After rushing out of the City Center, Tenthé slowed down as he walked through the streets leading to the Mission district. All around him, people scurried past doing the everyday things that people did. It was a nice change from the College. Here, no-one gave him much more than a glance. Just another kid. He pulled out a piece of bread to munch on, subtly watching a pair of street kids tailing him. Most likely they’d been alerted because he was too clean, but would peel off once he left their territory.

He felt good. The weather was great and the clothes he’d picked were comfortable. About the only negatives were that his feet were a little soft from the time he’d spent in the College, and that absolutely no-one would recognize him. His feet would toughen, and as tedious as it could be, he was used to people forgetting him.

As he had predicted, the kids had stopped following, but up ahead he could see the 5th Street gang setting up an ambush, with a bigger boy arranging everyone into their proper spots.

Tenthé sighed. This was not the first time he’d had to go through this whole song and dance.

As he neared, he called out, “Hey Tony, how’s it going.”

The boy squinted at him. “Who’re you? Do I know you?”

“Yeah, but no. Call the guys off, let’s talk.”

“Nah, runt, I don’t… glurk!” A knife quivered in the baton he was brandishing, only a handspan from his face.

Tearing his gaze from the knife, he found Tenthé right in front of him. “Tell Soo that Tenthé’s here to talk. We’re old friends.”

“What! How do you know Soo?”

“Just do it. You’ll see.”

Tony waffled for a moment, then yelled at one of the littler kids, who ran into the building behind them. A few moments later, the kid came back, leading a tall skinny girl by the hand, her pale skin contrasting with black matted hair and the many layers of dark clothes she wore. Their progress was slow because she would violently twitch every so often, and it took her a while to recover. She was nearsighted, so nothing much happened until she was close enough.

“H-h-h-hey Tenthé! Y-y-y-you’ve n-n-not been around for a while, unless that was you, a bit ago, uh, at the fight?”

At his nod, she went on, “Th-thanks for that. H-h-how’s it been? G-g-got anything?”

“Soo, who’s this guy?” Tony demanded.

“Uh-huh, he b-b-brings us s-s-stuff to sell.”

“Yeah? Why don’t I know him?”

Tenthé spoke up, “Well… it’s this way, I’ve been cursed. People can’t remember me. Except some, like Soo.”

At this, everyone but Soo backed up.

“Y-y-y-yeah,” she explained. “We d-d-done this a bunch’a times before. You g-g-guys always f-f-forget him.”

Some of the kids fled. The curse story worked every time.

Tenthé edged over to Soo and leaned in to give her a one-handed hug while quietly passing over a loaf of bread, “Thanks Soo, same-o, same-o.”

She had tucked the bread away before anyone saw and laughed. “Sure Tenthé, h-h-h-hey, you smell nice. Clean, y-y-you know.”

That was both a compliment and a warning; he needed to fit in better.

“S-s-so, g-g-got anything?” she added.

“Nope, not this time, but soon, probably.”

“S-s-some guys came here asking about you t-t-too. We didn’t tell them nothing. They had some good stuff they, uh, kind of forgot to take with them when it fell out of their pockets.”

“Yeah, I sort’a know about them. Thanks though.”

“N-n-no prob.”

She looked down at him, holding his shoulder companionly. Soo was as close to a friend as Tenthé had. Although she had issues, that meant the forgetting didn’t work on her.

It was obvious that she was getting kind of big now, nearly at the age when she’d have to choose her life. That was when the City Magisters found what she was best fit to do as an adult. As part of the process, they’d fix her up. That was good for her, but then she wouldn’t remember him, just like everyone else. For the moment, though, she was okay.

Soo smiled, then turned and put her hand out. As the little kid led her back to the building, Tenthé walked over to Tony, who stood his ground, although he had been keeping his distance while the two of them had been talking. The gang leader might fear the curse, but he also had an image to uphold.

“I’m a finder,” Tenthé told him. “I scrounge stuff and let you guys handle it. Whoever you sell it to, I think you ought’a ask more. Try it, next time.”

“Okay, but this is our street!”

“Yeah, yeah. Not tryin’ to move in on you. I just work here. No problem.”

“Do you want your knife back?”

“Already got it.”

Tony looked down in surprise and saw that the knife was gone. Squinting, he watched Tenthé leave, then turned and hurried after Soo. He needed to know more about that strange kid.

Tenthé walked down the street toward his sleeping spot, quite sure it would have been tossed by now. When he maintained his wards regularly, it would remain hidden, but he’d been away for long enough that it had probably become findable. He turned into the alley leading to his cul-de-sac and paused while sensing ahead, just to be careful. It was clear, so he continued on to his window well.

