“We are the Wizard's Tower,” the old man called out to the square while standing on one of the tables in front of the inn. “By special arrangement with the leadership of your square, thirty places at the Speedwell Academy are available for your learners. We accept students aged eight, or tier one and up. Tuition is twenty steel coins, what you call silver, for the winter session of three months duration. Housing and meals are included for all students. Submit your students' names for consideration. We will draw fifteen girls and fifteen boys this afternoon. If we have less than fifteen of either gender, we will only accept the same number of the other.”
“The academy is also hiring. We will consider any skilled adult for the position of instructor and any responsible adult for the position of residence supervisor. Speak to one of our representatives for details. We pay forty steel coins to an instructor and ten steel coins to a residence supervisor for the winter term.”
Harry stood just outside the guard's shopfront and watched the display. He noticed the group setting up through the glass front and stepped outside to see what was going on. They were all wearing odd clothing. One of the men had the look of a warrior and was vaguely familiar to Harry. The man was twitchy, rubbing his right hand against his side. He was about to march over and demand to know what they were up to, when the announcer started speaking.
“So who is this guy?” Harry said aloud to himself. He felt like he should know more about this event since the man referenced 'the leadership of your square.' What kept Harry from going over there and demanding answers immediately was the speaker's reference to ‘the Wizard's Tower.’ Harry recognized it as the name Grandmother was calling her school.
“He’s my brother,” a completely empty spot next to him said in Grandmother’s voice. “My oldest brother. This is his first trip into the structure. He raised his family in the eastern villages.” A cascade of thoughts ran through Harry's mind at that announcement. He just let them wash through. If the day didn’t straighten them all out he’d corner Todd later.
“Who are the other three?” he asked.
“Two are crafters from Chicago, while the third is a warrior from Londontown,” Grandmother’s voice replied.
“Why are you hiding?” Harry asked.
“This is a kind of practice run. We’ll adjust from here. I want to see if it will work without me or the team present.”
“We are the Wizard's Tower,” the old man called out again, repeating his announcement. On this repetition he added, “We educate the young in reading, writing, mathematics and history, along with teaching them scavenger, crafter, warrior and wizard skills.”
“What’s your brother’s name?” Harry queried.
“Benjamin. I think everyone calls him Ben,” Grandmother admitted.
“Should I submit my grandkids’ names?” Harry asked.
“Sure, that should get things moving,” Grandmother replied. “If they get drawn I won’t have to feel bad about playing favorites anymore.” Harry settled his sword at his belt and marched out across the square. The square's residents paused, no longer pretending they weren’t watching. They all caught sight of Harry stepping out of his office and weren’t going to do anything until he decided. In Grandmother’s absence, Harry ran the square.
He came to a halt in front of the questionable man. If this man was working for Grandmother Harry wanted to know why he was so twitchy.
“What's wrong with your hand?” Harry demanded. The warrior held up his right hand revealing three bright red finger stubs.
“It itches,” he said. “I can’t even describe how bad.” Harry narrowed his eyes at the man. That vague familiarity circled in his brain.
“Didn’t you lose an eye?” Harry asked.
“I thought that was bad,” The warrior responded, “but the fingers are worse. They keep accidentally brushing against things and the itch just explodes.”
“Edward, isn’t it?” Harry asked as the name finally surfaced. The Edward Harry remembered was a shadow of a man, hopelessly hooked on heals.
“I’m surprised you remember me, Harry,” Ed responded.
“I want to put my grandson and granddaughter in for the drawing,” Harry announced.
“Give me the boy’s name,” Ed said, “then go see Lizzy and Asher and give them the girl’s name.”
“Richard Maxim,” Harry said.
“Lucas’ son?” Ed asked. “We are going to Londontown after Seagrass,” he commented.
“Grandmother sent me over, something about getting things moving and not playing favorites,” Harry confided.
“Alright then,” Ed responded. “Do you attest he is tier one or over the age of eight.”
“I do,” Harry responded.
“Will he be ready to depart to the Wizard's Tower in six days?” Ed asked.
“Yes.”
“The cost is twenty silver, will you pay today, or in six days when we return to pick up the students?”
“Today,” Harry answered.
“Very good,” Ed responded. “We will expect payment this afternoon if his name is drawn. Please provide physical coins. I’m supposed to ask your name now,” Ed commented as he wrote down, student Richard Maxim, sponsor Harry Maxim. He folded the sheet of vellum twice, hiding the writing. He dropped the folded scrap into a round barrel shaped basket that was suspended on its ends by a little frame. Ed closed a door over the opening so the scrap of paper wouldn’t accidentally fall out.
