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“I am no mage,” Cassia said, “but I am greatly interested in tonight’s proceedings. I think I shall enjoy witnessing the duel of intellects.”
“You have a stronger stomach for violent sport than I,” Lio replied.
“Are you worried the scholars will draw blood, Ambassador?”
“They could teach your hound how to be a dog with a bone.”
She patted Knight. “Pay attention, dearest. You might learn something from the experts.”
The hound pressed closer to her skirts, even as the crowd gave him more room.
“I confess to apprehension,” Lio said. “Such circles as these were volatile enough in the Great Temple Epoch, when all our cults dwelt across the road from each other in Corona.”
“Familiarity bred contempt.” Kia ran her hand across a rack of philosophy scrolls. “Absence has made few hearts grow fonder. I expect we will resurrect the very debates that occupied us before the exodus.”
Cassia watched the mages of Kyria gather around a lectern to examine a medical text. “Let us hope words of conciliation will win the debates.”
Lio nodded. “We don’t have time to bog down in old arguments in the week allotted to this phase of the Summit.”
“I know.” Kia gave him a disapproving look worthy of her mother. “A certain ambassador responsible for the itinerary would not hear my pleas to devote more nights to scholarship.”
Nodora drew nearer. “That’s because we must allow plenty of time for actual fun, such as music and dancing at the homes of Blood Kitharos and our tributaries.”
Nodora eased herself into the space between Benedict and Callen, gently dispersing the tight formation of Cassia’s retinue. A few more gracious words from Nodora, and even Perita relaxed, despite the cluster of Hesperines around her lady.
Benedict stood stiffly next to Kia, apparently still on watch for an opportunity to take Cassia’s arm. Kia gave the knight a smile known for drawing geniuses like bees to honey. Benedict’s frown deepened. Any good diplomat ought to discourage Kia from goading the chaste knight, but Lio was too glad for his Trial sister to deter Cassia’s specter.
Eudias pored over the directory plaque posted at the end of the aisle. “Do you think the arguable mutability of affinities will be a topic of discussion tonight?”
Kia joined him. “Do you take an interest in the mutability debate, Apprentice Eudias?”
“As a matter of fact, Sophia Eudokia, I have made a small independent study of the fluidity hex versus the mutability spectrum versus essential immutability.”
As Kia and Eudias evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of the competing theories, Lio noticed the apprentice’s stammers gave way to enthusiastic questions and confident answers.
“No, there is an extant copy,” Kia was saying.
Eudias looked perplexed. “But where?”
Kia smiled as if she had a Gift Night present for the apprentice. She led their group to the end of the aisle and around the shelves to the next section. From a rack, she withdrew a sizable scroll Lio didn’t recognize. She unrolled it slowly, and the apprentice’s eyes widened.
Eudias stared at it, slack-jawed. “An original? In Prismos Kheimerios’s own hand?”
Kia held it out to him. “Have a look.”
“Oh, no, no, I couldn’t. Do please hold it for us.”
Cassia leaned closer to Lio. “What work is that, Ambassador?”
“I am not certain. Kheimerios is outside the scope of my studies. I don’t spend much time reading works by mages of Anthros.”
Cassia’s brows shot up. “I had no idea Hesperines keep such works in their libraries.”
“Free Will is sacred,” said Kia. “That includes freedom of ideas.”
Xandra made a face. “I prefer to exercise my freedom by ignoring everything the mages of Anthros have ever written, especially about fire magic. I trained in the Imperial way.”
Eudias scanned the rack the scroll had come from. “Sophia, do my eyes deceive me? These appear to be Kheimerios’s complete works!”
