Blah, blah, blah, young man this, young man that, respect established families, respect the wards, and why did he do what he did? Snerk, snort, snark; it went on.
Tenthé had heard it all before. Or, similar stuff. It made no sense then, and it didn’t make any, now. He wasn’t in the habit of doing things for no reason, but whoever was in charge always felt they needed someone to blame so it wasn’t their fault.
In this case, the College had messed up. Maybe he should tell them how well blaming him worked out for others, in the past. Many of them weren’t around anymore to tell their side of the story.
Nah, they’d never believe him. As he’d learned, he could survive being talked at. But, that didn’t mean he enjoyed it.
At the moment, he was surrounded. After Tomas had been summoned, a few more Magisters felt the need to become involved, and now everyone was taking turns lecturing him.
It would be nice if he could do something about it. Actually… there was.
Digging around in his cloak, he pulled out Bear and dropped the toy on the table. When it jumped to its feet, the latest Magister broke off his speech to stare. At the same time, Tomas lurched back, yelling, “What the hells is that thing?”
“Oh, that’s Bear,” Tenthé and Elishua answered, together.
“Yes, and I am as great and wonderful as you think,” the toy added as he strutted about.
When a few Magisters began sending probes, Tenthé ate their spells.
Bear leered. “Now, you are just being rude! At least buy me dinner first.”
This was met with dead silence.
“Nothing? What is wrong with you people?” Bear complained. “No sense of humor?”
More silence.
“Anyway,” Bear continued. “Short and stupid here, and me, decided that we should give you guys a hint or two. You know, to try and get over things like what happened today, and now, to let you understand how much you’ve screwed up.
Not waiting for a response, Bear went on. “Look at him,” he directed, indicating Tenthé.
For some reason, all the Magisters did what he said.
“What do you see? A kid, sure, but look closer. Now, maybe you are wondering: where did he get all the scars. No? Well… think about it.
“And, while you’re blowing the dust out of your heads, I’ll give you a few clues. We’ve been in a lot of places. Some of those places were quite dangerous and a lot of them had traps, as well as creatures and whatnot.
“Mush-brain here has a habit of missing traps. By missing, I mean finding. And I mean, not now, but early on. These days, he sets them off for fun. Most of them don’t do much, but some of them are really nasty and send you to places you wouldn’t want to be.
“When we first started looking through the old temples, he stepped into a trap that took us, what… about thirty-seven years to escape from? He tried to be more careful after that, but, being that he’s himself, we got stuck in another couple of big ones.
“So, maybe fifty or sixty years altogether, there? Which was around twenty years, here? Yeah, that sounds about right. It’s kind of hard to be sure. Time in the Pools is weird, but I’d guess about that long. Oh yeah, the Pools is what we called these places, because it was like falling into something.”
In spite of being lectured to by an animated man-bear-doll, the audience appeared to be listening.
“How did he get out?” Magister Graf asked.
“Uh, none of the Pools are the same. He’s had to learn different things in each one.”
“So why didn’t he age?”
“How should I know? He always stays the same, a ten-year-old kid. He never gets older or more mature. Still thinks fart jokes are funny. Which they are.”
Both he and Tenthé, and one of the Magisters nodded along with them.
Tomas wasn’t listening. He was stuck, staring at Bear. “What the Hells are you?”
When Magister Graf poked him in the side, Tomas turned to address this annoyance.
Graf overrode his protestations. “Now Tomas! Get with it. Whatever that thing is is, it’s given us some insight. I do understand what you are going through, but perhaps we’ve been a little harsh. We talked about this before. There have been hints as to what we might expect, and maybe we are now getting some clarification. Sure, Tenthé looks and acts like a ten-year-old, but, from what this thing has told us, he isn’t, and with what else that creature said, I have no idea why the kid’s not dead ten times over. It makes little sense; no-one comes back from those places.”
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
At that, he turned to Tenthé, who was looking at him with that disturbing blank look of his.
“So, do you understand what we’ve been trying to tell you?” he asked.
“Yes, sir.” Actually, he had no idea.
“Well good. I hope this is the last time we will need to have one of these little chats. I have instructed the Guardians to keep an extra watch on you, and I do not want to have to have any further discussions concerning this sort of behavior. Once classes start, I will be less tolerant.”
“Yes, sir.” Tenthé wasn’t sure if this was the correct answer, but it probably wouldn’t hurt.
“Good. Be on your way, while we discuss what that thing has told us. I’m sure we’ll have more questions, so be prepared.”
A loud discussion began as he left. This time, Tenthé didn’t feel like listening in. Adults liked to talk, talk, talk.
It was all so obvious. They had two choices: keep him here or kick him out. Whichever they chose, he would be fine with it. Since the announcement had singled him out, he cast a do-not-notice spell and walked back to his dorm. Everyone there was talking about what had happened.
