by Wayne Meyers
“Well, my father was dead set on having a peacekeeper in the family. I wonder what he was thinking.”
My eyebrow raised. “You don’t want to be here?”
She cocked her head and waved a hand around. “Does it look like anyone around here wants me to be?”
“You seem to be winning them over.”
Babette blew a lock of hair from her eyes. “Of course. That is the only way I’ll fit in. It makes me want to vomit.” She turned toward me, her eyes flashing like a summer’s storm. “I’m doing this for my father. It means the world to him, and I’m the oldest. My sister would have otherwise gone in my place in two years, but she’s inflicted with a warped sense of reality about our society and would have expected everyone to greet her with open arms. When she experienced this—” she waved her hand around again “—she would have crumbled, not understanding that sometimes people are just mean for no reason at all. Just because they can be.”
My tongue froze in my mouth for a moment, stunned by this barrage of revelation. “B-but why are you telling me all of this? You don’t even know me. If I went to the masters—”
Her face took on a perplexed expression, and she stared deep into my eyes for several moments before replying. “You know, that is a wonderful question. It’s odd, really. You seem so different than the others, I sort of put you out of my mind as one of them. Maybe I still remember you as a scared little boy getting beaten up in the hallway. More than anything you looked so betrayed, as though you expected much more from the world. But there was also defiance that told me you would never stop hoping for better. And now, instead of hope, I see determination.”
I blinked, then opened my mouth to protest.
“Or maybe it’s something else entirely.” Babette shrugged. “You know, they say you can tell in a moment whether someone will become your friend for a lifetime. I think we’ve shared that moment. I can trust you.”
“We have? You do?” My voice was querulous, but the odd thing was, after she had said it out loud, I couldn’t help but agree. There was something about her that invoked conviction and loyalty, or perhaps I simply wanted to believe anything she told me when she smiled at me.
She flashed me a look of obviousness, then sighed, fanning herself with one hand. “The way some of them stare at me, it’s as though they’ve never seen a girl before. I feel like a new kind of bug.”
I’m not sure where the words came from, but I blurted them out. “You’re a lot prettier than a bug.”
An impish smile spread across her face, and she tilted her head. “Oh, dear. I don’t know if I should take that as an insult or a compliment.”
“Neither,” I replied. My face started burning. “It is a fact; no more, no less.”
Her lips pursed into an adorable pout. “Then you don’t think I’m pretty?”
My heart thumped in my chest as I struggled to maintain an appropriate tone. “Such things have no place here at the guild. I am to treat you as any other apprentice. I do not wonder if Apprentice Spaldeer, whom you met this morning, has a handsome face.”
“So, you don’t find Spaldeer attractive either, huh?” The sparkle in her eyes gleamed.
My mouth opened. “I—I don’t think about men that way.”
Her smirk broadened. “Then you do like girls, don’t you?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never thought about it before I met—” I stopped myself from completing the sentence and cleared my throat. “The correct context is, Apprentice Spaldeer, since he is your senior, although we aren’t held to it. But forget to address a journeyman as Journeyman, and you’ll be punished.”
She saw through my sudden harshness as a clear pane of glass and snickered. “So, you do like me, then, don’t you? Oh, this is going to be fun.”
“What do you mean by that? What is going to be fun?”
“Teasing you, silly. After all, life isn’t all work and no play, so I have to find some form of amusement within these dreary walls.” She giggled, and I found myself smiling. Babette had an infectious laugh that sank deep within you before bursting out in all directions in your own voice.
I tried again for sternness, taking the same serious tone Wohl used when training us. “You are lucky I am so lenient. You should not talk to your elders that way.”
“Elders?” She laughed even louder. “You, silly one, are but a year older than me, and everyone knows girls mature faster than boys anyway.”
I shook my head, wondering why I felt challenged instead of frustrated. “Well, if you speak that way to anyone else you will be punished, and punishments here are harsh. It’s usually the bamboo switch or endless repetitions of exercises.”
