A white-haired woman sat at a desk beside the entry. “Elkan!” she cried, rising to her feet and coming around to greet them. “You’re back! Welcome home!” She threw her arms around him.
He stooped to return her embrace; the top of her head didn’t even reach his shoulder. “I’m glad to be back, Master Firah.”
“And Sar. We’ve missed you two dreadfully.” Firah embraced the donkey in turn. “Dabiel will be so happy to see you. Go on, she’s in her office. No, wait, let me call someone to help you with your bags first.” She rang a small silver bell on her desk. A girl ran up. “Seriti, call a few of the other apprentices to help you take Elkan and Sar’s things up to their room. We’ve had it ready for you for a week, ever since we got the message you sent from Jianolan,” she told Elkan. “And this must be the fuller apprentice you mentioned. He can have one of the guest rooms.” She addressed herself directly to Tobi. “We have quarters where Mother-touched animals who aren’t yet bonded may stay. If you like, I can have an apprentice show you the way.”
Tobi pressed close to Josiah’s side. Elkan nodded at Firah. “I think Tobi would rather stay with us. This is a strange environment for her. She’s used to Josiah, so if it’s no trouble, perhaps she could share his room for a few days. I’ll help her get settled in before Springtide.”
Firah nodded. Josiah breathed a sigh of relief and made a mental note to thank Elkan for his thoughtfulness. Springtide was only two weeks away. By then Tobi and he both would have to be ready to take up their new lives, but at least they could share a few days of transition.
Several boys and girls around Josiah’s age converged on them, helping unbuckle Sar’s harness and relieving Elkan and Josiah of their packs. Josiah eyed them with interest. From what he knew of the Wizards’ Guild, they must all be in their first three years of apprenticeship, not yet bound to familiars. He watched the oldest of them, a boy who took Elkan’s pack and carried it upstairs. Would he be bonded during the ceremonies at Springtide? Josiah found he didn’t envy the boy at all. He wondered if the apprentice was as well acquainted as Josiah with just how great the demands of wizardry could be.
Josiah felt self-conscious about the travel-stained and battered state of his garments. He would have preferred a chance to clean up before being introduced to the Guildmaster, but Elkan seemed intent on going directly to her office. Josiah trailed behind him, rubbing futilely at a grease mark where he’d wiped his hands on his breeches.
The office was off a corridor that led from a corner of the hall. Elkan rapped at the door. A cheerful voice called, “Come in!”
The woman who rose from her desk to greet them was older than Josiah’s parents, but strong and energetic. Her short brown hair was heavily frosted with silver. She wore a cloak like Elkan’s, the same brown threaded with stripes of yellow and blue, but edged with narrow gold braid. A warm smile lit up her face as she clasped Elkan’s hands. Beside her, an enormous pinkish-white hog heaved itself to its feet and came to snuffle at Elkan and exchange snorts with Sar.
“Welcome home, journeyman. Has your journey been everything you thought it would be?” Dabiel beckoned for them to take seats on the comfortable couches to either side of a low table. Suspended from the ceiling over the table hung an assembly of wires and shapes. Josiah perched on the edge of a couch, his arms around Tobi’s neck, and studied it. An elaborate arrangement of rods depended from wires, all balancing each other, hung with ornaments of glass, wood, stone, metal, and other materials. It turned, each section swiveling independently, in the cool spring breeze that entered through the wide windows.
“All that and more, master.” Elkan sank gratefully into a seat.
Dabiel stopped to scratch Sar’s forehead before she sat. “I trust he’s behaved himself, Sar?”
The donkey gave an ironic swivel of his ears and rolled his eyes. Dabiel laughed. “Do introduce me to your other companions, Elkan.”
Elkan sat up straighter. “Master Dabiel, this is Josiah Potterkin Fuller, an apprentice fuller who joined us in Korisan and has been an invaluable help in all my work. And this is Tobi, a Mother-touched mountain cat who found us near Tathorlith. Josiah, Tobi, this is Master Dabiel Dyerkin Wizard, Guildmaster of the Wizards’ Guild.” He took a deep breath. “My master.”