As expected, the place had been picked over, but no-one had moved in yet. Tenthé checked around, but everything halfway decent was gone. It wasn’t important; he kept the best stuff with him, anyway. Concluding that there was nothing worth salvaging, he returned to the street.

Looking up, he noted that it was somewhere close to lunch-time. Entering the square that fronted the Mission, he got in line. It was relatively short since anyone who had wrangled a job would be eating where they worked.

A sizeable family joined the people waiting. Sizeable in all meanings of the word, both in quantity and quality. The mother was tall and very fat, and the multitude of kids resembling small to large balls as they bounced around. They didn’t really bounce, but it was a near thing. This was one of the few non-human families that lived in the district, some sort of faery. They couldn’t eat meat, but that wasn’t a problem with the noontime soup served at the Mission.

The mother called out, “Yo! Tenthé! Drop back and say hey.”

He let a few people in front of him until he was beside the Lady. It was always best to be respectful to any of the faery; you never knew with them. In stories they were all tall, silver haired, and beautiful. The Lady was tall, but her cheap print dress barely held in her bulk and what Tenthé could see past her generous bosom was black tangled hair surrounding a jowly face, massive eyebrows, a shadow of a beard, and an impressive tribute to nose hairs. The important thing, though, was heart, and Lady had ample.

“So, any more trouble from those guys?” he asked.

She laughed loudly, “Nah. For some reason, the ones you left able to move were very motivated to be somewhere else. Can’t think of what would have scared them that much.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Heard you be going to school, now.”

“How did that get out?”

“One of mine,” she waved at her herd, “got accepted as a Guardian. Let me see, which kid was it?” She paused to ponder the issue. “Oh, yeah, bird-flight-over-the-meadow-with-the tumbling-brook, just call him Brick-head. Not too smart, but they needed something to throw at the enemy. Even gave him armor with spikes all over it.”

She said this with some pride. Her kind weren’t the strongest, but they were tough and really hard to kill.

“Anyway, he told me some of what happened. Made a lot of money bettin’ on you. You’re one sneaky bastard. He was worried ‘bout you being there, but when you spiked that bitch’s hooch he was sure you were doin’ okay.”

“Uh, I dunno. This morning things got tense. Your kid could’a bin hurt if it went different.” Tenthé was settling into the local lingo.

“Don’t matter. He picked his job and you gotta do what you gotta do. They’s more where he came from.”

“I s’pose. Wonder if I should even be there. I mean, at the College.”

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

“Look around you, boy. I been watchin’. You outgrow’d this place. It ain’t for you, not no more. The Magisters may be clueless ‘bout a lot’a stuff, but they got their own reason to be, and their own things to do. I think you need more than what you can get here.”

“I’m startin’ to think that no-one at the College is what they say,” he complained.

The Lady snorted. “You needed a safe place to grow, boy, but now you gotta move on. Lot’a time’s gone past, ain’t nothing more fer you to do here. You just be repeat’n stuff you already done.”

The Mission doors slammed open. The staff started yelling for people to get dishes and food and to sit down and shut up. No-one pointed out that they were the ones making all the noise. The line began moving.

“I gotta ask. I ran into somethin’ acting like a head cook this mornin’ and she don’t seem to me to be what exactly what she should be. You know what I mean?”

“Yeah? That’s interestin’. Brick-head talked ‘bout stuff like that happenin’ to other people at the College, too. The Guardians don’t know what, exactly, but they’re on the lookout. Never met the one you’re talkin’ about, but if she’s up to no good, she gotta be damn careful around you, if ya get what I mean. You pretty scary sometimes. Useful, though.”

By this time, they’d reached the dishes and busied themselves getting bowls, soup, and the crusty bread. Juggling everything, they made their way over to a corner away from the rest of the lunch-time crowd. At one end of the table, Tenthé took a seat across from the Lady while the kids fought over the remaining places. Eventually, everybody was seated, with only a single bowl of soup spilled.

Once the kids had quieted, Tenthé started, “Like I told you, things was tense this mornin’. At the College, you know. Everybody was on my case. The cook wasn’t right, and then the Turtle was there, and the Guard. They all said pretty much the same things to me. It don’t make no sense. Something’s goin’ on but I dunno what.”

The Lady was never short of advice. Surprisingly enough, though, it was usually worth listening to.

“Tenthé, you never pay them no mind. They all be schemers and plotters and can’t see that someone who can do what you can do ain’t like them. You’re a good boy. If you ask me, I think you should try the College for a while. They be a lot of bullshit you gotta wade through, but remember that I’m here. If you can’t put up with them, come and find me. We’ll figure somethin’ out.

