Convergence

by Sharon Green

  “Truth and opinion are not interchangeable words,” I pointed out, forcing myself to say that despite the drumming of my heart. “When it comes to proving which of us is best, we’ll save the opinion and let the test results show the truth.”

  “You can’t really expect to make a decent showing against me,” Beldara said with a small laugh of incredulity, obviously believing every word she said. “I’m the best there is, girl, and no one has ever been able to prove differently. If you think those flashy dresses of yours will make the difference, guess again. We’ll all be dressed alike for the sessions, so no one will know you currently have more gold than I do. And that’s all you have going for you, take my word on it.”

  I didn’t want to take her word for anything, but her self-assurance was so like what my parents usually showed that I actually felt myself beginning to have doubts. I had to do well in the rest of the tests, my future life and sanity depended on it, but what if she turned out to be right…?

  “It wasn’t wealth that brought her through the first of the tests,” a voice commented as I stared down at my hands, watching my fingers twist about each other. Surprisingly it was Jovvi who spoke, a definite hint of amusement behind the words. “I think you’re deliberately forgetting that, Dama Lant, in an effort to ease the fear Dom Drowd mentioned. No one ever told you you’d be meeting your equals during the tests, so they certainly never mentioned meeting superiors. Now you’re worried that everyone may have been lying to you all these years, and you’ll end up failing and making a fool of yourself.”

  “I’m worried about no such thing!” Beldara spat, her face twisted up into something harsh and ugly, her hands curled into claws in her lap. “No one lied to me, and no equals or superiors were mentioned because I don’t have any! All of you hate my superiority and envy it, so you’re trying to talk me out of it. Well, once the tests start again you’ll be forced to admit you were wrong, so I won’t have anything more to say to any of you until then.”

  And with that she leaned back in her seat and gave her attention to the places and people our coach passed, clearly prepared to carry out her promise. Personally I felt grateful for the proposed silence, but not as grateful as I felt for the help Jovvi had given. I looked at her, trying to find a way to express my thanks, but she smiled and shook her head and patted my hand. Apparently she felt thanks weren’t necessary, which convinced me they certainly were. Later I’d have to find something…

  But right now we were on our way to the tailoring shop, and the route the coach driver took became something of a surprise. We’d driven through the neighborhood I lived in and then passed a section of the business district, but after that we took a sharp left turn. That put us on a street I’d never traveled before, and after two blocks it was actually possible to see refuse scattered here and there on the walks. The farther we went the more refuse there was, along with a growing conglomerate of smells that began to turn my stomach.

  “This must once have been a fairly nice neighborhood,” Dom Drowd commented, gesturing toward the predominantly stone buildings. “The street was decently cobblestoned, but no one has bothered to fix those holes our wheels keep falling into in quite some time. And those small shops and stalls of wood between the buildings may be relatively new, despite the fact that they look old and ready to fall down.”

  “Most shops and stalls like those are made with scrap wood,” Jovvi said, also looking out at what we passed. “That’s why they seem so old, even if they were only just put up. Those who put them up can’t afford paint or any other decorations, of course… What they earn selling their wares goes to keeping them and their families alive.”

  “With existence always so precarious for them, I’ve often wondered why they bother,” Dom Drowd said, sounding as if he discussed a pack of wild and unimportant animals. “They can’t hope to better themselves, not when they have no education, no talents, and nothing of any real value to offer. The government would do us and them a service if they took people of that sort and put them out of their misery.”

  “Well, you may be right,” Jovvi responded, her voice still sweet and even but now far from amused. “I’ve heard that very opinion expressed many times, but there’s always some trouble in defining exactly who can be considered expendable. Why, I’ve even heard the suggestion that most academics fall into that category.”

  “What?” Dom Drowd exclaimed, obviously outraged. “That’s preposterous! Academics are the ones who educate the populace to a knowledge and appreciation of the important things, so how could anyone dare to suggest that we’re expendable?”

  “Now, that was the interesting part,” Jovvi said, looking as if she were trying very hard to remember the point and get it right. “One gentleman pointed out that he learned what he knew about business practices from his father and uncles, so what good had academicians done him? He paid someone to choose and buy the artwork hung in his house, had paid them to decorate it, and even paid to have someone organize his parties and balls. He himself was able to read and write and do his figures—which he’d learned from his parents—so all things academic were completely useless to him.”

  “The louts of this world always tend to believe that,” Dom Drowd said with a deprecating gesture. “You call the man a gentleman out of the goodness of your nature, dear lady, but clearly he was no such thing.”

  “Perhaps not, but the three nobles he spoke with agreed with him,” Jovvi said with a very sweet smile. “The three lords saw no reason for places of learning and people to work in them, since they’d all had private educations. They were also of the opinion that educating anyone who wasn’t nobly born was a waste of time, since the lower orders weren’t capable of really appreciating what was taught. They added that all academicians knew that, but spent their time holding classes so they might have an excuse for feeling superior to their low-class brothers.”

