The question had been simple. It had been innocent enough. “Will I achieve the two goals I have set for after graduation?” The Tower Card had been the immediate response. Its interpretation still hammered in Jilaenna’s skull.

“You’ll be unprepared for the emotional havoc that will be brought about by uncontrollable situations, upheavals, and communications or altercations with others.”

She tried to tell herself that it was just a stupid card. She had even asked the crystal ball lady if she should put much stock in the card, but the answer was yes. It was not until several questions later that they got to the topic of Jilaenna’s graduation in questions. She would graduate in less than a year if the crystal ball could be trusted. She was trying to convince herself that these people were not seers and had no grasp of the real future and meanings.

Even once Brother Colin had calmed her a little, she still could not shake something about the Tower Card. While Jilaenna was not a seer, she was developing her own interpretation of the card. She had known what the Tower could mean as soon as she saw it drawn. It depicts disaster or ruin. She had heard of it before, but the question she had asked was intertwined in the Towers of Jadri itself. Maybe she would be an agent of change in the Towers? She had already had multiple ideas to propose for changes to be made, so that made some sense.

She instead retreated to a different interpretation: She was indeed unprepared. She actually knew she was unprepared. She doubted any amount of preparation would be able to make her ready for what had always been described as “a burden” to Father. Kaer was unpredictable and had many uncontrollable situations on a regular basis. She would be required to make decisions that could get people hurt. She would have to inspire people to actually listen. Some communications might fail. Some people already did not like her.

She won a game of bingo and that seemed to raise her spirits considerably, but she was not about to forget the tarot prophecy so easily. She knew there was a lesson to be had here, and she was not going to let it get past her.

Waste no time, Taraedin Maeghlin. Learn formalities, remember the past, share good fortune, embrace all lessons, don’t panic, don’t expect everyone to be friendly, and beware the cost of pride. Prepare for the unexpected, because it’s all you will see.

Jilaenna sat in a chair in her room in Brother Colin’s inn. She had sat there many times before on many different nights, but this one was slightly different. Her robes were grey. The book on the desk in front of her was no longer the medical book she had borrowed from Sister Lyght. It was a new book on the Call. It was not nearly as difficult as the first book, but it was incredibly complex. She no longer felt the need to follow along with her finger or mouth the words quietly to herself. She recognized most words by sight now, and only occasionally had to pause to sound them out when she encountered an incredibly new word.

Her mind played back the events as she looked away from the book, without having really made any progress in it. It was a little over a month ago when she finally found Shobri Dorami and asked about when she would be ready. He said he’d retest her soon. It was not until over a week ago that she finally ambushed him in the center of town and asked for that test. The test was not difficult, though she was nervous because she did not know how to read his responses. He skipped the history test though, which actually made her smile in the back of her mind.

She asked him after the test and he had said she could leave if he hated her. She replayed his response in her head over and over, but it always sounded bad. She didn’t like the response, though she had learned that he did not exactly hate her. She had later discussed how she did not think apprentices would really meet Dorami until after they graduated. She believed that more than ever. He had posted a note beginning her probation period however. For that, she was thankful.

It was the day before her probationary period was supposed to end. She was surprisingly anxious for this promotion. Not because she would be casting spells soon, but because she was one step closer to graduation, which was one step closer to her goal. And the voice in the back of her mind was surprisingly quiet through this whole process. It had not said a word when her promotion was put on hold. It had not said a word when she was not being re-tested.

It had not said a single word until she had thought, for a split second, about possibly being Shobri one day. It had sounded vehemently against the idea of her being Shobri. As soon as she stopped considering it, the voice quieted down again and let her be, though she almost felt like her ears were still ringing for minutes after that.

Lady Torresse had come by to talk to Jilaenna and Brother Colin, and she had brought breakfast with her. Seemed a bit odd to Jilaenna that a Lady would cook and serve it to people, but she was not about to complain about the good cooking. During that conversation, Lady Torresse mentioned giving etiquette and speech lessons to apprentices. The voice had chimed in again, so Jilaenna volunteered for it. It would certainly help her in dealing with nobles in the future.

A conversation with Lyght and a Shadow Walker later found Jilaenna and Lyght getting a trunk to take to Jilaenna’s room to keep her belongings safe. It was nice to have a good trunk in her room, especially after the incident with the book. After Lyght left the room, Jilaenna had broken out one of the books and started reading it, but after waiting most of the previous day anxiously and the excitement of everything else, she was too tired to even read. She would have to sleep before she could start making meaningful progress through the books.

She laid down in her bed, and as she drifted off to sleep, she heard the Shobri’s words in her head again, just before sleep took her, “You are a proud girl. Maybe a little too proud.” Was she too proud? Was she a show off? She did not really think so, but perhaps in her efforts to prove herself, she did go steps too far. She just wanted to get enough recognition to get to the next step. That was all she needed. But she was going to try to keep her pride in check.

Waste no time, Taraedin Maeghlin. Learn formalities, remember the past, share good fortune, embrace all lessons, don’t panic, don’t expect everyone to be friendly, and beware the cost of pride.

