by Sharon Green
“Enough!” the man’s superior interrupted, slamming his hand down hard on the table. “This is precisely why the matter has been kept from the populace, to avoid their jumping to such emotional and illogical conclusions! And you of all people should know better than to interpret all the Prophecies so literally. They’ve been correct in predicting some sort of crisis during the twenty-five year reign of each Blending, but what about the rest of it? The Prophecies claim that any Blending not seated in ‘full fairness’ will fail to survive and find victory on the ‘blackest of days,’ but has that happened? Hasn’t every crisis been successfully met during the last century?”
This time the five did exchange glances, for their superior was correct. The contest to seat a new Blending had been carefully controlled every twenty-five years for the last century, and not one of the seated Five had had any difficulty with their crisis.That was what made the populace believe the contests were fair, the lowborn fools. What they didn’t know let their betters live the lives they were born to and meant for.
“Forgive my momentary naivete,” Fire said after a moment, his expression rueful. “Emotionalism is a heady wine, and I clearly drank too deeply. May I ask, sir, what the true state of affairs is? Explanations will aid our ability to assist in the matter.”
“Yes, I suppose they will,” his superior grudged sourly, now sitting back. “Although each of you is the Seated High in your respective aspects, you’ve been given little or nothing of the details. That was because you worked with the applicants who came here to unseat you, and the Advisors to the Five had no wish to distract you from so important a task. Knowing in advance the weaknesses and bad habits of your opponents will let you defeat them during the challenges, an outcome we all wish to see.”
The five men smiled with pleased amusement, enjoying the jest as much as they always did, but their attention had not strayed from their superior. They were about to learn things they needed to know, and those who meant to survive in their world always listened carefully at such times.
“Our disturbance over the Prophecies is really quite simple,” their superior began, putting the tips of his fingers together before his face. “Somehow or other the threat of the Four will come to pass, but just how that will happen doesn’t concern us at the moment. What does concern us is the very unreasonable—but easily reached—conclusion that our chosen Blending will fail against the threat. Past experience has shown us that the opposite is true, as there’s no reason to believe that this ‘crisis’ will be any different from previous ones.”
“And yet a ‘special’ Blending will appear to do the job for them. Not only will such an appearance be unnecessary, it will threaten the very successful arrangement we and our predecessors have enjoyed for the past century. They won’t be found among the nobility, not when they’re described as ‘springing from all corners of the land,’ so they must be among the commoners. And they’re certain to appear at the worst possible time from our point of view, so we’re trying to identify them before then. Do you still feel you’ve seen nothing to indicate which ones they are?”
All five of his listeners shook their heads slowly, considering the matter with similar frowns. Then Earth stirred in his seat.
“Possibly we would do well to study those applicants who are most likely to actually fit into a Blending,” he suggested thoughtfully. “Most Highs can be forced to work in a group of five, but that doesn’t make them a Blending. My cousins here and I all tried to qualify for the last appointed Blending, but none of us was able to be truly effective in the framework. Our strength is best exhibited when we practice alone, which has to be the case for many of the applicants. The rest will be a much smaller number, and therefore more easily investigated.”
“That point has already occurred to the Advisors,” their superior replied with a nod. “Once the common Blendings are thrown together for the contest, there will be many eyes examining them. We’d hoped to save ourselves the trouble, but apparently that’s not to be. Ah well, we’ll find them eventually, and then they’ll be gotten out of our way. Thank you for your reports, gentlemen, and do enjoy yourselves watching the final sessions and practices of this last batch of applicants. The time ought to be most amusing.”
The five smiled their agreement and rose to their feet when their superior did, then watched him leave the room. Once again he seemed the ordinary, successful businessman, rather than one of the Advisors’ best and most dangerous agents. He came from one of the most powerful noble families in the empire, and hadn’t let his handicap of low-talent status keep him from a most successful career.
“I really dislike that man,” Fire murmured, the look in his eyes no longer mild and unperturbed. “One day I’ll find him in just the right place, and then I’ll leave him as nothing more than a pile of ashes.”
“You won’t touch him, and neither will the rest of us,” Water disagreed with a sound of ridicule. “We all detest him and the others like him, but each and every one of those cripples is safe from us. If we ever did anything to one of them, we’d be barred from studying the dross who come to unseat us. Then we would lose to the peasant, humiliation heaped on top of injury. Of course, then some other nobly born High would displace the peasant, but that would be of very little comfort to us.”
“So we accept being treated like commoners by a cripple, and simply ignore the insult,” Earth added while Fire continued to fume. “The day may well come when one of them falls out of favor, and then he becomes fair game. Until then we see to our own most pressing business, and hope that the proper Blending is appointed this time.”
“One of my sons managed to qualify, as did my brother’s youngest daughter,” Air commented, sounding rather smug. “If either of them is Seated on the Fivefold Throne, our difficulties will be over. They both have an incredibly strong sense of family, and will support us even against the Advisors.”
“I’d very much like to see that,” Water said with a chuckle, obviously enjoying the idea. “Seated High should be a position revered as well as envied and well compensated, and our own blood would make it so.”
