I flashed her a smile. “Martial arts form. Second kata, actually. Are we working that job today?”
“Yes. I thought we could have Emily’s scones for breakfast, and, um,” she trailed off uncertainly, chewing on the bottom of her lip, shyness getting the better of her.
I patiently waited her out. “Um?”
“A few of the masters want to examine our bond and the summoning spell I used,” she said in a quick rush, not looking up from the ground. “We’ll need to talk to them first.”
I considered that for about two seconds. “That sounds invasive and unpleasant.”
Rena groaned loudly, eyes closed in a pained manner. “Basically. Sorry.”
In a charitable mood, I offered, “I can grab you and run for it, do nothing but shop and eat good food for the next three days until they get tired of chasing us.”
Her eyes popped back open and she stared at me aghast for a moment before she burst into giggles. “You would be so screwed if I took you up on that.”
“I have faith in your good judgment. In that you know it’s a terrible idea.” There, she was smiling again. I seriously said the most ridiculous things just to get her to smile. I wondered if she knew that I didn’t mean half of what poured out of my mouth?
“Well, it shouldn’t take more than an hour, and after that we should be free to head out.”
“Give me another few moments, I’m almost done,” I requested. It had been drilled into me from an early age that unless there was an emergency, you didn’t stop mid-form.
“Sure. Want some tea? I have mint.”
“Sounds good.” I finished the form without speeding up, collected my weapons from near the wall, and sauntered back into the main room. As I moved I could hear people slowly pick up their own weapons practice. Hopefully when I did this tomorrow I wouldn’t be as much of a side attraction. The novelty would surely wear off at some point.
Rena had scones and tea laid out, which I dug into with gusto. “How does she make these scones of hers so light?”
“I have no idea and she won’t share the recipe,” Rena admitted glumly. “It’s too easy of a payment system for her.”
I cast a surreptitious glance at her as I ate a second scone. She really did look better than she had yesterday. She had more color to her skin, without that grey undertone, and she wasn’t sitting hunched in on herself. Maybe that medicine of hers had finally kicked in?
Venn and Tarkington wandered by as we finished breakfast. “We’re expecting three masters this morning,” Tarkington informed me with what might have been a suppressed grimace. “Vonda wants to take a closer look, of course, but also Whit and Bly.” For my benefit he explained, “All of us graduated at more or less the same time, and we often pair our apprentices up with each other on projects. They feel almost as invested in Rena’s summoning of you as I am. I think they want to understand just what went awry.”
He said awry but I heard ‘wrong’ and automatically bristled. It took effort to keep outrage off my face.
“Just answer their questions,” Venn encouraged with a brief pat on both our shoulders before he moved on.
I sighed as I spotted the first mage enter through the front door. “And this morning started out so well.”
Rena grumbled something incoherent and unflattering before pinning a smile to her face. “Master Bly.”
Bly was middle-aged and average with brown hair cropped close, regular features and possibly the thinnest lips I’d ever seen on a person. His mage robes were barely on, open in front and revealed that he had been in the middle of some project that involved paint before dropping everything and racing here. He gave Rena a commiserating look and brief smile, little better than an upwards twitch of the lips. “Rena. I’m glad you haven’t gotten rid of him already, we need to study this in depth.”
I entertained a brief fantasy of breaking his jaw so he couldn’t say more stupid things. “A pleasure to meet you as well, Master Bly.”
To the man’s credit he flushed and shifted uncomfortably. “My apologies. Howard Bly, Mage of the 8th Circle.”
I accepted the hand he extended in a firm grip and might have squeezed a little too hard. (I’d never claimed to be mature.) “Bannen Hach.”
Rubbing surreptitiously at his hand after I let go, he asked Tarkington, “Vonda and Whit are also coming this morning, you said?”
“They indicated to me they would.”
“How is the Council taking this?”
Tarkington gave a shrug. “I haven’t received any word from them other than they had my report and to stand-by.”