She put her hand upon my face and leaned close. “Then I will be sure to speak that way only to you, and only when we are alone.” She took her hand from my face and rose from the bench. “Did you say it was lunchtime? I’m famished.”
Chapter Four—Lost Bracelet
Ew,” Babette said. She glared at her sweat-plastered leggings and picked at the clinging sleeve of her shirt. Her robe had been set aside on the ground shortly after the afternoon fighting class had begun.
I stretched my legs on the ground between her and Spaldeer. “You get used to it.”
“You do?” Spaldeer twisted his mouth into a grimace. “I haven’t yet, that’s for sure.”
“I’ve been here about a month and half now, and I’ve most certainly not gotten used to it in the least,” Babette said.
“Well, it seems we’re always drenched.” I shrugged. “Nothing we can do about it.”
Spaldeer snorted. “You are always drenched. Some of us actually go to the morning stretching and light exercise classes instead of receiving private tutelage from journeymen.”
Babette pulled a stray lock of hair from her face. “Why do you have private training?”
Spaldeer replied before I could answer. “Apparently Hofen needs the extra help to keep up.”
I lowered my head to my knee, pulling at the muscles on my calf and the back of my upper leg. “The masters are trying me out in a new accelerated training program, since I had a head start on everyone else. If it works out, instead of becoming a journeyman in eight years, apprentices might do it in seven.”
Babette’s eyes sparkled at me when I lifted my head. “Then I shall do it in six.”
Spaldeer chuckled at this, rising to one leg and pulling the opposite knee up to his chest. “Well, I’m just fine taking my time. With all the homework they’re giving me I barely have time for combat training at all.”
“Homework?” I blinked. “From the classroom sessions?”
He nodded. “Yes. After class, I see Master Orcus, and he assigns me additional work.”
“Master Orcus himself?”
Babette tilted her head. “Is that a big deal?”
I looked at her. “For a master to spend time on an apprentice? Yes, quite a big deal.”
Spaldeer snickered. “You only have a journeyman helping you.”
“Well you scored the highest on your exams for all of Bellisprodus. Maybe you’ve earned it.”
“He did?” Babette looked impressed.
A pang of jealousy stabbed me. “Well, I scored third in Solace.”
There was a brief silence, then both Babette and Spaldeer laughed at the same time.
“Not quite the same thing,” Spaldeer said.
Babette patted my arm. “Very good, dear, very good.”
My lips pressed together, and my face flushed down to my neck.
Her lips curled into a smile. “What an adorable pout. Spaldeer may have the brains, but you have the looks. Now undo that frown; it’s positively frightening.”
Amazed, I did smile, even though my feelings were still ruffled. She made it impossible not to. “How do you do that?”
She batted her eyes at me. “Whatever do you mean, dear?”
Spaldeer shook his head. “Well, if no one minds my ugly face, how about joining me for dinner? I
’m hungry.”
Babette lunged to her feet like water from a fountain. “Oh no, another bruised male ego? I’m not sure I can keep up. But I can manage to eat something, once I’ve changed and took a shower.”
Spaldeer and I both groaned together.
She put her hands on her hips and glared at us with mock outrage. “Now whatever is the problem with being clean?”
“You take forever,” Spaldeer said. “I’m hungry now.”
I burst out laughing at her open mouth. “He’s right, and you know it. But we shall wait. Just…hurry.”
Babette scooped up her robe and tossed her hair, marching toward her dorm. “I shall take as long as I need to return to human form, and when I’m done, you shall be happy I did.”
We watched her bounce away, and then Spaldeer punched my arm. “You really like her, don’t you?”
“What? No. Me? What do you mean?” My tongue stumbled over my teeth as though my mouth were full of marbles, and my cheeks flamed. I turned away from him.
“Easy, altbrud.” He scratched his head thoughtfully. “I don’t see this ending well for you.”
“What do you mean?”