All of them agreed to that with laughter, all except Spirit. The man had been very quiet, and Water studied him for a moment.
“What disturbs you, cousin?” he asked at last. “You seem to be—preoccupied.”
“I am,” Spirit admitted with a sigh, then he looked about at the others. “We’ve been told that this special Blending will be gotten out of the way because they’re unnecessary, but a rather disturbing question comes to mind. What if our oh-so-clever superiors are wrong, and the chosen Blending isn’t victorious over the Four? I still can’t see them coming back from the dead, but what if they do appear and win? What happens to us, when the Four was careful to destroy every High they were able to find?”
“Don’t let the hysteria of those fools disturb you, cousin,” Water replied soothingly, putting a hand to the other’s shoulder. “They’ve talked themselves into believing that the Prophecies have actually come true, when anyone with the least amount of intelligence knows that that isn’t so. They’re worried because a common Blending is supposed to defeat their noble choice, so they’re peeking under beds to calm their nervousness. Nothing will come of any of it, you mark my words.”
The others agreed with Water, and Spirit finally unbent enough to join them in a ridiculing laugh. Then they left to find some excellent wine and even better female companionship, and no longer worried about something that would never happen. The infamous Four, returning to enslave everyone in reach! Really…!
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
I didn’t know I’d fallen asleep until I felt a hand shaking my shoulder. I opened my eyes to see Warla bending over the chair I’d just meant to rest in for a few minutes, her expression concerned.
“You look so tired that I hate to bother you, Tamrissa, but dinner is almost ready,” she said at once. “And not only that, but you have a visitor. A lady from the testing people, here to make sure
everyone’s arrived who should have arrived.”
“Did you tell her that that part of it should be discussed with you rather than me?” I asked, fighting to wake up the rest of the way. “I’m lucky I know that I got back here.”
“Oh, I never would have told her anything like that,” Warla protested, now looking upset. “It isn’t my place, and what if you were supposed to do it? Saying something different could have gotten us both in trouble.”
I sighed on the inside while conceding her point with a nod, but not because the possibility worried me. As long as all their applicants were accounted for, those people shouldn’t care who did the head-counting. Warla always worried about getting in trouble over something, and right now I had no strength to argue with her. It was easier to simply let the point go, and take myself down to meet my visitor.
I’d gotten dressed once I’d returned to my apartment from the bath house, so all I had to do was smooth my skirts down against possible wrinkles before heading for the door. Warla followed behind me, but at the bottom of the stairs she slipped past to lead me toward the library. Inside was a pleasant-looking woman in her mid-thirties, who got to her feet with a smile when Warla stepped aside to let me walk in.
“Dama Domon, I apologize for intruding so close to dinner time,” she said, stepping forward to offer a gloved hand. “I’m Eltrina Razas, and I’ll be your liaison to the testing authority. I’m here so late because some of your lodgers were sent rather late, and we wanted to be certain they got here.”
I took her hand somewhat gingerly, never having shaken hands before. It had always been something that only men did, but this Eltrina Razas acted as if it were perfectly natural. She wore an emerald green suit and cream blouse, with a matching cream-and-green hat on her carefully styled brown hair. There was a line of tiny embroidery all along the hem of her skirt where it brushed her shoes as well as along the cuffs of her jacket, an indication that her outfit was rather expensive. But her manner was open and friendly, so I tried to return her smile.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Dama Razas,” I said, ending the handshake as soon as was decently possible. “If you’d like to find out about the people who were sent, you’ll have to ask Warla here. She met them as they arrived, and assigned them to rooms.”
“Because you yourself are one of the applicants, which means you had to be too worn out to see to it personally,” she added with a pleasant nod. “Yes, I quite understand, and in fact expected something of the sort. I’ll just take a moment to speak to Warla, and then you and I will have a brief chat. And it’s Lady Eltrina, not Dama Razas.”
She said that last as if it meant less than nothing, then bustled Warla to one side in order to speak to her. I stood where I’d been left and watched them, not quite knowing how to behave. The woman was a member of the nobility, and dealing with the nobility was something else I’d never done. On a day with so many firsts, it would have been nice if I hadn’t felt half asleep.
I went and sat in a chair to wait, and watched while Warla nervously counted things off on her fingers. When she reached eight she stopped and looked frightened, but Lady Eltrina soothed her with a quick smile and a few words. Then Warla curtsied and left, closing the door behind her, and Lady Eltrina came over to me.
“No, dear, don’t get up again,” she said quickly with another of those smiles as she took the chair opposite mine. “We’ll certainly be friends long before this is over, so you’ll call me Eltrina and I’ll call you Tamrissa. I’m delighted to say your Warla is wonderfully efficient. She knew the names of every applicant and in what order they arrived, and even listed you first.”
“Yes, Warla is an excellent companion,” I agreed, leaning back in the chair because I really needed to. “I’ve never relied on her quite this much before, but I don’t expect to be disappointed. I wonder if I might—ask something.”
“Of course, child, that’s one of the reasons I’m here,” she replied warmly, beginning to take off her gloves. “What do you need to know?”
