“Enough!” Administrator Hawthorne tried to yell over the din, but didn’t get through. Face flushed, she pounded her fist on the table with increasing force before standing and shouting, “Order! Quiet. Quiet!”
At her final yell, the others reluctantly conceded. Incedis still didn’t sit down, and the Inquisitor didn’t look bored anymore. Her face was pale and drawn with a cold fury raging in her eyes.
“I will not tolerate any more disrespect to this office and especially to the order Inquisitor Evergreen represents.” Hawthorne sat back down, her voice vibrating with her effort to control it. “Vitur has tasked them to keep His people following the guidance that will keep all of us from suffering a second Cataclysm. There is no more important work in the empire, and it is our office’s purpose to aid in that endeavor.”
Evergreen’s expression softened a touch at Hawthorne’s words, and she actually nodded.
“Now, it’s obvious all three of you object to Inquisitor Evergreen’s idea to review Vipersworn’s menu and have her verify the truth of it. I will give each of you a moment to explain your point and then decide. Warrior Rowan, would you like to go first? Then, we’ll hear from Mistress Windhelm and finally Mage Incedis. Please keep it brief.”
Pax saw a flare of tension vibrate through Incedis at the obvious snub of letting the others go first, as if their opinions were more important. But his mentor suddenly switched to a different tactic.
With a weary sigh, he turned and sat down in the chair next to Pax, looking very bored. He leaned back and turned a negligent gaze toward Warrior Rowan.
Pax watched Hawthorne out of the corner of his eye and saw her gaze narrow at Incedis’ disregard for them. Pax took mental notes, knowing from experience that situations like this could be as vicious and full of attacks as a physical battle. And he wanted, no needed, to come out of this battle alive and well.
“I sent that missive under duress from a manipulative person who focused more on his own political climb than enforcing the rules that protect our empire. It was clear the welfare of this young student was not a priority.” Warrior Rowan tipped his head in Pax’s direction before looking back at the women officiating over the proceedings. “And while I’m sure Interrogator Evergreen is adept with her skills, it doesn’t take much of a slip to injure an immature mind, especially if the Interrogation goes deeper than the surface thoughts. In this time of great need, I would urge caution with the welfare of even a student mage. I suspect by the time we reach the conclusion of this war, we’ll be desperate for every mage we can get our hands on. There are already discussions about scheduling an early Awakening this year.”
Pax couldn’t tell if that was news to Incedis, as he gave no visible reaction. Pax stifled his own excitement. If the early Awakening actually happened, they needed to get detailed travel information about it. Maybe Incedis could get assigned to one of the caravans again? In either case, a skilled rebel ambush team could get an Awakening artifact a lot easier from a caravan than prying it out of the capital’s security.
“You make good points.” Hawthorne gave him a nod before turning to Mistress Windhelm and motioning for her to take a turn.
“First, I object to your requirement that I come to this meeting when one of my underlings would have sufficed. You and your office may not be involved in the war effort, but I assure you that my company is, and we are extremely busy with urgent matters.” She shot an impatient look at Pax before continuing. “If he hadn’t saved the life of my uncle’s daughter, I wouldn’t have shown any interest in the matter. I have no idea why you’re spending so much effort on a first-year student. How much magic can he even know yet?”
Pax wasn’t sure what role she was playing, but took his cue from her and looked suitably chastised.
“And that’s my point. Quit wasting resources on such a small matter. Let’s just do whatever is necessary to reassure the authorities that Vipersworn is just an eager student stumbling through his first year. Then the rest of us can get back to more important work for the war effort.”
As soon as Mistress Windhelm used the words more important to reference her work, Pax knew it was the wrong thing to say.
Administrator Hawthorne sucked in a breath, instantly outraged. “In times like these, it is even more important to ensure we follow Vitur’s guidelines. If you are unaware of history, it was emergency war preparations even worse than ours now that prompted them to throw traditional rules aside in the interest of pursuing victory. And we all know how that turned out, don’t we?”
Mistress Windhelm didn’t flinch under Hawthorne’s scowl, but she did give her a shrug that acknowledged her point. “I didn’t say we need to abandon your mission here. Just that he’s a first-year student with little influence or importance. So, could we do whatever is necessary without wasting any more of our time?”
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Hawthorne sniffed before giving her a reluctant nod. When she turned to Incedis, her eyes passed over Pax and Talpa as if they weren’t even there. That was when Pax realized the brilliance of the role Victoria Windhelm had played. With an admirable subtlety, she’d drawn the administrator’s focus and ire to herself and off of Pax.
