My days quickly settled into the routine Ingrasia set. In the mornings, Juniper and I moved scrolls and tablets from tall piles and put them into new ones. It felt futile and rewarding at the same time. Futile due to the repetitive nature of our work and the sheer amount of information we had to wade through, and rewarding given that I could tell we were slowing decreasing the clutter in the room as the Archivist’s assistants took away the piles we had already sorted. It helped, too, that skimming the records broadened my understanding of my new sect and what information they liked to keep.
The records we were sorting through largely dealt with the logistical details of several different missions from years past as well as the practice records of dozens of Hundred Eyes apprentices. The mission records didn’t have anything remotely interesting in them—likely the records with more important information existed but the sect smart enough not put them in the hands of newly joined seedlings. Instead what we got was report after report about provisions and manpower and environmental conditions. I could still piece together some information about the missions from those details: one mission seemed to be for a small, persistent group following a person or different group through nasty cold season weather and another was a much larger operation that needed a lot of supplies commonly used for traps or hunting.
Nearly all of the student records wouldn’t need to be kept, but the information they held was of more immediately value to Juniper and me. She also caught onto their importance and our review of those records slowed down our progress considerably. Each of those records were done in the same format: name of a whisper woman, her appearance, her blessing and mark, her background, top skills, estimated rank within her sect, and top ten people she knew in order of familiarity.
There were marks where someone had crossed out incorrect information and more than likely a decent chunk of the rest was outdated, but I still strung up a web of knots on the outside of my memory tent and tied the information I had into each one. It’d be nice to be the one with information for a change. And, this way, when we were given the same mission it’d be nice to pick someone I knew hadn’t been investigated already, if we were given the option to choose.
Juniper and I traded those records so we both got the chance to see every single one. I wasn’t sure if she had something to help with her memory, but she also seemed practiced at retaining the wealth of information.
During some of my spare time I wandered the rest of the Archivist’s building to learn what else was kept there. I didn’t spend time yet looking at any of the other records deeply, but I took note of where the sections for various bits of information were. There was everything that been in the nested library, from history to fighting techniques, and more. Strategy analysis, more dry logistics, and scroll after scroll detailing information about whisper women, seedlings, firestarters, and tribes. Likely this is what Ingrasia meant when she asked if I was a read-the-records type of person. I could read the scrolls here and likely find anything I might like to know without ever coming in contact with the person I was researching. Of course, if I did only that I’d likely end up blindsided when reality no longer matched the records, but I also thought it’d be idiotic to ignore information so easily available so I resolved to spend more of my limited spare time reading through those records as well.
After the midday meal, we made our way to Ingrasia’s training grounds. Often our training there started off under Ziek’s watch as we improved our stamina and fighting skills. After that we either would join Ingrasia for a lesson on Ground Speech or a group class. The group lessons were varied. Sometimes they focused on improving our skill with our boons, other times they dealt with stealth or identifying important information or secrets.
The others in the group lessons were varied as well and I wasn’t surprised to learn that over the course of the lessons we got to meet most of the other Saplings in the sect. The older Saplings mainly used the lessons as a review and opportunity to ask the lecturing whisper woman more detailed questions while the rest of us worked on whatever assignment we were given.
The other Saplings were more willing to approach Juniper than me, but for the most part they left us alone. I wasn’t sure if that was how things were normally in the sect or if the rumors surrounding me and our general air of wanting to be left alone kept them away. They all seemed familiar with each other, though the more I watched the more I was able to pick out some of the social undercurrents like I had back in the tribe.
It made me wonder how Prevna was doing in her new sect. Had she won over everyone in her sect or were they put off by her teasing? While I was learning about information was she learning about beasts and bugs and plants? Did the Beastwatchers take their new recruits into the field immediately or was she still somewhere in the Seedling Palace?
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I got a partial answer on the third night of our forced separation. I was debating whether I should settle in for the night on my bedroll or stay up a little longer to read some more when Prevna’s voice whispered in my air.
“Don’t know how you keep all the plants straight.” And then a long moment later, “Are you well?”
I didn’t have the skill to respond to her fully, but I still gave the answer I would have if she was right in front of me. “Yes. You?”
