by Robin Roseau
“It’s a long story,” I replied. “It’s tied to how I learned to make that little gift.”
She rolled away from me, and when she returned, she was holding a glowing piece of quartz. “It’s beautiful.”
“It won’t last forever,” I warned her. “If you sell it, the buyer will feel cheated if you don’t warn her.”
“I’m not going to sell it,” she said. “I’m going to hang it from a chain and wear it.”
“If you drill a hole, it will destroy the magic.”
“Oh, please,” she said. “I think I can make a little cage for it.”
“Oh, that’s right,” I said. “You’re a jeweler.”
She bumped me. “Like you didn’t remember.”
I moved closer to her and pulled her into a kiss. She kissed back, and we spent several minutes sharing simple passion, simple touches. And then I pulled her to me, her head on my shoulder, her hand on one breast. “This is nice,” she said.
“I haven’t decided what I’m going to do with my life,” I said.
“That’s what you told me last night.”
“If I stay, and if I asked you to teach me how to make jewelry, do you think we could come to an agreement?”
“Are you offering to pay for lessons by sharing my bed?”
“I was being less specific. I don’t want to make promises today, because I am not sure I am staying in Rosegrove. I may decide to travel. I don’t know yet.”
“Well,” she said slowly. “You’re a little old to be my apprentice.”
“I would not want to go into competition with you,” I continued. “Some of my magic requires that I am the one to make the jewelry.”
“Oh,” she said.
“We would probably work together.”
“So, you are offering to share my bed.”
I laughed. “I don’t want to set any expectations. I want to know what you think.”
“I think,” she said, “that I wouldn’t at all mind sharing my bed, but I do not want you to think that is how you pay for lessons. Sharing a bed is sharing a bed. Lessons are lessons. I do not know if shiny quartz that I can’t sell pays for lessons, either.”
“Perhaps protection charms do. I do not need to learn to design jewelry. I need to learn only a portion of your craft. If I stay.”
“If you stay.” She twirled a finger, teasing my nipple. It felt good. “No. I’m sorry. I cannot. I have an agreement with the guild. I can only teach you if you register as my apprentice.” She grinned. “You would be mine for at least ten years. Yes, if you register as my apprentice, I’ll teach you anything you want to know.”
“How does that work?” I asked.
“Everyone knows that.”
“Humor me.”
“All right. People become apprentices in a variety of ways. You can be born into a family, which is the most common, and when you are old enough to decide for yourself, you sign an agreement, perhaps with your father, perhaps your grandfather.”
“Is that what you did?”
“It was my mother. As her apprentice, I belonged to her, even more than I did as her daughter.” She teased my breast. “You would belong to me.”
“Like a slave.”
“No. Like an apprentice. Your term is for a minimum of ten years, or until you pass the journeyman exam, whichever comes second.”
“What if I’m hopeless?”
“For any reason at all, I can choose to sell your contract. There are standard rates, and then the amount can adjust up or down based on the situation. You have no say, but if you are opposed to my choice, you may appeal to either the guild master of the jewelers’ guild or the guild master of the new guild, if I am selling you outside the jewelers’ guild.”
“If you sold me to a smith?”
“Then you may appeal to either guild, or even one and then the other, if you are dissatisfied. However, if you win, you are choosing a guild, and I sell you to that guild. Well, I sell your contract, but it is nearly the same thing.”
“What happens if, ten years from now, I have proven to be hopeless? You sell me, and I owe someone else another ten years?”
“If you have served as my faithful apprentice for ten years, you may ask to be released from service. You may also ask the guild to assign you to another master. But you may not make jewelry for others until you have been declared a journeywoman, and you will find it very difficult to acquire supplies if you are no longer a member of the guild.”
“So, you can’t teach me for ten years and release me.”
“I can, but no one will sell you the things you would need, and only a fool would buy from you.”
“And this is the only way you could teach me?”
“Not exactly. I will only teach you with the permission of the guild. This is the most common means of obtaining that permission. However, if you acquire permission from the guild master through other means, I would agree to teach you. Whether you have the title or not, I would want you to act as my apprentice. Another might offer a different arrangement.”
“And so, my duties would include sweeping the floors.”
“Yes. And obeying me. You would have rights. I couldn’t order you to my bed. If continuing to share my bed was part of the arrangement you wanted, I would want you to tell the guild master we have an established relationship.”
“Even if I offered to pay you…”
“I will not violate the rules of the guild,” she said. “You must have permission. I’m sorry.”
“No, no. I don’t want you to break any rules, Jessine. If I were to obtain permission, but not as your apprentice, you would still make me accept those duties.”
“Yes. Not to be mean, but for several reasons. The tasks must be done. One of us must do them. Later, when you are making your own jewelry, you must know the proper way.”
“The proper way to sweep the floor.”
“The proper way to sweep the floor when there may be things fallen on the floor that must receive proper care. It is not only dust that you sweep.”
