Chapter Eleven

Magic Can't Solve Everything

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Neiphi stood at a long table with a box of small machine parts, sorting them into like piles and sighing intermittently. Kazia tried to ignore her, but the girl's frustration was beginning to wear on her patience.

"This is so boring!" Neiphi finally exclaimed.

"Alchemy is not all a wave of the hand," Kazia told her. "Often the grandest results are achieved only after one has endured much tedium."

Kazia turned back to the Artifact she was working on, peering at its tiny mechanism through a magnifying glass to weld a small part back into place.

They had been at the castle for almost two months now, and in that time Kazia had completed almost a dozen Artifacts from the storeroom, and that after a week of arranging the laboratory.

Most of them had simply required a change of materials to more accurately direct the magic. A few had required minor redesign to balance the principles. There was a chance that Kazia had deliberately chosen the easiest projects first to impress the eyes upon her. It seemed to have worked.

When a knock came on the hallway door, Neiphi eagerly abandoned her task to answer and Amelys entered, a bit winded.

"Mistress, did you walk all the way up?" Kazia asked, laying aside her work. "You should have cast a portal. Neiphi, please bring Mistress Amelys a chair."

Amelys shook her head, still catching her breath.

"Never cast magic for anything you can do with your own hands and feet," she said. "Miss Gewalt, take a note of that."

"Is that why we had to ride in the carriage all night to come here?" Neiphi asked. "That was so boring!"

"Neiphi, don't be rude," Kazia admonished.

"No, no it's fine," Amelys said with a smile. "Exactly, Miss Gewalt. Portals require a great deal of energy, carrying others even more so. And since an Alchemist must have been to a place before to cast a portal there, I'd have to carry both Madame Brandra and Lord Meratha along with our luggage to Essyl, then Lord Meratha and I would have to carry all the lot of you back. So you see, magic can't solve everything."

"Ahh..." Neiphi mused. "Mistress, when will I learn how to cast a portal? I can't wait!"

"That will take some time," Amelys answered. "You must learn your fundamentals first. Often the grandest results are achieved only after one has-"

"-endured much tedium," Neiphi finished along with her.

Amelys showed a satisfied smile and winked at Kazia.

"You still needn't have come all the way up," Kazia said. "You can always send for me."

"Nonsense," Amelys replied. "I wanted to come see how you are situated. The laboratory looks to be in fine shape."

"You're welcome!" Neiphi interjected as she dragged a small chair over to place it opposite Kazia across her worktable. "I've been sorting and sorting, nothing but sorting for weeks."

Amelys raised her eyebrows toward Kazia, who smiled in return.

"Good then," Amelys said, taking her seat. "You've been doing excellent work, but if you are all settled now and have established your routine, we will soon enter requests that you prioritize certain Artifacts."

"Of course," Kazia said.

"There is one in particular, of Kelvaran's making."

"He didn't send you here to ask after it, did he?"

There had been several visitors to the laboratory in the first weeks, Alchemists asking after their artifacts, including several Makers of weaponry demanding to know why she had refused their Artifacts. Tamyn had finally posted a page at the end of the hall to turn them away.

"He has inquired," Amelys said.

Kazia had not forgotten the Artifact. Indeed, it had continued to pull at her every time she went into the storeroom, but she had been hesitant to revisit it.

She hadn't had much to do with Kelvaran since her arrival at the castle, but any time she did see him, whether in the offices of Mistress Amelys or Master Ilianus, or simply passing on the stairwell, she was treated to a dose of his loathing and contempt. If he ever spoke to her it was only to make shaded insinuations about her character.

Why should she spare any sympathy for that air of mourning he carried about, and allow herself to be confused in her own judgment of him? And why do any favors for someone who regularly treated her so rudely?

"I know the Artifact you mean," Kazia said evenly, keeping these thoughts to herself. "It may not be an easy fix, if its purpose is even possible."

"Well," Amelys said, "get started on it soon and see what you can make of it. That one may be needed sooner than we thought, if we can't devise another solution."

"Has there been news then?"

Amelys hesitated, glancing at Neiphi.

"Neiphi," Kazia said, "there are a few finished Artifacts on the shelf there. Will you please deliver them to Master Ilianus?"

"Yes, Mistress," Neiphi said dutifully.

Amelys waited until the girl had disappeared into the hallway with the boxes.

"The Valeskan Embassy has requested an audience with the Queen," she said. "Ambassador Sobin will retire soon, and this meeting is ostensibly to discuss acceptable replacements with Her Majesty, but your brother will be in attendance."

Kazia's breath caught in her throat.

"You think this is really about me?" she mused.

"Something like this was to be expected," Amelys answered. "Don't worry too much. I don't think you'll need to be involved. But the timing is suspect. Sir Ralak Vysda, a cousin of the House of Vysdatha, was found poisoned three days ago in Thalesia."

"Oh!" Kazia breathed, her face paling.

"Did you know him?" Amelys asked.

"No, I just... it's horrible. Is Halany going to such lengths to hunt any defectors?"

"It would seem so," Amelys sighed. "But Sir Ralak had been living as an ordinary citizen in Thalesia, he had not accepted the protection of King Nikassis. Would that he had."

As Amelys said this, Kazia felt an edge of fear rising in the old woman's heart.

"Was Sir Ralak a student of yours?" Kazia asked. "I feel that... you are holding this close to you."

"No," Amelys answered, "no, my thoughts are perhaps selfishly for you and Kelvaran. That fool is going out to give a lecture tonight at the University. I would keep you both locked up forever behind these walls to keep you safe. Am I cruel to say such a thing?"

"Not at all, Mistress. You have cared for us both very well."

"I suppose life must be lived, though," Amelys admitted with a heavy sigh, "else what is the point of hanging onto it?"

"And what is this about a lecture?" Kazia asked, curious.

"Some of the Alchemists give lectures at the University of Caedra, in the city, on occasion," Amelys said. "There is a strain of thought emerging that those who are able to harness magic may someday die out. Some believe, then, that the natural sciences must be cultivated apart from magic, for the continued progress of humanity."

"And Lord Meratha subscribes to this philosophy?"

"He does. I believe he is lecturing this evening on the basics of electrical current."

"I think I agree," Kazia said. "There really are far fewer of us about now than there once were."

She detected a bit of good humor from Amelys at that.

"Could this be common ground you are finding?" Amelys chuckled. "I believe my work may be done for the day."

"Perhaps," Kazia answered. "I wouldn't rest on your laurels just yet."

"Would you care to join me this evening?" Amelys asked. "I am going to hear the lecture, you could come along. We will have an armed escort for safety."

"Oh... there will be a crowd, though?"

"There will, although a summer crowd is much lighter than when the full academic year is in session. Now would be the time if you're interested. Do you feel up to it?"

"I think so, if I double up on the Seamist."

"Good, then," Amelys said, rising from her chair. "The carriage will be at the tower entrance promptly after dinner."

 

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