"That was it?" Tesa hissed to Neela as they were led out of the Mage Council's building. "They went to all that trouble to drag us in there and that was all they said?"
"Shh," Neela said with a finger to her lips. "Not here."
Glenna glanced over her shoulder at them and gave Tesa a grim smile. Good. At least somebody agreed with her.
When they returned to their courtyard, the sun was above the buildings and the air hot around them. The dragons drifted down into the courtyard and landed on their tree perches.
The Yennar-Leian sensers—mages who could sense magic and use spellstones, but not craft them—who had been sent to escort them disappeared after leaving them in the courtyard, but Tesa had no doubt, now, that somebody would still be watching them.
The group of Arethians stood loosely together in the courtyard, as though waiting for something. Malía supplied it.
"I guess we get a bit of a rest, then," she said in a resigned voice. "We may as well use it, after all the excitement we've had."
"A rest?" Tesa squeaked. "How can we rest when we know the dragons are up there, Arethia's been taken over, and nobody's going to help us?"
"I didn't hear anybody say that," Malía said evenly.
"No, but it's obvious they're not going to," Tesa said, throwing her hands up in exasperation.
"I wouldn't be so sure," Kiana said. "I got the impression that their decision-making process is somewhat collaborative. We don't know how many of them agree with the two hotheads at the end."
"Being the one to shout the loudest doesn't make one right," Renna said. As he said it, he directed a pointed stare at Tesa. She frowned.
"What if they decide not to help us get to the spires and they decide that we're no longer welcome here? I'm not going to lay around and do nothing when we should be preparing," Tesa said. She felt like now might be a good time to stomp to her room, but Malía held up a hand.
"Let's not be so hasty," she said. She looked to Tesa as if she were resisting rolling her eyes. "I didn't get much of a chance to say more before you started up an argument again. Be careful, or you will be confined to your room for a rest."
Tesa blushed and sat on the edge of the fountain near Orrie, who had climbed down for a drink. Impulsively, Tesa looked around to see if Mr. Mao had reappeared, as if he knew she were planning something, but she didn't see him. She seemed to have lost him after the banquet.
"Since we've arrived," Malía continued, "we've been busy with meetings, tests, or dinners for the majority of the time. Hardly space to breathe. Hardly time to mount a search for the dragons. Despite all that, we've found where the dragons are. We just need to get to them. It will be best if we get the help of the mages of Yennar Lei. I have high hopes of that." She glanced around the courtyard before she spoke again, this time in a lower voice.
"If they decide not to help us, we don't know enough about this place to make another plan. We don't even know how to get out of this temple." She'd been leaning forward as she spoke, and now sat back and straightened her back. "So, let's take this opportunity to rest from our duties as honored guests. It's up to you to decide which activities seem most restful," Malía finished.
Tesa's forehead wrinkled. Was Malía saying what she thought she was saying? Renna and Kiana were nodding knowingly, and Neela had her arms crossed in front of her and a determined, but faraway look. She was already talking with Aerix. Only Glenna appeared to be as unsure as Tesa was, and she caught Tesa's glance.
Tesa was about to ask Malía if she really meant for them to sneak around the temple and spy, but Malía lifted the tips of her fingers at her waist, facing her palm forward, and shook her head slightly.
Glenna saw it too. She swung her head back around with wide eyes and shot a question at Tesa. Tesa nodded her response.
The Arethians retreated to their rooms, and Tesa followed Glenna to hers. It was almost exactly like Tesa's, with a small bed, table, and window looking out onto the courtyard. Glenna shut the door while Tesa began inspecting the nooks and crannies of the room.
"What are you doing?" Glenna asked.
"Eriya would be proud of me," Tesa said. "In Areth, she was sure the Karume were using those magic door spells to listen in. I used to think she was a little paranoid."
"Used to," replied Glenna, and Tesa nodded. Glenna shrugged and joined Tesa in her inspection of the room.
When they finished, they both sat on the bed with their knees drawn up and their backs against the wall. They spoke in whispers so their voices wouldn't carry to the courtyard.
"We should at least know how to get out of here," Tesa said.
"We came in by the beach," Glenna whispered.
"No. We need to find other ways out, too, in case we need to get out fast. Or unnoticed."
"So not flying out on dragons?" Glenna smiled a bit as she said it.
"That would be pretty noticeable." Tesa frowned. "But that's a good point. The dragons will need to get out, too."
"Maybe there are doors big enough, or gates," Glenna said.
"I hope so."
"But even if there aren't, it'll be good to know what's there."
"Yeah," Tesa said, pursing her lips in thought. "Well, I guess we'll just have to go and see." She scooted to the edge of the bed and stood. Glenna followed.
When they stepped out into the courtyard, the bright sun confronted them with bright heat. Tesa felt the warmth pressing into her, making her clothes hug her body.
"Ugh. I need to change before we go," Tesa said.
Glenna only nodded. They both disappeared into their rooms and returned moments later in outfits of light, flowing fabric that fluttered as they moved. Tesa had found it in her closet with her other unpacked clothes.
"Well, you can't say they aren't hospitable," Glenna said, holding her arms up and looking down at her wide, patterned pants and white embroidered top.
"Let's go," Tesa said.