  “Of all the absurd—!” Dom Drowd swallowed the rest of what he’d meant to say, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t thinking it. People learned not to speak against the nobility out loud in the company of strangers, since too many had thereafter been called to account for their indiscretion. No one ever admitted to passing on tales to the nobility for the silver the action brought, but admitting it was hardly necessary.

  “And, of course, there are always those misguided souls who consider the nobility themselves unnecessary,” Jovvi continued blithely on, apparently seeing nothing of the mottled color now staining Dom Drowd’s face. “I’d venture to guess that everyone feels that way about someone, and deciding who is right would be a terribly confusing affair. Don’t you agree?”

  Dom Drowd made some sort of sound deep in his throat, then returned to looking out the window the way Beldara continued to do. Jovvi glanced at me from beneath her lashes, a vast amusement visible in her eyes, and it was all I could do not to cover my mouth and laugh uproariously. It had obviously never occurred to the highly intellectual Dom Drowd that a sweet woman like Jovvi might be making up everything she said. And crediting it to those whose opinion Dom Drowd couldn’t simply brush aside…

  There wasn’t anything in the way of conversation after that, but the trip didn’t last long enough for the time to become uncomfortable. In the midst of the soot-covered stone buildings and rickety wooden stalls and shops was a sturdy two-story house with a walled-in back courtyard. The front of the house obviously faced on another street but the gate into the back courtyard had been opened to allow our coaches to enter.

  By the time we pulled up to the back entrance, people had come out of the house. A moment’s worth of study showed that although one of the men gave all the orders to the servants who were there to help us from the coaches, the woman standing to his left and just behind him had authority of her own. She studied we women as Dom Drowd and one of the servants helped us from the coach, her expression far from dissatisfied.

  There was a short time of confusion when we were led inside, the men being directed to the left and th
e women to the right. Beyond the door leading from the back entrance hall was a spacious workroom with seven seamstresses sewing away at a rather brisk pace, and a small cluster of comfortable chairs just to the left of the door. A tea service stood on a table near the cluster, and the woman I’d seen outside came in to gesture to the chairs.

  “Welcome to our house, ladies, and please make yourselves comfortable,” she said in a voice like starched sand. She was in her middle years with dark hair and eyes, a buxom rather than overweight body, and a bearing that strove to be regal. The end result was more stern than regal, though, like the headmistress of an academy teaching deportment.

  “The girl will serve you all some tea, and then we’ll begin,” the woman said, now gesturing to a servant. “I am Regensi, the one who designed the clothing you will soon be fitted for, and I am delighted to see that two of you are the ideal I had in mind. The style was meant for silk, of course, but cotton has been decreed and so cotton it will be. With you two ladies, it won’t matter in the least.”

  “With them,” Beldara said flatly, certainly noticing the way Regensi spoke only to Jovvi and me. “Are you saying that your marvelous creations won’t look just as good on me? Since I happen to be the best in this group or any other, that doesn’t say much for your supposed talent.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous, girl,” Regensi answered with a withering expression and a dismissive evaluation in a quick up and down examination of Beldara. “Your average prettiness looks cheap beside the glowing beauty of these two, and that would hold true even if you were smothered in silk. They, on the other hand, will be just as outstanding in cotton, so kindly seat yourself and refrain from discussing matters you know nothing about.”

  “I was referring to my ability,” Beldara began to grind out with gritted teeth and a flush to her cheeks, but by then it was clear that she’d wasted her breath. Regensi had turned away to snap orders at two of her workers, which obviously turned her deaf to any and all rebuttal.

  “Don’t let this silliness disturb you,” Jovvi began in turn to Beldara, clearly trying to soothe the girl’s embarrassment and anger. Regensi’s speech had been horribly tactless and insulting, but Beldara apparently had no interest in being soothed. She glared hatred at Jovvi and me before turning abruptly and heading for the chair farthest away from us, and Jovvi gave up her attempt with a sigh. If we and Beldara hadn’t precisely been friends before, now we had probably become enemies.

  “We really must remember to thank Regensi,” I murmured, definitely vexed. “Without her help it might have taken us another two or three days to make Beldara hate us this much.”

  “The feeling was already there inside her, only partially buried,” Jovvi murmured back with a small shrug. “As long as she was able to consider herself completely superior she didn’t care about our respective appearances, but now I’d say she’s begun to develop … less assurance. I can’t say doubt because she doesn’t doubt her beliefs, but this comparison of physical attraction has accessed her rage. From now on she’ll probably be even less pleasant to us than she has been.”

  “Wonderful,” I said with my own sigh. “As if she was all that pleasant to begin with. And what a surprise that this happened over something as hateful as physical beauty. If I could trade my appearance for hers, she’d probably never believe that I would do it in a minute.”

  Jovvi frowned at me and began to say something, but Regensi came back then to remind us about sitting down and having tea. While the tea was served and sipped at for a time, she lectured about how important she was in the world of fashion even if most people had never heard of her. Then she interrupted herself to direct Beldara into a fitting room with one of the fitters, but resumed the lecture once that was seen to.