“So, they’re being their usual, less-than-helpful selves.”
“That’s about the size of it,” Tarkington agreed dryly.
A female mage and another man I didn’t recognize came in, making a beeline for us. I assumed from the different mentions of her that this was Vonda, Tarkington’s close friend and the three girls’ master. She looked like a well-kept forty, blonde hair pulled back into a tight bun, brown eyes in a heart shaped face. An attractive woman that gave the impression of being even keeled.
By default, that meant the man with her must be Whit, the last master expected. Whit was willow thin, as if a strong wind would blow him over, had platinum white hair, and pale skin. There was literally nothing of substance to the man except dark eyes that gave the impression of seeing through everything. I found him a little unnerving, to be honest.
“Whit,” Tarkington greeted. “This is Bannen, the, ah, man that Rena brought through.”
“Her human familiar,” Whit responded in a very soft voice, staring at me with avid curiosity. “A pleasure, Bannen.”
“Likewise, sir,” I responded, offering a hand and nearly dropping it in shock when he returned it strongly. Alright, maybe he has some deceptive strength lurking in there after all, despite looking like a ghost.
The masters all pulled up chairs comfortably, as if they had done this a thousand times before, and they likely had if they were good friends of Tarkington. I stayed planted next to Rena. I had a feeling that at some point I would have to intervene and drag her away for a break. It might be well intentioned grilling, but this was a grilling session nonetheless.
“When you called your familiar, what preparations did you lay in place?” Bly asked Rena, a notebook on the table and a pencil poised over the pages.
I tried to follow her explanation, I truly did, but all I got were a few the’s, an’s and an occasional noun. I could swear they weren’t even talking in a known language, more like some magical dialect that only mages had a prayer of unraveling. Since the words didn’t make a lot of sense, I studied their faces instead, their body language, and that told me enough. They didn’t like the answers Rena gave them. They didn’t like them because she hadn’t done anything out of the ordinary, hadn’t done anything remarkable, had in fact done exactly what thousands of mage apprentices before her had done.
Call me petty, but I felt a fission of satisfaction that they couldn’t find fault with her.
And I didn’t know what to make of that emotion so I carefully set it aside.
Rena answered calmly enough but I could see the strain getting to her. She found it harder and harder to meet anyone’s eyes and she sat rigid with tension. What I wanted to do was to just pick her up and carry her out of this because really, the good intentions of this interrogation didn’t make it less of an interrogation and a fault-finding exercise. I didn’t know if it was wise to do that, though.
Fuming, I went with a second option, trying to show her some nonverbal support. I sidled in a little closer, shifting so that my leg rested firmly against hers, my hand finding the small of her back. She paused for a moment, flashing me a grateful look, and the tension eased a notch.
“Wait,” Bly flung up a hand. “Why did you just do that, Bannen?”
I tried diverting the question. “Do what? Sorry, I’m not following this magical lingo very well—”
He cut me off with a
n impatient sound. “You shifted closer to her, grounded her with a touch, why did you do that?”
My easy smile fell away and I stared at him hard. I knew what he was suggesting, or trying to suggest, that because I’m male and she’s female, I was trying something. Or that I only reacted like this because of a familiar bond, take your pick. I didn’t care what he was trying to insinuate, it got me mad either way.
“This might come as a complete surprise, Master Bly, but for some reason Rena’s not comfortable being interrogated by four mages who are only interested in finding fault with her.”
“We’re not—” Vonda tried to assure me gently.
“You completely are,” I responded flatly, not taking my eyes from Bly because he was by far the worst of the lot. “You’re so terrified that your own apprentices are going to make a similar mistake and somehow summon a human as well that you’re nearly wetting yourselves. You’re taking that fear and frustration out on her. We’ve now had at least three mages pour over every line, every word of the spell she used to summon me and it clearly isn’t the summoning that’s the reason for my appearance here. Going over this ground again, for the fifth time, isn’t going to yield any more answers for you. But Master Bly, mark me on this, whatever you feel about me being her familiar, remember that I am her familiar, that the bond is in place and aside from that I hold quite a bit of respect for her, because she’s been kind and considerate of me ever since I came through that portal. I like her. You attack her again, even if it is with just words, and I will respond, are we clear?”