“Now, slide me some o’ that food what you got hidden on ya. The smell’s driven’ me crazy.”

After passing her much more than it would appear his cloak could hold, the Lady stashed everything into a number of bags she was always carrying. As she arranged things, Tenthé started into his soup and turned off his brain for a while.

He had to stop. After only a few days of being at the College, his mouth wasn’t too happy about the faintly vegetable flavored dishwater they served here. Before, he didn’t know any better, but now he did.

Tenthé passed the rest of his bowl to the kid who had spilled his. You needed the soup. It made the bread soft enough to eat without the risk of losing a tooth or two, even for the Lady’s kids.

Tenthé’s participation wasn’t necessary as the Lady went on about the local gossip. He was distracted anyway, as he thought about the things she’d said. She had a point; he’d just been kicking around for a while and it was time to move on. But he was still unsure about the College being the right choice.

As he mulled over various alternatives, the light in the room dimmed. Since most of the illumination came from the open door, he looked over to see what had blocked it and made out the silhouette of a very large person with somewhat blonde hair haloing her head. The girl was scanning the crowd and when her gaze landed on him, she started toward their table.

Tenthé turned away and gnawed on his bread, making absolutely no headway. It was strange. He could bite through a rock, but this bread defied his every attempt.

“Thank the gods! There you are,” Elishua said loudly as she approached.

The Lady looked up at her.

“Your girlfriend, Tenthé? You like ‘em big? I never would’da guessed. I’d a made a play for ya myself. Ha-ha! You gonna introduce us?”

“Lady, Elishua. Elishua, the Lady.”

They eyed each other.

“So, Tenthé, really, is she your girlfriend?”

“Nah, she’d supposed to spy on me at the College.”

“Yeah?”

The Lady looked at Elishua with less favor, then stood up. Elishua appeared surprised to find someone as tall as she was, and a good deal wider.

“I hear you treat’n my boy here bad.”

Elishua retorted, “What? It’s him who’s the problem! I been chasing this little fart all over everywhere for days and all I got was grief.”

Caught unawares, the Lady snorted. “Ha. Yeah, that’s him! But you know, he ain’t like anyone else you ever met.”

“Yeah. I’m starting to figure that out.”

“Hmmm, Elishua, is it? Why don’t you sit and let’s talk a bit. Tenthé, you move over. If the both of us sit on one side, it’ll be bad.”

Tenthé and all the kids were pushed down the bench as Elishua shoved in beside him.

“So, Elishua. What’re your plans for our boy, here.”

“I’m supposed to get him through the process and watch over him.”

The Lady laughed. “Watch over him! Hah, that’s a laugh. You better watch over the rich know-nothings. They tangle with him, it won’t be good.”

“Yeah, about that… I figure he’s not what I’ve been told. He doesn’t have any fear, and… I think he can back it up.”

The Lady didn’t answer and steered the conversation in another direction.

“So, Elishua. Where’d you come from?”

Elishua paused for a while. “Uh, I was raised on a farm. One of the big ones. When it was obvious I got some magic, my Da paid for me to go to the College. Without that, I’d have a bunch o’ these by now.” She pointed at the kids.

The Lady peered at her. “What did you say your family is?”

“I didn’t, but it’s Yelverton.”

“Ah… the same Yelvertons that a lot of the people here work for?”

“Yar.”

It looked like when pushed, Elishua had a bit of a country accent.

“Well, girl, I’ll tell you something about our little man, here, and you can make of it what you want. I think you got a good heart, but you gonna be pressured in times to come.

“You might’a guessed, but Tenthé’s been kickin’ around a mite longer than you’d think. He’s kinda stuck at ten, but a bunch o’ us been watching him for a couple of decades. He can’t count so he don’t know, but we do. And, he never gets older. He’s worked his way through all the fight’n schools ‘round here and every now and then, he disappears for a few years. Each time, he came back pretty chewed up, but better. Lately though, he just hangin’ out and gettin’ into trouble. He’s out-growed what he can do here.”

“That explains some things. Are you also tellin’ me that he’s strong, too?”

“Dunno if I can say that. What he is, is tricky. He got stuff I ain’t never seen before, and that’s not somethin’ I can say too often.

“And look at him. He haint got a clue. Maybe at the College you can show him how to be… well, whatever he ought’a be. But, you hear me! You do him wrong and he’ll take the place apart. And I might help.”

Elishua made calming motions. “Hear, hear, now,” she responded. “None of us mean him any harm. We just trying to do right by him. No need t’ get riled.”

“Not me you have ta worry about. It’s him. He be fight’n nearly every day o’ his life, and he don’t lose no more. And, he fights hard things! Gods even, I hear. He’s not no mamby-pamby College Magister, but the real thing!

