Acquiring a backpack was fortunately simple, because I didn’t have time for anything else before it was supper. My evening was also already planned – I’d head over to the flower harvesting. Going out twice in a row might look unusual, but I decided a dry run was worth it for the information it would provide.

They’d shuffled the seats for supper again, and this time I was with Minister Greenfield, Branneth, and the Greenheights – one of the male candidates and his parents. Neither I nor Minister Greenfield were in much of a mood to chat. I had to give it to House Holder Greenheight, however. He was managing all parts of a conversation, entirely by himself.

“When I was your age,” he said, his white beard shaking like snow rabbit. “We didn’t have this fancy academy and all this help and assistance. We hiked up the mountains using only ropes and our own muscles.”

Every day, in the snow, and uphill both ways.

> Another seemingly universal trend across all worlds – the previous generation complaining about how much more difficult they had it in childhood than the current, and the current mocking them for it in return.

“Nothing was handed to us,” he said. “We had to find the nests ourselves, and sneak in and steal the eggs. We were taking our own lives into our very hands every moment, trying to outsmart the mother dragons.”

“Wild dragons aren’t big enough to carry riders, dear,” objected Hearth Keeper Greenheight.

“Not wild dragons,” said House Holder Greenheight, impatiently. “Real dragons. Back then, they didn’t keep the mature dragons in those tiny little pens. They released them back to the spires to do things naturally. We knew which size eggs would give a good result.”

House Holder Greenheight took a moment to glare at his wife, and she raised her hands in surrender.

“Anyway,” said House Holder Greenheight. “That was the way it was done, you see? You started with an egg. The real way to form a proper relationship. None of this nonsense of waiting until the dragonet’s already old enough to bond before you even meet them. You keep that egg in the same bed as you, so they learn the sound of your heartbeat. Then, when they hatch, you make sure that all the food they get comes directly from your hands. You make them rely on you absolutely, you see? And you can really tell the difference! Why, some riders—”

It continued in that line for a while. Eventually, Minister Greenfield turned to me, cutting off that half of the table with the angle of his body. He didn’t wait for House Holder Greenheight to run out of things to say, perhaps because it was becoming increasingly unlikely that he would. Branneth and I were effectively isolated from the Greenheights. House Holder Greenheight didn’t seem to notice, happy to carry on his speech to his family alone, now about the absurd overprotection of the modern harnesses.

“I felt you should know,” said Minister Greenfield to me.

That was a very familiar opening.

“Yes?” I prompted, keeping my suspicions to myself.

“I don’t like to gossip you understand.”

“Of course not,” I agreed.

“It’s just that you are not aware,” continued Minister Greenfield, “and it might have relevance to the unfortunate death. You see, the Altengart family has business interests that are not always… entirely legal.”

“And young Assistant Altengart was allowed to work here?” I asked, trying to hurry the conversation on to the conclusion he was so obviously heading towards.

Minister Greenfield sniffed. “Despite not being an entirely proper person, he did pass the examination to join the academy. He performed with enough repute to earn the assistant position. There has never been any proof against him, you understand.”

“Is he suspected of anything? Thefts?” I asked, thinking of House Holder Fairbanks accusation.

“Oh no, of course not, nothing that trivial,” said Minister Greenfield. “None of the students have anything on them to make it worth that kind of risk. The Altengarts are, I hate to admit it, good at their profession. The children of the main family are not resorting to petty theft. But when it comes to fake admittances? That is something well within the family’s remit.”

That was a more nuanced description than I’d anticipated. I’d somehow expected Minister Greenfield to think a person of the lower class to be entirely without morals and capable of anything.

“But why would they kill a customer?” I asked.

“Well, it wasn’t as if Bethany Fairbanks was being discrete about it, was she?” asked Minister Greenfield. “Even Candidate Shanelly knew about the substitution. Bethany Fairbanks wouldn’t be the first incautious buyer to ‘commit suicide’ when they happened to threaten endangering the Altengart family.”

That was quite a leap, but not beyond the realms of possibility. Still, no one at the academy seemed to be treating Assistant Altengart like he was a mafia prince that could kill anyone at the drop of a hat. They had entrusted him with that override key, after all.

“How widely known is the, uh, criminal connections of the family?” I asked. “Would the students know?”

“I wouldn’t think so,” he said, surprised by the question. “The more highly placed of the house holders would know, naturally, but I can’t imagine they’d tell their children.”

