Chapter Fourteen

Much To Contemplate

Part Two

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The next morning Kazia was summoned to see Mistress Amelys in her office. Upon arriving, Amelys did not invite her in, but handed her a parasol and led her out of the tower. The summer heat was almost unbearable, and Kazia held the parasol over the both of them as Amelys led her at a leisurely pace down the bailey toward the inner gate.

"Is the Seamist not working?" Amelys asked after strolling in silence for a while.

Kazia was confused.

"No, it seems to work as usual," she said. "Why do you ask?"

"You were on edge all last evening," Amelys answered. "And then there was your outburst when we returned. That isn't like you."

"Oh, that was just... Lord Meratha," Kazia said with a laugh. "He can be quite an irritant. It's nothing to worry about."

"No, if such a small slight from Kel is enough to provoke you, I find that quite worrisome. Are you sure there was nothing else?"

Kazia thought quietly for a long moment, replaying the night's events in her head.

"Master Ilianus," she said nervously.

"Are you not getting along with him?"

"Oh, no!" Kazia protested. "He's been lovely. I mean, I haven't really had much time to get to know him well. I only see him when he checks in on my work. But I've been wondering if I've ever met him before? Sometime in the past, I mean."

"I don't know where you would have met him," Amelys told her. "As far as I know he left Thalesia at eighteen and has been here in Elisaen the past fifteen years or so. What exactly is your concern?"

"Although he always appears to be so calm, his emotions are very turbulent, volatile even. So much so that without any context, I can't pin down what it is that he's feeling. Normally, I would say that's none of my business anyway, but he seems to have a certain interest in me. It always feels as though there's something he wants to tell me, but can't bring himself to say it."

"Do you think he knows of your abilities? I have told him nothing."

"No, I don't think that's it," Kazia said. "He doesn't react the way people usually do when they know that. There is no fear or hostility. He mostly seems a genuinely kind and gentle soul. If he weren't so... unhappy about something, I would probably enjoy his company quite a lot."

"I'm sorry, I can't think of what it could be," Amelys said. "Perhaps in time as you get to know each other better Tamyn will tell you himself."

"That was part of it last night," Kazia went on. "And I really was having a good time until Lord Meratha had to sour everything at the end. I was just tired. Mistress, where are we going?"

They had reached the gate in the inner castle wall and Amelys showed the guards her gate pass before leading Kazia through.

"Just around the corner here," Amelys said. "I have something to show you."

The outer ward surrounding the castle held a scattering of small outbuildings used for various purposes and was also planted with orchards of fruit trees, their shade very welcome in the Caedran summer. Rounding the corner of the inner wall, they came to a gate set in an iron fence, planted with a hedge of evergreen shrubs and overgrown with ivy.

Amelys unlocked the gate and led Kazia through into a large garden where beds of flowers and herbs bordered a long lawn of cropped grass. Two stacks of hay bales had been placed along the far side of the lawn. The scents of hay and freshly mowed grass stirred memories of the farm, and Kazia sadly remembered the thresher she hadn't finished repairing.

A line of white stone benches lay along the near side of the lawn, shaded with flowering trees. A fountain splashed at one end of the garden and at the other stood a beautiful wooden pergola shading a tea table, a small coal stove, and a few pieces of storage furniture. Madame Brandra was under the pergola fussing over a table setting.

"This is my private garden," Amelys said to Kazia, leading her toward the pergola. "I'll give you a key to the gate and you can come here whenever you like."

"Tea is ready," Brandra said, and as they took seats at the table she poured cups from two different teapots. Pouring Kazia's cup she added, "This is only a mild calming formula, nothing to make you too woozy."

"Mistress!" Kazia said in complaint as she finally understood what was happening. "It wasn't so bad that I need Contemplation."

"Not yet," Amelys replied. "But I think it's best that you not leave it. I know things are hectic here in the Capital and I need you to stay centered."

"I can if I just stay in my lab and do my work," Kazia protested.

"And most of the time you can do that, but some disturbance is inevitable," Amelys countered.

"You know it frightens me," Kazia said quietly.

"I only want to do an assessment," Amelys assured her. "Just to see where you are. Can you indulge me in just that much?"

"You'll be alright, dear," Brandra said, patting Kazia's shoulder. "Mistress won't let any harm come to you."

Kazia sighed, tested the temperature of her tea, then drank it down as quickly as she could.

"I'll leave you ladies to it," Brandra said, and left the garden.