“We will select the names at random this afternoon. Please be here for the drawing. If your student is selected further instructions will be given to prepare them for the trip. We will pick a girl first then a boy. When we run out of girl or boy names we will stop. If your student isn’t selected, there will be a second chance on pickup day. New names will be drawn to replace no shows or non-payments at that time. If no show or non-payments can’t be replaced, the last drawn names will be regretfully rejected and issued refunds until the balance between boy and girl is reinstated.”
“Huh,” Harry said. “I never thought of that ploy. Signing up a fake girl to get your boy in. I’ll have to remember it the next time I have to put a group together.”
“You’ve done this before?” Ed asked.
“Yeah, I thought I was going to be you on this one too. I’m relieved you are here. The coliseum keeps me busy,” Harry commented, he moved on to the other two who must be the crafters from Chicago to submit his granddaughter's name. When he finished and turned to walk back to the guard’s shopfront he found a line behind him. He realized he hadn’t heard Ben’s call for a while. He glanced over to see that the old man had stepped down from his impromptu podium and was helping out Ed with the boys' names.
Thirty spots was not going to be nearly enough. Grandmother was going to want to ramp up next year.
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The academy hired seven residential supervisors, but no instructors. Lucas’ son was selected, but not his daughter. The unselected names far outnumbered the selected names. If they didn’t recruit any more students inside the structure, they could easily fill the other thirty structure spots from the unselected. Harry paid the fee for Lucas' son in front of everyone and accepted the slip of vellum giving instructions on what the boy should and should not bring with him.
Grandmother sent Ellen, Valin and Todd back to the entrance with the new hires. Todd was very unhappy about it, but he recognized that Sarah, Alex and Companion all needed to go to Seagrass. She didn’t want to send Ellen back alone with seven new hires and she didn’t completely trust Valin. She wanted to send four people back, but she needed to go to Seagrass in order to take advantage of her ability as crystal owner to send everyone to Home Square or the upgraded rest at no cost. They would regroup at the upgraded rest and switch people around after Seagrass.
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“We are the Wizard's Tower,” Ben called out to the square. He felt strange standing on the stone 'table' yelling out words he knew no one here was going to understand. Alex sang out a translation beside him. “By special arrangement with the leadership of Home Square, eight places at the Speedwell Academy are available for your learners. We accept students tier one and up. Tuition is twenty steel coins for the winter session of three months duration. Housing and meals are included for all students. Submit your learners’ names for consideration. We will randomly choose the names this afternoon.”
“The academy is also hiring. We will consider any skilled adult for the position of instructor and any responsible single adult for the position of residence supervisor. Speak to one of our representatives for details. We pay forty steel coins to an instructor and ten steel coins to a residence supervisor for the winter term.”
His sister Irene was sitting openly on the edge of the table that Alex and Ben stood on. She was wearing a black outfit he didn’t recognize. He didn’t see her in her own Home Square until after the names were drawn. Home Square was vaguely familiar from the recordings he remembered seeing on the Speedwell before the land grants. Seagrass was another thing. He was glad he met Companion before now. He was sure he would have frozen in shock at the sight of so many walking walruses if he wasn’t already familiar with the lone selkie. He remembered a time when he thought Companion was more a pet than a man, before Irene built him a translator so he could communicate with the villagers on his own. Looking at the industrious settlement of selkie he saw how wrong he was to have thought that.
Ed, Asher and Companion were set up on the table to Ben’s right, while Lizzy and Sarah were set up on the table to his left. They set the tumblers on the tables in order to keep them dry. Irene tapped out a pattern on Ben’s pants that drove all the water off of him and back into the pool that was the selkie’s idea of a courtyard. Ben was glad he didn’t have to stand around in wet boots.
The door of the inn behind him opened and a selkie in dark green came out. The selkie approached Irene. Ben’s completely non-musical sister sang three notes in greeting. The selkie sang something long back.
“Benjamin, this is the square’s leader.” Irene sang the three notes again, “this is my oldest brother Benjamin.”
“I am honored to meet you,” Ben responded. Alex seamlessly translated these words. The selkie sang something back.
“She wants to know what color your magic is and what tier you are. She doesn’t understand the clothing you are wearing,” Irene told her brother. “I don’t know for certain,” Irene said to the selkie, “but I suspect he is tier zero and has no color. He has lived his life beyond the reach of Control. He’s only come now at my request.”
“How can that be?” Alex translated the selkie’s words for Ben. “Is this school beyond the reach of Control?”
“Some of it is, yes,” Irene responded. “But it also has facilities inside Control's domain. It will teach human skills, brought with us to this world. It will also teach magic, much like the trainee run this last summer.”
“Will going beyond Control’s reach bring any harm to a selkie?” the leader asked.
“Companion has been many times, ask him if he has been harmed,” Irene responded. The leader looked over at Companion, rolling her liquid eyes.
