"She went on and on about the Initiate," he said. "She's being moved over here in a few days. She's really anxious to get over here."
"I seem to recall you doing the same thing, Dar," Tarrin chuckled.
"Yes, well, it is alot more interesting," he admitted.
"You just wanted out of the kitchen."
Dar laughed. "I will never touch another pot or pan for as long as I live," he said emphatically.
They enjoyed the rest of their meal with idle chatter, and Dar had to scurry back to class. Tarrin had a need to talk to someone, and all of his friends were busy, so he found himself in the company of Sisska and Miranda. The delicate, cute little mink was scribing from a scroll and into a book, and Tarrin was shocked at the raw speed at which she could write. She had already completely transcribed the first scroll, and was halfway through the second by the time Tarrin was let in by Sisska and took a seat across from the small table which she used as a desk. Miranda's writing was crisp, clear, and exacting, and she could write with such speed that it seemed almost inhuman. He noticed that the pen wasn't a quill pen, it was a curious wooden pen with a strange metal tip. Ink seemed to come out of nowhere, appearing on the paper, though there was a pot of ink sitting on the table by the scroll.
"Tarrin," she said in greeting as he sat down. "Excuse me if I don't give you much attention, I'm rather busy at the moment."
"It's alright," he told her. "Where is the ink coming from?" he asked curiously.
"This is one of the inventions from Telluria," she told him. "It's called a fountain pen. You fill the pen with ink, and the special tip makes it come out only when you're writing. You can write very fast with one, because you only have to refill the ink every few pages rather than ever few lines."
"Interesting."
"Expensive," she said, leaning back and blowing on the page to accelerate the drying of the ink. "This pen cost me almost five hundred gold lions."
Tarrin gaped at her. "Five hundred gold coins?"
She nodded. "They're dreadfully hard to make, so they're very expensive. But in my position, it was worth the cost." She turned the page, then looked up at the scroll, and began transcribing again. "I hope to be done with this by the end of the week."
"I didn't realize you'd be so busy," he said in apology. "I'll just come back later."
"We don't have to talk, Tarrin," she said, looking up at him and smiling. "If all you want is company, feel free to stay. Sisska plays a very good game of chess. Don't you, Sisska?"
"I will teach you, Master Tarrin, if you wish," the massive Vendari female offered.
"Why not?" he shrugged. "Where is Binter?"
"Watching her Highness," the Vendari said, coming over after firmly barring the door. "The Tower forbids him from accompanying her, so he always follows her to be near, in case of attack."
"I can't blame him," Tarrin said. "You two take your job seriously, and it would probably drive him nuts to let her run around out there by herself."
"Binter protects her Highness when she is away from Miranda. Miranda is my child."
"Child?"
"A Vendari term for the one they protect," Miranda said from the table.
"At least it's not a trial of Honor and Blood," Tarrin said to Sisska with a smile.
"It can be at times," Sisska said with a faint glimmer of humor. "Miranda is more reckless than her Highness. She gives me fits sometimes."
"I can't help it if you can't keep up," Miranda grunted from her chair. "Now stop distracting me. I almost made a mistake."
"Yes, Miranda," Sisska said in a calm, bass voice. "The chessboard is in the closet, Tarrin. Please fetch it for me."
"Sure," he said.
Chess was complicated, but Tarrin's grasp of strategy and tactics, taught to him by his parents, and a quick memory allowed him to grasp the more obvious ideas behind the game. Sisska showed that she was indeed good, explaining some of the more subtle concepts of the game, and effective ways to use the advantages of the different pieces. After Tarrin got a good basic idea behind the game, he began to play against Sisska. Sisska showed no mercy, however, defeating him soundly time after time. But Tarrin wasn't one to get frustrated, and Sisska always explained the mistakes he made after each game. That allowed him to learn quickly how to avoid obvious errors that kept costing him the game. Keritanima's cat, Bandit, curled up in Tarrin's lap to sleep, and Tarrin accepted his little cousin calmly, absently petting it and scratching it behind the ears as he furiously thought ways to make the game less humiliating for him.
By the time Keritanima and Allia entered the room, actually giggling like little girls after Sisska rose to unbar the door and let them in, Tarrin had reached the point where Sisska had to use strategy to beat him. He still had no chance against her, but he did make her work a little to secure victory. "What are you doing in my room?" Keritanima demanded of him when she saw him.
"Losing," he said sourly as Sisska took another piece after sitting back down.
Binter entered just behind the nonhuman females, and closed and barred the door quietly. "Well, maybe it's just as good that you're here. I was going to send Bandit to find you."
"What's on your mind?" he asked, making another move.
"We're going to have class," she smiled. "All three of us have to learn what Miranda's working on. How is it going, Miranda?"
"I'm done with the first two. I was about to go get the next two."
"I told you she's good," Keritanima told Allia.
"That little pen of hers helps," Tarrin said. "I've never seen anything like it."
"Telluria is famous for inventions," Keritanima shrugged. "The wood stoves we sell were originally a Tellurian deisign. Lately, they've been working on a machine that uses steam to drive gears. They call it a steam engine."
"What good is that?" Tarrin asked.
"They intend to use them in ships, so ships don't have to depend on the wind anymore," Keritanima said. "The Ministry of Science in Wikuna has picked up the idea, and they're also trying to fit the steam engines to power ships. It has some promise."
"How would steam make a ship move?" Tarrin asked.
"The steam drives a paddlewheel," she explained. "Like the waterwheel on a mill. The paddlewheel pushes the ship along, no matter what direction the wind is blowing. They're faster than anything but a clipper with the wind full astern."
"I still don't see how it would work," Tarrin said dubiously.
"I'll draw it out for you sometime, Tarrin," she said, sitting down on the bed beside him. "Right now, the engines blow up more often than they work. They need refinement." She had the book Miranda was using in her lap. "Alright, put aside the game. Miranda, be a dear and clear a path for us to the sanctuary. We have alot to learn, and we don't have much time."
"Yes, Highness," Miranda said calmly, standing up and unthreading her tail from the hole in the back of the wooden chair. "Sisska?"
The massive Vendari female stood as well, then picked up her huge, wicked axe from the corner where it was standing.
"Give us about half an hour, Highness," she said in a calm, business-like voice.
"Half an hour," Keritanima mirrored, and the pair filed through the opened door. Binter quietly rebarred the door after they left. She opened the book with slightly quivering hands, looking at the neat, exact, almost mechanical writing that issued from Miranda's steady hand, staring at the writing almost reverently. "Here is the future, my deshar," she said in a low voice. "Your future and mine. Right here in this little book."
"But it is not yet complete, deshaida," Allia noted.