Amelys took Kazia over to the stone benches where she sat at the end of one and positioned Kazia facing her at the end of another. She took Kazia's wrist as if she were taking a pulse and held it for a long moment. Kazia felt a small exchange of ethereal energy pass between them and Amelys finally nodded and released her.

"Let's begin," Amelys said.

Kazia closed her eyes and began a series of deep breathing exercises. The tea acted quickly, lulling her into a mild haze, similar to the effects of Seamist but without dulling any of her senses. In her mind, she envisioned the edge of a tiled rooftop.

"See the first bird land," Amelys said quietly.

Visualizing the scene in her mind, Kazia watched as a bird landed on the edge of the roof.

"What bird is it?" Amelys asked.

"A white dove," Kazia answered.

"Good. See the second bird land."

Another bird flew down to perch next to the first.

"Another white dove," Kazia said.

The visualization began to solidify, becoming more real than her actual surroundings. She felt as if she were hovering in midair at the side of this rooftop. She watched a third bird land next to the others, forming a line along the ledge.

"The third one," she whispered, "has a gray spot on its breast."

Amelys frowned.

"See the fourth bird land," she said. "Can you make it all white again?"

Kazia watched the fourth bird land, hearing the rustling of its feathers and the scraping of its little clawed feet on the tile ledge. It was white with gray wings.

Suddenly, an uncountable number of birds landed on the roof and all morphed into black ravens.

The whole flock ascended from the roof, a cacophony of harsh, grating caws assaulting Kazia's ears, and flew in a rush at her face.

She ducked her head and looked down into a courtyard below the roof, where she saw a man holding the head of a young girl down into a basin of water.

Endure it. Devratha does not break.

Kazia's nose and throat began to fill with water, and she felt a hand clutching the back of her head, fingers entangled in her hair. She struggled and began to cough violently.

"The flock flies away."

Amelys' voice sliced through the vision like lightning and Kazia opened her eyes to find herself back in the garden, bent over in Amelys' lap and clutching at her, gasping for breath. Amelys stroked her back.

"You're safe," Amelys said softly. "I've got you. You're safe here. Repeat it."

"I am safe," Kazia whispered hoarsely. "I am safe, I am safe, I am safe..."

She sat up. Her face was flushed and sweating, but her breathing began to stabilize.

"What was that, five minutes?" she asked with a bitter smile.

Amelys held Kazia's hands and regarded her evenly.

Then she rose and returned to the pergola where she took something out of a drawer in one of the chests before returning. She handed Kazia a leather pouch and nodded.

Kazia opened the pouch to find ten small, double-edged knives. She shook her head and gave Amelys a questioning look.

"The hay bales are for targets," Amelys said, waving her cane at them. "Don't damage Brandra's herb beds."

Kazia's mouth hung open.

"Mistress, you always said that was dangerous."

"Normally, yes," Amelys said thoughtfully. "Normally, I believe that while this kind of Contemplation is fine for soldiers, it can darken and subvert the ethereal energy of most Alchemists. But I think it's time to admit that you are not most Alchemists. This may be the best method for you."

She sat down on the bench again, planting the end of her cane on the ground.

"You see," she added, "I can be flexible."

Kazia smiled. She took one of the knives out of the pouch and held it across her palm. It was perfectly balanced, and clearly forged of the finest steel available. The new blade gleamed in the sun and reflected the green of the surrounding garden. The handle was of black iron chased with intricate ornamentation. It felt cold across her hand, driving away both the heat of the summer and the heat of the fear she'd only just suffered.

"Go ahead," Amelys said. "Let me observe."

Kazia stood and approached the stacks of hay bales, which had been placed about twenty feet apart across the lawn. She took three knives from the pouch and held them by their blades. Closing her eyes, she repeated the breathing exercises that had begun her earlier Contemplation.

When she opened her eyes, they gleamed with a cold light and her face had set into a hard expression. The knives flew from her hand in rapid succession, diving with three soft thuds into a perfect line across the hay bale.

The tension in Kazia's body began to melt away. She picked out three more knives and in a flash they pierced the hay target precisely beside each of the first three.

Kazia licked her lips, and the corners of her mouth tipped up into a disquieting smile.

Amelys furrowed her brow upon seeing this expression, but relaxed as Kazia's shoulders visibly released and she let out a long, slow breath. Her face softened again, and she returned almost nervously to the bench. Amelys took her wrist, examining the state of Kazia's energy again.

"Alright, good," Amelys said, rising from the bench.

She handed Kazia a key and turned toward the gate.

"Lock up when you're finished here."

 

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