Rothen sighed. “It’s easy to see why Ezrille despairs of finding you a wife, Dannyl.”
As always, his friend grimaced. “I’m too young to have a wife.”
“Nonsense,” Rothen replied. “You just don’t have the space for one.”
Dannyl smiled and beckoned to Sonea. She drew closer to the benches and listened as he explained his experiments. He brought out a few faded pictures and she examined them closely.
“It can be done,” he finished. “The only challenge is to stop the image fading away.”
“Couldn’t you get a painter to copy it before it does?” she suggested.
“I could.” Dannyl frowned. “That would circumvent the problem, I suppose. He would have to be a good painter. Fast, too.”
Handing the samples back, she moved to a framed map on the wall nearby.
“You don’t have paintings,” she said, glancing around the room. “They’re all maps.”
“Yes,” Dannyl replied. “I collect old maps and plans.”
She approached another. “This is the Guild.”
Rothen moved to her side. The plan was clearly labelled, in the neat writing of the Guild’s most famous architect, Lord Coren.
“We are here.” Dannyl pointed. “In the Magicians’ Quarters.” His finger slid across to a similar rectangle. “That is the Novices’ Quarters. All novices who come to learn in the Guild are housed there, even if they have homes in the city.”
“Why?”
“So we can make their lives a misery,” Dannyl replied. Sonea gave him a very direct look, then snorted softly.
“The novices are removed from their family’s influence when they come here.” Rothen told her. “We have to wean them off the little intrigues the Houses are always indulging in.”
“We get plenty of new novices who have never needed to get out of bed before midday,” Dannyl added. “It comes as quite a shock to them when they learn how early they have to rise for class. We’d have no hope of getting them to lessons on time if they lived at home.”
He pointed at the circular building on the plan. “This is the Healers’ Quarters. Some of the Healers live there, but most rooms are reserved for treatment and classes.” His finger moved to a smaller circle within the garden. “This structure is the Arena. It is used as a practice area for the Warriors. There is a shield around it, supported by the masts, which absorbs and contains the magic of those within and protects everything outside. We all add our power to the shield from time to time to keep it strong.”
Sonea stared at the plan, watching as Dannyl’s finger moved to the curved building next to the Magicians’ Quarters.
“This is the Baths. It is built where a stream once ran down the hill from a spring up in the forest. We have piped the water into the building where it can be drawn into tubs and heated. Next to it is the Seven Arches, which contains rooms for entertaining.”
“What are the Residences?” Sonea asked, drawing his attention to a label and an arrow that pointed off the page.
“Several little houses where our oldest magicians live,” Dannyl explained. “Here, you can see them on this older map.”
They crossed the room to a yellowing map of the city. Dannyl pointed to a row of tiny squares. “There, beside the old cemetery.”
“There are only a few buildings in the Guild on this map,” Sonea noted.
Dannyl smiled. “This map is over three hundred years old. I don’t know how much of Kyralian history you know. Have you heard of the Sachakan War?”
Sonea nodded.
“After the Sachakan War, there wasn’t much left of Imardin. When the city was rebuilt, the greater Houses took the opportunity to set out a new city plan.
“You can see how it was built in concentric circles.” He pointed to the center. “First, a wall was erected around the remains of the old King’s Palace, then another around the city. The Outer Wall was constructed a few decades later. The old city was named the Inner Circle, and the new area was divided into the four Quarters.
His finger circled the Guild. “The entire Eastern Quarter was given to the magicians in gratitude for driving out the Sachakan invaders. The decision wasn’t made carelessly,” he added. “The Palace and Inner Circle drew water from the spring in those days and building the Guild around the supply reduced the chance of anyone poisoning it—as had been done during the war.”
He pointed to the small rectangle in the Grounds. “The first structure made was the Guildhall,” Dannyl continued. “It was built with the local hard gray stone. It housed both magicians and their apprentices and provided space for teaching and debate. According to the history books, a spirit of unity had taken hold of our predecessors. Through the sharing of knowledge, new ways to use and shape magic were discovered. It did not take long before the Guild had become the largest and most powerful school of magicians in the known world.”
He smiled. “And it kept growing. When Lonmar, Elyne, Vin, Lan and Kyralia formed the Alliance, part of the agreement was that magicians from all lands would be taught here. Suddenly, the Guildhall wasn’t big enough, so they had to construct several new buildings.”
Sonea frowned. “What happens to magicians from other lands when they finish learning?”
“Usually they return to their homeland,” Rothen told her. “Sometimes they stay here.”
“Then how do you keep an eye on them?”
“We have ambassadors in each land who keep track of the activities of foreign magicians,” Dannyl told her. “Just as we vow to serve the King and protect Kyralia, they swear service to their own ruler.”
Her eyes moved to a map of the region hanging nearby. “It doesn’t seem smart to teach magicians of other lands. What if they invade Kyralia?”
Rothen smiled. “If we didn’t allow them to join the Guild, they would start their own, as they did in the past. Whether we teach them or not won’t prevent an invasion, but by doing so, we control what they are taught. We do not teach our own people differently, so they know they are not being treated unfairly.”
“They wouldn’t dare attack us, anyway,” Dannyl added. “Kyralians have strong magical bloodlines. We produce more magicians than any of the other races, and stronger ones.”
“Vindo and Lans are the weakest,” Rothen told her. “Which is why they are not common here. We get more Lonmar and Elyne novices, but their powers are rarely impressive.”
“The Sachakans used to be powerful magicians.” Dannyl looked up at the map. “But the war ended that.”
“Leaving us the most powerful nation in the region,” Rothen finished.
Her eyes narrowed. “So why doesn’t the King invade the other lands?”
“The Alliance was made to prevent it,” Rothen told her. “As you so astutely reminded me the first time we spoke, King Palen refused to sign it at first. The Guild suggested that it might not remain uninvolved in politics if he did not.”
Her mouth curled into a faint smile. “What stops the other lands fighting each other?”
Rothen sighed. “A great deal of diplomacy—which does not always work. There have been several minor confrontations since the Alliance. It is always an awkward situation for the Guild. Disputes usually revolve around borders and—”
Hearing a timid knock, he stopped. He looked at Dannyl and knew from his friend’s expression that they were thinking the same thing. Had Fergun heard that Sonea was out of his rooms already?
“Are you expecting anyone?”
Dannyl shook his head and moved to the door. As it opened Rothen heard Tania’s voice and sighed with relief.
“I brought your meal down,” the servant said as she entered the room. Two other servants followed, carrying trays. Setting their burdens down on the only empty table, they bowed and left.
As the aroma of food filled the room, Dannyl made an appreciative noise. “I didn’t realize so much time had passed,” he said.