Jilaenna had completed all of her required tests over a month ago. She was going to be promoted, but Shobri Dorami had put a hold on her promotion as soon as he heard about it. She did not mind, surprisingly, despite that she thought he was holding her friendship with Brother Colin against her. She was thinking of talking to Father about it, but after everything that had happened, she just decided to let it slide.

Brother Colin had been sliced open at the stomach and hurt his arm. Father, Brother Colin, Sister Lyght, Shobri Seriwen, Brother Tian, Apprentice Vallanaren, Mildena and Miss Veryn were all hurt by the cultists detonating a relic in the hospital. Papers had been peppered all over the city about Reitu. Shadow Walkers were attacking people, the latest being Brother Ingram apparently. The apprentices had been instructed to travel in the city in pairs or larger groups.

She had played a small part in the exploding relic recovery, but quickly discovered just how useless she was in those situations. She trade-loaned a book with Sister Lyght later to hopefully not be so useless if there was another incident. She had finished several books in the library as well. Almost every book related to the Call that she could get her hands on had been read. She had read a book about cooking and loaned it to Cronus. Now she was searching for more things to learn, more things to do, more ways to be helpful.

She was worried for people who were becoming her friends and family in this new place. She thought less of home, but still enough to find things odd here. She still felt out of place. She was discovering that not everyone here could or would be her friend.

Brother Ingram. She had tried so hard to be his friend. When she had witnessed the devastation at the hospital from the relic, she had ran to find him. She had been lucky in that regard, to actually find him in the city and not away at the Wall. She knew that some in the Pact would have at least some medical experience. With Sister Lyght and Miss Veryn out, she did not know many who could have help. She had felt closer to him when he was actually giving her things to do, but that seemed to quickly fade away once the work was done. When she had heard him yelling a few days later, she wanted to run and help him, despite being in the middle of helping Ria. Turned out she had been right, and he might have needed her or Sister Lyght’s help, because he was dealing with a Shadow Walker.

Shobri Dorami. She could do nothing right in his eyes. She was just growing to accept that. She stopped trying. She stopped caring. She would never impress him, never get a compliment from him, and never have him be on her side. She thought he felt nothing but contempt for her. Even when he smiled, she felt something condemning, condescending, or even malicious from him. He intended for her to fail, for her to not become what she intended to whether he was aware of the goals or not, that he would be there to point and laugh, and in fact was already laughing at her. The combination of Shobri Dorami, the Shadow Walkers, and the cultists, she felt surrounded on multiple fronts with genuine enemies. People that really intended to harm her.

Father Farin. He would not be her friend until after she graduated. She knew this because he was too busy to be friends with all of the apprentices. He was nice and gentle and kind, but he couldn’t be her friend. He could be her teacher, her supporter, her guide, and her arbiter, but not her friend. She understood his limitations, but that did not stop her from caring about him and wanting him to get better after the relic incident. She liked him well enough, and she thought he liked her well enough. That was the limit. Friendship was not allowable yet.

Baron Halig. He looked down on her with disgust. She understood he was noble, that he was a guard, but something had changed. When she first met him, he was almost her hero, but the last time she had seen him, it was like he thought of her as nothing more than horse manure on the bottom of his boots. She wanted to enter the fountain contest, but everyone seemed to insist on a drawing for it. She was not an artist. She was not even a great writer. In the end, she did not enter, despite having a good idea for the fountain. She could never have drawn it to his satisfaction, and he would never have approved of her circles.

Mildena. It seemed odd to Jilaenna that she could get along so well with Brother Colin, but have absolutely no connection to his wife. Mildena stayed quiet, acted like an arm ornamentation, made public displays of affection towards Colin, and rarely spoke to her at all. Without any real communication with the woman, Jilaenna was relatively certain that no friendship would blossom. She did not foresee this pattern shifting from the half-dozen encounters to date.

Shadow Walkers. They were bad. They attacked people. They attacked her. One had said they wanted to help, but they were dark. Their misdeeds would not be cleansed in even her own long life time. And those misdeeds could not begin to be washed away until all Shadow Walkers began to not attack, harass, spy on, or interfere with people’s lives. There were threats of bodily harm to children, loved ones, and examples to be made. Jilaenna some times wondered what would happen if she was the example. Who would care, besides her family back home? Sister Lyght, Brother Colin. That’s it. But given that the Shadow Walkers had singled out Brother Colin, that might be enough.

Religious Zealots. All of them. Religion was personal. The Creator shed His light on her, and she accepted that. But she did not force it on others. She would never kill for it. She would never harm someone for having a different belief. She knew Brother Colin believed in the Old Ones, but it did not bother her in the least. She suspected that Sister Lyght did as well, but again, no difference. The cultists and even some of the more zealous Jaidan were never going to be her friends. No person’s beliefs were less sacred than someone else’s, so she left others to their own devices. She hoped that everyone would leave her to her own beliefs. One day, she did hope to own a small, plain, silver cross on a chain for her neck, but that was as open as she would ever get.

