Convergence

by Sharon Green

  “Wait,” Rion said as she began to leave. “Where can I find you when the supper becomes possible? At the tavern?”

  “Oh, no, that was really my first time there, and I haven’t gone back,” she said with a small laugh. “The memory of our time together was too wonderful to ruin. I live in Seeleem Street, Wishfon White. First is Wishfon Blue, then Wishfon Green, then Wishfon White.”

  “I’ll find it,” Rion called after her as she fled into the building with a final wave. He really did hate to see her go, and that was very strange. He’d lain with the girl, but other than that knew nothing about her. Why, then, was he even now wishing he hadn’t had to let her go?

  The question was so absorbing that the ladies found him instead of him finding them. Their coach was just behind the one now being boarded, so when it pulled up he helped them inside and climbed in himself. All three of them looked just as tired as he felt, and when the carriage began to move, Tamrissa sighed deeply.

  “On the way home at last,” she said with weary satisfaction. “And if we ladies don’t get to use the bath house first, I vow to poison every gentleman in the residence.”

  “Anything but that,” Rion pleaded with a grin while Jovvi laughed. “Lunch was poisoning enough for one day, so for my part I willingly grant you ladies first use. And since the others surely know what’s good for them, I’m certain they’ll agree.”

  “Good,” Tamrissa said, her bloodthirsty satisfaction unusual but seeming perfectly natural. “I’m really too tired to bother with poison, but I will if I have to. On important worldly matters, one must always stand firm.”

  Rion joined Jovvi’s second laugh, but noticed that Beldara was back to ignoring the world. This time the red-haired woman’s silence seemed more sullen and seething than previously, but Rion was too uninterested to wonder why. He had much better things to think about, like Naran Whist, and when he would be able to see her again. He’d have to get to those competitions as quickly as possible, and then he’d have to win…

  They were nearly to the house before Rion remembered that Jovvi was there, and what his plans had been concerning her. He still found her incredibly, deliciously attractive, but something small had changed inside him. No longer was he willing to harm Coll in order to have Jovvi to himself, which came as a great relief. He liked Coll and valued the man’s advice, and now that would not have to end. Perhaps he would mention Naran to Coll, but then again, perhaps not…

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  Jovvi took a wrap with her to the bath house rather than a change of clothing, and was pleased to find Tamrissa doing the same. They would have to dress again for dinner, and her weary body felt that that was quite soon enough.

  “No sign of Beldara,” Tamrissa remarked as they moved up the walk toward the bath house. “Either she’s already inside, or she’s decided against joining us. And if she’s already here, I’m certain she’ll leave as soon as I walk in.”

  “You outdid her, then,” Jovvi said with an approving nod. “I was afraid you might be foolish enough to let her do better just for the sake of peace.”

  “In a manner of speaking I did just that until lunchtime and then I realized how foolish I was being,” Tamrissa answered, reaching for the door pull. “What was your session like?”

  “Difficult in more ways than one,” Jovvi replied, rubbing her back with one hand as she walked in to find the bath house empty—as she’d known it would be. “That first chair was impossible, and the second one was almost as bad. They generated fields of pitching emotions for us, and we had to balance tiny spheres in the field. You have to use both strength and finesse to balance the emotional field, and once you get it settled with two spheres, they add a third. It goes all the way up to five spheres, with each balance-point different, but I don’t know what happens after that.”

  “After that, I think, are the competitions,” Tamrissa said slowly, also slowing in the midst of undressing. “Jovvi … I kept my progress down to a minimum at first because of what we discussed, you know, not knowing what happened to all those people who passed the test. I still don’t know if I did the right thing by passing so many of the others, but we were told that this is the last week of sessions. Anyone who doesn’t qualify by week’s end won’t have another chance to do it.”

  “We weren’t told that,” Jovvi said with a frown, also pausing for a moment. “What did they say would happen to those who don’t qualify?”