  Beldara wasn’t kept in the room very long, not by usual fitting standards, but the same didn’t hold true for Jovvi and me. Regensi saw to each of us personally, which lengthened the process almost to the point of exhaustion. The basic skirts and blouses had already been cut to a large, wide fit, and only had to be tailored down to our individual sizes. But that meant checking the draping of the skirt to make sure it fell properly, and opening basted seams to assure that darts would not be too deep and extreme. All of it had to meet Regensi’s concept of perfection, which meant fitting and fixing, fitting and changing, fitting and refixing.

  Jovvi was taken in last, and by the time she came out again even I was tired of sitting and waiting. Beldara had divided her time between pacing all over the sitting area and returning to her chair to stare expressionlessly at the skirts and blouses being worked on by the seamstresses. During one of those times I caught the look in her eyes, which made me want to shiver. If she wasn’t considering the possibility of “accidentally” setting every piece of cloth in the room on fire, I’ve never seen the urge toward vindictive revenge. Or felt the same myself…

  Regensi insisted on making Jovvi sit down for some tea before finally letting us leave, and as much as Jovvi needed those few minutes off her feet she was just as relieved to get out of there as the rest of us. We stepped outside with me, at least, feeling as if we’d been released from prison, unsurprised to find that it was almost evening. Our new clothes had been promised for delivery the next day, and even if they turned out to be ill-fitting rags I had no intention of complaining. Anything to keep from having to go back for another fitting…

  “That was rather expensive for what we’ll supposedly be getting,” Jovvi remarked softly as one of the servants went looking for our coach driver. “I’ve been left with two solitary silver dins.”

  “So have I,” I agreed, surprised by the coincidence. “I wonder if I should be glad I brought only a small portion of the silver I was given yesterday. Do they make a habit of leaving people with only two coins no matter now much they bring in? How would they manage something like that without seeing inside our purses?”

  “I’ve heard that those with Earth magic sometimes have a special affinity for metals,” Jovvi said, her brows lowered as she considered the point. “Apparently that sort can tell how much you have of copper, silver, and gold by sensing them, so there’s never any guesswork involved. Businesses enjoy having someone like that as a clerk, which keeps them from lavishing attention on customers who look likely but actually have nothing to spend. Did they leave you with the same two dins, Beldara?”

  I joined her in looking toward our third, but we might as well have spoken to the wood of the building behind us. Beldara gave no indication that anyone in the world retained life but herself, and she had no interest in talking to herself. Jovvi’s latest attempt to smooth things over between us and Beldara had failed as badly as the first one, but this time Jovvi was more exasperated than sympathetic.

  “People who refuse to accept the world as it is sometimes manage to make it over according to their own specifications,” Jovvi commented, looking at Beldara’s turned back with no approval at all. “More often they find themselves plowed under when the world gets around to remaking them, and usually because those fighting it have no idea of what accommodation means. Some people and situations have to be accommodated if you mean to change the rest, and pretending that that isn’t so is the worst kind of self-delusion.”

  I expected Beldara to respond to that at least, but she continued to stand there hearing nothing and saying even less. I felt tempted to admire her single-mindedness, then decided to wait until I saw how far it got her. My own determination now seemed pale in comparison to hers, but it also seemed a lot more reasonable.

  “I wonder what happened to the second coach,” Jovvi said, bringing my attention to ours and the driver now beginning to drive it over to us. “I know it takes less time to fit men, but there were five of them and only three of us. If they’re already back at the residence, I just may throw a temper fit.”

  “Let’s ask our driver,” I suggested, more than ready to join her in throwing the fit. As the coach pulled up in front of us I added, “Driver, what happened to our co
mpanions? And how long ago did they leave?”

  “’Twaren’t long, ma’am,” the man answered, quickly pulling off his cap. “They come out here an’ talked a bit, then asked if’n they culd go somewheres besides back t’ th’ house. We wus hired fer th’ day, so it makes no nevermind t’us where y’go. When they heared thet, they set the littlest feller up with Zorn, an’ then went off.”

  “That sounds like they made Pagin Holter their guide, and went to have a look at the city,” Jovvi said. “If I weren’t so played out from being used as a lifeless dressform, I’d be interested in seeing the same. You do know the city well enough, don’t you, Tamrissa?”

  “I suspect I don’t know it nearly as well as Dom Holter,” I replied wryly. “My excursions away from home were always carefully supervised and chaperoned, so I know nothing of the sections the men will find most interesting. I do, however, have one small item of interest back at the house, and you ladies are more than welcome to share it with me.”

  “Now you’ve piqued my curiosity, so let’s go back,” Jovvi said with a laugh and one of her brilliant smiles. “Even if it doesn’t turn out to be as good as what the men will find, I intend to tell them it was better.”

  I had to laugh at that, but Beldara was still in her own private world. The servant had already helped her into the coach, and although I’d included her in on the invitation it was fairly clear she had no intention of accepting. Which was just as well, since I had no real interest in sharing my secret pleasure with anyone but Jovvi. I felt certain she would enjoy it as much as I did, and I didn’t care to waste it on someone who was sure to find fault no matter how good it really was.