No time wasted, Taraedin Maeghlin. Learning formalities, remembering the past, sharing good fortune, embracing all lessons, but always relaxed and not panicked. Not everyone would be your friend, but that means you had to be just as nice in spite of it.

The Leak had returned. Jilaenna could not stop it. She had fled in the middle of a lesson from Catherine. She had panicked, and she knew she had. She hid away in Ria’s room for two days, trying to reseal it. She failed still and finally came out. She was seeking Sister Lyght, but the Sister was no where to be found. From the Hall, Jilaenna reached out with strands, trying to find the Sister, but found no purchase to wrap the strand around her.

“Stop panicking, just keep pressure on t’cut!” Ty’s words were harsh, but Jilaenna listened, holding the cloth on Tenrix’s back. Despite being wounded, Tenrix’s was in remarkably good humor. He was laughing softly, though his back was soaked in his blood. Ty determined that she was not being useful at her job because of her panic and sent her ahead to get a physician. She nodded as Ty took charge of the wound, and her legs were moving, fueled by panic, fear, and adrenaline.

She finally left the Hall, having started to panic with not being able to find Sister Lyght. She grabbed her nag and mounted up to go scouring the entire city if necessary to find Sister Lyght. She checked the Golden Eye, the Stewpot, the Lion’s Crown, and the Eighth Tower. Finally, she remembered a place that she had eaten with Lyght before Jilaenna had joined the Towers, the White Rose. It just happened that she saw lyght in the cafe. Jilaenna put up her horse and moved for the cafe.

She burst into the door of the hospital, panting for breath, panicked, looking for the physician. He was busy with bandaging a wound on a young boy, but passed this work off to his assistant when he saw Jilaenna. Rather than immediately follow her out the door to go towards Tenrix, he worked on calming her down, letting her catch her breath, and carefully explain what was wrong. He would not move until she had done these things, and only then did he pack up his things and begin to follow her.

Jilaenna practically ran to Sister Lyght and hugged her while on the verge of tears. So intent was Jilaenna on the Leak and the problems that it entailed that she did not notice the person with Lyght. After hearing the problem and the situation, the man admitted rather openly that he had releaked multiple times. After a bit of conversation, Jilaenna was introduced to the Telaeran. He was pleasant, but Jilaenna had the impression that throughout the entire conversation, he was laughing at her. Even as he had to leave, she was still certain he would never take her seriously.

Jilaenna and the physician made it back to where Ty and Tenrix were, and they eventually got Tenrix moved to the hospital where he was able to make a full recovery. It seemed that the cut was not nearly as deep as the amount of blood had indicated. That was why he had been laughing. He had been laughing at her panic. She had not thought it quite so humorous, but she dealt with it.

Much like she was dealing with the laughter from the Telaeran. Shortly into their conversation, she had recovered from her panic and sealed her leak, though part of her felt it was simply having found Sister Lyght. The Telaeran had to leave to talk to Brother Colin, and Sister Lyght needed to leave to get ready for her trip, so Jilaenna was left to wander. She headed back to the center of town and found Brother Colin and waited there for the Telaeran to return. After the Telaeran arrived, Jilaenna took the opportunity to endear herself to him by distracting Catherine, who was receiving a lecture, into helping her find the history books she needed to read.

She read a book on the history of the Pact with Catherine, then took a short quiz, which she completely dominated. Catherine went to bed after that, but Jilaenna was drawn to continue reading. When next she stopped, she had gone through three more books. She was even a little amazed. She felt drawn to learn history in a way that almost left the Call as almost an after thought. She felt accomplished, though drained, at the end, but now that meant she was almost ready for her test. After that test and a lesson on Life energy, she would be ready for the next promotion. Despite the speed, she felt completely relaxed, unrushed, and incredibly relaxed.

No time wasted, Taraedin Maeghlin. Learning formalities, remembering the past, sharing good fortune, embracing all lessons, but always relaxed and not panicked.

Ty pointed at the ground a short distance in front of Jilaenna and told her what animal they belonged to and how to tell where it was headed. As they got closer, he knelt beside the rabbit trail and described how fresh the tracks were, how big the rabbit was, which leg was the strong leg, and how fast it was moving when it made the trail. All of these things, for multiple types of animals, in different types of terrain, in different weather conditions, were taught to her. Then she practiced with Ty a few times, then she became the designated spotter.

Even now, in the park of Kaer, she could not help noticing the tracks. It was almost impossible to not notice them. They commonly went straight across the park to Justice Plaza, but occasionally they led north or south as well. They were not the only tracks either, and she easily saw squirrel tracks in gaps of brush between trees. Part of her delighted in the ease with which she found tracks, but the rest was occupied with thoughts of other matters. She drew the earthy energy from the astral plane through her gate into the strands she was growing familiar with.

