"How do you manage spies without letting them know who you are?" Tarrin asked.
"Miranda," she replied with a wink. "From the way everything looks to someone outside the loop, it's Miranda that protects me, not me protecting her. There have been any number of attempts on her life, so that tells me that our ruse is very effective. Miranda is a very clever young lady who does a remarkable job being my puppet."
"You dishonor her to use her so, shaida," Allia said disapprovingly.
"I don't use her, sister," Keritanima replied. "We have what you may call a friendship within a business relationship. I pay her quite handsomely for her service, and she and I are very good friends. She helps me keep my identity secret, and I repay her by making sure that she'll never want for anything when I pension her. She's very good. I almost don't have to instruct her anymore. She'll make a killing as a spy or head of intelligence when I release her. If she doesn't simply retire, anyway."
"Well, that's different then," Allia said. "You do honor her in her task, and you respect her for the danger she faces in your stead."
"That I do," she agreed sincerely. "Anyway, since you can penetrate the Ward, I want you to leave your calendar open ten days from tomorrow night," she continued. "Both of you. We're going on a field trip."
"The Cathedral?" Tarrin asked.
She nodded. "No doubt the priests have a cache of very useful information over there, and I find myself curious to see what they've managed to find out."
"Why so long to wait?" Allia asked.
"Because it'll take me that long to arrange a way for me to disappear for that long without being noticed," she replied. "Jervis is good, so I can't just walk away any time I feel like it anymore. I'll have to carefully set up my free time."
"You give this Jervis much honor," Allia said.
"He's the best," Keritanima said bluntly. "If I can beat him, then it'll prove to him, and my father, just who the best really is," she said with sudden fierceness. Then she blinked and looked down at them. "Well, I think you two will want to expand your minds. That means you need to start visiting the library."
"What are we looking for?" Tarrin asked.
"Anything that may hint at some specific weaves that the Ancients used to use," she told him. "Anything that may give us an edge."
"I don't read the human words very well, shaida," Allia admitted. "It's an ugly writing. It looks like two rock lizards fighting in a sandcrawler's web."
"I'll appreciate what you can do, Allia," Keritanima replied. "I can't ask for more than what you can give."
"We'll time our revolt with the excursion," the Wikuni mused. "We can start revolting after we're back from the Cathedral. That will give us some extra time to look over what we find."
"That's a good idea," Tarrin agreed.
"It also means that I'll have to flaunt my friendship with you over the next few days. Jervis hasn't been here long, and you've been mainly out of sight, Tarrin. Best to club him over the head with it now, before he starts looking for information. That way, he won't give us speaking too much attention. We could probably slip in all sorts of things that way." She looked at Allia. "You too," she smiled. "You'll just have to come up with a reason to like the Brat, Allia." She thought about it so quickly that Allia didn't have a chance to reply before she spoke again. "Actually, let me handle that. You're exotic, and the Brat is attracted to exotic things. She'd tone her attitude down if it meant being friends with someone unusual and exotic. The only thing even close to academics that the Brat pursues is geography, so she'll use that to break the ice with you. The Brat Princess is strangely fixated by it. It gives her a bit of depth."
"I would say so," Tarrin said. "It also hints to others that she's not a total airhead."
"Yes, but it was a defense I designed a while ago, just in case someone started thinking I was more than I showed to others," she replied. "It also gave me a very good excuse to be in the library."
"Alright, so tomorrow, I talk to Tiella, talk to Dar," Tarrin said.
Keritanima nodded. "I'll be busy getting into Allia's good graces, and resuming our friendship."
"Then I guess we have a plan."
"For now. Did you talk to my cat?"
He nodded. "He'll come find me if you tell him to."
"Good." She brought her bushy tail around her body and began combing it out. "Now then, there's just one more thing."
"What?"
"I need my back brushed," she said with a toothy grin. "Be a dear and smooth my fur."
To: Title EoF
Chapter 14
There were a great many things to do, and it was starting to feel to Tarrin that they were running out of time.
He was sitting in the small training chamber, nervous and uncertain, waiting for Dolanna to arrive. He had no idea how it was going to go. Perhaps a day of staying away from the Weave had corrected the problem he was having, but he wasn't so sure about that. He had tried to find Tiella before coming to the chamber, but she hadn't appeared in the baths, nor did he see her in the hallways as he wandered about. Novices had set schedules, so it was certain that she was somewhere specific, and that she would be there again tomorrow. Keritanima said she would find out where she was, and that made Tarrin a bit uncertain. How would an Initiate with no direct contact with Tiella be able to find her? True, she was a Princess, and she was good at finding things out, but he wasn't so sure that she could find Tiella in a day, and not leave tracks that she was asking.
He'd been so intent on finding Tiella that he didn't get a chance to talk to Dar. That would be handled after class, because Dar would be easy to track down. Initiates were given much more freedom than Novices but still only had so many places that they were allowed to go, and since Tarrin was Dar's friend, it wouldn't arouse suspicion if he asked around to find him.
Tarrin was still a bit unsure about Keritanima's ideas. He'd never seen spying and intrigue, so he had no idea how she was going to manage all the things she said she would do. He did like her plan, however, so that told him that she must know what she was doing. But he had trouble conceiving of something that he couldn't see or touch. That was an aspect of the Cat growing to hold a position in his mind, and he knew it, but he didn't have much choice in the matter. It was either give the Cat some room, or have it drive him mad. It wasn't altering his imagination, but it did have the effect of, as Dolanna put it, grounding him in his senses. Anything he couldn't see, couldn't smell, couldn't experience, they seemed misty and intangible, and it was a struggle to overcome the Cat and ponder them.
But fortunately, pondering Keritanima's plans wasn't necessary. Not with Keritanima there to carry them out.
The door opened, scattering Tarrin's thoughts, and Dolanna entered. To his surprise, she wasn't the only one. Ahiriya, the Fire Seat, filed in behind the diminutive Sorceress, dressed in a red robe that set off her pale skin and fiery hair. That set Tarrin's mind whirling, and one of his paws began to tremble. To have to perform for Ahiriya was one thing, but it would become very clear very quickly to her and the Council that he was hampered. If he was still injured inside, or whatever it was.
"Good morning, Tarrin," Dolanna said pleasantly. "This is Ahiriya, a member of the Council. Often, they prefer to sit in with an Initiate and his instructor to ensure you are receiving proper instruction."
"Dolanna, this is not a good idea," he said quickly, almost desperately. "I didn't-"