconvincing smile in a miserable attempt to cheer her up.

“You’re not very good at this,” Roshil said.

Aonva slumped and gave up on the smile, something for which her face was grateful.

“I know, I’m sorry. I don’t want you to worry. Even though I’m worried because I don’t want anything to happen to you. But I’m sure it will be okay. Have you talked to Our Lord High Artisan? I’m sure Our Lady Arch Mage would know what to do.”

Roshil had already dismissed the idea of showing it to Master Grund. No matter what their relationship, she would never feel comfortable removing her tunic around him. She didn’t know Lady Emgard that well, certainly not as well as Aonva did. There must’ve been someone with whom she’d feel less uncomfortable telling.

“I think I’ll talk to Master Ekla about it,” Roshil said. “She had the whole ‘your body’s changing’ talk with me, so it’ll be… less awkward.”

“Oh.” Aonva’s tone and face screamed “kicked puppy”. “Yeah. Of course.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I… It’s nothing you—”

“Aonva, what’s wrong?” Roshil didn’t think pushing too hard was the right way to go with Aonva, but she also suspected it involved Kurgm and wanted to know what Kurgm had done so she could be angry at him for a reason.

“It’s… Kurgm stopped spending time with me, and he was always busy, but it wasn’t like before when he could spend time with me, and now he’s spending a lot of time with Apprentice Demndun, and I don’t know what I did wrong.”

Tears cascaded down Aonva’s face. Anything else she said was lost to her sobs.

Roshil threw her arms around her friend.

“Please don’t!” Aonva shouted. “I get claustrophobic when people hug me.”

Roshil pulled away. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“It’s okay! You didn’t know. That’s probably why Kurgm didn’t like me. I thought he did, but he probably saw what a mess I am, and my mother’s right about me. No one would want to spend their life with me.”

“I would.” Roshil quickly realized how that had sounded. “That’s not what I meant! I’m not saying… I mean… I meant I like you the way you are.”

“Thank you,” Aonva said. “I… I like you the way you are too.”

#VolumeThree #SolvingAProblem

Roshil and Aonva ate dinner in silence. Roshil wasn’t that hungry, but she didn’t want to ignore her stomach forever.

“I… um… I didn’t find anything,” Aonva said. “I didn’t tell anyone, I promise! But I was rereading the books I’ve got on dragons, thinking maybe there was something I missed, but I couldn’t find anything about any other symptoms. I’m really sorry.”

Roshil spotted Master Ekla when dinner finished. She pushed her way through the crowd until she caught up with her.

“Master Ekla, I’d like to talk to you. Please.”

Master Ekla stopped walking and turned to Roshil. “How can I help?”

“Alone, please. In private.”

Roshil hoped Master Ekla would agree quickly, because she wasn’t sure how long she could keep her gaze straight. She could feel her face growing hotter, and really wished Master Ekla would say something.

“Oh. Of course. Follow me.”

Master Ekla led her out of the throng of people and into the corridor between the east and south towers. She opened a door and led Roshil inside. It was an empty study room. Master Ekla walked inside but didn’t sit down.

“What is it?”

Roshil glanced back at the closed door, still reconsidering her plan.

“Um… you said that things would change with me. With… with my body.”

Master Ekla kept her face steady, showing Roshil that she was taking her seriously.

“Whatever it is, I won’t tell anyone else,” Master Ekla said. “I promise. I’m sure it’s natural.”

Roshil shook her head. “I don’t think this is supposed to be happening.”

“Why don’t you show me?” Master Ekla said. “If you’re comfortable, that is.”

Roshil turned around and pulled off her tunic, then her undershirt.

“Are these scars from…” Master Ekla’s voice trailed off. Roshil imagined her face as her eyes landed on the spot below her left shoulder. “I see.”

“It started a few days ago,” Roshil said. “I think it’s been spreading, but I’m not sure.”

“Is it alright if I touch it?” Master Ekla said.

“Yeah.”

Roshil felt Master Ekla’s cold fingers on her back, gently prodding the spot. She waited, hoping Master Ekla would tell her that it was some sort of skin infection, and not what she feared it was. Not what she knew it was.