Tenrix grabbed Jilaenna’s arm roughly and shook it violently, shaking his head and showed her once more the ‘proper’ technique. He was not about to let even his half-sister go traipsing across the country side without some idea of self defense, even if it was very little. They had been at this for a few days and would be at it for a few more as well. While she had some small bit of skill and talent, she did not have the speed or strength really. She kept trying, but Tenrix was a member of the Pact, and she was no where near able to hurt him even once he said she was good enough for the road.

She had been given plenty of lessons involving her gift. She was now pretty good with the four normal elements. She was learning the fifth, and dreading the final. She kept track of how much she could manipulate at once, and thus far, she had managed to keep a seven-fold strand. Lyght had called that an accomplishment for one so new to the technique. She had even mannaged to hold multiple strands of that size. She focused on her manipulations with one half of her mind, but her other thoughts now shifted to another more recent lesson of a similar nature.

Qui had been standing around the fountain foundation stone almost as if the fountain were not even gone. She had ridden in on her horse and after a short conversation and mention that she had Shobri-approval, he began lecturing her on how to dodge incoming attacks by throwing oneself out of the way, landing on the ground, and bouncing back up. It was all words, with no practical or physical lesson to accompany it, but she felt like she had learned a lot. If she ever sat down and thought about it, she was sure she would figure out ways to adapt his teachings to her own methods. The lesson was short, but well worth it. She had only been interrupted to be promoted, so she was happy to be interrupted.

She watched a squirrel scamper across one of the well traveled paths between some bushes and smirked a little. In a moment of curiosity, she shifted one of her strands over to the little critter, and sensed where it moved to and discovered through that sense where it’s hole was. She gathered up a handful of nuts from further away from that tree while keeping the strand on the squirrel. The next time it departed from that tree, she quickly moved over to pile up the nuts for her new friend. Having done that, she moved away from the tree and released the strand. She did not like squirrels running around in the Kaeran winter, so she wanted her friend to get back to hibernating. She felt sad that she could not lift the nuts directly up into the hole, but it was a limitation she understood and accepted.

She was on her bum yet again. She had been there several times in the last hour, but she was determined to keep climbing back on the horse. Her teacher, Saranya, her oldest sister, was frowning deeply and telling her that she could not gallop yet. She needed to learn how to stay on the horse at a walk, a trot, a canter, then finally a gallop. She explained, for the seventh or eighth time that Jilaenna needed the muscles in her legs developed from riding at the slower speeds as well as the correct posture and hand action to guide the horse correctly. Eventually, it sank in and the lesson continued with a higher degree of success.

She was beginning to practice canceling her own strands now, using a little psuedo-song she had made up, “Wind makes waves, waves douse flames, flames burn land, and land blocks wind.” She had had some issue with the method by which things canceled, but now she thought she understood it and could work well with it. She was clever and observant, so she thought she would have no problems canceling strands at this point. She was certain it would become more difficult later. She smiled when she heard a chittering noise from the squirrel at its tree. Some crunching in the snow behind her sent a shiver up her spine and reminded her of her latest lesson only the night before.

After a bad discussion with Ingram, which Lyght sadly had to witness, Jilaenna had went off to the girl’s dormitory in a huff. She took some time to cool off, knowing that she did have a temper no matter how well she had kept it under wraps thus far. She began reading, but she found she was not calming really. She decided she wanted to talk to Lyght, alone, so she decided to test out a technique she had been working on, despite not really having been told how to do it. She drew the water from around her and focused it well away from her instead of around her or her immediate area. The strand stretched all the way to the other end of the hall to wrap around Lyght. The message was sent, she thought.

Shortly thereafter, instead of Lyght coming into the dorm, a strand of air snaked its way around her leg. It was from Lyght, and she thought it meant Lyght would be coming. Shortly thereafter, she heard a soft message saying for her to stay put. She thought it odd, but she shrugged and got out a book to read. She waited. And waited. And waited. Something was odd. She released the strand and made a new one as if to ask what was wrong. Shortly thereafter, a reply came to come out to the garden.

She got up and went out to the garden. She saw Ingram and Lyght. She turned around and went back inside. She was still not wanting to see Ingram. Lyght came in to get her and tell her why she needed to be in the garden. There was a guest. An uninvited, unwanted, intangible guest, called a Shadow Walker. Jilaenna had heard of them before and knew that there were techniques a caller had to hurt them, but that she herself currently possessed none, so Lyght and Ingram were supposed to be her protection. She got some tea and went out with Lyght.

She barely glanced at Ingram, but soon, a disembodied voice began talking. The conversation that took place was long, cyclic, and rather annoying. Its cyclic nature was probably the cause for the most annoyance. It always came back to the Shadow Walker wishing to retain their anonymity. While Jilaenna understood that, as it was survival really, she did not see what the Shadow Walker hoped to accomplish without bridging a gap between itself and her or the Towers or the public. While ‘acceptance’ was a noble cause, the past events and current misdeeds of Shadow Walkers were well known and gossip at the same time.