Josiah’s mouth fell open. He couldn’t help himself. “You never told me your master was the Guildmaster!”
“Would it have made any difference if I had?” Elkan frowned at him. Josiah sank back in his seat, annoyed and a little awestruck. As Guildmaster of the Wizards’ Guild, Dabiel was the head of Elathir’s Council of Guildmasters, the most important person in all of Tevenar.
“And this is her familiar, Buttons,” Elkan said, indicating the hog. The creature’s wide pink snout snuffled over Josiah as it looked at him with beady black eyes.
Dabiel smiled at Josiah’s bemusement. “Would you believe he was a little bit of a piglet I could hold in my arms when the herder first brought him to us? His eyes looked just like the black shell buttons on my favorite tunic. It seemed an appropriate name at the time. I’d have chosen one with more dignity if I’d known what lay in store, for him and for me. Go ahead, he likes to be scratched between the ears.”
Josiah obediently scratched the pig’s broad forehead. Buttons’ bristles were hard and rough under his fingers, laying flat over his body in a thin layer that did nothing to conceal the skin underneath.
“I’m eager to hear your full report, but I don’t want to keep you when you’ve only just arrived. And I have a few things I must get to before the day’s over that won’t wait. But I can clear my schedule for the morning, I believe. Why don’t you bring your records and report here first thing after breakfast? Once we’ve gone over your work I can see about presenting it to the other masters, so we can finish your masterwork review in time for the ceremony at Springtide.”
“About that, master…” Elkan hesitated. “There’s a great deal I need to discuss with you about what happened over the course of our journey. I need your counsel, your wisdom.” He looked at his clasped hands in his lap and spoke softly. “I’m not sure I’m ready yet for mastery. Or… if I’ll ever be.”
Dabiel sobered, regarding him with compassion. “So that’s how it’s been for you, journeyman? I’ll be happy to listen and to advise you to the best of my ability. We can take as long as you need; it doesn’t matter if we miss the Springtide ceremonies. We won’t proceed until you’re sure.”
“Thank you, master.” Elkan nodded without looking up.
“Now go on, get cleaned up and settled in, and I’ll see you at the evening meal. I must get back to my paperwork; Master Resioh of the Minters’ Guild will make a scene at the next council meeting if I don’t get these reports to him on time.”
She ushered Elkan, Josiah, and the animals from her office. Elkan showed Josiah the way to the guest room where he’d be staying, not far from Elkan’s own room on the second floor. Josiah was glad to discover that the Hall boasted a large, well-appointed bath. An apprentice showed up with fresh clothes and took Josiah’s away to be laundered.
Josiah felt greatly refreshed when he reported to the dining hall. The room was packed with people and animals. He sat with Elkan and Dabiel at a round table with several other wizards. Names were offered, masters and journeyman and apprentices and familiars, until his head swam. He was a bit startled at first to see Tobi sharing her meat with two wolves, a fox, and a vulture, but that was far from the only odd combination among the menagerie of familiars. At one point an otter leaped from the floor to the back of a goat, to Sar, to a cow, to the table, which he ran along until he reached his wizard, who fed him a tidbit without breaking off his conversation. Elkan was warmly welcomed by everyone and kept busy telling tales of their journey.
Hadara and Kalti hadn’t yet arrived in Elathir, so the next day one of the other wizard apprentices showed Josiah around the city. Josiah was fascinated by the multitude of centuries-old buildings and throngs of people. Foun
tains and statues decorated every square and intersection. For a while they just wandered and soaked in the sights.
Around midmorning they went down to the river. Josiah leaned on the railing of the great bridge over the Tarath, watching the swirling currents surge underneath. The bridge was a good eight hundred feet long, proceeding in a series of arches across the wide, deep river.
“It’s not usually this high.” Braon, Josiah’s guide, pointed out where the river lapped at the foundation of a building on its bank. “People are saying there’s been a lot of rain up in the mountains, so the snow’s melting faster than normal. All that water ends up here, eventually.”
Josiah nodded. “Yeah, the river in Korisan always runs high in the spring. One year it even flooded some houses.”
