As they pulled up to him the lead wagon ground to a halt. The door on his side popped open. The heads of a man he presumed to be the Ambassador and his wife swiveled to greet him.
“As-salaam-alaikum (peace be unto you).”
Kareef smiled back at them. “Wa-alaikum-salaam (and unto you peace).” He did not bow. It is not permissible to bow or prostrate to anyone but Allah, may He be glorified and exalted.
Introductions ensued. He had never met Ambassador Qusay and his wife Ateeqa before, but they did not appear to mind having him as a traveling companion. One of the guards dismounted and took his suitcase and carried it back to the second wagon, and Kareef climbed into the wagon took a seat.
After a couple of minutes they wagon lurched forward and they continued on.
“So you are coming to Denver with us,” said Ambassador Qusay. “How do you feel about that?”
“Forgive me for asking,” Kareef blurted out, “but how do you know?” As soon as the words left his mouth, he realized he must sound impertinent and felt his face grow warm.
Qusay, however, did not seem to mind the question. “I was informed by the same people who told you,” he said, flicking his glance sideways toward his wife and back again.
Kareef understood immediately. She does not need to know these things. “Forgive me, it was a foolish question. Obviously they would have told you so that your caravan could pick me up.”
“So,” said Qusay, as if this interruption had not even occurred, “how do you feel about it? You do not appear to be very excited.”
And whenever you give your word, say the truth. “I confess I am not completely at peace with it, sir. I am told I am sent on an important hajj, yet I cannot even tell my own family why I have left the madresah and abandoned my studies before graduating. It is as if I am born a second time, cast out naked from my home. I do not understand why I was chosen for this, but I wish that the message had been given to another.”
Qusay regarded him. “He who obeys the Messenger has indeed obeyed Allah,” he quoted. “You should trust that the ones who selected and who are sending you know what they are doing.”
“I hope that is true,” he said. “But wouldn't it be more likely that I would succeed in my task if I knew what I am doing?”
Qusay chuckled at this. “How can I put this tactfully, Kareef? It is entirely possible that you will be far more effective in your task in this particular case, actually, if you do not know why you are being sent. Your observations will not be influenced by preconception...and you will be unable even accidentally to disclose anything to the people you are going to meet.”
He stared at the ambassador, his thoughts scattered like a flock of ducks at the approach of a hunter. Behind the ambassador he could see the man's wife Ateeqa. Her face mirrored his own confusion and curiosity.
Chapter 15
Xander: the first student
“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.”
– Winston Churchill
Gazing out at the remains of Denver from the rooftop, he told himself that he had not lived in vain. There will be a school. All we need is some students. If I can get Lester up to speed in the time I have left, the torch will have been passed. The first class to graduate will become teachers, and the knowledge will spread.
Already, Kristana's artisans had readied two bedrooms and a single classroom to his specifications. If Lester could find someone to get the ball rolling...
The door of the stairwell banded open, startling him out of his reverie. Aria sprang out onto the roof. “They're coming!”
“Eh?” Xander turned away from the edge of the roof to regard her. “Who's coming?”
“Lester.” She clung to the railing for a moment, trying to catch her breath. It was obvious she had dashed up the stairs from her gardens. “And someone he found to be your first student.”
His eyebrows lifted. “Really? Is he back already, then? I wasn't expecting him until after the holidays.”
She sucked in another breath and steadied herself. “No, he's about an hour or two away. A rider came in from one of the checkpoints to tell us.. Looks like our LeStar didn't want to risk the new student changing their mind.”
He shook his head, smiling. “Don't let Lester hear you call him that. He finds it embarrassing that someone who can't even spell his name right is praising him in the local press.” He paused. “Have you told your mother?”
“I was with Mother and her advisors when the messenger came in. We're still putting the finishing touches on the treaty with Texas.”
He heard the unspoken complaint: you should be there helping craft the treaty. He lifted a hand to scratch his beard.
“Why are you wearing those? Are you cold?”
Damn. I forgot about the gloves. “Sometimes.” He moved toward the stairwell. “Maybe we should head down to street level. It's not everyday a new student arrives.”
As they passed the thirtieth floor Aria turned to him. “is is true what I heard? That you're going to give Gifts away?”
He nodded. “Rebuilding the infrastructure will require two basic ingredients: functioning gifts and tech support people to maintain and make them. So since we're starting a school for wizards, which is the second ingredient – the tech support for magic, why not use their practice to generate artifacts to distribute – which are the first ingredient, functioning Gifts?”
She frowned. “But should we really give them away for free? It would help raise money for the school if you sold them instead.”
He sighed. “True. I believe, however, that for school-produced Gifts we should charge what people can afford, i.e. zero at first. When some of them return to their homes, they will be able to make money making them for others if they wish.”
“Why do you say 'some of them' will return to their homes?”
“Becomes some of the first group of them will stay and become the nucleus of our faculty. The best will stay and teach, so that we can be teaching larger and larger numbers of students as we grow.”