“But, he kind of wild, and needs trainin’. In like, how magic works, how to help more of us, and other stuff. You gotta break the curse so he can read and count and get older. Ain’t no-one gonna listen to a ten-year-old boy.”

Elishua was quiet as she thought about what she’d heard, then looked hard at the Lady.

“You aren’t no down on your luck washer-woman, are you?”

“Well, yeah and no. The City’s a safe place to raise my family. Faery’s dangerous for younguns. I like it. Bein’ here, I’ve a lot more kids left alive than my sisters. And now that I got roots here, it’d be a shame if things went bad.

“Seems to me that Tenthé’s got’a part to play, but I don’t know in what. He ain’t the gods-damned Dreamer, but I’ve my ways and I’m sure he’s been touched by Dreamer magic. I figger he must’a known him, or something, cause it’s all I can come up with for him to have been stuck this way.”

Elishua was quiet. It was a lot to take in. After a bit, she asked, “Why didn’t you say anything to the investigators who came around? It might’a helped.”

“Well, I’ll let you in on somethin’. Bad idea to send noblemen’s sons to talk to people here. They don’t fool no-one, ‘specially since a bunch of us here worked for their families from time to time. You, we know a little ‘bout you too. You’re nearly okay.”

“Maybe, but why you tellin’ me all this, now? If he’s all what you say, aren’t you afraid we’ll take him from you for our own? Make him into our tool?”

The Lady stared sternly into Elishua’s face for a few seconds before she cracked and started laughing. It built until there were tears running down her cheeks as she pounded on the table, howling loudly enough that the entire lunch crowd wondered what sort of animal was being tortured.

Eventually she gasped out, “You, ha-ha-ha… have no… ha-ha-ha… don’t know… ha-ha-ha… what you… have on your hands. Oh, how I wish I could see what… ha-ha-ha!”

As the quakes subsided, the Lady wiped her eyes, took some deep breaths, and finally managed to control herself.

“You gots it all wrong,” she squeezed out. “I ain’t his master or nothing. Fact is, I owe him big. Sure, I help him out, same as he helps me, we’re friends. But… you’ll see. Oh yes, you will. Good Gods, I needs ta get in on the bettin’ though.”

At that moment, the ambient level of screaming rose, and the Lady turned to yell at her kids. She leaned over and boxed the ear of one of them, although it wasn’t obvious if the kid she swatted was even involved in whatever was going on.

As this transpired, Elishua looked down at Tenthé, who was mashed into her side.

“So, are you coming back to the College with me?”

“Don’t really want’a, but it don’t feel like I fit in here no more, neither.”

“Well, you made a big splash with Magister Lang. He can’t stop talking about that sword. I suspect he might be a little easier on you now, so we can get things wrapped up.”

“Huh? I already thought it was easy. So far, I mean. The Magister’s all right, and no-one’s trying to make me learn by beating the crap out of me. At least, not yet.”

“What? What are you talking about? Um… maybe it would be best if I sit in for the rest of the testing.”

“I can take care of myself.”

“Uh, you shouldn’t have to.”

“Well then… okay. I guess.”

“Okay what?”

“I’ll go back with you.”

“Huh? Why? What’s the catch?”

“No catch. Mostly ‘cause the Lady said I should.”

Elishua switched her focus to stare at the Lady, obviously trying to figure out who or what she really was. After a moment, she got up, and so did Tenthé, since he was stuck to her side. The Lady rose too and once the kids were sufficiently screamed at, everyone made their way to the door.

Just outside, Elishua paused, put her hand out, and after a pause, the Lady smiled and took it. They stayed like that for quite a while, staring at each other’s eyes and sporting silly grins as they strained. Neither seemed willing to be the first to give in, but after a time, some silent agreement was reached and they both let go. Each stepped back, gasping and subtly massaging their respective hands.

“Thanks… for your, uh… help,” Elishua panted. After a moment to catch her breath, she continued, “Don’t be surprised if someone shows up to talk to you some more. I’ll try to see that it isn’t anyone who is… incompatible. Probably means it’ll be me.”

“Well. It’s been interesting, to say the least,” the Lady answered. “By the way, if you ever need a nearly indestructible kid, let me know. I’ve got plenty. Hey! You! Whichever one you are, stop that!”

The Lady ran off to save something from someone.

“I didn’t realize you had friends,” Elishua commented to Tenthé.

“You never asked.”

“I, uh, think there is a lot of stuff we haven’t asked.”

“Yep… So, you’re a farm girl?”

“Shut up.”

With this encouragement, Elishua headed out. Tenthé trailed, still not sure if this was the best choice.