Music made by flute and string and the drumming of many marching feet drifted into the Working Place. Lon watched the entrance to see who'd appear and was surprised when two dozen red-faced school children paraded into the grotto. Each lizard child carried some element of the lunch they'd prepared and they set-up on a shorter-than-usual buffet table.
How odd, thought Lon, that even the youngest people in the settlement should deliver sustenance to this place. The old medico smiled at the rosy-faced schoolmarm. She bowed formally and the two conversed in friendly banter. Minders set-up the meal and other teachers calmed the kids; twenty four rambunctious children pestered the young masters at the table.
A gaggle of rosy-face girls swarmed around Saeya who knelt beside the gathering and addressed one child by name, "Dassebonyius Sandringa," she said and the schoolgirl issued a slithering reply. She was adorable in her innocence, but a little mischievous too. She pointed-up at Lon and asked a question. Saeya blushed and stood up quick without responding. All the children laughed at her embarrassment.
The visitors regarded Lon with awe. It was clear they'd seen and heard of this newcomer but this was the first time they'd gotten close to him. They eyed his long curly white hair and bruised face with fear and wonder.
On the table behind the group, the picnic was ladled into bowls. The lunch was a creamy cheese soup served with great hunks of cracked wheat bread. Each diner got a tray with their soup plus cheese and pickles.
These were incredibly disciplined kids and Lon marveled at how easily they formed a line. They didn't jostle or horse-around and the first ones through sat down quietly on the grass to eat. But he did observe one sad fact.
The students were mostly all female. This was proof that Calbian males who're born healthy and strong did not attend school. There were none of those here. The four boys he did see were all lizard-weaklings, too cowardly to compete for anyone's attention or even speak-up for themselves. They sat on the grass together and were shunned by the rest of the assembly. They seemed content to eat in silence and watch the girls rule the party.
Lon took his portions and thanked the servers who blushed and tittered. But instead of returning to sit with the other masters, he chose instead to picnic beside this outcast group. They all smiled and turned their bodies to be in a circle with him as they ate their soup.
One sickly little fellow caught his eye and communicated the only way he knew how. He raised his little red hand and made a swishing sound with his mouth to demonstrate what he imagined it must be like to make bolts of fire and ice with Varget. Lon knew exactly what he was doing because he'd done it himself when he was about same age, after one of his uncles had read some deepcombers' story to him. But now he knew it wasn't that easy, and here he was ten years later still trying to figure it out.
In the next group over, the youngest of the schoolteachers stood up and bowed at Melcart and spoke in the common tongue. "Friend." She began awkwardly, "Perhapss a... " she faltered, "...Young masterss will perform... A sspecial show?" The school marm bowed to complete the request and the children cheered. This was only the second time Lon had ever heard a red-skinned reptile use Common. He'd come to believe only Captain Owen had ever been beyond the walls. By the way the other school matrons congratulated the speaker he wondered if the Common language was her chosen field of study. She'd asked for a special show?
Zed shook his head no and gave Melcart a sour look. "... You see what you've started? Now they'll expect a trick every lunch." The medico scowled again, and everyone came to understand the old master did not believe in anyone spending smilk for entertainment purposes. "It's because he's been doing tricks for them at these lunches," the sage complained. "Groundsmilk is not to be bandied about for school children."
"It's just a shame nobody else knows any fantastical feats." Mel said, not at all dissuaded by Zed's criticisms. "The best way to say thank you is put a smile on their little faces." The children could not understand what the rogue had said but his tone was enough to convince them that some illusory spectacle was sure to follow.
"Yay!" the kids cheered.
Valari chuckled at Mel's continued defiance and shared a look with Lon. Saeya also looked directly at Lon before she stood and made an announcement.
"I'll entertain," Saeya said and everyone was surprised. Zed frowned. The children weren't sure if this was good or bad news and they studied the blond administrator for a clue. When she moved to stand behind the lunch table, they took her more seriously and scrambled to find better seats.
Saeya moved table scraps and saved out special ingredients from the leftover picnic array. She put forward three empty tin pots and added a cup of water to each. As everyone watched she made three different coloured liquids by adding left-over ingredients from their lunch. Creamy soup was added to the first metal container, just a dollop. In the second pot she crushed a red tomato, and then she picked up spinach from the salad and rolled it in her hands to make green paste for a third can.