“Grow? How big do you think the school will get?”
“As big as it needs to be to get the ball rolling. Think of magic as the new literacy. We Fell because almost everyone is illiterate in magic. That has to change if we want to rise again.”
Finally they reached the ground floor. Xander had to smile inwardly when he caught the guards there ogling Aria when she wasn't looking. Best for everyone if she gets married soon.
As always, the descent down the staircase took its time. By the time they reached the ground floor they did not have long to wait. Soon the familiar yellow coach pulled up in front of the 'scraper, the normal clattering of hooves muffled by a dusting of fresh snow from the night before.
Xander watched Lester emerge from the vehicle, then turn to help a young woman off the coach and accept her baggage as Clem the driver passed it down to him. But where was the new student? No one else materialized, and as the two picked their way through the snow toward him the old wizard was chagrined by his failure to anticipate this. Well, well! He had never had a female apprentice, though really there was no reason a woman wouldn't make a fine wizard. Probably this would not be the time to mention to her that she would be the first female student; she was already out of her element and didn't need to feel any more out of place than she already did.
Her eyes were wide as Lester made introductions. “Now I see why Lester is wearing gray,” said Carolyn. “Is it going to be the school color?”
Xander smiled at this. “You know, I hadn't actually thought of it,” he admitted. “When I started working for the General I chose gray because it attracts less attention than brighter colors and helps remind me that things are not always as black and white, as simple, as officers and rulers would like to think. It's a good idea though, using that color for the school.”
Looking at Aria, he could see that she was struggling to conceal the fact that she was not entirely happy that the first student was so
young and attractive.
“Speaking of rulers,” said Carolyn, turning to Aria, “how should I address you? Lester's been telling me how he and Xander rescued you from the escape prisoners, but he must have forgotten to mention how beautiful you are.”
Aria's lips compressed. “Well, I'm supposed to be Governor some day, but for now I have no official rank or title so just call me Aria.”
“Let's go inside,” said Lester. “Carolyn's father is a smith, so she's used to a warm house, what with the forge built on one side of it.”
Xander smiled inwardly, watching the two women and Lester, who seemed oblivious to the effect Carolyn's arrival was having on Aria. It would be interesting to see how Kristana's daughter handled the competition for the boy's attention.
“Have I missed anything?” said Lester, as they began the ascent. “Any word from Jeffrey?”
“No, we've had no word from the new Honcho yet. He must be having his hands full explaining the situation to his officers and advisors.”
“I imagine so. They were expecting a victory celebration, and instead he has to tell them about a defeat and an alliance with their old enemy.”
Xander stopped on the fourth floor landing, realizing that Carolyn would not be used to so many stairs in Inverness. He huffed and puffed and put on a great show of aged infirmity, trying to help Carolyn not feel like the weakling of the group. But it seemed she was too busy trying to make friends with Aria to notice his performance.
“What's it like, being the Governor's daughter? Do you have, I don't know, princes and rich men vying for your attention?”
“No, it's not a lot of fun, actually,” said Aria. “I hardly ever meet anyone but diplomats, officers, and tutors. She keeps me busy learning about other countries and the details of running this one.”
“But don't you get out? Aren't there, like, official balls and receptions and things like that?”
“Not really. Eventually she's be having me go out to other towns and meet the commanders and such, but for now I rarely get out, and when I do it's always in the company of bodyguards. I used to think her worrying about my being taken hostage was silly...until I almost ended up in Texas as one.”
“That must have been awful for you!”
Aria shrugged. “They were too busy escaping to bother me much. It was harder on our gray men here. Xander got shot rescuing me and nearly died...and Lester went to Dallas instead of me and spent time in a Dallas prison.”
“How awful. But what an adventure it must have been. Lester never mentioned that part to me.”
“Oh, it wasn't all that bad for me,” Lester put in. “I got some peace and quiet to practice my magic when they weren't watching, and the old Honcho wanted me to make things for him, so I wasn't mistreated, until the Pope tried to lynch me. It might have gotten a little tricky at that point if Xander hadn't showed up to get me out of Texas.”
Carolyn insisted on hearing the story, which gave Xander and Lester something to talk about as the group continued climbing.
When they reached Xander's floor, Aria offered to take Carolyn up to the school floors and get her settled into one of the dorm rooms. By that time Xander didn't have to pretend he was getting tired, and he was only to willing to let her take care of that.
Chapter 16
Nathan: the delegation
"כי אני יודע שיש לי התוכניות בשבילך," מצהיר יהוה, "מתכנן לשגשג אותך ולא לפגוע בך, מתכנן לתת לך תקווה ועתיד."
“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
– Jeremiah 29:11
They were clearing the table when the knocking of a fist striking the front door made everyone freeze. He saw a look pass between his parents again. Who could be coming out here at this time of night?
His father strode to the door and opened it. He must have recognized the visitor because the held the door and stepped back.