That was better than her worrying and it was true enough. I was receiving more comprehensive training than I had in a long time, even if part of me longed for the solitude of working on my skills alone. I had more whisper women wanting to influence me to their own ends than before, but that was likely to happen eventually, and I was doing my best to learn the lay of the land with the resources I had.
Prevna’s reply took an eternity before it whispered into my ear, “Yes.”
I hated the concise answer likely as much as she had even as relief washed through me. It said everything and nothing. I still had no idea what her day to day routine now looked like or who she was interacting with or even if she liked her new sect as much as she thought she would, and there was little chance I would get to learn those things unless I talked to her directly. Prevna’s messages might always reach me but she could only send a few in a row before the effort became too much for her. I had a similar difficulty and my messages weren’t guaranteed to reach my target. We were a far cry from the whisper women who could talk on the wind like they were right next to each other without any visible effort.
But we could practice and, after that initial small exchange, Prevna and I made an effort to check in every two or three days. Prevna was better at contacting me first, but I blamed that on the fact that sometimes I had send two or three messages before she responded. I didn’t get to learn much about her new life but I settled for the knowledge that she was at least alive and well.
Juniper stuck close by me for the most part, but she didn’t offer up any more insight into why she picked Hundred Eyes and I didn’t ask. The sullen air about her was still more oppressive than it had been in the past, but some part of her seemed to settle as we slowly brought order to the cluttered room. Perhaps I could have tried harder to comfort her or get her to open up, but that just sounded like it’d be uncomfortable for the both of us, so instead, when I noticed she particularly struggling with something, like when we practiced shadow walking, I gave her little bits of advice or went with her to chip some ice off an ice vine as a decent excuse for a break.
I’d never admit it out loud, but there was a part of me that was glad I wasn’t the only one from our cohort to join Hundred Eyes. It helped too that some of her struggles reminded me of my own. If Dawnli and Rivon really were set on me leading my own group, then I could start practicing now.
Esie also had her share of my time. Two evenings every week I walked the shadow paths over to her garden home. I had expected her to try to gather information from me about the Hundred Eyes sect, but when I thought about it more she likely had better ways to gather insight into other sects over what a new recruit could learn. Instead, she began teach me some new poisons. The focus for the new poisons were all befuddlement or disorientation, though each had their own unique side effects, time constraints, and preparation.
It wasn’t lost on me that she never specified that these poisons were only supposed be used for this or that animal of this or that size. Rather she taught me a range of doses for subjects of varying size and several of the side effects for each one indicated that they could be used on people. I’d never met a boar that could speak before, slurred or not.
Nor was it difficult to realize that these new poisons would be helpful for my expected work within the Hundred Eyes sect. Confusing someone could make it a lot easier for me to get information from them or escape, if the need arose. It made me wonder what Esie would have taught me if I had joined a different sect but that was a useless bit of speculation, so I didn’t dwell on it for too long.
However, the new routine didn’t remain undisturbed for long. A few days before Juniper and I were set to finish organizing our room within the Archivist’s building, Esie made an offhand comment that challenged my focus on building my place in the Hundred Eyes sect while we were sitting in the work area of her garden.
“Our Lady is proud of your recent growth. She has a request she’d like to make of you if you’d be amenable to paying back one of her favors.”
I narrowed my eyes at Esie. As if I could decline when she phrased it like that. “What would she like help with?”
Esie leaned forward conspiratorially. “Just a small thing. Not even a rock delivery.” I was tempted to roll my eyes at that but I kept my expression more neutral as she continued, “There’s a meeting that’s likely going to happen in the next few days at the Gathering Spot. I’ll tell you when I have the details. Our Lady would like you to attend—quietly—and report on your understanding of what you heard to me.”
Not even two weeks into joining my new sect and I already had my first spying mission, even if it came from someone outside the sect. There was little doubt things wouldn’t go well for me if I was caught listening in, but I was also curious what the meeting could possibly be about or why the Lady of Calm Waters would bother to involve me.
“Why?” I asked.
Esie shrugged. “Practice makes perfect.”
“Do you know what the meeting is about?”
Esie’s expression darkened briefly. “The shore. The Lady Blue has been busy lately.”
My mind immediately went to the reports Dawnli had shown me about the fighting in Juniper’s home. That was a situation I wouldn’t mind having more information on.
“I’ll do it.”
Esie grinned and leaned back. “I’ll let our Lady know.”