Frozen Prospects (14 page)

Jain
looked more than a little astonished, but nodded after a second. "I
guess that makes sense."

Va'del
continued, warming to the subject as he thought about the widow at
Screaming Wind Village. "Not only that, sometimes the Headmen
change while they are in office. Maybe they started out relatively
honest, but over the course of twenty or thirty years started
putting the interest of family or friends over that of the village
as a whole."

Jain
looked positively surprised now, and Va'del suddenly realized how
naive and sheltered she was.
They
start training the girls as soon as the mage gift shows up. She may
have been sequestered away from her family as young as eight, and
put into a regimented environment designed to make sure she wasn't
exposed to anything before the Council was ready for her and her
classmates to experience it.

"Plus,
people are more complicated than just good or bad. Most people seem
to have some of both in them. Maybe the Headman is mostly good, but
has a weakness where a specific family member is involved. In that
case, the fact that the wronged party can request judgment from the
Guadel may be the only hope they have. Or possibly the fact that
the Headman's decision
may
be overturned by the Guadel is enough to make him choose correctly
to start out with."

Jain
seemed lost in thought, and Va'del let the silence stretch for a few
minutes before pulling his feet out of the pool and putting on his
boots.
My feet are
turning wrinkly, and I'm not going to get anything else done
tonight. It's time to go to bed.

"I'm
done for the night. Goddess protect you, Jain."

"You
too, Va'del, Goddess protect."

##

Jain
waited while the rest of the girls filed out of the well-lit room
where Guadel Ah'bi had just finished up her lecture on the finer
points of challenge law. The class had held the girls' attention
much better than most of her lectures, largely due to Be'ter's
recent challenge of Va'del and the gossip it had spawned.

When
the instructor looked up and saw Jain standing a few feet away from
her, she sighed as if expecting another argument about why a
particular piece of law was poorly conceived. "Shouldn't you
be headed to lunch?"

Jain
ducked her head nervously. "Yes, Guadel Ah'bi, I just wanted to
apologize for the other day. Someone pointed out to me that there
are many ways villagers could find themselves being judged by a
Headman that they had no voice in electing. Then they pointed out
that headmen are people too, so it's possible they might change over
their term of service."

The
older woman's eyebrows rose a little in surprise but she nodded
slowly. "That is true, and I appreciate your apology, even
coming as it does so long after the fact."

Seeing
her young student blush, Ah'bi held up her hand. "On the other
hand, I owe you a bit of an apology as well. I should have spent
more time trying to explain those same things to you and less time
assigning punishment. Outside worries shouldn't be allowed to
influence my treatment of you girls, and I'm sorry I let them do
so."

Jain
nodded, somewhat surprised to hear the stern instructor admit an
error. "Guadel Ah'bi, you don't by chance know anything about
the ex-candidate Va'del, do you?"

The
eyes that had been softening somewhat became hard as flint again.
"I wouldn't have thought you one to go looking for more tidbits
to feed into the rumor mill, Jain."

"No,
mistress. I've just seen him at training, and the time you sent me
for wool. He seems kind, but I don't really know anything about
him."

Ah'bi
studied her student for several seconds before finally nodding. "I
don't suppose there are many who can say they know much about him.
Maybe none who can say as they actually know him well."

The
older woman stared off into the distance as her right hand absently
reached up to brush her short brown hair out of the way. "I
knew his sponsors well. I'rone wasn't much for speaking, I don't
suppose any of the Stephens men are, their women are all too prone
to pick the boys as have a bundle of hurt inside. For all of that,
I don't know as if I've ever met a man with a finer mind. At least
not in the area of law. We tried to get him to teach this class,
but he kept putting us off. Either because he wanted to be out and
about doing things, because teaching would have involved more
speaking than he normally did in a year, or because Stephens'
bloodline is dwindling so badly that his wives needed to find a lad
to sponsor. I suppose it could have been a combination of all
three."

Jain
suddenly found herself full of even more questions than she'd
started with, but she fought down the desire to ask them, hoping
that doing so would lead Guadel Ah'bi to continue talking. It was
rare that any of the Guadel shared much in the way of information
about their fellows, and Ah'bi was more tight-lipped than most.

Shaking
herself slightly, Jain's instructor continued. "I don't suppose
as all that really matters except that I had a bunch more respect
for him and his wives than most. Whatever boy they picked to
sponsor had to have real potential."

Jain
felt a curious flutter in her heart, but Ah'bi shook her head.
"That being said, you'd best steer clear of him, girl. A thing
like what happened to him changes a person, and he was no doubt a
wounded thing to begin with. I suspect that On'li and her husband
are thinking they'll try to get him sponsored when Bay'del and her
husband get back, but even so there is a powerful group of people
who don't want to see that day. Barring that, there are as many or
more who'd see him rejected before he could take his final oaths.
Not all are as wise as to make sure that the one they want to
crucify for something is really deserving of the punishment. 'Tis
too much human nature to want to blame someone when something goes
wrong, and not all Guadel, or even all on the Council, are immune to
it."

Jain
nodded, not really sure she understood all that had just been said,
but reeling with new ideas regardless.

"You
mind me, girl, and stay away from him for now. At least till we know
as if he's been too damaged by all that's happened. And don't go
repeating this to any of those young fools as seem determined to
make things worse for him."

Va'del
slipped his feet into the hot spring once again and sighed as the
familiar ritual finally made it feel like the day was coming to a
close. The last couple of weeks had gone on much the same as the
previous ones, but the few small changes that had occurred improved
his outlook more than he would have believed possible.

I
continue to put more muscle on, and at a rate that bears out the
idea that Jasmin really did something to me. Probably more drastic
than she made it sound at the time too, Goddess bless her. For
making the change and bless her for minimizing it to me. If it
wasn't for the fact that I'm now so much stronger than I was, there
isn't any way I'd be able to continue weapons training.