When everything was ready, she spoke to the Calbian students who'd played their instruments so well upon entry. The two flute and harp instrumentalists began to play a specially selected mournful song. Saeya touched the rims of the cans and closed her eyes. Everyone waited and listened to the somber music. "Som Gum Gei Sa," she intoned, and Lon heard it rumble from her lips and felt the pulse. He was thrilled with how the smilkripples coursed through his body and blended into the music.
"Som Gum Gei Gro" she said, and then "Som Gum Gei Ya". She'd intoned different signs atop all three cans. After every intonation the smilkwave pulsed through all prescient people and Lon was most affected because he sat with the Calbian boys so close to the serving table.
The water boiled and small wisps of steam crept over the brims of each container. The mist was bright and thick and the colours clung together. The three containers made three different shades of exhaust and each behaved differently. The first can issued a flat white broth. The center pot made a pillar of red gas. The third container issued a curly green ivy that wrapped around the red column. This steam didn't dissipate, and the audience moaned as the multi-coloured miasma swayed to the music. Som and Gei were the Varget names for elements Water and Air, but gum was a command Lon didn't recognize. He watched transfixed and hoped to learn more.
"Oohhhh," the school children gasped as the red and green vapours became vertically entwined over the white steam that stretched out flat above the buffet table. Everyone sighed as the red and green smog formed ghostly figures which looped about each other and seemed to be ice-skating atop the smooth white surface. Every head swayed back and forth as they followed the skaters who frolicked to the music. Alone on the ice they did figure-eights around each other and then impossible jumps. The red male wore tight trousers and caught the green female in her little skirt after she'd twirled in mid-air.
Saeya stood behind the table and directed the show with her mind. Her body swayed back and forth with the rhythm of the music. After each acrobatic feat, the audience clapped. And then, finally, the two smoky shapes came together in a swirling embrace. It looked like they were just about to kiss when... The song ended. The last note hung in the air as the steam faded. The misty shapes combined and the purple gas evaporated before everyone's eyes.
"Hooray!" The school children erupted in cheer and riotous applause. Their joyous ovation shook the outdoor space and the school marms rose to secure any unsafe pots.
Lon clapped feverishly, wide-eyed with wonder. Saeya gave him a quick glance and triumphed in his cheer. Then she received and accepted hearty congratulations from the rest of the grotto.
The white-haired lad was blown away. He'd never seen anything like this before in his life and he was smystified; ice skaters made of steamy smilk! He wondered then if the two figure-skaters and their romance was a message to him? Of course it was, dummy.
"That was... I'm... I'm speechless" Lon said.
"Triple handed?" Melcart counted three cans on the table. He looked to Zed. The old medico clapped heartily despite his earlier admonitions and he winked at Saeya.
When the dust settled, the children began to sing their school songs as the matrons packed-up the meal. The kids lined up to take dirty plates and dishes back to their schoolyard. Lon watched them leave and wondered just where in the compound their schoolhouse could be? He'd seen nearly every building and didn't recall such an institution or any suitable playground. It didn't matter, except they were another reason he had to succeed. He couldn't let anything happen to this wonderful place.
-
As Lon lay in the grass beside the others for his afternoon nap, he let his mind dwell on the problem. How could he know if the mark he'd found would stop Minister Horne? The new glyph needed to be tested. He couldn't show up on the battlefield with something he'd never done before. He needed to find a group of suitably large lifeforms that were conscious and which he could make unconscious, temporarily. This experiment would test the new glyph and the intonation and also test himself and his ability to execute. He contemplated the idea of sending whole companies of Crolean elites to sleep and he smiled. But to pull that off, he'd need to practice. He'd need some test subjects. Perhaps the dogs in the kennels? But alas that was one of the busiest parts of Atarskal; the kennels were right by the front bailey and they were always watched. What about at night? He could go there real late, but then the dogs would likely be asleep. So how would he know if it worked? He could wake them first. But then they'd make such a racket he'd surely be discovered. Oh this was a conundrum.
What about the fish in the river? Again, how could he be sure it worked? The answer came to him: the cows in the pasture.
Hold on. There'd be some repercussions for such a strike. A guest lodged in Winterhouse who eats three square meals a day in camp cannot simply go and put the host's dairy herd to sleep and not expect some consequences. Plus Zed had just proven how punitive he could be, and how easily he could humiliate his young masters.