Branneth took the opportunity to ask about the various highly placed people and the factions they held within government. It was very insightful of him. Minister Greenfield looked impatient, but he didn’t refuse to answer explicit questions. He covered mainly what I had already deduced. It surprised me when he mentioned that the Oakswells were part of his own faction. The name was familiar, but it took a moment for the penny to drop. Candidate Shanelly Oakswell. I had been lazy in assuming that everyone else would be in the same faction. Issues that were never black and white. People could be part of a political faction that also included anti-dragon agenda without necessarily being anti-dragon themselves. Or they could even be anti-dragon in ideology, but still willing to gain any advantage from being a dragon rider they could while it existed. When Minister Greenfield failed to mention some of the other family names we’d been exposed to, I asked about it.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Minister Greenfield had with an unpleasant expression. “Well, them as well, of course. But one hardly counts staff.”

Ah, yes, of course. People who work for a living didn’t count. And a possible explanation as to how Assistant Altengart received his position, despite his disadvantages. The more noble students might not even have applied.

Minister Greenfield tried to explain just how magical skill fit into the power structure, but it wasn’t entirely comprehensible. I had the impression that Minister Greenfield didn’t understand it particularly well himself. It seemed that it was important, but more as a symbol. Any deficiency could be cured by money, after all, since people could purchase a tool to achieve the same thing. But being skilled showed that the House Holder was well-born, intelligent, well-educated, and hard-working, and therefore altogether a better person. I reserved judgement. The opinion was possibly coloured by Minister Greenfield’s own justified personal pride in his abilities.

Minister Greenfield’s answers had been getting curter and curter, and eventually Branneth was forced to carry most of the conversation himself. Branneth went into some details about our magic lessons. I thought it was a poor choice of topic, since I could not imagine Minister Greenfield finding it interesting. He’d probably learnt all of this before he was even old enough to retain memories.

Branneth said, “I’m relieved that I managed most of the rituals.”

“Yes,” said Minister Greenfield, dryly. “Your skill levels are quite noteworthy. I appreciated the assistance your examples will give to my future lectures on the topic.”

Branneth ignored the insult and continued describing the lesson. I ignored it as well, but I admit I was a little stung. For however much I might agree with the silliness of summoning heroes in general, we were invited guests. Of course we would have different advantages than those of someone born on the world. That was why we had been summoned. To insult us for the lack, directly to our faces, was tacky. Branneth was showing more restraint than I would have managed, but it was the wisest response. When you couldn’t effectively counter an insult, pretending the speaker had meant something nice instead could be an effective strategy to infuriate them.

> We see here one of the flaws of His Devotion, Saint Percival the Investigator. He tends to assume everyone else’s thoughts are as labyrinthine as his own. There is no indication that Hero Branneth was ever even aware of the insult.

At last, the second course arrived, and I had excuse to leave. I shot to my feet, only to find that Branneth did the same and was right next to me selecting more food.

“How convenient that your little puzzle has been solved for you,” said Branneth. “It’s clear that this criminal boy is behind this.”

“It isn’t Assistant Altengart,” I said, a little impatiently. “He’s just a convenient target for anyone to pin any suspicions on.”

“Ah yes, of course,” said Branneth, with heavy sarcasm. “Someone else couldn’t possibly have solved the crime. You are the only one intelligent enough for that. At least while you still have random things you can still poke your nose into.”

Well, he wasn’t wrong about that.

“I have a few more things I need to determine, yes,” I said. “But the picture is starting to come together.”

“For your sake, I hope so,” said Branneth. “Because I warn you now, I am not prepared to just let this continue.”

I didn’t reply. I already knew I only had a limited time left, for entirely unrelated reasons. His suspicions wouldn’t have time to matter. Still, I was rattled. I thought I had been doing a better job of concealing my intentions. I ate quickly. The harvesting operation would start at dusk, and I didn’t want to miss the chance.

Memo to Self

Stuff to avoid

· Becoming a dragon rider Joining the official dragon rider forces

· Participating in bonding

Information gathering

· Find out about alternative occupations and opportunities

· - Speak to Minister Greenfield in private [not useful]

· - - Find out when he is due to leave before he leaves in four three days tonight, to fix injury

· Investigate other countries and cultures to see if they’re a better fit

· - Determine just how far heroic independence goes

· - - Legally, very far: complete diplomatic immunity

· - - Practically: assistance can be withdrawn

· Track down itinerary [no point]

· Check safety / security of funicular [useless]

Opportunities

· Sneak out when harvesting night flowers [7 6 5 days]

· - Walk out down dry river bed towards Cammions

· Deliberately failed bonding [not an option]

Preparations

· Beg, borrow or steal clothes of a different colour

· - Use investigating embroidery as excuse? [Meeting planned with artisan] [done]

· - Use grey waterproof cloak

· Delay the bonding ceremony as much as possible

· - Extend investigation

· - Imply maximum psychic pollution [useless]

· Acquire or fake travel documentation?

· Find way to transport food and water

· - Talk to House Holder Fairbanks about food [done]

· - Book a packed lunch for Monday [done]

· Acquire backpack [done]