Tenthé sat in a chair outside Magister Tomas’ office. After some thought, he decided it had been the wards that had ratted him out; set to tattle the instant he returned.

It was late. As they’d walked through the halls, there had been almost no students out and about. Tomas’ secretary was long gone. Tenthé wondered about her. Did she have a life outside the College? Must have, but it seemed weird.

He wasn’t sure what Tomas wanted, but many years of waiting for things had taught him not to worry about maybes when he had no idea what was going on. Which was a lot of the time.

When Tenthé had very nearly made his choice between leaving or releasing some rodents, the door opened and Tomas beckoned for him to come in. Tenthé ran past him and jumped onto the too large chair in front of the big desk, squirming back and forth, trying to find a position where the tufted buttons didn’t poke.

Once he was comfortable, Tenthé looked up.

“So, Tenthé,” the Magister began. “We’ve uncovered a great deal about you and what you represent.”

Internally, Tenthé breathed a sigh of relief. He’d been worried that someone had seen him in the cavern. It wouldn’t be the end of the world, but it was best if his role remained a secret. Too many complications otherwise and his experience with “complications” wasn’t usually positive. Isabell must have been covered for them or this conversation would have been much different.

Tomas continued, “There’s both good and bad news. The good news is that we have found reference to another with your abilities, although it isn’t really a source we would have expected.”

He reached into a drawer and pulled out a thin volume. It was one of his picture books!

“Hey, I know that book! It’s my favorite. It tells about someone like me.” exclaimed Tenthé.

Tomas looked a little disconcerted, “What? How?”

“We found it behind the shelves in the library. It was all dusty and is about a girl with a toy. She fights bad things, and her toy is no help at all. Same as Bear. Bear doesn’t care for the book. He says it should be about the brave toy, not some girl who wins by shi… um, pure luck.”

“Well, that may be, but we have examined this document carefully, and we have come up with a hypothesis.”

Tenthé knew that was a large word that meant guess. Why people couldn’t just say guess was something he never figured out.

“We’ve uncovered that you are not only named Tenthé… you really are the Tenthé! The actual tenth hand of the Dreamer. How does that make you feel?”

“Uh… good? I suppose.”

“No, it’s important! It means our Dreamer’s active! Still lost, but somehow, getting involved. Not the best news, but not the worst either!”

“What’s that got to do with me? I don’t know no Dreamer!”

“Ahem. Your grammar needs work. And this,” Tomas brandished the picture book, “shows the Tenthé disrupting enemy activities. Not confronting them head-on, but destroying supplies, poisoning the food, using illusions to distract, and so on. Basically, an ongoing guerrilla operation. Creating doubts and causing mayhem. Sound like anyone we know?”

He didn’t wait for an answer and continued, “Now, I’ll let you in on a little secret only known to a select few.

“Normally, Dreamers only make tweaks here and there. Why? Because large changes never work out the way they should. There are always details that get overlooked. It takes an army to hunt down the problems and come up with a plan to deal with them and not cause even more things to go wrong.

“In your case, the timing is suspicious. It is unlikely that the old Dreamer made you; he died unexpectedly. That means you are here because of the new one, but he wouldn’t have any idea what he was doing twenty, or so, years ago. I don’t know why he thought he had to bring you into existence.

“Which gets us to our next point. Until we started looking into your past, everyone thought the Hands of the Dreamer came into being fully formed. The evidence is mounting that they’re just ordinary people who are placed in extraordinary situations. So, our feeling is that the Dreamer made you and then waited until now when you would be ready to come to our attention.

“This is very important information and we cannot fathom why it was buried! I suspect there’s a factor we can’t appreciate at this time. It’s a good idea to hide the existence of the Tenthé from the public; sabotage works best if an enemy doesn’t realize what is going on. But, why conceal it from us?”

Tenthé wondered who “us” was.

Tomas was still talking. “It is extremely perplexing. A real mystery.”

He paused for a moment to regroup, then peered at Tenthé. “So, young man. What do you know about recent events? The Houses and the Horde, all of that? The stories we are getting are contradictory. For some reason, the warriors went crazy and attacked the soldiers, and only stopped when Isabell intervened. A nice story, but there are details that don’t add up. The Horde, contrary to popular opinion, is very disciplined. We’ve asked, but the ones we captured won’t talk, and because of their nature, we can’t compel them with magic.

“To me, this situation sounds suspiciously like the kind of thing the Tenthé would be involved in. How you could pull off such a miracle seems impossible, but I have to ask. What is your take on events?”

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Tenthé answered honestly, as far as it went. “People’ve been saying that the Horde invaded and a few Houses fought them off. And lots of other stuff.”

“Did you realize your friend Isabell was involved?”

“Yeah. Sort of. She found us when we were heading back to the College after we spent the day exploring. We were worried. She kept turning into squares or something, then when we got here, she disappeared! I think the Guardians took her, but I don’t know where she is now.”

Tomas stared at Tenthé, his disbelief obvious. “Is that your story? I’m convinced you are aware of more than you’re saying!”

Tenthé didn’t respond. The office was quiet for quite a while.

Eventually, Tomas ended the stalemate. “But… I see no reason to push things at this point. Trust me though, we’ll get to the bottom of the matter. Sooner rather than later.

“As you know, the College is the center for the magical defenses of this, the City Proper. We thought we had everything under control and were caught entirely off-guard when we discovered the Horde inside the walls. Finding the Houses involved made our failure even worse.