Six men walked in the front door. When they removed their clothes Nathan gasped. Every one of them was wearing a snow-white robe with a hood and and a star of David on the front with the number 36 in side it, sewn in golden thread.
“Brother Isaac,” said the eldest of them, “we need to speak with you.”
His father blinked. “Follow me gentlemen.” They all filed into the study and Isaac closed the door.
Nathan wished he could be in there to listen. He turned to his mother. “They're like Father! Are they miracle-workers too?”
“Yes, they're Tzaddikim. But you already knew that from the robes.”
“Are there really only 36 of them? Or is that just part of the symbol on their robes? Why weren't we ever told about what Father does?”
His mother just looked at him. “You didn't need to know. We don't brag about him being one. Our neighbors know him only as a farm owner, because we don't talk about it.”
“But why?”
“Nathan,” she said. “You must understand that New Israel has enemies. In times of war the Tzaddikim are helpful, but that makes them a target for assassination. So their identities are secret.”
“How did Father become one of them? Will I be one, when I'm older?”
She shook her head at him. “So many questions you have. Membership in the Tzaddikim, from what I've heard, is only by invitation. Sometimes their sons are asked to join, but simply being the son of a Tzaddik is no guarantee of following in his footsteps.”
Nathan frowned. “Well, I'll be one too, someday.”
Rebekah patted his head. “Don't be in a hurry to plan your life. Being a Tzaddik is not always easy on your father.” She inclined her head toward the study door. “Sometimes you even get visits from the Brethren at awkward times. Beside, you're only sixteen.”
Reminded of the visitors, he tried not to fidget. “What do you think they're talking about in there?”
“I have no idea,” she said. “But if it's anything we need to know, I'm sure we'll find out soon.”
Chapter 17
Aria: opposition research
“A beautiful woman delights the eye; a wise woman, the understanding; a pure one, the soul.”
– Minna Antrim
She supposed it was only inevitable that when they continued up the stairwell without the men Carolyn wanted to talk about them. “Have you known him long?”
“We more or less grew up together,” said Carolyn. “His mother moved into the inn like ten years ago, after Lester's father died.”
“He never mentioned that,” said Aria.
“It must have been hard on him losing a father when he was only eight, but he doesn't like to talk about it.” She paused to take a breath as they climbed up to another landing. “He told me once that someday he was going to kill the Texan who did it, a big redheaded officer.”
Well, that explained why he acted that way during the prisoner escape. “He did.”
“What?”
“He killed him, a big redheaded Texas officer named Brutus. Did it right there in the street in front of the building.”
She tried to imagine the Lester she knew doing something like that. He had wanted to avenge his father's death, but... “How did he feel about it afterward?”
“I don't know,” Aria admitted. “He hasn't talked to anybody about it. From what I've heard, a lot of soldiers, the first time they kill someone in battle, have after-effects. Even if it was someone who was about to kill them, there's usually some guilt once they get past the relief of surviving.”
“But he's just holding it all in.”
“Looks like it.” Aria pulled open the door at the next landing. “This is the floor for the student rooms.”
She showed her the two rooms already redone for the use of students. “You're the first student to arrive, so I guess you have your pick of rooms.”
Carolyn surprised her by picking the one farthest from the stairwell. To Aria's eye it looke
d fairly bleak, with blank walls, simple carpet, a rough-hewn wooden bed and the one narrow window, but the Inverness girl seemed not to notice.
“It's bigger than my room back home!” said Carolyn, setting her bag down by the bed.
“Well, to be fair, if any other female students show up soon, they'll probably be bunking in here with you until more rooms are renovated. Do you have any questions?”
“Yes, actually. It's been a few hours since our last stop so...what do you do for, you know, the outhouse, this far above the street?”
“Oh, I'm so sorry, I forgot.” Aria went to the side door that the girl had probably thought was a closet and showed her the bathroom. It was fun watching Carolyn's eyes when she realized she didn't even have to leave her room to take care of personal business. And when Aria showed her the flush toilet and the sink and tub and that she could get hot water just by turning a spigot, Carolyn was speechless with astonishment for a long seconds.
“No one back home has anything like this, not even at the Inn. How do you do it?”
Aria grinned. “Well, we do have a court wizard. Xander set it all up with the swizzles to pull water from the cisterns and everflames to warm it on the way here.”
Caught by surprise, Carolyn, who had been holding her hand under the warm water streaming from the faucet, jerked her hand back with a yelp when the it got too hot. Aria chuckled and showed her how to mix the hot and hold to get whatever temperature she wanted.
“I don't know what I expected, said Carolyn, “but this is like, more than I've seen even in large farmhouses back home.”
“You have to remember that the founder of the school has a lot of influence here these days. Especially since he and Lester saved us from the Honcho's invasion,” Aria told her. “Xander's an important man these days, and the school is a big deal to him. Since he's important, the school is important, and as our first student that makes you important too.”
Spinspace: The Space of Spins (The Metaspace Chronicles Book 2) Page 5