Bly’s head jerked back, eyes wide, mouth visibly fishing for words. “Are you threatening me?”
I bared my teeth in a not-smile. “If it feels like a threat, then maybe there’s a reason for that.”
Whit actually choked on a laugh, hand over the lower part of his face in a poor disguise. “Forgive us if we sound like we’re fault-finding, Bannen, Rena. There’s some truth to what you’ve said. Let’s be clear, we are very worried, but I do not think you are at fault at all. I think some outside source has to be in play here.”
I simmered down a little—but only a little. Enough to no longer pin Bly in place with my eyes because I really did feel like launching myself over the table and sinking a fist into the man.
Vonda cleared her throat, trying to draw my attention away from Bly. “I must ask, why did you complete the familiar spell?”
“I didn’t,” Rena responded softly, unconsciously scooting in a little closer to me.
That brought absolute silence to the table. Tarkington let out weary sigh. “She’s correct, at no point did she actually say the rest of the incantation to lock the familiar bond into place.”
Vonda’s eyes went between the two of us, seeing something that I couldn’t, but certainly knew was there. “But it’s clearly in place.”
“I know.” Tarkington left it at that.
“Her own magic finished the incantation with no conscious direction?” Whit sounded like he was speaking more rhetorically than expecting an answer.
I personally didn’t feel that this was much of a surprise. Rena was constantly in minor danger, her health failed her at the most inconvenient times; obviously she needed a dedicated guard and aide. Of course her magic would latch onto me.
Bly cleared his throat and made an obvious effort to not sound antagonizing. “How strong is the bond between the two of you?”
“I don’t have a way to gauge that,” Rena answered hesitantly, with a glance up at me, “but I would say it has a very strong base. He knows exactly where I am at all times.”
“Yes, my apprentices told me about that practical demonstration you did the other day,” Vonda stated, expounding for the others, “Apparently he closed his eyes, had the girls move around the room, his finger pointing to Rena the entire time. No matter where she moved, he knew precisely where she was.”
For some reason that made them give each other some pretty grim looks.
“I do hate things happening that have no logical reasoning or basis,” Whit observed to no one in particular. “Regardless, we know that this bond is not something we can allow for any real length of time. I’d like to see your notes, Tarkington, Rena, and study this some more. For now, I suppose we are waiting on the Council’s response? I thought as much. Then let’s take the opportunity to study the situation as much as we can. If nothing else, it gives us the chance to understand the familiar-mage bond better.”
I swear if one more person at this table suggested that my bond with Rena was ‘wrong’ in any sense, I really would punch something. I took a deep breath, then realized what I had just thought, and frowned, stilling. Where was all this coming from? Was the familiar bond supposed to play on the emotions like this?
With a weather eye on me, Bly requested, “Rena, can you physically walk us through exactly what you did? Perhaps something about the environment put a wrench in things.”
Why did I have the feeling that this was going to take all day?
The benign interrogation did last most of the day yesterday and I could tell by the end of it that Rena just needed time to herself. I made noises about being antsy and wanting to spar in the training yard and the grateful look she gave me told me without words that she knew what I was doing and appreciated it. Rena holed up in her workroom the rest of the day, taking a well-deserved break from people, and didn’t come out again until dinner.
Because of four demanding mages, our plans of yesterday were bumped over to today. I polished off my breakfast while waiting on Rena to finish hers, anticipating getting outside today. I’m really, really not good at staying in one place for long.
Venn walked past our table with papers in hand but paused to ask, “Going out soon, I take it?”
“To my regular job,” Rena joked with a quick smile. “Bannen, you ready? Good, then let’s tackle it. If we get it all done today we’ll make some good coin.”