His brows furrowed. “She’s our brother, technically. Er, or sister. You know she can’t ever be more than that.”
I chewed on my lip. “Well, our brothers can be friends, can’t they? Like Marcos and Brentor. You and I.”
“Friends, certainly. Just don’t walk to class holding hands, okay?”
I put an arm around his shoulder. “Don’t worry. Babette and I get along well, but there isn’t more to it than what can be.”
His face relaxed. “Well, I wonder what they’re serving today. Those new apprentices that alternate days for the kitchen chores with us—what’s their names, Alder and Wermack? Hope they’ve gotten the hang of it by now.”
“Kitchen work is the worst. Better them than us, though raking the gardens instead doesn’t seem much better.”
“At least our drudgery contains variety. That’s something.”
“Yes, it’s definitely something,” I said, “but exactly what I can’t say.”
We walked toward the lawn in front of the dining hall entrance to wait for Babette, hoping to get a scent of what was cooking for dinner tonight. My face smiled, but inside, my emotions churned. I did have feelings for Babette that were different than those I had for, say, Spaldeer, but they confused me. These thoughts about her were different in ways that made no sense. More intense, more vivid, more real, yet there was camaraderie as well. Thinking about it made my head ache. It was much easier just to feel. When I saw her smile, my heart leapt. When she laughed, I felt compelled to do the same. And if she frowned, the desire to do anything in the world to return the smile to her face overwhelmed me. Spending as much time with her as I could had become my primary obsession.
Even more so than my training.
Reflecting how my priorities had shifted reminded me that Spaldeer was receiving special attention from Master Orcus. “What kind of homework does Master Orcus assign you?”
Spaldeer shrugged. “Reading mostly; theories of social utopia, high-level Scripture outlines of how other guilds operate. Some philosophical essays from people back on Old Earth.”
“Interesting.” I recalled how Spaldeer always took a book to bed with him each night, sometimes lighting a candle when the dorm lights automatically darkened at lights out. We had joked how he was going to set our room on fire, but I had not realized he was reading for the guild instead of pleasure. Truth be told, books didn’t interest me enough to inquire, and before Babette, my own nighttime thoughts had been on what Journeyman Krellus had taught me earlier that day.
“Yes, the material is somewhat remarkable, but I’m not sure I’m ready for what he has planned for me.”
My eyebrows raised. “And what would that be?”
Spaldeer hesitated for a moment. “He has me in line to study the law, and perhaps someday become the guild's legal liaison. First, I must master all the Scripture volumes specific to the peacekeepers. Then, the Scriptures themselves, the volumes that pertain to all of Bellisprodus in general. After that, the Scriptures for the bureaucracy guild, and others, so I may know without deceit what may be, and what may not.”
“What about secret fighting techniques?”
He laughed, a bright, musical tone that ignited his light-brown eyes. “None of that, I promise. But perhaps someday, when I’m allowed greater freedom in the restricted library, I might see what I can find for you.”
Excitement coursed through me. “Really? You mean it?”
He turned to face me looking up, his head reaching my chin. “Yes, of course I mean it. But it will be years before they offer me that degree of freedom, if ever. In the meantime, you perfect your fighting, and I, the learning. Together, we shall become unassailable.”
His face looked so earnest and serious, I had to smile. “You are a good friend, Spaldeer.”
“Then be a good friend in turn, altbrud, and let us eat.” He sniffed the air, his thin nose twitching, and his entire face lit up. “We’re having roast chicken tonight!”
“Well…” I looked back toward the dorm building from which Babette would approach and was relieved to see her running toward us at top speed.
Spaldeer whistled. “Wow, she must be hungry too.”
But she wasn’t hurrying for food. “You have to help me!” She sucked in a lungful of air. “I’ve lost my bracelet.”
“Bracelet?” Spaldeer tilted his head. “What bracelet?”
“The one she wears on her wrist,” I replied. “Gold, as thick as my pinky, alternating red and green gems.”
