Two Masters (epic progression fantasy)

Chapter 15: The Pen

The door opened. Qadi gave Shifra a confused look.

"I quit," Shifra said.

Qadi's confusion deepened "What are you talking about?"

"I told Master Atin I quit. I want to speak to your father, apprentice with him, if I can."

Qadi's eyes widened. "Come in!"

Shifra stepped in through the front door, embracing her friend.

"So, I'm guessing you didn't get permission from your father," Qadi said, pulling Shifra past the entryway.

Shifra nodded. "I just decided to do it. What's he going to do? He's not even in the city. Maybe I'll tell him after I've passed the exams of governing." Shifra grinned.

"And if he asks Master Atin?" Qadi said.

"Oh, I'll still spar with Master Atin," Shifra said. "He can bend the truth."

Qadi beamed proudly. "About nethered time! Wait here. He's very interested in speaking to you."

Shifra smiled.

Qadi motioned to the parlor. Shifra bowed respectfully and entered. Qadi stepped out of the room. Shifra looked around. She'd only been here a few times before, as they spent most of their social time at other friends' houses. As before, the home wasn't ostentatious. The walls were a plain white, and the only decoration seems to be the simple furniture and a wall covered in shelves. A private library of hundreds of codexes and scrolls.

With a glance for Qadi, she removed her jacket and approached the bookshelves. Some were quite old, locked in glass cases with meticulous reproductions sitting nearby. Some of them were much newer. Ateyan Codes of law, books on political theory. And a thick tome. Yishai Abaddon's treatise on theistic morality. As well as books by Domiel Abaddon, Shifra's grandmother.

She'd read many of the books on the wall. Especially her grandmother's writing. Her uncle was intelligent, direct. But her grandmother possessed more subtlety in her philosophical arguments.

"Shifra Speartip Abaddon," a baritone male voice said. Shifra turned, jumping back from the bookshelves.

Senator Thersha motioned to the sofa. "Please, take a seat. Qadi says you're interested in talking?"

Shifra nodded and sat down. Senator Thersha and Qadi sat down on the smaller sofa adjacent to Shifra's. He had bags under his eyes. He no longer wore the robes of a senator, instead wearing a foot-length tunic made of a deep blue. No trousers. No tribe-colored stripes. His hands were dotted with splotches of ink.

Shifra realized she hadn't spoken a word. She'd probably had less than three conversations with this man, all of them brief. That said, she read most of the books he recommended to Qadi and the others and had attended as many of his debates as she could.

"I, uh, want to apprentice with you."

"Why?" he said, tone even.

The question caught her off guard. Wasn't it obvious? "Because I want become a senator."

"The niece of the ultra-conservative High Judge wants to apprentice with a reformer? Won't that cause quite the scandal?"

Shifra tightened her hands into resolute fists. Why were they getting clammy? He was friendly. He was also intelligent. And she realized at this moment that she wanted nothing more than to apprentice with him, to stop hearing things secondhand from her friends. To sit at the feet of a leader who was leading the next revolution. Not one of blades, but of words.

"I don't care," Shifra said, voice firm. "I want to study with you. Learn from you."

The senator nodded appreciatively. "Now, tell me why you want to be a senator. What would you do? What do you want to achieve?"