“Oh,” I said. “I didn’t know.”
“Of course, you didn’t,” she said. “And while you are sweeping, I am probably thinking about your next lesson, or wondering how I failed in the last one.”
I laughed. “My failures are your failures.”
“Perhaps, and perhaps not. But I must always consider that possibility. This is something my mother taught me from the very beginning.”
“She sounds like she is a very good teacher.”
“She is. She only takes one apprentice at a time, and she is a coveted master. Families try to pay her to take their daughters.”
“Sons?”
“She only teaches daughters, and I have already decided I will only do the same. But I’m not yet my mother, and I am still learning from her.”
“I imagine,” I said. “Is there more I need to know?”
“I think that covers it. So, are you going to seduce the guild master for permission?”
“No. If I seek permission of that sort, I will do so openly and honestly,” I replied. “Jessine, I don’t know my mind yet. Belonging to you might be fun, but I’m not done deciding what to do. If I never ask, please don’t be offended.”
“I won’t be. I am pleased for tonight. Do you think there will be more?”
“Perhaps, but I am sowing some oats. Perhaps, if you see me again in a few weeks, you will make an invitation. But I may only wish to share a drink between friends.”
“I will contain my expectations, on one condition.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. I saw what you did to Diordia.”
I laughed. “And you’d like to be on the receiving side?”
“Oh, no. I want you to teach me.”
I laughed. “Of course. I’d love to.”
* * * *
I woke, and I was in the grey room. Shi`nual was holding me. “Hi,” I whispered.
“Good morning,” she replied.
“Oh, you know how it is.”
“No. Perhaps you’ll tell me.”
In response, she simply laughed, then sobered. “I want to ask you something, Jeraya.”
“All right.”
“Do you want me to leave more than the tiniest magic behind?”
“Is this my choice?”
“It might not be normally, but yes, this is your choice. What you do with it is also your choice. I hold you to no promises.”
I sat up and turned to face her. We both squirmed around, and then we were touching, our legs twined, each with one knee up, one knee straight. She brushed at my hair while I looked into eyes that were a mirror of my own. “I suppose it’s foolish to ask what you normally look like?”
“Yes,” she said. “I look like my host.”
“Why red hair and violet eyes?”
“I was once human.”
“What?”
“Long, long ago. I had red hair and violet eyes.”
“What happened?”
“I helped a god, and she rewarded me. It has been wonderful and terrible at the same time.”
“I’m sorry if it’s been terrible.”
“Don’t be. It’s far more wonderful than terrible. I am now thousands of years old, and have lived, and lived, and lived.” She smiled and caressed my face. “Jeraya, there is a double-moon two nights from tonight.”
“Oh. You’re leaving.”
“You knew this day would come. You’ll get your body back, your life back. You could have your old life back.”
“I don’t want my old life back. I think I want a new life.”
“Well, you can have that.”
“If you leave me with magic, I can help people.”
“You can,” she agreed. “I’ve taught you enough to start, and if you work, you can learn more. Or you can ask Lal Keshia to teach you.” She grinned. “She may ask you to become her apprentice.”
I laughed. “She can ask, but she’s not in any guild.”
“Maybe she’ll form one, and you can become the second member.”
“I’m sure there’s a process.”
“I’m sure Lal Keshia is a very intelligent woman, and if she chooses to form a guild, no one will gainsay her.”
“Have you fed her this idea?”
“Would I do that?”
“Yes.”
She laughed. “Lal Keshia knows about guilds. This is not the only world that has them.”
“If she knew about guilds, then why did we have that conversation with Jessine?”
“Because while I also know about guilds, the rules here are different. On Lal Keshia’s world, my world, the rules of apprenticeship are similar, at least as much as Jessine explained. However, there are no rules preventing her from teaching anyone she wants, and there are no rules requiring someone to join a guild. Most people do, because the guild enforces rules of professional behavior, so someone is more likely to trust a craftsman from the guild, because if there is a dispute, the guild enforces the rules.”
“Ah.”
“But there are some very good craftsmen, highly respected craftsmen, who have never joined their respective guilds, or who left, each for his own reasons. However, the guild enforces prices, and if someone tries to undercut the guilds, that person may find it increasingly difficult to do business.”
“I think I understand. Shi`nual, I think I’d like to be able to help people.”
“I thought you might.” She nodded. “All right. That is decided. It is a lovely day. We will have a picnic, and then we’ll see who finds us alluring. Tomorrow, we will spend with only our closest companions.”
* * * *
We had our picnic, and we found several women who found us alluring, quite alluring. We went home with them. Well, we went to someone’s home, and the others came.
* * * *
I woke, and I was in the grey room. Shi`nual was holding me.
“You could have let me stay,” I told her.
“Are you kidding? I tried to sell you to the streetwalker’s guild. I didn’t want you watching.”
“You did not!”
She laughed.
“When is it?”
“We’re to have our final day together. Jeraya, I have played a little trick on you.”
