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"The word you are searching for is old. I look old."
"Ah, Verna. A few wrinkles—" he glanced down her body "—a few pounds, do not diminish a beauty such as yours."
"I see your tongue is still in good form around women." She glanced to his plain, tan robes. "And I can see you have been a good student, as always, and have managed to advance yourself. I am proud of you, Jedidiah."
He shrugged off the compliment and pressed his fingers together. "Tell me about the new one you brought in."
Her eyes narrowed. "You have not seen me in twenty odd years, since I rose from your bed to go on my journey, and that is your question for me? Not, how have I fared? Not, how do I feel about you after all this time? Not, has your heart found another? Well, I guess the shock of seeing how I have aged has made those questions fly right from your head."
The sly smile stayed on his lips. "Verna, you are not a silly girl. Surely you must realize that in the passing of so much time, neither of us could be expected to..."
"Of course I know that! I had no delusions of us. I had simply hoped to return and be treated with a little tact and sensitivity."
He shrugged again. "I'm sorry, Verna. I always thought of you as a woman who appreciated candor, one who had no use for word sports." His eyes went out of focus. "I guess I have learned so much about... life... since back then, when I was so young."
She removed her glare from his handsome face and started away. "Good night, Jedidiah."
"What of my question?" His voice had an unpleasant edge to in. He softened it. "What is the new one like?"
She halted, but didn't turn. "You were there. I saw you. What you saw of Richard is what he is."
"I also saw what happened to you. I'm gaining a little influence among some of the Sisters. Maybe I can do something to help you, with your situation." He gestured vaguely with a hand. "If you are open with me, and satisfy my curiosity, maybe I can help you out of your unfortunate predicament."
She started out again. "Good night, Jedidiah."
"I'll be seeing you around the Palace, Verna. Think on it."
She couldn't believe how ignorant she had been all those years ago. She remembered Jedidiah as caring and sincere. Maybe her memory was addled.
Maybe she was just thinking of herself, and had not given him the chance to be kinder. She must look a mess. She should have cleaned herself up, put on a nice dress, at least fixed her unruly hair, before she saw Jedidiah. But she had not had the chance.
Maybe if she would have touched his cheek, he would have remembered the spark of something, maybe remembered the tears he shed the day she left, and the promises he had made. Promises she knew the moment they left his lips would be broken before their echo faded, so long ago.
She came to the hall that led to the novices' apartments. She stood looking down at the doors. She was tired. Sun up to sun down in the stables was going to be exhausting. She turned the other way, instead. She had one other thing to do before she slept.
*****
Pasha came to a stop before a doorway with a casing of stone, carved to look like vines. Nestled in the center of the stone vines was a large, round-topped, fumed oak door.
Pasha lifted an eyebrow to him. "Your dungeon."
"There is no bolt on the outside of the door. How will you lock me in?"
She seemed surprised by the question. "We do not lock our boys in. You are free to come and go as you please."
Richard frowned. "You mean I am free to roam this building?"
"No. You are free to go wherever you wish. You may go most anywhere in the Palace, or into the city, if you wish. Most of the boys spend a great deal of their time in the city." Her face reddened a little at the last of what she said, and she looked away from his face.
"What about the country around the city?"
She shrugged, and then pulled the shoulder of her blue dress back up a little. "Of course. I don't know why you would want to go into the countryside, none of the other boys do, but there is nothing stopping you from going outside either the Palace, or the city."
A worried wrinkle came to her brow. "But you must stay clear of the Hagen Woods. They are extremely dangerous. Were you warned about the Hagen Woods? Were you shown where they were while you journeyed to the Palace?
Richard nodded. "How far may I go into the countryside?"
"The Rada'Han will prevent you from going too far afield; we must be able to find you, but the limit is a good number of miles in a radius around the Palace of the Prophets."
"How many miles?"
"Farther that you would want to go. I expect almost all the way to the land of the savages."
"You mean the Baka Ban Mana."
She nodded. "Nearly that far, I would expect."
"Unguarded?"
She put her hands on her hips. "You are assigned to me. I will accompany you most everywhere you go, for now. After our boys are more experienced, they go off on their own when they wish."
"Whenever I want, I can simply wander around?"
"Well, you live here, at the Palace, of course. And you must be around for your lessons. I will give you lessons, and so will a number of the Sisters. We will teach you to touch your Han, and then once you are able to do that, we will begin to teach you how to control it."
"Why different Sisters? Why not just one, or you?"
"Because sometimes the Han of certain people works better together. Also, the Sisters have more experience than me, have more knowledge. There may be one, or several of us who are better able to help you, and so different Sisters give you lessons, until we discover with whom you work best."
"Will Sister Verna be one of those?"
Pasha gave him a look from under her eyebrows. "Verna is no longer a Sister. She is no longer entitled to the appellation. She is a novice, now, and should be addressed simply as Verna. Novices, other that the one assigned to you—that is me—are not allowed to give lessons. Novices of the first rank, like Verna, are not allowed to have anything to do with our boys. The duty of a novice is to learn, not to teach."
Richard didn't think he could ever think of Sister Verna as simply Verna. It sounded too strange to him. "When will she be a Sister again?"
"She must serve as a novice, and advance as any other novice. I started scrubbing pots in the kitchens when I was little. It has taken me this long to be given this chance. One day, if Verna works as hard as I have, then she, too, will have the chance to be a Sister of the Light. Until then, Verna is a novice."
Richard fumed at the thought of Sister Verna being demoted on his account. By the time she was again a Sister, she would be an old woman. He changed the subject. "And why are we allowed to roam around?"
"Because you are not a danger to the people. Someday, when you learn to control your Han, then you begin to have limits placed on where you
may go. The people in the city are afraid of boys who can wield the power—unfortunate incidents have happened in the past—and so once a boy becomes skilled at handling his Han, he is then restricted from the city. As the boys advance as wizards, they are placed under more restrictions, until near the end, and their release, when they are confined to certain areas of the Palace.
"But for now, you are free to go almost anywhere you wish. I will know where you are all the time, by your Rada'Han."
"You mean any Sister can find me by this cursed thing?"
"No, only the one who gave it to you, because she held it and recognizes its power, and since I am in charge of you, I must be able to know where you are at all times, so I will need to allow my Han to recognize your Rada'Han's unique feel."
She pushed the door open and went into the dark room. With a sweep of her arm, lamps set all around the room sprang to flame.
"You must teach me that trick," he muttered.
"It is not a trick. It is simply my Han. And that is the simplest of many things I will teach you."
The ceiling of the huge room was painted around its molding with different colored lines in intricate patterns. The walls were paneled in cherry of a warm color. Tall windows hung with rich, deep blue, moire drapes looked out on the night. There was a fireplace, with a white column to each side. Most of the wood floor was covered with thick carpets. Comfortable looking chairs and couches were placed about the room, and arranged in front of the fireplace.
Richard thought that his whole house would fit twice into the room. He slipped the pack off his back and leaned it against the wall next to the fireplace. He stood the quiver of arrows and the unstrung bow beside it.
He went to the right, to a set of double doors made up of small panes of glass and covered over with sheer, cream colored curtains. Beyond the doors was an expansive balcony overlooking the city. Stone urns filled with flowers were set about the slate floor of the balcony. He put his fingers to the marble railing as he looked to his right, past the sparkling lights of the city, to the hills from where he had come.