  “Nothing specific, except for being thrown out of their residence penniless,” Tamrissa said, and Jovvi was able to feel the girl’s surge of fear at the thought. “That would be horrible for me, but you shouldn’t mind it much. It would let you continue on with the plans you’ve made.”

  “Would it?” Jovvi asked, finally able to discuss the thoughts she’d had on the subject. “It occurred to me that I’ve never met anyone who’d been through testing for High, and didn’t even know someone who had. The only Middles I’ve ever met weren’t strong enough to qualify for testing, so they don’t count. Have you ever met a former applicant, or know someone who met one?”

  “No,” Tamrissa admitted, and again Jovvi felt a thrill of fear flash through the other woman. “That could mean there are just very few of them, or else—or else no one who fails to qualify really is turned loose. Do you think they’re … killed?”

  “I have no idea,” Jovvi admitted frankly, a faint chill touching her as well. “But we have to remember that death isn’t the worst thing that can be done to you. That’s why I worked as hard as I could, on the theory that a slim chance is better than none. We also don’t know what happens to successful applicants who don’t win a place as High, but whatever it is won’t happen as soon as the result of failing to qualify.”

  Tamrissa silently nodded her reluctant agreement with that, and then they finished undressing in a matching silence. Jovvi led the way into the water, submerged completely to rid herself of the leavings of sweat, then headed for a corner and a headrest where she might soak a little.

  “We can’t stay in here too long, but I’m in no state to just wash and get out,” Jovvi said when Tamrissa came up from her own submersion. “And I’ve been thinking that we ought to tell the others about what we’ve been discussing. They should have the chance to decide which they’d rather risk, success or failure.”

  “That assumes they all have the choice,” Tamrissa pointed out, gliding to another head rest near Jovvi’s. “Judging by all the people in my session who haven’t gotten anywhere—or who are afraid to try—some of the others here will fall into the same category. Or will choose to fall into it, without even considering anything else.”

  “You sound as if you mean someone in particular,” Jovvi commented, turning her head a bit to look at the girl. “Who’s so blindly determined to fail that they’ll take the chance of being killed or worse?”

  “Vallant Ro,” Tamrissa grudged after a moment’s hesitation, her voice low and her gaze on the warm, rippling water around them. “He’s never wanted to be here, and made that perfectly plain right from the beginning. I … mean to apologize for calling him a quitter and a coward, but I’m afraid that’s just what he is. Getting back to the marvelous life he left is all that concerns him.”

  “No wonder he was so convinced you hate him,” Jovvi murmured, uncertain whether Tamrissa heard her. The girl’s misery was so strong that Jovvi could feel it without the least effort, including the other emotions mixed in. That faint jealousy tinged with bitterness, for instance… It was obviously aimed at the fact that Vallant Ro did have a life he wanted to go back to, the sort of “marvelous” life that Tamrissa had never had herself. It’s a terrible thing to have to admit that your parents care nothing about you, and tend to make you believe that everyone else is just the same.

  “And then there’s Eskin Drowd and Beldara Lant,” Tamrissa said after taking a deep breath. “Beldara wants to succeed with every fiber of her being, but I don’t think she’s had much practice in delicate manipulation. S
he probably put on lavish shows for her townful of admirers, throwing giant gouts of flame all around. If you never have to keep your doings small and inconspicuous, you can easily miss the possibility that you might someday need to.”

  “And Drowd almost certainly lacks the self-confidence needed to stretch himself,” Jovvi agreed. “If he didn’t have rather strong feelings of inferiority, he would hardly spend so much time telling people how important he is—and how inferior they are. Or trying to make trouble among those around him. I’ll bet anything you care to name that he didn’t do at all well.”

  “And is now blaming everyone else for it,” Tamrissa said with a nod. “Clarion—Rion, that is, seemed enormously pleased during the ride home, and that leaves Lorand Coll and Pagin Holter. I wonder how those two did.”