“In addition to that, during the cleanup in the cavern, our agents uncovered a network of tunnels crisscrossing the city. We had already known of some, but the scope of what we found is staggering! We are trying to find how we could have possibly missed something so significant that exists under our very feet! My theory is that our mysterious Dreamer is involved, but I don’t want to taint the investigation.

“This, added to the unexpected revelations that the old gods still exist, has highlighted the extent of our hubris.

“It hurts, but I’m man enough to admit when I’ve been shortsighted. Although I understand you have secrets you feel the need to protect, I’d like to ask if you’re aware of any other things I might have overlooked?

“Yes, I know it’s a broad question. Let me narrow it down for you. I’m convinced that you had something to do with the discovery of the old gods, since nobody remembers the details. Elishua’s convinced that means you were involved. Care to comment?”

Tenthé thought for a few moments. The assassins had taught him that a standard technique in interrogation was to get the prisoner talking about one subject so he will loosen up on another, more important, topic. He was sure Tomas wouldn’t resort to the things he’d had to endure under their tutelage, but it would be best if Tomas felt he was in control.

“What do the old gods have to do with anything?” he asked.

“A complex question. You understand that the search for the Dreamer has been going on for years? We were convinced that we’d done everything we could, but only recently have we discovered out how wrong we were. The old gods represent a significant failure on our part.

“Once their existence was revealed, we had hoped they could supply us with some answers, but the more we talk to them, the less confident I am in what they say. Besides that, there is some evidence that a few of them were involved in the failed coup. I’m not sure what to think and I’d appreciate your opinion.”

Tomas was good, but Tenthé had been taught by the best. Given this interrogation was “friendly”, he decided to give up a little to hide a lot.

So, he offered, “The old gods, they’re not stupid. But, what they tell you won’t be free and they lie all the time. You have to know how to talk to them.”

With that statement, Tomas would feel he had fooled Tenthé into admitting that he was involved with the old gods, but it should divert the conversation to less important matters.

The Magister spoke as he took notes. “Good. Thanks for being honest. What do you mean when you say you have to know how to talk with them?”

“They respect deals and power. You have to be careful what you promise and be ready to destroy them if they don’t live up to their part of the deal.”

“How? They’re gods!”

“Gods with no followers. They die like everyone else. It’s no big deal. There’s always another to take their place.”

Skeptically, Tomas asked, “Killed a lot of gods, have you?”

“You don’t have to, they just have to think you’ll try. Without followers, they know they’re vulnerable.” Not a lie, exactly.

Tomas took more notes, then looked up as Tenthé yawned. “Hang in there, we’re nearly done,” he said, reassuringly. “Only have a few more things to cover, for now. Which leads me to another question. Can you discuss your experience in the Other, what you call… wait a sec, I have it written down here, somewhere… aha! The Pools. It would definitely help expand our knowledge base.”

“Uh…”

“I don’t mean now. I need to get a bunch of the Magisters together. And yes, I know the forgetting is an issue, but I think there are enough still aware of you that we can make significant headway on our understanding.”

“Uh, not sure about that. You kind of have to be there to understand a different way of doing things, and then you have to learn how to keep it going here. It’s pretty hard.”

“Oh, I’m sure if you could do it, we can too.”

Tenthé didn’t agree. Magic wasn’t always about understanding. Much of the time, you just did what you had to without figuring it out. Some of the most powerful creatures he’d met were dumber than a pail full of mud, but they had something that made them special. Whatever it was, he had no clue how to go about teaching someone about something you couldn’t… uh, understand.

There were some abilities he could talk about, but there no way he would share even those. Not everyone had the ability to lock the really bad things up in the back of their mind like he could.

It was probably best that he get out of the College for a while. Let the forgetting take over. He’d talk to Bear and see what they could figure out.

Tomas was still talking. “And, one last matter. You’ve been driving Elishua and the Envoy nuts. I assigned them to help you fit in, but you seem bound and determined to force everything to fit to you.”

Without much hope, Tenthé responded, “Thanks, sir, but I’m pretty sure I don’t need them anymore. Yep, everything’s going good.”

“Well… I beg to disagree. The current setup has advantages for everyone. If you let us do our job, I am convinced things will work out even better!”

Tenthé wasn’t surprised. He could make an issue about it, since the College had made a mistake in letting him roam freely for the time he was here. Unlike his first few days, he now understood the defenses thoroughly and if it came to a confrontation, he had what he needed to shut the place down.

But Tomas was merely being annoying. Not enough of a reason to start anything.

He was also aware that, although he should have known better, Tomas still saw him as a ten-year-old kid. Which, to be truthful, did have a bit of truth to it. Besides, he was tired. He acquiesced… kind of.

“Okay, sir. I’ll give everyone the respect they ought’a get.” He waited to see how Tomas took his response.

“Good. It’s all for the best.” Then Tomas stretched and rubbed his hands together. “You know, I’d say this discussion has been exceedingly productive!”

He glanced at the clock. “My goodness, look how late it is! I suggest you return to your dorm. If you’re hungry, pick up a snack from the dining room and we’ll see you in the morning for breakfast.

“Oh yeah... I almost forgot.”

Tomas reached down to a bottom drawer and brought out a bag. He put it on the desk, opened the top, and quickly pulled it shut as a horrible smell permeated the office. He handed the bag to Tenthé, who took a peek inside. It was Bear. A very disgusting version.

With a quick thanks, Tenthé got up and left. Even with the bag closed, the few students he passed sniffed and wondered what had died in the walls.