Juniper and I arrived at the outlook point shortly before the appointed time. Despite Ingrasia’s needling comment to Rivon the day before, I couldn’t bring myself to arrive late. That had never been a good option and it seemed like a pointless waste of time to constantly arrive after everyone else. Ingrasia might be able to get away with arriving late but I’d likely just wear down the thin patience most others already had for me.

Ingrasia, true to her point, arrived a few minutes late with another whisper woman in tow. The other woman looked younger than Ingrasia but she was tall and toned with her hair pulled back in a sensible tail and an array of weapons on her belt. Spear behind her back, sling, knife, and reinforced gloves all had their place. She looked liked she would have been more at home among the Peacekeepers or Beastwatchers rather than the information gatherers of Hundred Eyes.

The new whisper woman smiled and set her hands loosely on her hips when they stopped in front of us. “I’m Ziek, Ingrasia’s senior apprentice. I became a fully fledged whisper woman not long ago, but Ingrasia insists that she’s not bored with me yet, so sometimes I get pulled into the odd lesson or job.”

I blinked. That was entirely more information, unasked for and unearned, than I ever expected someone from Hundred Eyes to give. This sect should know, better than anyone else, that knowledge was power and I fully expected them to be selective in what they shared. Not that anything Ziek shared was particularly prized information, but she was still more open and friendly than prudent.

Ingrasia did a small stretch before heaving out a deep breath. “Doesn’t it feel easier to breathe without that manipulating priss around?” She could only mean Rivon. “Her fake displays get under my skin like an itch I can’t scratch.”

I could tell she had enjoyed needling Rivon during our meeting, but, again, I hadn’t expected her animosity to run so deep or for her demeanor to change so suddenly. Part of me really didn’t like the constant surprises Hundred Eyes seemed to be capable of.

Ingrasia hopped back up onto the railing without a single care given to the long fall at her back. She caught the stunned looks on our faces and she waved a dismissive hand. “We were in the same cohort. Do you know she started up that act right from the beginning? It took me ages to catch her in a moment with the mask dropped.”

All the questions I wanted to ask nearly tangled into a knot tight enough to hold my tongue but I kept my focus on the one I really wanted to ask. “Why you?”

“Why not? They like to keep me busy, you both are interesting, and even if Rivon and I like to test each other we both know not to ignore good business decisions.”

I felt like there was game being played, already fifty or more moves deep, while I was still struggling to learn the pieces. It wasn’t an entirely foreign feeling. I knew the sects and the Lady of Calm Waters and probably other whisper women I didn’t even know about all had their own agendas, but it was frustrating to realize that a decision I thought I had made all on my own, that would come a surprise to others, had actually been an expected move, and now everyone else was racing ahead with their own plays while I was still stuck trying to understand why the game hadn’t gone as I expected it to.

I wanted to ask what she meant by “good business decision” and why Rivon and Dawnli liked to keep her busy. I wanted to know why she brought Ziek along and if I could trust her casual attitude and what she wanted with Juniper. I wanted to know if I could trust her as a mentor or if I needed to question everything, always, like I had to most of the time. Did she just want to use me or would she actually teach me?

Only time would tell. Even if I wanted my answer now.

Ingrasia moved on before I could ask another question. “So. First things first, Juniper will you accept me as a mentor? I’m sure you have questions I can answer.”

Juniper glanced over at me, so quick that if I hadn’t been looking at her I would’ve missed it, before she squared her shoulders. “Yes.”

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Ingrasia grinned like she had just won something. “Perfect. Then this is how things will work: Ziek, here, will keep you fit and help you with your weapons work. There’s always a handful of people in this sect who ignore that side of things and then lose their head when their information falls through. That won’t be you. I will teach you Ground Speech, the language of the eastern territory. I will also teach you other things as the need arises. You will train with us in the afternoon and do your work for the Archivist in the morning until that assignment ends. If we are busy you will be given assignments or group classes to attend. Gimley, Esie wants to continue her lessons with you. Those lessons will be twice a week after the evening meal. We have a training area. Ziek will show you the way. From now on we will meet there unless you’re told otherwise. Do you understand?”

I understood that outline was already more thought out than most of my training since coming to the Seedling Palace. Jin had kept us to a training schedule, likely made by the previous whisper woman who mentored new Seedlings, but she hadn’t actually taught us much of anything. What we learned we figured out ourselves. Mishtaw had taught me when she could, but between all of her responsibilities, that had often been instructions for Prevna and me to practice what we already knew. Only the rare lesson had been something new and often spur of the moment.

I had learned since coming to the Seedling Palace, but I was sure I could be much further along in my skill and understanding if I hadn’t been restricted by the mentor ban. It was refreshing to have such a clear plan of action laid out.

Nor could I ignore that she said we would be learning the language of Azabel’s territory which meant Hundred Eyes really was planning on sending me beyond the mountains. It also meant that Ingrasia knew the language and likely had cause to use it. How often could she have gone into Azabel’s territory and for how long? How had she learned the language?

I wanted to ask, but I wasn’t ready to let her know that she had caught my curiosity. She already had too much power as my nearly mandated mentor and I wanted see what she offered first before I gave her more information.

Juniper and I both said we understood her plan and Ziek led us through the sect’s tree up to their training ground while Ingrasia disappeared to go do something else. Ziek showed us three different ways we could reach the training grounds without using the shadows before she also pointed out the main shadow people used to come and go. Apparently, Ingrasia and her senior apprentice agreed with Rivon’s view point that it was important to be able to find our way around the Seedling Palace even without using the shadow paths.

I couldn’t fault them for that. Given the nature of the Hundred Eyes sect it made sense for them to double down on the importance of multiple escape routes.

While we were walking Ziek happily explained that Ingrasia had two other personal apprentices who were both older than us. Ziek said that they were both out on assignments, but that at least one should be finishing up before the week was over. She also mentioned that group classes were also held in the training area for seedlings who weren’t Ingrasia’s apprentices. Apparently, most of those seedlings hoped to catch my new mentor’s eye so they could join the ranks of her apprentices. The group classes were typically run by Ziek and other two apprentices which helped them learn in turn about leadership and communication. Ingrasia seemed to have delegation down.

The training area turned out to be near the top of the tree on a mesh of tightly interwoven branches. Only half of the wide area was shaded by the branches above and the rest had to brave the sunlight. That didn’t changed the constant temperature of the Seedling Palace but it did mean that we could feel the warmth of the sun and any breezes that blew by.

One wide branch in the training platform flattened out to become the hub of sparring and grappling matches. Another area was dedicated to practicing with long distance weapons and a third to spear and knife. On the half protected by the drooping needles above there was a large resting area with amber benches and ice vines as well as a several group classes dedicated to noncombat skills. From what I overheard, those included everything from spying to how to pick out a firestarter.

Ziek took us to an unoccupied spot in the combat half of the training grounds before putting Juniper and me through our paces so she could learn what we knew and where we needed to improve.

It turns out that I was passable with spear and sling but she wasn’t impressed by my knife work. Juniper was also passable with her spear but not her sling, and when she demonstrated what she typically did in combat with her blessing and pearl Ziek was impressed for a moment before she said it’d best for Juniper to experiment more with her ability.

Ingrasia didn’t show up again by the time we had to head back to the Archivist’s building. I wasn’t sure what to think of that. So far, Ziek seemed like she had done well with Ingrasia as a mentor, but also all of our training on the first day had been done by her rather than our mentor which didn’t seem to bode well for her making time to teach us anything.

Time would tell. If I couldn’t trust Ingrasia yet, I had to trust that.