That sounded promising. “So where are we going and what are we doing?”
“I’ll explain on the way.” To Venn, she said, “We’ll be back tonight.”
“Wait, Rena,” Tarkington popped out of his workroom and held up a staying hand. “You have your medication?”
She blinked, then snapped her fingers. “I forgot. Thanks, Master. Give me a second, Bannen.” So saying, she darted up the stairs, presumably to her room.
I watched her leave for a moment before turning my gaze to Tarkington inquiringly.
Tarkington lowered his voice. “Rena’s lungs are bad. They don’t always let her breathe properly. If she starts to get short of breath, she has medicine packets in her pockets.”
Like I’d seen the other day with that breathing attack? “She was walking about normally with me earlier.”
“Day to day, it doesn’t present her much challenge. It’s stress or too much activity that sets it off. There’s other things, too, but they’re minor.”
“Tarkington, there is no ‘minor’ if she’s injured or sick; tell me.”
“Really minor,” Tarkington tried to assure me but his smile went askew. “She’s developing a skin condition that is almost open sores. She’s becoming increasingly fragile, bruising easily, nails breaking, hair thinning, but we can’t for the life of us figure out the cause. She has ointments and medicines for all of it, just—” Tarkington looked ready to say more but Rena reappeared in that moment.
“Alright, ready.” She gave Tarkington and Venn a smile. “We’ll be back for dinner.”
They nodded understanding and gave me a significant look behind her back. Nodding, I slipped weapons back on before following her out.
As I moved, my mind whirled. A body didn’t just fall apart like that without it being a serious illness. They were obviously aware of that, as she had at least seen one doctor, but…even magic couldn’t cure her? Most healing spells took care of problems like this, didn’t they? I forcefully put the thought aside, as trying to think about this right in front of her would give the game a
way, and I had a feeling that Rena wouldn’t appreciate it.
Rena didn’t exactly look enthusiastic, but there was a confidence in her stride and a tilt to her chin that told me she was looking forward to this job. I had to wonder at this because a good majority of the day yesterday she’d looked anything but confident. It was quite the change of attitude. “Does the job really pay that well?”
“It does,” she informed me with a bright smile. “It’s a little far out of town, do you want to take a trolley car?”
I’d never ridden one, obviously, as they weren’t a thing in my hometown. We weren’t big enough to support a trolley line. I eyed the magical machines that looked something like a brightly colored salt box on wheels and scratched at the back of my head. Did I? “Sure?”
She was already heading for the nearest trolley station. “It’ll be faster that way. And I don’t know how much time I’ll need out there.”
Wait, I thought she knew what all this job entailed. “So what are you doing, exactly?”
“There’s a—no,” she stopped herself, frowning, “I should back up further than that. You like to know how things work.”
So I do. Glad she realized that.
Settling on the waiting bench under a roofed building, she kept an eye out for the next trolley car. “I told you earlier that this city is known for its fine arts, crafting, and magic, right?”
Did she realize that she was literally sitting right next to me? You couldn’t slip a piece of paper between our thighs. I studied her face but the casual way she looked at me, right in the eye, said that she hadn’t done anything to be embarrassed by. She’s shy, I know she’s shy, she’s not touchy feely with anyone else, I’d seen that, so why…oh, uh, she was waiting on a response from me. “Right.”
“Well, one of the side effects of all that fine crafting is some very interesting refuse. We create alloys and metals here that aren’t seen through most of the known world.” Absently, she reached and pulled a stray strand of hair out of my eyes, before her hands moved to illustrate the city around us. “It’s our number one trade commodity. That said, some of it is a bit challenging to dispose of. There’re mages or mage apprentices that are hired on to deal with most of it. However, there’s a few things that are difficult to manage with just regular magic. Aluminum is one of them. Have you heard of it?”
The Human Familiar (Familiar and the Mage Book 1) Page 6