“That happens here sometime, but not for a few years. Come on, let’s go down to the docks; you’ve got to see them.” He pointed downstream to where a cluster of ships were moored, a thick forest of masts. “Parts of them are nearly a thousand years old. The fishing fleet docks there, plus the trading ships; they’re the biggest ships in the world. I think one of them’s in port now.”
“Oh, could we go find my brother?” Josiah had almost forgotten about Yered. “He’s a shipwright. I’m not sure exactly where he lives, but maybe I can ask around for him.” Josiah had always thought it would be a simple matter to locate his brother once they reached the city, but he hadn’t appreciated just how big Elathir was until he got here.
“Sure, the shipyard’s between here and the docks.”
The shipyard was a noisy hive of activity, workers busy at dozens of tasks. The first person Josiah and Braon questioned only paused his saw long enough to grunt and shake his head, but after that they had better luck. A woman stopped hammering and directed them toward where the great curving skeleton of a ship’s hull rose above the yard, its sides half-covered with overlapping boards. More shouted requests eventually led to a figure emerging from within the hull.
“They said someone was asking for—Josiah!” Yered hurried over and threw his arms around Josiah. “What are you doing here?”
Josiah hugged his brother. He felt shy, for it had been nearly two years since he’d seen Yered. His brother looked much the way he remembered, except his wavy brown hair was a bit longer and he’d grown a patchy beard. “I’ve been traveling with a wizard. We just got to the city yesterday.”
“Of course. Mother wrote to me about that, but I didn’t realize you’d be coming here. Hold on, let me talk to my master. It’s almost time for the midday break; I’m sure he’ll let me leave a little early.”
Yered poked his head between the ribs of the ship and quickly arranged matters. He led Josiah and Braon out of the shipyard, down a street lined with shops. “Let me buy you two something to eat. There’s a place near the docks; I was planning to go there anyway. I’m meeting Kefira for the midday meal. I guess she won’t mind if I bring you along.” He looked disgruntled. “She’s only in town for one more day before her ship leaves. You’ll like her, Josiah. Everybody else met her at Harvest; she went to Korisan with me for the festival. I was hoping at Springtide… but then they chose her for this voyage, and she was so excited to get a spot on one of the big trading ships. We can wait, I guess.”
“So it’s settled? You’re going to marry her?”
Yered looked away. “Actually, we haven’t talked about it yet. I’d thought, before she left… but now you’re here…”
Josiah stopped and looked at his brother. “You were going to ask her today, weren’t you?” His face grew hot. Yered must be terribly annoyed at him for showing up at the worst possible time and messing up his plans. “I’m sorry. Come on, Braon, we can get our own meal.”
“No, it’s all right. I want you to meet her. There’s plenty of time. I insist.”
Reluctantly, Josiah continued alongside Yered. They arrived at the restaurant, which Yered told them was operated by a pair of masters from the Cooks’ Guild. There were only a few similar places in Korisan, but apparently they were very common in Elathir. They took seats at one of the small round tables scattered in front of the door. The weather was mild enough that the outdoor tables were popular, though gathering grey clouds sent some of the patrons indoors. There were a number of dishes to choose from, all various sorts of fish and seafood; Josiah let Yered select one for him from among the unfamiliar descriptions.
Yered scanned the people walking by in the street. Before their food arrived, his face lit up, and he rose. He took the hands of an attractive young woman and exchanged a kiss. “Josiah, this is Kefira Watcherkin Sailor. Kefira, this is my brother Josiah.”
Josiah clasped her hand in greeting. She seemed nice, with lively eyes and a ready smile. From the way she and Yered stood close to each other and kept their fingers twined together, he could tell they were deeply in love. He felt bad all over again for intruding on Yered’s time with her.
Kefira joined them at the table and placed her order. Yered asked Josiah about his travels, so Josiah told how he’d met Elkan, and some of their adventures. Before long their dishes arrived. Josiah’s was a filet of white, flaky fish, smothered in a rich creamy sauce with strong spices. He’d eaten all sorts of strange food on his journey, but he quickly decided this was among his favorites. No one spoke much while they devoured the meal.
Yered leaned back with a satisfied sigh. “Kefira, Josiah’s told us about his travels; why don’t you tell him where you’re going?”