The cyclic conversation seemed to annoy Ingram most, and he eventually snapped and left. Lyght was even sounding annoyed. Jilaenna was the calmest and most patient, which was sad given her nationality. The conversation drew to an end, and Jilaenna’s first lesson involving contact with Shadow Walkers was completed. She would even live to tell a few people about it, though it was an incredibly small list, comprised of four people besides the four involved: Colin, both Shobri’s, and Father, if she ever met him.

She discretely peeked around a tree from a distance away from the tree that housed her friend. She looked to the ground where she had placed the nuts. They had all disappeared, and she nodded a little to herself. She wished her newest friend a good nap and moved over to her horse. This was not the one she had learned to ride on, but this was the one she had ridden from Farana Mara to Kaer and was the first she had really taken any time to train. She had not trained the horse much, but she knew one day, she would get a lesson on that as well.

No time wasted, Taraedin Maeghlin. Learning formalities, remembering the past, sharing good fortune, and embracing all lessons.

Jilaenna had sealed her Leak a couple of days ago. Now her energy seemed unlimited. Just when she thought she should be getting tired, she’d take a breath and be ready to go at whatever task was hers for hours. She spent most of it reading the huge book that she was struggling with, but had managed to get through half of it. Today though, she was too restless to stay in the Hall and read.

Lyght met her in the hall and mentioned something about the fountain in the center of town. Naturally, Jilaenna was a little shocked by the rubble she saw in its stead. Lyght went off to talk to Baron Avarelle about it, leaving her to stand in the center of town staring at the rubble trying to figure out something about it that might be at all helpful. She did not find anything. But there was another person there wondering what had happened as well.

This person turned out to be a merchant named Leiaria. After some interesting conversation, Lyght came back, and Jilaenna mentioned looking for a job. Leiaria mentioned she was looking to hire someone to watch her room while she was away. After a bit of discussion, it was decided that Jilaenna could easily do this job, earn a very good pay, especially considering her past, and have plenty of spare time to study. This discussion ended with Jilaenna being handed ten gold coins, more money than she had ever seen at once in her entire life.

She also decided she might like to learn to defend herself a little better, with some rampaging maniac on the loose and ethical restrictions on her Call even if she couldn’t use it yet. She decided to seek out Drahnel Widowslove, given she could hit him with two requests at once if she could ever find him off duty. Turns out, she did. After introducing Lyght to him, she asked about the lessons and was pointed to Qui. Then she went ahead and interviewed him as part of her project. Lyght wrote down his answers for her to use later.

That done, Jilaenna went off and cooked a haggis to share. Everyone seemed to like it but Lyght. Even some Pact member that Jilaenna didn’t even know. Drahenl had mentioned having a good saylith or a mantidar to eat, which brought up an entirely different topic. So Jilaenna asked Sister Katiana if it would be possible to get something like that brought to Kaer for her to cook.

Turns out it was entirely possible. Cost her a gold, but it was well worth it for the chance to cook up mantidar for everyone. She made up mantidar steaks, mantidar stew, mantidar sandwiches, and even had some bits left to stuff into a mantidar haggis. She enjoyed cooking it all, so it did not so much matter that she didn’t know anyone that ate any. She ate a sandwich herself, then headed off to bed. The energy did not last forever. It had been a long, but productive day.

No time wasted, Taraedin Maeghlin. Learning formalities, remembering the past, and sharing good fortune.

Jalin o’Smithy celebrated his Day of Manhood on the 14th of Hasmon 532 CE. That night, he took Loria Baker, a widow with three children, to his bed. The result was a pregnant widow that gave birth to a girl on 1st of Samwuin. The child was given the name Jilaenna. It was meant to sound exotic, because the child was supposed to be special given how it came to be.

Jilaenna walked out of the library. She had just finished reading two of the books written by Ingram. She had felt compelled to call him Brother Ingram, but after reading his writing, she felt compelled to adhere to his desire to be known as only Ingram. She did not hold him in any form of contempt really, since he had confessed and been punished, or was being punished. Something about him still made her uneasy though.

Jilaenna had been sitting with Lyght in the Apprentice Hall, discussing a lesson, when Ingram had walked in. They had greeted and introduced each other, but then Jilaenna had noticed that Lyght did not call him Brother Ingram, just Ingram. Names and titles were important, both for respect and for meanings, so she asked why Lyght did not use the title. This led to a discussion of his books in the library, but not a direct answer to why. The entire time, Ingram had very little in the way of facial expressions, very little readable on his face, and those cold eyes.

She felt satisfied with at least part of the answer now, though she did not understand why he was allowed back in the city. She figured that would be covered in one of the other books, but she had things to do now.

Or did she? She noticed something off. The door to the northern training area was opened. It had been closed when she entered the library. Perhaps someone was practicing, and she might be able to strike up an interesting conversation. She entered the training area, and sure enough, someone was practicing. Someone she recognized in fact, as a possible thief.

She had been riding into the city of Kaer to meet with Dorami from the day before to give her answer about going to the Towers. She heard a rustling noise and noticed a Metan man trying to sneak down the street. She followed him to the center of town and yelled at him for sneaking about. Eventually, she got the attention of Baron Halig Avarelle, who took her words to heart and lectured the man a bit. In her mind, she made a painting of him, so she would recognize him later.