Lon thought it through again and came to the same conclusion. It had to be done. He knew he had to do this sensational thing just to discover if he could do it. He had to learn this sigil for the greater good. He couldn't still be testing theories and trying new intonations when Minister Horne arrived. This one mass-effect glyph could drop several enemy soldiers and if he became proficient such an ability could help turn the tide of battle. If he became proficient.
-
The crew slept in the shade and then swam and sunbathed and then returned to work a few minutes later. There were five cases left to infuse.
Lon relaxed and hoped for more stories. He decided to spark a discussion.
"Zed did you know any of the Emerald Eyes?" The sea drover asked.
"Spertane?" Zed smiled, "A master named Spertane had the Emerald Warden's Key. There was no permanent company. Not really. It was just Spertane and Lantha and whomever they'd met in the tavern that week."
"Yet they were the second-most successful crew." Melcart defended his favourite deepcombers who may indeed have been the second best, by print volume. Everyone knew Blue Key was the most successful by value of goods recovered, highest auction prices, and they'd ventured the deepest.
"Melcart. I've told you before," the green-robed sage said, "Emerald Eyes were only good listeners. Their printer took others' stories. The Raid on Big River was Stone Key, our company. Sperlane's stellar feats were all in truth performed by Ephram that day, and the fighter who slew the bridge troll was Atar, not Muglee. I was there. I saw it all firsthand."
"You didn't complain?" Saeya asked, "they took your tale?"
"We were well paid and that's the truth of it." Zed said, "those sheets were never distributed here. It was all done for foreigners. Emerald Eyes is a pack of lies in that respect. But it's beautiful work that circled the globe and brought everyone's attention back to this Holy Land. Which raised auction prices accordingly."
"Do you use two hands to work the elements?" Lon asked. The table went silent. They weren't supposed to discuss anything related to Varget here or anywhere.
"The mysteries are all around you." Zed summarized the familiar refrain.
"To move the elements... That's two-handed right?" Lon didn't quit. He looked around the table which doubly annoyed medico. Yet the tactic worked. The old sage was prompted to share more information although he made it clear he feared becoming too prevalent in Lon's process.
"Here in the light of Daoda's Gift, in Kluth's First and Second Kingdoms," Zed began, "most feigorin have forgotten the Secondsun below. So to press minds and confuse, or put other feigor to sleep using smilk is much easier than moving the elements. Easier and less expensive." Zed said, "Few smilkdrivers can make and send elements in apodictic packages as Ephram used to say"
"Apodictic?"
"Undeniable is maybe a better word."
"Explain." Saeya insisted.
"They're undeniable because they cannot be blocked. Can you stop an avalanche? Or a rockslide? Can you settle a sandstorm? Now, down below... When you visit the third and fourth kingdoms, and you will, each of you will, the elements are the only Varget that works. Just try to put a Tokgor to sleep! Ha ha. Or imagine sewing fear in the mind of a deepcat?!"
"Do you know anyone who can do that?" Lon asked.
"No. That's my point. Ephram used apodictic packages when they got below the second meadow and into big wide open on the third plane. Without knowing... You'd never get there."
"The Samardina?" Lon asked. He tried to draw the connection.
"It's in you lad." Zed smiled, "You access it up there is all." Zed pointed at each of the young masters. "On two-handed Varget, and transforming smilk... The great masters create what they need on the spot and the smulcrum can be extended. Three handed. Four handed. You understand? Saeya knows. Now please let's not talk about it anymore at this table"
When Zed's back was turned . . .
"Have any of you ever seen anyone come down from the temple?" Lon asked.
Nobody spoke.
Then finally Saeya admitted the truth.
"No. I've seen five people ascend.. and," the blond pouted. "No. I've never seen anyone come down."
"What happens to them?"
Nobody spoke.
"Geralt drowned." Saeya said and then she shrugged away another memory and turned back to her work.
"He obviously didn't know the elements," Melcart said.
Why was that obvious? Lon wondered. Zed returned so he couldn't follow-up.
Saeya turned to look-up at him standing tall beside her. But instead of speaking her thoughts aloud she bit her bottom lip and remained silent. Something troubled her. What was it?