Kefira didn’t need much encouragement to regale a new audience with the subject that was clearly dear to her heart. “I’m very lucky to get this chance as a second-year journeyman. Usually you’d have to be doing your masterwork to get a berth on one of the big ships. But Master Talman asked me to accompany him when he was awarded the captaincy. We’ll be going all the way down to the outpost at Ziat, almost to the southern boundary stone. We’re taking them supplies, and they’ll have a full cargo for us to bring back, mahogany and teak, sugar cane, fruits and nuts and spices, everything that only grows so far south.”
Braon leaned forward. “Isn’t that the ship Master Odera is going on? And my friend Tana. She was scared to travel so far, but I told her she was lucky her master got picked for the trip.”
“Yes, we’ll be taking a wizard along to visit the folk at the outpost. It’s been a year since the last ship went down, so they’ll have lots of work for her.”
Josiah knew how true that was. But something Kefira had said pricked his curiosity. “Boundary stone?”
“I can hardly believe I’ll actually get to see it. It’s a tower made of rocks, right on the shore, at the tip of a point. Supposedly wizards built it a thousand years ago, when people first came to Tevenar. There’s another just like it up north. The Law of Isolation forbids anyone to sail beyond them.”
“I remember Elkan telling me about that.” Josiah tried to recall what he had said. “It’s so the people in the other parts of the world won’t find us, right?”
Kefira shrugged. “That’s what they say. Nobody in the Sailors’ Guild really believes there are people anywhere else. But we’ll never know, because there’s always a wizard along on any voyage that ventures near, to enforce the Law.”
Josiah mopped up the last traces of sauce from his plate with a piece of bread as Yered paid for the meal. It wasn’t yet time for the midday break to be over, so Kefira took the group to the docks and showed them her ship. It was an impressive sight, at least as long as the Mother’s Hall, with two tall masts. It was moored at the very end of the long pier that extended into the river, towering over the smaller vessels docked along either side.
Kefira put her hands on her hips and surveyed it with pride. “Bet you’ll never get to work on anything so big,” she teased Yered.
Yered shrugged mildly. “We build whatever the sailors and fishers order. She won’t let me forget that the one I’m working on now is just a lowly fishing boat that will never sail a hundred miles from Elathir,” he explai
ned to Josiah and Braon.
“I didn’t say that,” Kefira protested, but her voice still held a mischievous tone. “Every ship has its place. Even if it’s just to provide us with more delicious flounder like we just ate.”
Yered refused to rise to the bait. “I agree. Any chance of getting us on board?”
After negotiation with the sailor on duty, Kefira received permission to give them a tour. Josiah was impressed by everything he saw. They had to keep dodging out of the way of sailors and laborers bringing aboard the supplies the ship would need for its long voyage.
They ended up at the bow of the ship, looking downstream toward where the river met the open ocean. A brief break in the clouds let sunlight sparkle on the water, but soon closed again, fading the world to an even duller grey.
Kefira leaned on the railing and looking toward the horizon. Yered dropped back and put a hand on Josiah’s shoulder. “Hey, Josiah, give me a couple minutes with her, all right?”
“Sure,” Josiah replied. Yered went forward and put his elbows on the railing next to Kefira. Josiah and Braon wandered around the front section of the ship. They tried to puzzle out the purpose of the hundreds of ropes that webbed the masts overhead. Braon had saved some bread from their meal; they amused themselves tossing bits to the seagulls that swooped greedily close. Yered and Kefira stood in the bow, hands clasped, heads bent together.
As fun as seeing the ship had been, Josiah was ready to leave and explore more of the city. Surely Yered must be done by now with whatever he wanted to talk to Kefira about; it had been a lot longer than the couple of minutes he’d requested. “Come on, Braon, let’s tell them we’re ready to go.” He started toward the pair, but something in the poised, breathless way they stood, lost in each other’s eyes, warned him just in time. He grabbed Braon and dragged him back before they got too close.
“What? I thought you wanted to go,” Braon complained.
The Fuller's Apprentice (The Chronicles of Tevenar Book 1) Page 38