Some thought that he’d be expelled, a few said he was going to be offered up for family justice, but most were expecting that he would be protected by Tomas and let off with a warning. Besides, the guy who’d attacked him was a well-known idiot, a rich one, sure, but still an idiot.
Tenthé was impressed. This was a lot more interesting than the meeting he had escaped from. He canceled his spell.
“Tenthé!” everybody shouted as he appeared.
As he was being mobbed by his fans, he figured there was a good chance he would be beaten to death as they pummeled his head and shoulders. Finally, the assault trailed off and everyone demanded answers.
Tenthé didn’t know what to say. The best he could manage was, “Um… some student tried to push me, and did what I had to. I think everything’s okay, now.”
Nikolaus was obviously upset. “When they took you, we were sure you were done for! After asking around, we found that no-one knew anything useful.”
“Uh… why? Earlier you were ready to beat the crap out of me.”
“Hey, well, yeah, but you’re one of us, now! And,” he whispered, “not everyone gets fair treatment.”
At this, the boys all nodded. Which was the sort of thing Tenthé could understand. Since justice in the City was fairer for some than others, gang members looked out for each other. And now, apparently, he’d just been accepted into a new gang.
One thing, though; with all the extra attention, any hope he had of staying quiet was gone. In the Mission District, he could always hide from things he didn’t want to face until everyone forgot, but here it wasn’t going to be that easy. Too many people around all the time. Even if he left for a while, people like Elishua, and maybe his new gang, might remember him for quite a while.
Nikolaus continued. “If we’d been more careful, then that whole thing this morning wouldn’t have happened. From now on, you can’t go anywhere without some of us coming along. We’ll keep you safe. So, tell us, what are your classes?”
“Uh… I don’t know.”
“Get your Calendar. It should have been updated after you went through Testing. Let’s see what you have and we’ll make sure someone goes with you.”
Tenthé got up and fetched the book from his room, then returned and sat down with it in front of him.
“Okay, Bear, I guess you’re up.”
“All right. Go to the page we need to look at,” Bear directed.
“What’s that?”
“Try page three. Open the book. No, turn it over. The other way, get the glyphs facing up. Close, spin it around. There, stop! Yeah, right there. Open the cover. Good. Turn the page. See the symbols at the bottom? Those are numbers. One more page. Good, got it… Oh, crap.”
“What “Oh, crap”?”
“The pea-brains have put you in Combat, high level. Not sure that’s the best idea.”
“They said I don’t have to take any class… but I think I’d want to go anyway and find out.”
“You are just saying that because you like to fight.”
“Well… yeah.”
Nikolaus was reading over his shoulder. “These are all pretty normal, except… you’re in advanced combat!” His voice held a bit of awe.
Everyone oohed and ah-ed.
Nikolaus then asked, “Hey, look at this! Why do they have you in remedial writing and math?”
“I have trouble with those. Like I said, part of my curse.”
“That’s going to be an issue. No-one here needs to take those. Might make it hard for us to guard you. Maybe your girlfriend can help?”
“Girlfriend?”
“Yeah, you know. Huge, hulking, blond?”
“She’s not my girlfriend!”
“It’s obvious that she’s sweet on you. Those glares she sends your way…”
A voice of pure ice shot across the room. “Oh, and I am sure you understand everything about it, being so world-wise, and all.”
“Dang, she’s quiet,” Nikolaus muttered under his breath, then louder he added, “Just teasing the boy. No harm. It’s nice to see he’s normal in some ways.”
The boys had turned to eye Elishua as she stood in the hallway entrance. Beside her was another figure.
“You can let everybody know that Tenthé has two girlfriends, now. Me and Envoy Gyri, here. Try not to stare.”
Stepping out of Elishua’s shadow was a Trachteur! Rather, the Trachteur. Everyone knew she attended the College and was called the Envoy, but most hadn’t ever seen her.
“We’ve both been assigned to look after Tenthé. I assume this meets with everyone’s approval?”
When no-one answered, she turned to Tenthé.
“How about you? Do you think we can keep things under control?”
“Um...”
Elishua laughed, “Don’t worry. We’ll protect you from anything the big bad old students might do.”
“I s’pose.”
Nikolaus suggested diplomatically, “What if we merge our forces? That way someone will always be with Tenthé, at least between classes.”
The Envoy stepped forward. “Utterly ridiculous. Elishua and I do not need your assistance to handle a lone cub… I mean, child. I assure you that the two of us are sufficient.”
Nikolaus moved next to Elishua and whispered, “Didn’t anyone tell her anything?”
The Envoy responded, “I have excellent hearing, and yes, they told me about the series of fiascos that have followed in the boy’s wake, but I am sure we can handle a babysitting task.”
Nikolaus looked at Gyri. “You sure you’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, then… where’s he now?”
The girls looked around, then at each other, and swore.