“I see the depth of his color. Is it going outside Control’s reach that has helped him achieve tier four?” the selkie asked. Irene turned and looked at Companion. Ben looked over at him too. The orange fabric draped over his large form was a darker shade than the orange most of the square’s inhabitants wore. Ben wondered if that is what the leader meant about the depth of his color.
“I do not know,” Irene told the leader. “We have been very busy.”
“I will put my grandchild’s name in. A future leader needs to know the world,” the selkie elder announced.
“Is your grandchild a girl or a boy?” Irene asked. “Ed, Asher and Companion are taking down boys' names and Lizzy and Sarah are taking girls’,” Irene said, waving broadly at each table. “I like to keep things balanced between boys and girls, but for your first experience with our school I am not requiring it.”
“She is female,” the square’s leader said. She swam/walked over to the correct table. Companion shifted over to the other table at Irene’s signal, just to make sure everything went smoothly.
“Make the presentation again,” Alex said from beside Ben.
“I feel odd saying it when no one understands it,” Ben confessed.
“You’d be surprised,” Alex responded. “A lot of these selkie have been coming to all the Challenge days. I bet even the elder understands quite a lot. She is waiting for the translations in order to give herself time to think about what she is going to say.” Ben didn’t know if he believed that or not, but he thought it was nice for Alex to try and cheer him up.
“We are the Wizard's Tower,” Ben called out to the square.
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“El me abouw posishuns,” the selkie said to Ben. He was taking a break, sitting in Irene’s former position on the edge of the tabletop, where he could stay mostly dry. His sister went into the inn to purchase food. It was a surprise for Ben to hear a selkie speaking his language. This selkie was wearing a purple garment. That made it stand out, most of the selkie were in orange with just a few in yellow or green.
“We are hiring instructors and residence supervisors. Which are you interested in?”
“Bow,” the selkie responded. As the selkie spoke, Ben could see that although they had two long tusks, they did not have any teeth in between. T's and th's were both very hard for them.
“Instructors are expected to be skilled in at least one magic field. They will instruct the students in their specialty. The position pays forty steel coins for the entire term. They will be provided with housing and meals for one. They may use the school’s facilities in their off time, as long as the facilities are not being used by the students,” Ben said.
“Whap poes inshrup mean?” the selkie asked. D's were a little tricky too.
“Instruct? It means tutor, train, teach,” Ben explained.
“Yes, yes, peach,” the selkie said, confirming their understanding.
“A residence supervisor watches the younger students at night. They stay in an apartment with eight children. The watcher gets their own bedroom. They keep the students out of trouble and see that they make it to the morning meal. Residence supervisors are paid ten steel coins for the entire term. They also get housing and food and can use the school’s facilities during the day when the students are in classes.”
“Wha is speel coins?”
“The structure's residents call them silver,” Ben said. “They are worth thirty six iron coins, but they aren’t made out of silver, they are a kind of steel.”
“Are wey?” the selkie asked, obviously interested. “You no from srusure?”
“No,” Ben replied. “I’m from the eastern villages beyond the Speedwell.”
“Enchanter,” Irene said happily in greeting as she emerged from the inn carrying two large shells. “Have you met my oldest brother, Ben?”
“Yes, he pell me abouw posisions. I wan be chil waper,” Enchanter said.
“Are you sure?” Irene responded. She handed one of the shells to Ben. Ben found a nice salad inside the shell with a strange fork. “I would love to have you as an instructor.”
“No, I poo old for wap,” Enchanter countered.
“I am happy to have you in any position. As a watcher you’ll be assigned human students. I don’t want you to be disappointed when you aren’t placed with selkie,” Irene said. The selkie sang something.
“You will be able to do that,” Irene replied. She turned to Ben, “She says she wants to practice her human speech.”
“How I po?” Enchanter asked.
“Very well,” Ben replied.
“We are asking the people we hire to come back with us now,” Irene told the selkie. “So they can be shown how to use the ship’s features before the students arrive. We’ll be back in six or seven days to pick up the students. If you need time to pack, you can come with us then.”
“I go pack now,” Enchanter said, in her clearest sentence yet. “Go wip you poday.”
“We will leave after the name drawing,” Irene explained. “About mid afternoon.” The selkie hurried away.
“I was surprised to hear her speak in our language,” Ben commented as he ate his salad.
“Enchanter is very special. She is highly valued. I’ll have to make sure,” Irene sang three notes, “knows she is coming with us. I think Enchanter approached you when none of the rest of us were paying attention because she doesn’t want anyone to try to stop her,” Irene explained.
“She seemed nice,” Ben said, not certain what else to say.
“She is,” Irene said. “She is also old. She makes you look young. Selkie are naturally long lived. She is at least two or three hundred years old.”