“What trick?”
“You’ll see, eventually.”
“What did you do?”
“You’ll see,” she repeated. “I wonder if you’ll curse me for it.”
“Did you have my body tattooed?”
“Maybe that’s what we should do today,” she replied with a laugh. “I’m not going to tell you, but if you pester me, I’ll leave you here until later.”
“Please don’t,” I said. “I won’t pester.”
“I won’t,” she said. “This time is very special to me. I am sad to leave, but looking forward to new adventures. I think you are sad for me to leave, but looking forward to your new adventures, too.”
“And a little scared.”
“Few of my hosts are the same after hosting me,” she explained. “Nearly always, they have very, very good lives afterwards. I think yours will be quite lovely. If you allow it, you could have a far better life than your old one.”
I thought she was right.
For a while, we simply held each other. I wanted my body back, but I didn’t want her to leave. But then, as we were holding each other, one world faded away, and a new one faded in. Everyone was clustered around me, and I was in their arms.
“She is with us,” I said. “Today is just for us.”
There were touches, and kisses. They dressed me and each other, and then, holding hands, we left the inn.
Breakfast was from a bakery. And then Shi`nual led us to a shop that sold spices. “My name is Jeraya,” I declared. I set one of the pieces of quartz on the countertop. “Take this somewhere dark and come back if I have your attention.”
The woman cocked her head. “Margie. You’ve been in here a few times.”
“If you can tell me what is special about that,” I said, “but I have not intrigued you, then I will purchase two jars of the firebark at your asking price. You must take the stone somewhere dark.”
“Laurette,” she said. “Watch the shop.”
A teenage girl nodded ascent and stepped to the counter, watching us. The woman stepped back.
I walked around the store for perhaps two or three minutes. And then there was a noise. “You have my attention.”
I turned. The woman was holding the quartz, and she waved her daughter away. I walked back to her, smiling. “I require a supplier.” Then from my pouch, I withdrew two charms. I immediately knew what they were, although I didn’t remember making them. Is that confusing? I’m sure Shi`nual remembered making them, but I didn’t. I set them on the counter. “This one is a good luck charm. That is perhaps a misnomer. It does not ward off bad luck, or cause good luck to occur. If worn against the skin, it helps the wearer identify opportunity and evaluate risk. Its magic begins to fade after several months and will do almost nothing a year from now. It is not especially powerful, but if worn by someone who is open to opportunity, it can make a difference.”
The woman said nothing, although she lifted a hand, then lowered it.
“As I said, it needs to be worn against the skin.” I gestured to my own throat. “It is hard to determine a value. Does this charm hold any value to you?”
“Some value, yes,” said the woman. “And the other?”
“A ward against evil,” I explained. “It will last about as long as the first. It does not prevent bad things from happening, but it helps to hide someone from anyone intending evil. If the wearer walked into a bar filled with rowdy sailors, it is unlikely to protect her. But if she is walking the street on her way home, then she will be invisible to a casual glance from someone of ill intent, or someone of no ill intent is unlikely to see her and foment evil plans. It i
s in no way an absolute, and it does nothing to prevent accidents. Does this have value?” And my eyes flicked to the daughter.
“Some value, yes. Can you prove these charms work?”
“No. I will give you these charms.”
“Give?”
“And the stone you are holding,” I continued. “If, at some point in the future, you feel these charms have value to you, or you would like to discuss the others I can make, you can make an offer. I will not set a price. I would trade, charms for your spices.”
“The firebark?”
“Perhaps,” I said. “But most of your spices, even the most common, hold value to me.”
“How much firebark would you want for this charm?” She nudged the ward from evil.
“I don’t know how to measure the value,” I replied. “The charm may do nothing. Evil isn’t necessarily common. If you traded for charms, you would probably never know if they ever served their purpose.”
“You are not wearing any.”
“I don’t need them,” I said. “The next time you see me, it may be different.” I nudged the good luck charm. “This one may be hard to detect as well. If an opportunity arrives tomorrow, and you are wearing this charm, how do you know whether it was the charm or your own good business sense?”
“You have a glowing stone that you may or may not have made.”
“I can make others if you require a demonstration.”
“Your ability to make a stone glow may be your only ability.”
“It’s not, but you are wise to be cautious.”
“Can you make any that are more obvious?”
I paused. The woman waited and then nudged everything towards me, including the quartz.
“Wait,” I said. “That is a fair question. I have one I could make that is quite obvious, but it is also possible to abuse, and I don’t often make it.”
“Oh? Is it some sort of death charm?”
“No. Lust.”
The woman stared for a moment and then laughed. “That would be obvious. So, if I were to wear it, my patrons would desire me.”
“Oh, no,” I said. “You would desire them.”
She laughed again. “And so, the abuse would be if I tricked someone I wanted into wearing it.”
“Yes, or you could trick someone into wearing it, and then watch her make poor choices because of it. I think you see why I don’t like making them.”