“I’d like to have one of the applicants—transferred to another residence,” I forced myself to say. The woman now sat in the chair my husband had always used, and I was too tired to push away all the unsettling feelings brought back by old memories. “The man was extremely rude to me, and actually admitted that he didn’t want to be here for the tests. He’s hateful, and I’d like to have him out of my house.”
“Oh, dear,” Eltrina said, and now she looked disturbed rather than encouraging. “I’m devastated to hear you have one of that sort, but I’m afraid there’s nowhere else to put him. All the other residences are full, and we aren’t arranging for any others since all the applicants for this year are accounted for. He hasn’t gone beyond rudeness, I hope. I mean, he hasn’t tried to really insult you?”
She’d begun to look anxious and seriously concerned, asking without words if he’d tried to … do what men always seemed to. I couldn’t keep from blushing at the thought, especially after the way he’d stared at me, but happily the situation wasn’t that bad.
“No, he made no effort to go beyond simple rudeness,” I admitted, more than a little disappointed. “If that changes I’ll have to insist he be sent elsewhere, but I suppose I can live with the situation for now. Is there anything else I need to know about?”
“One or two things,” she answered, that warm smile flashing again. “And you’re so reasonable, I can’t tell you what a pleasure it is to deal with you. Some of the others who volunteered their houses… Well, I’m sure you know how stubborn some people can get. In one case we actually had to withdraw all the applicants, and cancel the agreement making the house a residence. That’s one of the reasons we’re so short of space, but I know we won’t have to do the same thing here.”
She was obviously trying to reassure me, but the thought of losing the protection of residence classification for my house made me want to shiver. Right now that could be the only thing keeping my father from taking it away, so I couldn’t lose the protection. If the arrogant Vallant Ro grew even more rude, I’d simply have to avoid him rather than complain.
“Now let’s discuss one of those things you need to know,” Eltrina continued, her good mood completely restored. “It’s come to our attention that you’ve used the lodging fees we paid to buy food for the applicants. There’s nothing wrong with doing that to start yourself off, but those fees are meant for other things. I’ll be setting a figure they’ll have to pay weekly in order to eat at your table, and the Silver will go directly into your food budget. If one or more of them are unable to pay, I’m afraid you’ll have to refuse them a place at the table.”
“Do I really have to be that … hardhearted?” I asked, at the last moment deciding against saying “uncharitable.” The woman was on my side right now, and I didn’t care to do anything that might change that. “They’ll be living here, after all, and watching people starve while you eat is very—”
“Difficult, I know,” she agreed when I paused to find a substitute for the word heartless. “A sweet, kind girl like you would find it very difficult, and that’s why you won’t be given the choice. Your staff will have strict orders before I leave here, and since their wages will be paid out of the lodging fees along with the rest of the house’s maintenance, I expect they’ll obey completely. In other words, for the remainder of the time that this house is a residence, you’ll no longer really be in charge of it.”
Hearing that was something of a shock, but not an overwhelming one. I’d never been allowed to have anything to do with running the house while Gimmis was alive, and I’d only recently begun to get the hang of how it was done. Not having to bother now was actually more of a relief, but then an uncomfortable thought occurred to me.
“Am I mistaken, or does that mean I can be barred from the table as easily as anyone else?” I asked, now feeling disturbed. “It sounded as if the lodging fees would be disbursed by someone else, and if so I don’t know where I’d get the necessary sil
ver. I don’t have any money of my own, you see, so—”
“No, no, that won’t be a problem,” she soothed, quickly leaning forward in her chair. “You’re correct in believing that you’ll be subject to the same rules as the others, but you haven’t yet been given the silver for living expenses that all applicants are given. I have yours and Pagin Holter’s, who also comes from Gan Garee. He’s one of your seven guests, and if you haven’t met him yet you soon will. And don’t forget about the bonuses in gold that will be offered during your future competitions. If you earn the bonus, you’ll be able to keep it and spend it—but only on yourself. Sharing with other applicants is strictly against the rules.”
Yes, it would be, I realized with a sigh. The bonuses in gold were there to tempt people like Vallant Ro into doing their best, or simply to keep themselves eating if temptation didn’t enter into it. It was an idea easier to get along with than the pass-or-die of the first test, so I couldn’t quite bring myself to criticize it.
“I’m glad to see you’re wearing your identification,” she went on, gesturing to the chain and card I’d put back around my neck. “No one not wearing the same will be served or fed, and I’ll make that clear to the other applicants as well. And the last thing we need to discuss right now is clothing, yours and everyone else’s.”
“There’s something wrong with my clothing?” I asked, glancing down at the peach silk blouse and green silk skirt embroidered with peach that I wore. “This outfit isn’t as good as your suit, I know, but—”
“No, child, you have it backwards,” she said with a very pleased laugh. “Your skirt and blouse are lovely examples of just-less-than top quality effort, but that’s the entire point. Your outfit is still quite expensive, and not all of our applicants can afford to wear the same. That’s why we have a dress code for the sessions, and I’ll explain in more detail in a few minutes, when the others are also able to hear it. Right now I’ll give you your silver, and then we’ll go to the dining room to meet your fellow applicants. Warla was given instructions to call them all down.”