As his mind played over exactly how she’d done it, Pax felt his understanding of behavior take a leap forward. The interplay between all the powerful people in the room was suddenly much clearer than it had been at the start. He flicked his attention to his notifications and saw what he’d guessed.
***
Congratulations! You have increased Charisma from 11 to 12.
***
He kept his celebration internal before tuning in to hear how Incedis would handle his turn.
“We have always respected the privacy of a mage’s menu, even if they are just a student. Plenty of families have secrets and traditions they don’t want to become public knowledge.”
“He’s just a street rat.” Inquisitor Evergreen didn’t bother hiding her contempt for Pax’s origins.
Incedis turned to stare at her. He stayed silent, but his demeanor oozed censure at her interruption.
She didn’t quite flush, her expression still stiff, but she nodded for him to continue.
“And unfair treatment of any mage will set a precedent for the same thing to be done to others. I hardly think drawing the ire of the families who naturally want to protect their own first-year mage students is worth it in this case.”
Inquisitor Evergreen started to object, but clamped her mouth shut at a glance from Incedis.
“I have a simple solution that is unlikely to satisfy any of us completely, but should still be satisfactory. First, I will take a moment to look at my student’s current menu and then share the levels of his non-critical mage skills that have helped him reach level 3 so quickly. I won’t be sharing any of his spells, however. You’ll need to get an order from the headmaster before I let you strip that privacy from him.”
Both Hawthorne and Evergreen didn’t look happy, but Rowan was nodding and Windhelm just looked impatient for the proceedings to be over.
“Finally, Inquisitor Evergreen agrees to use the least intrusive of her Interrogate skills to read only the surface thoughts to verify young Vipersworn’s loyalty to the empire. I think three or four questions the five of us agree on should be plenty. What do you think?”
Now that Incedis was done, Evergreen had a lot to object to, but Hawthorne talked her down from her angry expectations. It took a few long, controversial minutes before the adults had finished arguing about the details. Hawthorne beckoned Incedis forward and then activated a sound barrier around them as they hashed out the exact wording of the questions.
Pax still watched, the expressions and interplay very interesting to his newly leveled Charisma. He noted what looked like direct attacks and counters used by Evergreen and contrasted them with Windhelm’s more subtle maneuvers that seemed to manipulate her opponents into thinking it was their idea to do what she wanted them to.
Once the final questions were agreed upon and written down, Hawthorne deactivated the barrier. With a sudden spurt of anxiety, Pax realized it was almost time for the thing he’d been fearing ever since he’d heard about the skill. The Inquisitor was going to Interrogate him.
He let go of everything else and focused on the persona he’d held onto loosely since this whole mess started. Now, he dove deep, pushing aside every part of Pax that held forbidden secrets. He was just an eager student, grabbing useless mana skills to level fast so he could fight for the empire. Flicken’ rebels ruined things for everyone else. They needed to die, and if he was strong enough, maybe he’d be part of the army that killed them all.
Vaguely, he felt Incedis place a hand on his shoulder. The flicker of powerful flame mana that swirled there almost jolted him out of his focus. How strong was Incedis exactly? Just the barest edge that he pushed into Pax’s shoulder as a show for those watching felt strong and immense enough to fill an entire lake.
Incedis straightened as Pax dove back into building his mental construct. “Student Mage Pax Vipersworn currently has Mana Shaping, Mana Sight, Mana Merge and Beast Taming all up to level 3. His Runes, Meditation and Healing skills are at level 2. Just those skills alone account for most of what he needed to advance to mage level 3. The rest was obviously accomplished by his spells, which you don’t need to know the details about.
“Ah, the Taming.” Warrior Rowan sat back, shaking his head. “I forgot about that. And a lot of Mage Graybrew’s actions make even more sense now. He wanted to take out a competitor for one of the Amberborn’s new business ventures, not help root out threats to the empire like he claimed. If I’d known young Vipersworn here had leveled his Taming so high, I might have been able to prevent this entire misunderstanding. I vote we drop the matter and let this young man get back to work. From what I hear, Captain Langley of the Steelshade Vanguard has been very impressed with the work of his crew.” He focused on Pax. “I’ll make sure to let him know that this issue was all a misunderstanding.”
Evergreen had shaken her head at the suggestion of dropping the matter. Hawthorne looked just as stubborn until Rowan dropped the name of Captain Langley. Now she looked torn.
“I’m more than happy to be done with this farce and get back to work,” Mistress Windhelm reached for the papers in front of her, obviously ready to leave immediately.
“You know how I feel,” Incedis said, making a motion with one hand, deferring the decision to Hawthorne.
“Absolutely not.” Evergreen’s words hit like a door slamming. “I refuse to let this boy leave without verifying his honest answers to the questions all of us agreed on.”