  “Both of them want to win, so I’m sure they did very well,” Jovvi answered, smiling a bit at the thought of Lorand. “We can ask them later to be certain, but I’m not worried. I just wish we were absolutely sure we’re doing the right thing.”

  “As things stand, there’s nothing else we can do,” Tamrissa pointed out with a sigh. “And I think I’ll finish washing and then go back to my apartment. I could use a nap before dinner.”

  Jovvi agreed with the idea of a nap, so she reached for her own jar of soap and finished washing. Once they were out of the bath and toweled off, Tamrissa used her talent to dry most of the residual dampness from the two of them. Delicate manipulation, she’d called it, and delicate it was. The flames had been almost invisible, but had done an efficient job. They all seemed to be in better condition than they’d been after the test, but that had to be because they’d expended all their strength during the test in order to stay alive.

  They left the bath house together carrying their well-worn session outfits, but as soon as they reached the sitting area just inside the main house Tamrissa uttered a low squeak and then disappeared at a run. The poor thing was obviously embarrassed over being in nothing but a wrap, because all the men were in the sitting area, clearly waiting for their turn in the bath house.

  Jovvi paused to smile at them and wave a hand to show that the bath was all theirs, and Eskin Drowd was the first to respond. He stalked past Jovvi without acknowledging her existence, which led her to believe that the man had done as badly as she’d suspected he would. Rion smiled and nodded as he passed her, but Pagin Holter just nodded. There was a … coldness inside the small man that hadn’t been there before, but before Jovvi could wonder about it she saw Lorand.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked softly when he stopped beside her, raising one hand to his drawn and exhausted-looking face. “You look as if you went through the test again.”

  “I also feel like it,” he admitted, his voice almost as pale as his face. “I’ll tell you about it later, if you like, but right now I really need that bath.”

  She nodded to show she understood and then stepped aside, and he continued on out to the bath house in what could only be described as a determined plodding. Jovvi was more than a little worried about what might have happened, but she’d have to wait until later to find out about it. Forcing patience on herself she turned away from the garden door—only to find that all the men hadn’t left. Vallant Ro still remained in the sitting area, because he’d fallen asleep. Apparently Lorand wasn’t the only one who’d had a hard time.

  Jovvi considered letting him sleep, but the man was sprawled in a chair that was more decorative than comfortable and would certainly wake up feeling as if he’d gone through torture. A nice warm bath would do a lot more for him, so she walked over and put a hand to his shoulder. It actually took two shakes before he woke, and then he looked at her blurrily.

  “The others have already gone to the bath house,” she said, speaking slowly and clearly to give him the chance to wake up all the way. “I can see that you’re really tired, but you’ll be better off washing the sweat away and then stretching out in bed.”

  “I’d be best off just cuttin’ my throat and gettin’ it over with all at once rather than in pieces,” he muttered, running a hand over his face. “Another day like today, and I’ll probably do it.”

  “Didn’t you do well?” Jovvi asked, automatically soothing his jagged emotions. This wasn’t a reaction she’d expected, not from someone who supposedly wanted to fail.

  “Actually, I did wonderfully,” he said, sitting forward to rest his arms on his thighs. “I was so badly in need of somethin’ to take my mind off that room, that I got all the way up to usin’ four strands of water. I was about to try for the fifth when they told us it was time to leave, and I couldn’t keep myself from runnin’ out. Now I have to go back tomorrow, and I don’t know if I can.”

  “Something about the session room bothers you?” Jovvi asked, finding it impossible to resolve the muddle of his emotions. There was quite a lot of fear present but not an ordinary fear, and Jovvi had never seen anything like it. “Tell me what the something is.”

  “It’s … not important,” he said, the short hesitation before answering overridden by strong resolve. “All that matters is that I have to go back tomorrow, and the next day, and probably all the days after that until they let me go. But I’ll never last that long, so I don’t see any point in—”

  “Vallant, that isn’t true,” Jovvi interrupted quickly to head off the incipient panic she was able to feel in him. “The time won’t stretch on that long, because this is the last week anyone can qualify for the competitions. As soon as you’re able to handle five parts of your aspect with control, they move you out of the sessions and over to the competitions.”