And later came about during Apprentice Annah’s 13th birthday party in the park. The group was playing charades. The possible thief had walked up to the group and started playing along as if nothing were wrong. Jilaenna had warned Shobri Seriwen about him, but then she had to go rest. She still had no idea what happened during the rest of the party.

Here he was again, practicing against a target dummy with a knife. She watched him quietly until he took a break, then she asked him some questions. According to his story, which could consist entirely of lies, he was a bounty hunter of small reputation. He let slip that he had been hired to gather information before. Jilaenna pounced on the opportunity. They eventually agreed that he would eventually go to Yahanic to get as much information on other Widowslove’s as possible, and she would pay him one silver per name. Given her desire to have the information, the price was really not too high. She probably couldn’t pay it, but she had plenty of time to work and collect money for it.

She left him to his practice and shortly thereafter came across Sister Katiana talking with another Pact member about some exercise gone horribly wrong due to poor leadership and orders. Jilaenna listened to the conversation and idly thought about how her own leadership would shape up. After a lull in the conversation, Jilaenna asked Sister Katiana how well the Pact kept records of its members. After a short conversation, Sister Katiana agreed to look through the Pact records and see if there were any Widowslove’s that she could share information about.

And then there was the Private in the Red Guard, Drahnel Widowslove. She would have to catch up to him soon and ask him more questions.

Finally, there was Shobri Dorami. During a lesson he was giving her, they some how got on the topic of final projects, and he became curious about hers. She explained it, and he eventually, reluctantly, informed her that it would likely be good for what she intended it for if and only if she was fair and talked about the good and bad Widowslove’s with historical accuracy rather than religious flavor. She promptly agreed to this.

Thus began what would hopefully end in a final project about various Widowslove’s and their lives.

No wasting time, Taraedin Maeghlin. Learn formalities, and remember the past.

Jilaenna had been against the idea from almost as soon as she had heard it. A formal ball? For the StoryTellers? Not that she had anything against the StoryTellers, but formalities were certainly not her strong point. She had only recently been introduced to forks and spoons, much less formal dancing. And without the aid of alcohol no less, given her restrictions as an Apprentice.

The notice had been on the board for quite some time, apparently, but the last time she had been out of the Apprentice Hall, she couldn’t have read it at all. She over heard her friends talking about it and talking about attending. Part of her wanted to attend. And the voice in the back of her mind seemed to want her to as well, though this was not so much vocalized as much as it seemed a step towards the goal the Creator had for her.

There were barriers to her attending such a formal event however. First, she had never owned any clothing that could be considered formal. Second, she had never danced a real dance, much less one unaided by alcoholic drinks. Third, it was tonight.

She woke up early, before the dawn. Her sleep hours had become chaotic since she donned her robes, but she was getting used to it. She went outside and got her horse. She naturally got thrown once. This was becoming a custom. After riding a little ways, she came across Sister Seriwen chatting with Sister Katiana. The topic of the ball was brought up by Sister Seriwen.

Jilaenna tried to avoid it, tried to get out of it, but she really did want to go. When Shobri Seriwen offered to buy her an outfit to go to the ball in, she could not refuse. So that merely left her social gracelessness and inability to dance as the only down sides to attendance.

The Ball was a little less impressive than she was expecting, despite formal attire. There were not as many in attendance as had been in attendance of even the smallest party or get together or celebration back home, where parties might attract fifty people in the drunken stupor and merriment. In fact, there were only a few in attendance.

Besides herself, there was another Yahanician who was a member of the Red Guard, named Drahnel Widowslove, a Kentaran Brother from the Towers named Epsilon Moonshade, a Chimeran named Ailiajo, a Borindori member of the Jaidan named Paulus, the Baron Halig Aravelle, Master Bard Taliesin Lorenz, and two female StoryTellers named Ava and Miss Kayoti.

The initial part of the ball was simply mingling. Jilaenna had arrived early and had already acquainted herself with Brother Epsilon, Baron Aravelle, and Drahnel Widowslove. So she mingled with those three mostly to begin with. There was a big announcement made about Master Bard Taliesin training a replacement for himself when he retired. The replacement was Ava. After that, the Master Bard excused himself and left them to their own devices.

Ava tried to get everyone to dance. There was instant reluctance on the part of basically everyone in the room. Ava kept urging people forward with it, so Jilaenna went ahead and helped get the ball rolling by asking Brother Epsilon to be her dance partner, because they both had the same odds of stepping on the other’s feet. As she was preparing to dance, she felt her strength ebb a bit and leaned probably a little more than necessary into him than he was expecting, though she made it a point to tell him it was not out of affection. The dance was rather short however and moved towards other entertainment. One of the bards, Miss Kayoti, sang a clever song about six maidens, a killer, and justice brought by the seventh maiden. Then Ava asked if anyone had any stories or songs they’d like to sing or try. Reluctance again, so Jilaenna raised her hand.