Fi'lin,
the Guadel weapons instructor, had gruffly handed Va'del a practice
dagger one day and told him to use it before turning back to the
Guadel candidates who were his real responsibility. Alir hadn't
liked it of course. He'd even stopped providing Va'del the minimal
instruction he'd been giving previously. Instead he simply
continued to pit the boys against Va'del one at a time. Alir
provided each of them with critiques of their skills at the end of
each bout, but remained conspicuously silent regarding Va'del's
weakness and strengths other than to point out how the other
students could use them to their advantage.

It
should have bothered Va'del more than it did, but Fi'lin
occasionally mentioned a particular thing 'that young students often
need to improve on' in passing. With the Guadel's occasional,
subtle guidance, Va'del was steadily improving, and he treasured the
fact he was once again practicing with two weapons.

None
of the dedicated guardsmen used two weapons, and the citizen guards
who made up the bulk of the cadre were likewise trained only in the
use of a single weapon. Va'del's training with sword and dagger,
informal as it was, was a sign that he still had a chance to be
sponsored.

Va'del's
increased strength also meant that it no longer took him as long to
perform his duties at the stable. Callan had started shifting
additional duties Va'del's way until he realized that doing so was
encouraging sloth among the 'real' apprentices. That had promptly
stopped, and now that the shearing was done Va'del found he was able
to absent himself for a cycle or two in the middle of the day to
study law or perform his mental exercises.

Those
spare minutes were prized both because they freed up Va'del's
evenings slightly, and because they got him away from the stable
apprentices who'd responded to his unique status by becoming even
more relentless in their tricks and harassment.

Things
had come to a head when one of them got a little too violent and
Va'del had dropped him gasping to the ground with a kick to the
stomach. For a second it had looked as if the other three boys
who'd been watching would all jump him simultaneously, but Callan
was hell on brawlers. In the end, they'd simply picked up their
retching comrade and retreated, having finally determined that they
could only push him so far. That didn't, of course, stop them from
pushing him right up to that line.

When
it came to the candidates and Jain's fellow Daughters, things hadn't
changed much, but there were a few who no longer participated in the
teasing.
I wonder why
they stopped. Maybe they saw that Jain wasn't doing it and that was
enough?

Va'del
wondered what time it was and then tried to relax. Jain would
either manage to sneak out or she wouldn't. Fretting about it
wouldn't change things in the slightest. He'd worried a little
about a large group of candidates or apprentices arriving at his
secluded pool the first few nights. In the absence of any adults
there was no telling what might have happened, but they'd never
shown up. Instead, Jain had started sneaking out and coming to the
pool several times a week.

Something
had changed between the first time they'd talked and the second.
Much of the awkwardness was gone now. Jain had even found another
copy of the law book she was studying and given it to Va'del so they
could discuss the things she was learning.

The
light sound of footsteps approaching made Va'del smile.

"Va'del,
are you here?" Jain had stopped bringing a glow sphere,
trusting in the darkness to help keep them hidden.

"I
am. How was your day?"

Va'del
slid over on the ledge as Jain's footsteps reached him.

The
next cycle or so was even more enjoyable than Va'del had hoped. He
could talk to Jain almost as easily as he could have Pa'chi, and
they had the added benefit of both sharing an interest in law.

As
they finished up discussing the reading on Council tradition, Jain
sighed. "I agree with you, but I think maybe that you may hold
too much of a belief in the infallibility of the various members of
the Council."

Va'del
considered her point and then shrugged, even though he knew the gesture
was invisible in the inky darkness. "You're right, but there
are already an incredible number of safeguards in place that should
hopefully make sure we get the best the Guadel have to offer for
those seats. What else could the Goddess have put in place?"

"I
don't know, but what if the best some of the bloodlines have isn't
good enough?"

There
wasn't an easy answer, so Va'del didn't try to provide one, instead
sitting in silence as he wondered what Jain knew that made her ask
the question.

Jain
reached out and placed a hand on Va'del's arm. "Thanks for
going over this stuff with me. My scores have gone up a lot since
you started helping."

Trying
to ignore the way his heart had sped up at the touch, Va'del cleared
his throat uncomfortably. "There isn't any reason to thank me.
I enjoy it, and it gives me a chance to keep learning the kinds of
things a candidate would be learning."

"Why
do you want to be one of them so badly? All they've ever been is
mean to you."

The
question was more personal than the kinds of things they normally
talked about. Va'del wasn't sure he wanted to answer, afraid it
would somehow change their newly forming friendship.

"Some
of them aren't as bad now. Others are worse, but some of them are
getting a little better for some reason."

Jain
shifted uneasily, and Va'del turned towards her. "You know
what changed, don't you?"

"I
said a couple of things. Not to everyone. Definitely not to
Be'ter, but a lot of the boys follow us girls around whenever they
get the chance, trying to win our interest. It gets pretty bad
because you're never sure if they like you for you, or if they just
are hoping to catch a wife so that they can become a full-fledged
Guadel. I told a couple of them that I didn't consider it manly or
funny to gang up on someone who hadn't done anything to them. I'm
sorry I can't do more."

It
was Va'del's turn to squeeze Jain's arm as he felt tears start to
burn in his eyes. "Thanks. There aren't many people who've
ever taken a stand to try and help me. It means more than you
know."

The
reluctance to answer Jain's first question suddenly evaporated as he
finally became sure she wasn't just fishing for information to use
against him later. "I guess that there are a few reasons why I
want to be a candidate. The most important is that I want to be
able to help people who aren't able to protect themselves, and the
Guadel do that more than anyone else. They protect them from
unethical village headmen, they protect them from snow cats and
bag'ligs, they even protect them from bandits."