Tarrin laughed, and Allia smiled. "I knew you were devious, sister, but that is masterful," she said appreciatively.
"Only what, less than a month since you touched the weave, and you can already weave Illusions and other spells," Tarrin said respectfully. "You're a natural, Kerri."
She shrugged. "Lula thinks so too," she said. "She said she's never seen someone that can learn weaves so quickly. I hate to burst her bubble, but it's only because I can precisely recall things I see. All I have to do is see her weave a spell once, and I can copy it perfectly. Then she just has to explain how to alter the effects with varying the flows, let me practice it a few times, and I'm set."
Keritanima once told him that she could just remember everything she reads. When Tarrin asked his father about it, Eron called that an eidectic memory. Whatever it was, it was proving to be a godsend. In a shockingly short time, Keritanima had already progressed further than most Initiates who had been so for years. With Tarrin incapable of using his power, and Allia just learning how to control it, she was much, much more important than either of them in this little game.
"Anyway, something's going on, and it looks like someone else is actively trying to stop me from finding out what. So that means that we need to step things up," she continued. "We're going on our field trip tonight. Dress warmly." She sat down on the chair. "I hate moving so fast. After all, I've only had my network up for a couple of weeks at the most."
"What is this 'week'?" Allia asked.
"A Week is a Wikuni term for measuring days," she replied. "There are five days in a week. Kikal-day, Arga-day, Bor-day, Tori-day, and End-day. Two of our weeks make up one Selani March or Sulasian Ride, which are both ten days. My men are reputed to be good, but I haven't had the time to settle them in," she fretted. "Robbing the Cathedral will make things tense, and I just hope they can deal with the increased security."
"Why not send them instead?" Tarrin asked.
"They don't know what to look for," she countered.
"Neither do we," Allia pointed out.
"Well, we have a better chance of figuring that out than they do," Keritanima said defensively. "Besides, I think the three of us will be rather good burglars. With you two's stealth and my experience, we should be able to pull it off without raising a whisper."
"Experience? You've done this before?"
Keritanima gave Allia a wolfish grin. "Many times," she winked. "I was a thief before I was the High Princess, Allia, and the increased attention forced me to stop sneaking off. I was trained by the best in Wikuna."
"You have had quite an education, Kerri," Tarrin chuckled.
"A girl has to have a hobby," she said with a wink. "We'll discuss the plan tonight, before we go."
"You have a plan?" Tarrin asked.
"Tarrin, you never go thieving without a plan," she told him with a huff. "The planning is the most important part."
"I thought you just snuck in and took things."
"That's sloppy work," she said critically. "The objective of a thief is to take the most valuable things in the fastest possible time, without getting himself caught. A good thief makes a plan. He knows where he's going and what he's looking for before he ever sets foot in the place he's robbing, because that maximizes the profit while minimizing the danger to himself. I have a copy of the plans for the Cathedral, including most of their secret passages and chambers. We'll meet in my room after dinner and make our plan."
"But we don't know what we're looking for," Allia said.
"True, but because I have a copy of the Cathedral's plans, I have a good idea of where to look for it," Keritanima told her. "There are three hidden rooms large enough to serve as a secret library. Our plan will mainly focus on what path we take through the Cathedral to cover each room."
"How did you get your hands on a copy of the Cathedral's plans?" Tarrin asked.
Keritanima only winked at him in reply.
"Have I told you lately that I love you, Kerri?"
She laughed. "I love you too, brother," she replied. "I can't stay much longer, or Jervis will think I'm up to something."
"You are."
"But he's not certain of that," she winked. "And Allia, remember to put your shirt on before you leave today," she told the Selani with a teasing smile. "I'm sure you walking around topless doesn't bother Tarrin, but it'll give the other Initiates a fit. Brel would probably have a heart attack on the spot."
"Perhaps I should do that, if only to make the man shut up," Allia said sourly. "I'm growing tired of his moralistic ravings. I don't see why he can't understand that Tarrin and I are brother and sister, and not lovers."
"Maybe he has those kinds of thoughts about his own sister," Keritanima said with a wicked little smile.
"That's a very sickening thought," Allia grunted. "Humans can be so depraved."
"True, but they're interesting. I have to go. See you two in my room after classes."
"We'll be there," Tarrin replied.
"Hmm, maybe I should go knock on Brel's door bare to the world," Allia said with an evil look in her eyes. "That man has been on me for days about our living arrangements. He accuses me of being a harlot and a tramp, though he never comes out and says it directly, and it's obvious he thinks that I'm seducing you on a nightly basis. Perhaps some revenge is in order."
Tarrin laughed. "I'm sure he'd appreciate it, sister," he told her with a broad grin.
Allia meaningly put her hands on the waist of her trousers, and that sent Tarrin into gales of laughter. It only intensified when she pulled them down, exposing her every intimate charm to him, and then stepped out of them. She stood there wearing nothing but her boots, and that seemed to be even more amusing to him for some reason.
"Excuse me for a moment, my brother," she said with a flat voice, though her eyes were dancing with delight. "I have some vengeance to exact."
"Have fun," he managed to say, as she opened the door, and then stepped out into the hallway wearing nothing but a pair of boots, her long silver hair, and a vicious grin.
"Oh, I will," she promised, closing the door.
Allia was a treasure. He had no idea how he managed to live so long without her in his life.
Tarrin started counting. By the time he reached thirty, there was a strangled bellow from further down the hall, with Brel, Master of Initiates, telling Allia hysterically to go back to her room and put some clothes on! About two minutes later, she calmly stepped back in through his door, and the look on her face was absolutely evil. It only made Tarrin fall off the bed in bouts of helpless laughter.
"That was definitely worth the effort," she said idly to herself. "The look on his face will keep me smiling for a month." She slipped off her boots, righted her pant legs from where they had been pulled inside out when she took them off, and then stepped back into her trousers.
Perhaps it was the ultimate in bad luck that an enraged Brel opened Tarrin's door forcefully just as Allia bent down to pull her pants up, and she had her back to the door. He took one look at the Selani's shapely backside, her posture leaving absolutely nothing to his imagination, and then he simply fainted dead away at the threshold.
Tarrin was basicly a loss at that point. It took him almost twenty minutes to recover control of himself, and Brel lay there the entire time, as other Inititates crowded around him around Tarrin's door. Allia dressed herself with a calm certainty that told everyone she felt absolutely no shame in what she had done, and stood by the door and waited for Brel to wake up. Her icy blue eyes kept the other Initiates from questioning her, and most simply meandered off to spread wild rumor and stories of the event to the others.