She said that the story had a moral, then proceeded to tell what had been introduced to her as the story about the boy from Tameton, which is what Brother Colin had called his story of his own beginnings. The point behind the story was the motivational aspect, but once she was done, no one really seemed to like it but Ava. Miss Kayoti sang another song about women hunting men, but it was short, so she sang another about a maid getting tricked into sleeping with a man for money, then not getting paid and extracting her revenge. Both of these songs were uninteresting to Jilaenna though. Hunting men and getting paid to bed people was most assuredly not her cup of tea. Ava sang a sad song about loves missing each other. This did not interest her either.

Next, things moved towards the Guessing Game,where someone would leave while the others discussed an animal. When the person returned, they had ten questions to be able to guess the animal. Ava asked for a volunteer to be the first to leave the room, there was initial reluctance again, so Jilaenna volunteered. She left for a bit, came back, and guessed her animal in four questions. She noticed though that almost everyone’s animal seemed to have some relationship to their personality or the perceptions of their personality.

Jilaenna was a Parrot. She had just retold a story she had heard.
Drahnel was a Horse. Strong, good endurance, little mental ability.
Epsilon was an Owl. Very old, wise, and intelligent.
Paulus was a Turtle. Little slow, armored shell.
Kayoti was a Rabbit. Likes to reproduce, or at least try.
Ailiajo was a Mule. Was a little rude, but culture differences, perhaps.
Ava was a Fish. Very much in her environment as a future Master Bard.

The party basically ended at that point, so Jilaenna asked Brother Epsilon for a lesson on energy and leaking. He quickly agreed, and they left for the Apprentice Hall. Once there, he delved into a new technique for closing a gate. This one involved literally just willing the leak closed. Took quite a while to figure out the basics of what he was trying to have her do, let alone try to accomplish it. It failed initially, but she said she would try it more.

Brother Colin came in and Jilaenna brought up a topic that had been bugging her for several days. She wanted to know if she could start her final projects early. Specifically she wanted to work on the mundane project, because her training didn’t have anything to do with it. Both the Brothers told her she would need approval by both Shobris shortly after Shobri Seriwen arrived. Jilaenna asked about it and got a rather terse response of no. She was taken back by that, and got a little annoyed, as Yahanicians are known to do. Eventually, Shobri Seriwen went off still angry, and Brother Epsilon and Colin tried to help Jilaenna make sense of what had just happened.

The message was still not clear before Brother Epsilon left, and it still took almost an hour for Brother Colin to explain things. Then they moved into why she wanted to start researching something. Eventually, Brother Colin explained that the answer to the question Jilaenna was after was basically irrelevant and should not have any bearing on her.

She was still curious. She still wanted to know, but the voice had not reacted one way or the other to her pursuit of this knowledge. She went to sleep still thinking about all the other Widowslove’s that had existed before her or existed currently. Were they blessed? Were they better off than they would have been if they were not Widowslove? Was she really blessed, or was she just crazy?

Taraedin. Maeghlin. Maeghlin. Taraedin. Taraedin Maeghlin.

The words echoed in the back of Jilaenna’s mind. Unceasingly. Unrelenting. Constant. Forceful. She couldn’t not feel the twinge of those words all day long. During all her studies, ranging that day from her first lessons on writing to more lessons on her Leak to her ethics exam. The ethics exam she took and passed without getting a formal lesson over.

She was already allowed out of the Apprentice Hall. Her horse had been happy to see her, despite being a horribly tempered breed of palfrey. She had exercised by jogging through some of the streets. But no matter where she went, no matter how she tried to distract herself, those two words followed her like a shadow. Thumping in the back of her mind like a military drummer.

She had sought sleep as a solace from the nagging in her mind. It had seemed to work, but shortly after she awoke, it returned. It gnawed at the back of her mind, but in all honesty, she was starting to like the idea. Not from a power stand point. Not even from a social, political, or personal stand point. She knew what it was. The Creator’s hand guiding her. She was special and blessed. She knew it. It had happened before.

The path ahead of her was perfectly fine. All of the tracks were hours old, covered with that thin layer of slightly hardened mud that told her the sun had had time to cook it a little. But there was a nagging sensation in the back of her mind telling her to get off the road. It took several moments, but she gave in to the constant nagging thought. She cleared off the road and rationalized it as being hungry and needing to catch or scrounge up some food.

The man would live if he received medical attention. She used a couple of branches and her cloak to fashion a makeshift stretcher to drag the man to a nearby village. She found the medicine man there and dropped the load, but already, her mind was telling her to keep moving. And she did.

Several days later, she had caught wind of a rumor of a soldier saved from an ambush by a mysterious woman that delivered him to a village where he had been recovered and healed. There had been a reward offered to the woman, but she never went to claim it. She knew it had been a test, and she had done as she was supposed to do. That was reward enough.

Today and the day before, the nagging voice was worse. She did not want to ignore the voice, but she had no idea how to put it at ease. Finally, she went to one of her newest friends to ask for guidance about the topic, since the seed had been planted in her mind. The friend told her that they thought she should go for the goal. The friend also said they would support her in it. That was probably the most shocking part of the conversation. It made no logical sense for them to want someone so new, so untested, so .. leaky. Being a leaking apprentice was not going to earn her any respect. But that would fix itself in time.