They walked to the corner of the courtyard, where the path led to a hall in another building. Tesa remembered following Neela this way for her mage test, but she didn't exactly remember which way they'd gone after that.
Tesa turned in the doorway to find the dragons watching her.
We're just going for a walk, Tesa said to all of the dragons. Gira snorted, and Tesa narrowed her eyes at him.
If we're not back in a couple of hours, come looking for us, Tesa said, this time directing it only to Orrie.
Call me if you need me. Orrie wore a bit of a crooked grin, and Tesa smiled back at him. She waved, then she and Glenna passed through the door leaving the courtyard into the hall.
Tesa saw light ahead that was probably from the courtyard she remembered passing through before, when she'd gone to her test. To her right, a smaller hallway led into a building.
"Let's go here," she said, and pulled Glenna into the hallway on the right.
The small hallway had many doors, and soon, judging by the activity in the hall, they realized that they'd found the mage student's living quarters. It reminded Tesa of the dragon riders' quarters, except much smaller, since none of them had to accommodate a dragon.
As they passed groups of students, Tesa tried to look like she belonged there, to avoid attention. But their presence drew stares, and there was no helping it, for their skin was so much fairer than most of the people in Yennar-Lei. Tesa and Glenna pressed on.
"I guess there's nothing through here," Glenna said. A particularly large rush of students parted to pass around them and Glenna hunched her shoulders, as if trying to become smaller. After that group passed, the hallway became deserted.
"It must be class time," Glenna said.
Tesa smiled. It was just like in the mage academy in Areth. She remembered going to her lessons amid the flurry of activity that happened near the time that classes begun. Then she frowned. That Areth might no longer exist. No, it couldn't. Not with the Karume in charge.
They reached the end of the hall, where their options were to climb stairs to the next floor, or go outside again.
Glenna stopped and looked to Tesa questioningly.
"There's probably just more rooms up there," Tesa said. "Let's go outside."
They pushed the door open and blinked in the bright sun as they stepped out into what appeared to be another courtyard. Or perhaps garden was a better term. A path stretched out before them, with a carpet of small, multi-hued flowers surrounding ornamental trees and bushes. On one side of the garden was another building, on the other was simply a wall.
"Maybe there's a door in the wall," Tesa said as they began to walk down the path. The garden was quiet.
The wall did have a door, and when they saw it, Tesa left the path with a glance around to be sure nobody saw her. The door was not locked. It had no knob or handle, just a hole where one would have been. Tesa frowned and looked at Glenna, who shrugged.
They pulled the door open and emerged onto a small ledge above a wide canal. Across the canal was a wide sidewalk along the side of a building. The patio at the back of the building looked over a long stretch of sand that led to the beach. Tesa squinted at it and her nose wrinkled.
"It's the guest house. Or whatever you would call where they're keeping us," Glenna said.
Tesa's mouth formed an 'O' as it dawned on her. Glenna was right. And that was the beach they'd landed on when they first arrived. They were just looking at it from the other side. Then Tesa frowned and backed through the door again. Glenna closed it behind her as she came through, too.
"I must have gotten turned around. I don't want to be near the ocean. I want to get to the city side of this place." Tesa's shoulders slumped.
Glenna gave a little laugh, a puff of air that barely seemed amused. She was shaking her head.
"What is it?" Tesa asked.
"It reminds me of Linnie," Glenna said.
Tesa bristled at the name. Linnie, the dragon rider who had betrayed them all by helping the Karume steal the dragons. Besides, she had never been particularly nice to Tesa.
"Sorry," Glenna said. "It just reminds me of all of her crazy plans to sneak around the dragon dwell. Then later, the plans to sneak around the mage academy. She always had something going on, even before she met that boy."
"The Karume she betrayed us for?" Tesa's words shot out of her mouth before she could stop them.
Glenna sighed and hung her head. "I miss her. At least, the old her. I thought she was just really taken with him."
A memory of Linnie flashed through Tesa's mind: Linnie and Glenna convincing her to break into Renna's office, supposedly to find out who he was taking to the mage ball. Flying on Linnie's dragon to the window and scrambling onto the ledge. Linnie's eyes when Tesa realized that she wasn't looking for Renna's invitation to the ball after all, but something else.
The stones. And Tesa had found them. The keys to the magic doors beneath Areth.
Another memory flashed. Linnie at the ball with her date, then Linnie, atop her dragon, with the same boy, attacking Tesa.
She had no fond memories of Linnie the way Glenna did.
"Let's go this way," Tesa said brusquely, and pushed past Glenna in a swift walk.
An arched doorway connected the corner of the student living quarters with the other building that bordered the garden. Tesa passed through it. She sighed as she found herself in another courtyard. The student courtyard she'd passed through on her way to her mage test: scattered tables, vendors, and food all around.
At the table directly in front of her now, sat Mr. Mao. He saw her immediately and turned his wide eyes on her.
Tesa groaned and led Glenna by the elbow. She sped her pace and tried not to look at him. He wasn't supposed to be watching her anymore, was he?
They passed him and Tesa risked a glance back. Mr. Mao had risen from his chair and now walked behind them. His eyes met hers with that piercing glare.
"Great," said Tesa. "We've been noticed."