“I wish I could tell you this was normal,” Master Ekla said. “But… I’ve never seen something like this before.”

“It’s part of the curse, isn’t it?” Tears welled up in Roshil’s eyes. “My eyes and hair weren’t enough, now I’ve got scales growing on me.”

“Let’s not jump to conclusions. You can put your tunic back on.”

Roshil slid her undershirt over her head, then her tunic.

“Have you told anyone else?”

Roshil shook her head, then rubbed her eyes. “I told Aonva that there was something wrong with me, but I didn’t say anything else about it.”

Master Ekla laid a hand on her shoulder, and kept her voice level. “I think we should tell His Lord High Artisan. I know there’s not much chance he’ll be able to do anything about it, but he should be informed.”

“I know I should tell him!” Roshil snapped. She wasn’t a child and didn’t need to be spoken to like she was. “I will, but… I just…”

“You don’t have to show him,” Master Ekla said. “Before you get angry at me for talking calmly, would you rather I be panicking?”

“No,” Roshil mumbled.

“It’d be better if Our Lord High Artisan heard it from you than from me. And I’m sorry, really I am, but I’ll have to tell the council about this. I don’t have to tonight; I can wait until tomorrow, so it’d be best if you told him first thing in the morning.”

Roshil nodded. She didn’t like the thought of telling Master Grund, but he’d take it as well as Master Ekla had. Knowing him, his response would be “So?” or “Good for you, now get back to work!”

“I will.”

Master Ekla smiled at her. “Okay, then. I think it’s time we both got some sleep.”

When they walked out of the room, Aonva was waiting there.

“I wasn’t eavesdropping!” Aonva jumped back, then ran forward. “Honest, I wasn’t! I saw you go off, and I know I shouldn’t have followed you, but I was worried about Roshil, and I wanted to know if everything was alright! I wasn’t listening, I didn’t hear anything, I promise. I was… I was… Is everything alright? It’s not bad, is it? Something normal? Maybe not normal, but not something about which we need worry, is it?”

Roshil looked around the corridor. They were alone. Even then, she kept her voice down.

“I have scales growing on my back.”

Aonva’s eyes grew wide and her mouth hung open. Her eyes flickered back and forth as her mind processed what Roshil had just said.

“I… I don’t… I mean I’m… It’s probably… or… um…”

“You’ll be alright,” Master Ekla said, as much to Aonva as to Roshil. “The court will look after you no matter what happens. So I don’t want either one of you worrying about what you’re going to do about it.”

“I… I noticed something,” Aonva said, fidgeting with her hair. “That’s what I wanted to tell you. Um… There are records of other dragon-touched people, but… not a lot, so maybe there’s not… I think you’re the youngest person to have it happen to you.”

Roshil frowned. She’d never heard that before. She hadn’t dug deep into it, and it’s not like anyone had ever told her about it before Master Grund had a year ago.

“Really?”

Aonva nodded, then started pulling a book out of her pack. “I realized the other people were all adults, usually mages. Obviously, they don’t… I mean, they didn’t have much to say, um…”

“Because they didn’t live long,” Roshil said. “I know. If the dragons don’t get you, the druids will. And that one man that was executed.”

“I’m sorry! I know, I don’t need to remind you, but… I don’t know, maybe it’s different because you’re younger? Or they didn’t notice other symptoms? I—”

“Let’s leave this for another day,” Master Ekla said. “Apprentice Aonva, you did well to find this. I trust you two can find your way back to the north tower without getting into trouble?”

They both nodded, although Roshil felt that that comment was meant more for her than for Aonva.

“Then I’ll be off. Good night to you both.”

“Good night, Master Ekla,” they said.

Roshil watched her go. It was nice to know she had friends in the court, even if everyone else could be called “hostile” at best.

“Thanks,” Roshil said. “For finding that out, I mean.”

“You’re welcome. Um… it’ll… it’ll be okay.”

Roshil smiled at her. Aonva smiled back.

“Yeah. It will be.”

#VolumeThree #SolvingAProblem