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“Nothing,” said Tish soothingly. “She’s exaggerating.”
“Am I, though?” her companion said grimly. “These territorial disputes are getting out of hand. I know of at least two apprentice towers that have been leveled.”
“They were closer to the barrier, though,” Tish said. “And closer to the border with Hemssted. We’ll be fine.”
“That’s what it is, of course,” the other girl nodded. “The risk is being too close to one of the other cities, where they can get ideas about claiming our bedrock.”
“Are they really clearing towers?” Merletta asked, aghast. “Just knocking them down?”
The apprentice nodded again. “The demolition of my friend’s apprentice tower was overseen by armed Center guards, from what I heard. To make sure none of us Tilssted scum tried to intervene in the theft of our territory. They’re building homes on the spot now. For rich folk from Hemssted.”
“Hardly rich, if they have to live so close to Tilssted,” Tish muttered.
Merletta raised an eyebrow. If even gentle Tish was making snide remarks, things must be bad.
“I knew they were building a new row of dwellings in the inner ring of the farms,” she said. “But I didn’t realize they were actually destroying Tilssted buildings to make way for residents from other cities. They must realize Tilssted won’t put up with that.”
“By farms, you mean just the kelp farms, right?” the other girl said. Her voice turned dry. “Unless they’re having similar troubles at the oyster farms, and I just haven’t heard about it.”
Merletta’s own tone was grim. “I don’t think so, somehow.” Her frown deepened. “This is all so ridiculous, the inward expansion. There’s so much ocean out there. Why do we have to live on top of each other?”
“Who’d be willing to live out in the open ocean, though?” the apprentice said skeptically. “At the mercy of all the dangerous creatures and the currents and the risk of land sickness and all.”
“I would,” said Merletta dryly, her mind not really on her words.
“Would you really?”
The change in the other girl’s tone made Merletta look up, realizing what she’d carelessly said. She could see the surprise in the mermaid’s eyes, but there was something else, too. Something Merletta recognized painfully well.
Hope—for the intoxicating image of a better life than the one she’d been told to resign herself to.
Tish shifted uncomfortably beside her fellow apprentice, and Merletta reminded herself that it wasn’t the time or place to campaign for a change in the Center’s strict prohibition on outward expansion. But still, she wasn’t going to lie, and in so doing further the Center’s fear-mongering.
“With the right planning and protection, I’d be willing to risk it,” she said, trying to speak casually, as if her words were no big deal. “And I doubt I’m the only one. But that’s a discussion that’s over my head.”
She didn’t give the other girl a chance to question her further, instead nodding a brisk farewell.
“It was nice to meet you,” she told the apprentice, her eyes traveling to Tish. “And good to see you again, Tish.”
“Take care of yourself, Merletta,” Tish said quietly, still looking tense.
With a nod, Merletta propelled herself through the water, heading southwest toward Skulssted.
* * *
By the time her first day of classes was finished, Merletta was heartily glad that her break had fallen such that she only had to endure one day of Ibsen’s classes before Agner’s two training days. She’d thought the history instructor was obstructive before, but his current attitude made his previous behavior seem almost kindly in her memory. He made no attempt to hide his displeasure that Merletta had proceeded to third year, over which he was the primary instructor.
“The role of educator,” he said tartly on her first day back, his eyes as sharp as an urchin’s spines, “is a position of great trust and honor. It is only awarded to the most exceptional of trainees.”
His meaning was clear. It would not be awarded to Merletta if he had any say in the matter. Merletta met his gaze grimly, undaunted. He’d been actively working against her training since she began the program, and so far, he hadn’t managed to prevent her from passing both first and second years. She had no intention of failing third year, either.
“Educators are responsible for the dissemination of our records to the populace of the triple kingdoms,” Ibsen continued, clearly resentful of the need to waste his time on what appeared to be a set introduction to the topic, when Merletta was the only third year currently in the program. “Those duties involve the curation of records, and the distribution of information.”
“The educators give records to the general population?” Merletta asked, surprised. She’d certainly never been offered anything of the kind when she lived in Tilssted.
Ibsen’s tail flicked in irritation, as it always did when Merletta dared to ask a question. After a moment, he answered her, however.
“Sometimes physical records are distributed. More frequently information is shared verbally.”
