“It is just that you have sometimes seemed unhappy when speaking of Asha—”
“Because I was being stupid! And jealous! There, I said it. I admit another one of my flaws.” Mari grasped Alain’s hand tightly. “Of course you can be concerned for Asha’s safety. Is there a thread between you and her?”
“No,” Alain said. “That is only between us.”
Despite her resolve not to be jealous of Asha any more, Mari still felt a flash of relief to hear that. “I hope she’s all right, Alain. Should we wait somewhere for her?”
“That would be too dangerous, since we have no idea how long we must wait. Mari, what did Asha mean when you spoke of her warning you?”
“She gave me a headache,” Mari replied shortly, feeling oddly reluctant to discuss it.
“She made your head hurt?”
“That’s what headache means, doesn’t it?”
“Yes.” Alain was looking at her with a wondering expression. “Asha was able to use her link to you in this way? That is remarkable.”
“I’m glad you think so,” Mari said. “Personally, grateful as I am for her warning, I am less than thrilled that any other woman can reach into my head because I’m in love with you. Even Asha.”
“This still bothers you?”
“Of course it bothers me.” Mari looked away, unable to watch him as she kept speaking. “Yes, I was half-dreaming about you just before the headache hit. I guess my bonfire of adoration for you was hot enough that Asha could toast some marshmallows on my brain. That’s what jerked me into full alertness so I heard those Mages coming up the stairs.”
“It saved us?” Alain asked. “Why are you unhappy when you speak of it?”
“Because I’m not comfortable with knowing that every time I think of you I am transmitting passionate signals to the entire world!” Mari hissed. “Why is that hard to understand?”
“Transmitting?”
“Sending out messages!” Mari leaned back, looking up at the ceiling. “Do you have any idea how embarrassing it is to have someone able to tell every time I’m thinking about you? ‘Oh, there she goes again. I wonder if she’s in bed with him right now. Or maybe they’re just kissing.’”
“Or planning to change the world,” Alain said.
“I’m sure that’s the first thing that comes to Asha’s mind.”
“But she would only try to sense you when she is trying to find you,” Alain offered. “It is an effort, Mari, like any other spell. It tires her, requires power, and cannot be sustained for long periods. She will only do it when she is trying to locate us, and then for short lengths of time.”
“Really? You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“Then why doesn’t my transmitter of love tire me out? Asha made it sound like I’m broadcasting to everyone and everything on Dematr, which, I have to tell you, doesn’t make me happy. How many people besides Asha are listening in while I light up the world with thoughts of you?”
Alain started to answer, stopped, then spoke slowly. “It is not the same thing. Certainly no one can read your actual thoughts.”
“You said that before, and that had better be true.”
“Asha has a tie to you. You now serve to assist her in finding me when you increase the intensity of your feelings. I am not sure how to explain it right.”
Mari stared at him. “Increase the intensity? I’m an amplifier as well as a transmitter?”
“A what and a what?”
“I’m an amplifier and a transmitter,” Mari repeated. She gazed upward. “I don’t believe this is happening to me.”
“Do you really think about me that often?” Alain asked.
“That’s none of your business!”
“It is not?”
“No! What I think about you and when I think about you is my business! I wonder if there is any way to ground out my signal?”
“What?” Looking confused, Alain tried one last attempt at reassurance. “Mari, I would advise that you not worry about it.”
That did it. “Of course you wouldn’t worry about it! You’re not transmitting your lust to the world! And if you were, you’d be happy, because you’re a man!”
Alain nodded quickly, his expression wary, and changed the subject. “The rioting must have become worse after we escaped the area.”
“Yeah.” Mari closed her eyes briefly, trying to calm herself once more, then opened them to look at him. “I know what you’re thinking. I’m not blaming myself for that. It was as though the citizens there were a bomb waiting to go off, and the Mage attack just acted as a spark to make them explode. Do you have any idea why?”
“They were very angry,” Alain said, thinking. “They appeared to have no goal but fighting and destruction.”
“That’s what I saw, too. What would make people act like that?”
Alain kept his eyes on her. “I saw a few acolytes act in a similar way during my training. Pushed too far, unable to continue to live as they were, but believing they had no chance of becoming Mages, they erupted into violence against any Mage and elder within reach. Those acolytes were quickly killed, of course.”
Mari nodded, feeling sick inside. “They didn’t have any hope. Nothing to make them think things would ever get better. No reason any more to restrain their worst impulses.”
“The leading edge of the storm,” Alain murmured. “Perhaps if someone gave the commons hope, it would help them.”
“How can anyone give them hope that things will get better? That things will ever change for them?” Mari suddenly understood, and looked down at the floor, trying to avoid coming to the only possible conclusion. “You mean, if someone… revealed herself.”
“Yes.”
She stared at the vague patterns in the flooring, her stomach knotting at the idea. “All right. I will think about it. But not until after we find that tower on Altis. It must have been kept secret for a reason, and I don’t want too much attention on me from the commons until we’ve found any answers that place holds.”
Alain did not reply, but she sensed his approval and agreement. Unhappy, Mari settled back again to wait. The train was supposed to leave in about an hour, so they had a little while left to wait before they would be allowed to board the passenger cars.
Another train rolled into the station, a freight from the south by what Mari could see of it. She stared at the sky, willing the sun to rise faster. “I’m going to see how they’re doing at getting our train ready.”
“I do not think that you should,” Alain said. “It is not wise to walk around this place when your fellow Mechanics might recognize you.“
“I can keep my head down. It’ll only be for a few moments. I’m going to go crazy if I have to keep sitting here.” Before Alain could object again, Mari stood up and walked quickly to where she could view the train which was being prepared to go to Landfall, trying to judge how close it was to boarding passengers. Mechanics moved around it, working on the cars and the steam locomotive which would pull the train. Despite her resolve not to linger in this spot, Mari stared at the locomotive, remembering happy times spent maintaining and operating locomotives during her training. Feeling depressed, Mari finally turned back towards Alain.
And found herself facing a portly, middle-aged man in a Mechanics jacket. The man stopped in mid-stride, staring at her, his broad mustache seeming to bristle. She stared back, knowing that he had recognized her. “Professor T’mos. Good morning.” It had been less than a year since she had seen him last, but it felt like a lifetime had passed.
T’mos nodded, frowning just as he had the many times he had discussed Mari’s behavior with her when she was a student at the academy. “Good morning, Master Mechanic Mari.”
She feared that he would immediately sound an alarm, but instead the professor tilted his head to one side to beckon Mari to stand near the wall. “I did not expect to meet you here.”