“I volunteer,” I rushed to say. “Sir.”
For once, he actually allowed himself a smile. “I thought you might.”
That evening we said our goodbyes privately. Sweatily. Repeatedly. Ang certainly gave me good reason to hurry back to him. As I slipped onto Salvadora’s back and we rose, heading west, the smile on my face could have frozen there forever. I was going to see my son and ask him a very important question.
* * *
Salvadora was as eager to see Fin as I was, so took some persuading not to reach out to him with her mind. I wanted our arrival to be a surprise.
Rhastac was more than I had expected. I had kind of hoped that by flying to the stables there, I would see Fin straight away, but the Stable Master Mustafa, whom Fin had written about in his letters, apologised that it wasn’t his shift, and even if he had been, Mustafa would have given him the time off. It seemed someone in his squad was to attend Discipline Hour that day.
I could only imagine how that might work out. Rhastac was in the top three Riders’ colleges. Well, top two. Arguably just top. But it also had the harshest disciplinary regime, and given how often whipping was used in all disciplinary systems in Gultima, that really was saying something. Mustafa gave me directions on where to go, and I found the Bursar of Riders in the Bursar of Infantry’s office, which was odd until I noted that they had the same family name, suggesting a married couple and, obviously unlike the Infantry, one thing Riders didn’t allow much for was married couples. I had the only married quarters in Unkea; even Jimny and Fenwick only had a double room, and there were only three of those.
The Riders’ Bursar, a lovely woman, directed me to Llwydadain’s office and advised that the Discipline Hour would be in the quadrant at seven pm, should I wish to be there. I thanked her and left. There was a crowd gathering for the Discipline Hour already, so I was unlikely to have missed it even if I hadn’t asked. Still, duty came first.
Just walking around Rhastac, I saw that the facilities there, while old, were good. The solid stone construction would hold easily against the weather and any attacker. The only things that attacked Unkea were storms. Some days I missed the occasional adrenaline-fuelled flight into battle, but then I remembered Sasha, and quickly after that, Ang. I wouldn’t give up Unkea for the world now. Or at least, I wouldn’t give up Ang.
I knocked on the door within the Riders’ Tower that proclaimed itself to be Llwydadain’s office but got no reply. Quite possibly, he was teaching. I didn’t know what time that ended, but it had to end soon. Some initiate in blue came past and asked if I needed help. I told them I was waiting on the Sky Commander, which seemed to confuse them, so I amended it to Professor and gave Llwydadain’s name. Though given that I wasstanding beside the door proclaiming his name, I would have thought it obvious who I was looking for.
“If I see him, I’ll let him know, sir.”
“Thank you, Initiate.”
They moved on, and I waited a while longer. Perhaps he wouldn’t return to his office at the end of the day. Maybe there was another way I could find out when the day ended and come back later. Or find someone who was way more familiar with the Professor and the locale than I was.
I headed down and found what should be the Bursar’s office on the ground floor. There was a big note pinned to the door that said: ‘DO NOT KNOCK. The Riders’ Bursar is in the Infantry Tower. Knock here at your own risk. The cleaning staff are adept at corpse disposal.’
Whoever lived there now was either very angry at the world or had a wonderfully dark sense of humour.
Stepping outside, I saw a crying boy leave the raised dais in the quadrant. Though why they called it a quadrant when it was a misshapen pentangle I didn’t know. Still not the issue. Initiates were walking away, and I saw a knot of people, one with whom I was very familiar had his back to me. Then a girl, mostly hidden behind him, pointed directly at me.
I strode forward. Fin turned, his jaw momentarily dropping in surprise. He looked so right in Rider blue it did weird things to my heart. I stopped a few steps before him and saluted.
He saluted back. He’d got a lot better at that since I last saw him.
“Initiate,” I said.
“Flight Sergeant,” he responded.
I cracked the first smile, just too pleased to see him. “Is that really the way you’re going to greet your old dad?”
“You’re not that old.”
But he stepped forward and hugged me. Gods, I’d missed my boy, and he’d got stronger. I felt like my spine might crack under the pressure he returned.
Then he was introducing me to people, his team. Finally, I was putting faces to names. There was a moment of awkwardness, but I had a million and one questions that sprang to mind and almost to my lips, but then I saw the man I sought and returned to work mode. I stood to attention and saluted.
“Sky Commander Llwydadain,” I said. The kids, not that they were kids, looked surprised at the title.
“Flight Sergeant,” Llwydadain said, not looking a day older than I remembered him. “I understood you were looking for me?”
“Yes, sir.” I pulled a sealed pouch from my inside coat pocket. It bore the insignia of Sky Commander Zemich of the North Eastern Seaboard. I handed it across. “I was asked to deliver this to you, sir.”
“I’ll need time to consider whether a reply is necessary.” Llwydadain turned to Fin. “Initiate Segast, please provide the Flight Sergeant with a tour of the facilities. Ensure he is well fed and has suitable overnight accommodation.”
“Yes, sir.” Fin saluted.
Llwydadain walked away.
