Inyanga's Star and Other Constellations

Circles Finale - Mingxia's Star

Now more than ever, she wanted to speak with Inyanga.

One morning she got to campus so early, she found the front row of their lecture hall in al-Maysan empty; she had paid for a link at half to prima lux out of her allowance savings.

She wanted to ask, Is Storm Gloriam getting you into trouble? Is she egging you on?

Because if Storm had learned Inyanga wasn't under the taboo spell, she could be pressuring her to . . . Mingxia didn't know what. What did Storm want? What was there to gain from talking about the taboo?

The first row filled from the center outward with no sign of Inyanga. As students filed down the row behind her, as all the luck of the stars would have it, Amafu sat directly behind her — and in moments, along came Inyanga too.

"Boo!" said Inyanga to her bestie, and glancing back, Mingxia noticed something impossible to miss — because so much of Inyanga's hair had grown back out, after the shorn short look she had maintained since the first day of magicians college.

Some students said Storm's gravity defying orb of black coils was like a halo — with irony, as if she would be adorned with a circlet from Sol as if marked for goodness. The descriptor, Mingxia felt, fit this warrior for good much better.

Trying not to eavesdrop too, too much, she kept her head down, but she really did want to speak with Inyanga. Invite her to grab coffee, get her away from the others, and ask her about this mess she was getting into.

One time she looked back and Inyanga caught her eye. Instead of saying, "Good morning, Secondae Inyanga, could we grab a coffee together after class?" Mingxia had turned away like a snap, blushing. Like a spy getting caught (a bad one). Like she had been caught eavesdropping.

Which she had been.

Next thing she knew, she eavesdropped Inyanga saying, "Do you think you could help us with the taboo spell message problem . . . thing?" Storm joined the conversation and here they were sitting around talking about How To Write Down The Taboo! in what they must have thought were hushed voices, but weren't. Every word slipped directly into Mingxia's brain, including, "After detention tonight, Storm and I can go from the list of words we can use to explain the secret," and Inyanga's reply, "I love you!" to Amafu.

When Storm teased, "Aw, you two, I'm so happy we three are one big family now," now more than ever Mingxia saw red. And she beat herself up. How had she let this happen? How had Storm become best friends with them? How could those girls like her? Maybe they weren't such nice girls after all.

When she found the three that night conspiring over a chessboard in the courtyard, even with her back to them she could overhear plenty.

At times the noisy debates of groups of friends at other tables grew to an almost roar, but plenty of shushes piped them down regularly.

In those quiets it became clear what the girls were doing. They had written out the taboo spell and now Inyanga was talking about it. Out loud. "If magic cannot run out, then Constellation is hiding the fact that supply is unlimited."

Mingxia's heart thumped against the textbooks clutched to her chest. That girl was going to get herself kicked out.

She kept repeating the words, "artificial scarcity," and everyone knew they were not supposed to talk about that, or write it, or question it, decode it, translate it, or otherwise invoke it. Yet here was the top of their class repeating "artificial scarcity, artificial scarcity, artificial scarcity," and Mingxia clutched the books harder, trying to convince herself to do something.

Then Amafu said, her voice lower than her usual class clown blast but not so quiet that most every word couldn't be heard, "Stop saying that . . . library magicians are ten seconds away from realizing . . ." The light chatter picked up. Something about a tracking spell on words.