Spaldeer made a face. “Not during class.”
Babette caught her breath enough to speak in a coherent sentence. “I put it in my pocket during class. My mother gave it to me as a going away present. It belonged to my grandmother.”
“Where did you last have it?” Spaldeer asked. He longingly glanced at the dining hall entrance.
Her reply came clipped and harsh. “In. My. Pocket.”
Both Spaldeer and I looked toward her pants pocket she had bared by pulling back her white robe.
She hissed through her teeth. “These are the clean ones I just put on. The dirty ones went down the laundry chute.”
“Oh,” Spaldeer said. “Why didn’t you just say so?”
“Because,” Babette said, “I thought you two geniuses would understand.”
Spaldeer and I exchanged glances. I shrugged. “Sorry, he’s the smarter one.”
“I’m the starving one,” Spaldeer corrected. “Perhaps after a bite of dinner, I’ll think more clearly.”
Babette stamped her foot. “Stop talking about food and focus. How do I get my bracelet back?”
The laundry chutes were in each dorm’s bathroom, and we tossed our clothing into them when we felt they had suffered enough to merit replacement. This was usually just before the point where a passing journeyman would stop, sniff the air, turn toward us, sniff us, make a face, and then order us to launder the offensive articles as quickly as possible. There were fresh robes, pants, and shirts in baskets in each bathroom to change into.
Frowning, I remembered that every so often, usually on Seconday and Sixthday, someone from the seamstress guild pushed wagons full of clothing out of the guild gates. I had never paid much attention to this as people were always coming and going, from the hospitality helpers in the kitchen to the cobblers who attended the masters’ shoes.
But where did the dirty clothing go after we shoved them into the chute? After pulling open the chute door, which was about a foot square, there was a dark, rectangular opening that went both up and down. Gravity meant the clothing fell downward, from my second-floor bathroom to the first floor at least. If someone in the first-floor bathroom did the same, then by logic all our clothing had to land in the basement.
“But we can’t enter the basement,” Spaldeer said, having arrived at the same conclusion. �
�The door is locked. I checked it one day, curious to see what was down there.”
Babette looked like she was about to cry. “What do I do?”
“The masters—” I began.
“—are far too busy to be bothered with such matters,” Spaldeer said. “Maybe a journeyman could help.”
But we didn’t know who to ask. Even Journeyman Krellus would probably say it was her own fault and apprentices needed to learn to take responsibility for their mistakes.
“It’s such a simple solution,” Spaldeer said. “If we could get past that door, we go wherever the clothing ends up, retrieve the bracelet, and needn’t bother anyone.”
“Hallo, apprentices.” It was Marcos, striding a step ahead of Brentor from the dining hall. He punched me lightly on the shoulder. “How’s my old roomie doing? And the rest of you.”
“What, haven’t had dinner yet?” Brentor looked sad. “The chicken is especially amazing tonight. Better hurry before they run out and start serving reheated oatmeal from breakfast.”
Spaldeer looked closer to crying than Babette at this last remark.
Seeing Babette upset compelled me to do something. It occurred to me that Marcos had possession of a key that had allowed us onto the rooftop of a journeyman dorm building. Perhaps it would also work for an apprentice dorm basement. “Hey, Marcos. We have an urgent need to visit the basement of our dorm. Can you help?”
Marcos looked pleased. “I can help with many things. But what do you want to go down there for? Dark, dank, and dreary.”
“Smells like dirt,” Brentor added.
Babette narrowed her eyes. “You’ve been down there?”
“Upon occasion, we find ourselves in search of alternate recreational opportunities,” Brentor said.
Marcos shrugged. “I try to keep him out of trouble. Usually I fail.”
Spaldeer tilted his head. “But how did you get through the door? It’s locked.”
Brentor’s eyebrows raised. “Ah, he wants to learn our secrets, does he?”
“Tsk.” Marcos shook his head. “So young and gullible. I fear for his future.”