S’san sighed heavily. “That hurts a great deal, Mari. Not that you asked the question, for you have every right to do so. No, what hurts is that you have cause to wonder whether you can trust me or anyone else in the Guild. I am ashamed and angry that it came to that.” She met Mari’s eyes. “I will not betray you, Mari. I may have held some things back, but I will never lie to you or knowingly allow you to come to harm.”
Mari felt some of the weight come off of her, but found herself glancing at Alain.
“She does not lie,” Alain said.
S’san’s eyes glinted with anger. “I am not accustomed to having my word questioned or the accuracy of my statements evaluated by people unknown to me.”
“I’m sorry, Professor,” Mari said. “After everything that has happened, I don’t know who to trust anymore. But I know I can trust Alain.”
“And what makes this Alain such an expert on the subject of truth and lies?” S’san asked, her voice sharp.
Mari felt herself quailing under the disapproval of her old instructor, but stiffened her resolve. “I’ll introduce you, and that will provide your answer. Professor S’san, this is my friend and companion, Mage Alain of Ihris.”
A long silence stretched, then S’san took a couple of steps closer to Alain, studying his face. “A Mage? You show more feeling than I would expect.”
Alain nodded slightly. “Mari has reawakened my feelings.”
“Oh?” S’san fixed a demanding look on Mari. “What sort of feelings?”
“We’re in love,” Mari replied. “Don’t give me that look, Professor! This Mage, this man, has risked his life for me more than once and saved my life more than once. While the Senior Mechanics and others were plotting my death, this Mage stood beside me and protected me and stayed true to me.”
Her old professor nodded abruptly. “It’s not my place to judge personal decisions, Mari, but I will suggest that you avoid taking any impulsive steps. The odds are very much against it, but the Mechanics Guild may yet be persuaded to reinstate you. This all may perhaps be fixed, but not if you are consorting with a Mage.”
“I trust this Mage,” Mari said, putting all the resolve she could into those words. “I do not trust my Guild anymore. If I have to make a choice, I’ll stick with Alain.”
“You can’t make decisions like that based on emotions.”
She had never imagined talking back to S’san, but Mari did it now. “You sound just like a Mage yourself.”
“You’d certainly know, wouldn’t you?” S’san retorted.
“Yes, I would! Because I refused to accept what I had been told, I examined the problem, and I did my best to find out the underlying truth! Isn’t that what you taught me to do?”
S’san gave Mari a hard look, then nodded. She went to the door giving way onto the balcony, testing it to ensure it was closed and locked, then sat down, her expression changing to distress. “Yes, I did. I thought that would be for the best, for both you and for the Guild. Your professor failed.”
“You…” Her emotions tangled, Mari finally sat as well, beckoning Alain to join her on the couch. “Professor, I need to know what happened and why.”
“You have a right to that,” S’san agreed. “But there are things we shouldn’t discuss in front of a Mage, Mari. His Guild is an enemy of our Guild.”
“I no longer hold any allegiance to the Mage Guild,” Alain replied. “I follow Lady Mari.”
Mari nodded, feeling pride mingled with her anguish. “My Mage is threatened with death by his own Guild, his former Guild, professor. His loyalty is to me.”
“Your Mage?” S’san sat back and laughed shortly. “You continue to amaze me, Mari.” She watched Alain again. “Has he told you any of his Guild’s secrets?”
“Yes. He’s told me and…another Mechanic.”
“Interesting. And wise of you not to name this other Mechanic. If I don’t know who he or she is, I can’t be forced to reveal their name.”
“Professor, Mage spells really work,” Mari said. “You must have known that as well as I do now.”
“Of course I did. I’m not one of those fools who think that by ignoring reality you can make it go away. Though I suppose that’s a weak argument in the eyes of a Mage.”
Alain shook his head at S’san. “What you call reality does not exist. A Mage does not ignore anything. A Mage places a smaller illusion over the greater illusion.”
To Mari’s surprise, her old professor actually smiled at Alain’s remark. “You make it sound very simple, Mage. Excuse me, Sir Mage.”
“It is simple in idea, Elder,” Alain replied, “but very complex to apply. Achieving the ability takes much work and concentration.”
S’san’s eyebrows rose. “Elder? Isn’t that a term of respect among Mages?”
“Yes, Elder. Lady Mari has spoken often of you to me.”
Another smile. “Has she spoken of the Mechanic arts to you?”
“Yes.” Alain made a frustrated gesture. “She has tried to explain some things, and I have seen her at work. But I cannot understand how her arts work. They are very mysterious and complex, and endure much longer than any Mage spell.”
“Mysterious?” S’san glanced at Mari.
Mari nodded. “He can’t even figure out how to use a screwdriver, Professor. Something about Mage training makes them incapable of grasping the sort of things we do. But he can do things I can’t even imagine being able to accomplish.”
“Interesting.” S’san looked back at Alain. “You say the works of Mages cannot last a long time?”
“That is so,” Alain said. “A spell lasts only so long as concentration, strength, and power endure. Then the illusion returns to its prior state.”
S’san nodded thoughtfully. “Hmmm. Like an electric light. Shut off the current, and there is no sign it ever gave off illumination. That explains some things. One of the arguments used by the Mechanics Guild to claim that Mages are frauds is that it is impossible to point to any artifacts, to any permanent changes created by them. I had wondered at this myself. Mari, I wish I had a few weeks to pick the brain of this young man.”
“But why hasn’t the Guild already done that?” Mari demanded. She glanced out the window looking toward the lake, wondering how much warning they would have if the Guild were watching them here and preparing to charge in to arrest her. All she could do was hope that Alain’s foresight would provide some notice of the danger. “Why hasn’t the Mechanics Guild tried to understand how Mages work, instead of insisting that they are frauds against all of the evidence?”
“Why haven’t I done it? Because no Mage would speak to me. Why hasn’t the Guild ever done more? Because, Mari, they’re avoiding that which they cannot explain.” S’san gave Alain another long look. “Our technology cannot explain what the Mages do. There are two ways to respond to that. One way would be to research and to study, to learn more, to expand our knowledge or at least admit that there are things currently beyond our understanding. But the Mechanics Guild has clung to power for this long by refusing to allow new research and controlling all technology. I don’t know how the initial decisions about the Mages were made all those centuries ago, but it’s easy enough to guess. Our Guild leaders back then decided that what they couldn’t understand—the Mages—couldn’t be allowed to exist. But the Guild couldn’t destroy the Mages. Oh, it tried. That surprises you? Yes, there was open fighting at one time. I know that much. But the Mages couldn’t be wiped out of existence, so eventually the Guild decided to pretend they didn’t exist. It’s been that way for I don’t know how long.”
Mari gripped the arm of the sofa. “Why did you tell me the Mages were fakes?”