She next sought out her other friend on the same topic. This friend advised her through clever use of a story. A story that sounded similar to her own at the beginning. In fact, with a few minor changes, she could see her own life in the words. Finally, she asked this friend if they thought she could achieve the goal. They said that they thought she could. She asked if she would have support, and it was given in a fashion.

The first friend came by and after a little discussion of this goal, the friend said that she needed to meet with Father and ask him for help with the goal. The horror of it struck a cord in her mind, but it was quickly drowned out by the insistent voice driving her forward. The worst he could do was laugh at her, and the friend assured her that even that would not likely happen. The friend assured her that Father would help her with anything he was able to do. Deep down, she already believed it.

As soon as she agreed to ask Father about the goal, the voice subsided. It had what it wanted, it had steered her into the correct direction. With its work done, it slumbered, awaiting the next time it should need to guide her.

No wasting time, Taraedin Maeghlin. Maeghlin Taraedin. Time wasting no.

And she would not waste time. She would beat her Leak, and she would finish the huge book in her own fashion. But was it really her destiny to be Taraedin and Maeghlin? The mere doubt ignited the voice her mind and she quickly reaccepted the idea. This was the Creator’s Will.

Jilaenna was exhausted. Despite being used to hard work ‘back home,’ she was finding her studies to be incredibly taxing on her. Though she knew why, this was mental exercise, not physical. Her mind had never been challenged, never been flexed to the extent that it was being flexed now.

She had been in Kaer for only a few weeks, and most of that time was spent traveling from the South Gate to Kaer and setting up her camp in the woods. She had met a man named Dorami who had started to explain what was wrong with her.

A Gift. The Call. A Leak. Death or Training.

The training would take up to a decade and would cost two years of teaching afterwards. It had gone past her very quickly. She had felt very disoriented and needed time to think. She had asked for time to think and was given such. It had only taken a few hours to arrive at the logical conclusion. To turn down the offer would have been death.

She had come back to find Dorami was gone, but was quickly identified by a girl named Lyght as a leaking caller. Lyght had explained many other facets of the training, the cure, her future. The situation had changed slightly the more Lyght spoke.

There would be an education. She’d learn to read and write. That would have been unheard of ‘back home.’ There would be job opportunities, which meant getting married would be unnecessary. That spared her that atrocity. As logical as she tended to be, she could not see the logic behind marrying someone solely for money and reproduction. Having her own job would free herself of the monetary necessity of marriage. Living, in light of those benefits, was almost a bonus, and certainly skewed her perception of the gift of an invitation into the Apprentice Hall made by Brother Colin. She liked Brother Colin almost instantly. Something about his smile or the way he greeted her and made her feel at ease rather than like some piece of trash that had fallen on his boot had made an impression on her.

She was given a robe and a pair of books. The robe was a pretty brown, and she had immediately put it on to admire the earthy coloration on her own body. She was certain the color meant something more to the people she was becoming acquainted with, but she did not care. She could like brown robes with or without the additional meanings. The books, however, were useless weight at this point.

Most Yahanicians have little use for an education, so naturally, she had never learned to read or write, and the only arithmetic she knew all added up to ten and involved her fingers. Yet another reason that this opportunity to learn would not be regretted. No one in her family could read or write and likely none of them ever would.

A few days later, Brother Colin gave her her first lesson. She had not even looked in the books, so he started from the very beginning. He was very patient and understanding of her confusion and used examples that she could understand almost instinctively. He also seemed to confide in her the truths that were neglected during her initial discussions. During the entire process of being brought into this new world, she had wanted to know the cost. She knew that two years of work after graduation was not the real price. She figured it out when Brother Colin told her of Caller longevity. The cost was the pain of loss.

Today though, she was exhausted from an entirely different set of mind exercises. She had learned to read. In a fashion. Lyght had taught her the alphabet, during which time, they discussed the sounds that the letters all made, and she had added in words that started with the appropriate letters to get a better grasp of them. Another short Call lesson, and a nap later, and she had pieced together a way to teach herself what the scribblings in her ethics book meant.

The process was slow, but incredibly self-sufficient. She sounded out each letter, one at a time, until she had the whole word. Then she would repeat the entire series of sounds quickly, then match that to the closest word she could think of in her verbal vocabulary. She started noticing patterns and recognizing words before the end of the first page. This method worked rather well, except on the really long words, and before long, she had read the entire ethics book.

She laid in her bed, smiling at the ceiling. Sleep would catch her shortly, but in the mean time, she knew that she was making good on at least one of the statements she had made before donning her robe: She was certainly not here to waste anyone else’s time.

Tomorrow, she would open the tome. She knew that her reading method might not be as effective for it, but everyone expected her to read it. More shocking than that though, she wanted to read it. If she could read that, no other book in the world would be beyond her. As long as it was written in Common.