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Kerrigan nodded. Everyone else was nodding along as well, except Fordham. He had his arms crossed and looked dubious.
“Fordham?” Movanna asked.
“They tell it differently in the House of Shadows.”
“I believe they would,” Movanna said eagerly. “In fact, I would love to learn the tale from you one day. Tell us one thing that stands out starkly to you.”
“There weren’t twelve tribes,” Fordham said.
“Correct. Correct. There weren’t even thirteen,” Movanna added eagerly. “Thirteen is what we landed on after many of the tribes combined through marriage, enslavement, or war. We started with hundreds of tribes. Not to mention, all Fae didn’t show up at once. We showed up over hundreds of years, different tribes claiming land and warring with the dragons as their territory diminished.”
Audria’s hand shot up. “Why is it taught the other way then?”
“Myth, legend, nationalism, a good story? You take your pick.” Movanna bounced around the room excitedly.
The door opened at the back of the room, and Master Bastian appeared.
“Can I help you, Councilman?”
“Just here to observe. Pretend I’m not here,” he said, shutting the door behind him.
Movanna shrugged. “As you wish. Now, Irena. What do we know about her?”
Noda held her hand up. “She’s a maiden.”
“And Fae,” Roake added.
“Indeed. That’s about all despite depictions of her all over the city. But in the history books, there’s a different picture. She could have been the chieftain of her tribe, sent to kill the dragon, Ferrinix, and instead made a different choice.”
The room was hushed at the pronouncement.
“It’s all fascinating, isn’t it?” Movanna said. “Now, let’s back up and discuss the tribe arrival and what they found.”
Kerrigan listened, rapt, as everything she’d thought that she knew about history was carefully dismantled by a small, bubbly historian. By the end of the lesson, her mind was whirring a thousand miles a minute, and she had three parchments on the Irena Bargain to write before next week.
They all groaned as they got out of their seats to head to magic training.
Bastian clapped his hands once. “I came to inform you that Mistress Zahina is gone for the week, so there will be no air lesson this evening. You are on your own. Use your time well.”
Roake whooped. “Might actually get to bed before midnight.”
Audria laughed as she looped arms with him. “This calls for cake.”
“Everything calls for cake.”
“You have never said anything more right,” Noda said with a laugh.
“Kerrigan, if I can have a word,” Bastian said as she passed him behind Fordham.
“Of course,” she said, waving Fordham on with the others.
“I’ll be in the library. Come find me later,” he said.
She nodded and then turned her attention to Bastian.
“Walk with me, Kerrigan,” he said and waited for her to fall into step beside him. “That was quite a lesson. Mistress Movanna is energetic.”
“She is. It was fascinating.”
“She’s constantly dredging up new information about the founding of the Society. You’ll get to more modern times, and she’ll stop caring,” he said with a laugh. “She considers the Great War modern.”
“That sounds like her.”
“I must confess that I showed up to your lesson for a reason,” Bastian said with a smile. It stretched the side of his face that had been burned from an accident as a child. He grew up in a village in the south, where the closest healer was miles away. It was what had sent him to participate in the Society and try to help those who most needed it. She respected that about him. “I heard a rumor that you were at a recent protest in the city.”
Kerrigan gulped. So much for no one telling anyone that she had been there. “Sir?”
“Don’t worry. I’m not here to stop you. I understand your reasoning for doing it. I was the one who signed the form that sanctioned the protest in the first place.”
“Oh. Well, that was nice of you.”
“It was legal. But there are others who, shall I say, would prefer to quash the protests entirely. I believe they would not look favorably on you attending them.”
“I understand.”
“I want you to be careful. We need people like you in our ranks.”
“I’m being careful.” But was she? She’d shown her face on purpose. It could have gotten back to anyone.
Bastian stopped her with his hand on her arm. “Don’t let Lorian find out, Kerrigan.” Kerrigan shivered at the words. “He is your strongest detractor and will do anything to get you removed from your position. Helly and I can only do so much if he sways the rest of the council.”
Kerrigan gulped and nodded. “Thank you for the warning, sir.”
He patted her shoulder. “Good girl. Now, run off with your friends. I remember my own training and having very little time to relax. Zahina’s absence should free you up for the evening.”
She thanked him and then hurried away. She thought about finding the others for cake, which sounded delicious right now, but her head was buzzing about the protest and Bastian finding out. How much she didn’t want Lorian to find out. And instead, she found herself in front of the library.