  “You know, I believe you’re right,” he said with a frown, having begun to argue before thinking better of it. “I wasn’t able to pay attention to much in that place, but I did notice that the woman usin’ five strands of water in her weavin’ wasn’t doin’ it easily. I could feel her struggle all the way to where they’d put me, and it hadn’t changed even by the end of the day. That has to be why she’s still there, because she doesn’t have full control. But where do they send you once you’ve gotten the control? Someplace better or someplace worse?”

  “Tamrissa and I have been trying to figure that out,” Jovvi said, hoping to distract him from the agitation that threatened to descend on him again. “She and I agree that we’ve never met anyone who’d gone through testing only to be sent home again, and we never knew anyone who’d personally met someone like that. Have you?”

  “Now that you mention it, I can’t think of anyone at all,” he answered, his frown lightening as his gaze sharpened. “And I ran into a lot more people than most, visitin’ different parts as I do. So what have you and Dama Domon decided it means?”

  “We’re not certain, but we don’t think it means anything good,” Jovvi said, faintly amused that he’d decided against calling Tamrissa by name. “We’ve all proven ourselves to be potential Highs, don’t forget, and just because someone can’t use his or her potential today, that doesn’t mean they won’t manage to use it tomorrow. If you were in charge of this thing, would you simply let them walk off and then forget about them?”

  “Yes, but we’re not dealin’ with someone like me,” Vallant responded, now disturbed in an entirely different way. “They would hardly go to so much trouble to get us here and then let us walk away again. I hadn’t thought of that, so I’m glad you mentioned it. Did you and Dama Domon come up with any particular plan of action?”

  “We decided to move forward as far and as fast as possible,” Jovvi told him, enjoying how quickly he’d managed to pull himself together. “It also isn’t clear what happens to those who qualify but don’t get Seated, but continuing on gives us a longer time to find out—and the chance to come up with a plan to protect ourselves. If you like you’re welcome to join us in that.”

  “It seems as though I might have to,” he allowed, looking less than pleased with the prospect. “To keep breathin’, if for no other reason. Well, I’d better get to that bath now. Than
k you for your concern, lovely lady, and for takin’ the trouble to show it.”

  He rose to kiss her hand, then took his clean clothing and left the sitting area. Jovvi very much enjoyed the way he said thank you, and smiled all the way back to her room. If Lorand hadn’t been there, Vallant would have made a substitute almost as good. Jovvi decided she’d have to find a way to get Tamrissa and Vallant much closer together. The poor girl could use a little pleasure in her life, and the poor man felt so awful thinking he was hated. But Tamrissa didn’t hate him, and all Jovvi had to do was let them both know that…

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  Vallant forced himself to banish the thought of sitting down again, and plodded along to the bath house. He was the one who needed a bath the most, but all the others had gone in ahead of him. They probably hadn’t noticed that he’d fallen asleep, so it was a good thing Jovvi had. If not for her, he probably would have missed dinner as well as the bath.

  Walking into the bath house showed the other men already in the water, but there wasn’t much in the way of conversation going on. Coll and Mardimil were closest to the entrance steps, while Holter and Drowd had retreated to the two farther corners of the bath. Both of them seemed to be taking pains to show that they had no interest in socializing, something Vallant already knew about Holter.

  While beginning to get out of his clothes, Vallant tried again to understand the change that had come over the small groom. Holter had been silent that morning on the way to the sessions building, but not thinking-silent. He gave the impression of being through with thinking, of having made up his mind about something. He’d worked his strands of water in the proper order, taking a little longer than Vallant but getting just as far. Fatalistic might be the best word to describe the man, that and bitter. Holter had obviously been hurt when his friends had drawn away from him in fear, but the decision he’d come to because of that wasn’t quite as clear.