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His lips curled with amusement. His wrinkled face shone as though he remembered the lies he himself had told in his youth. I doubted it. He was too old to remember what it felt like to be my age. He did not know how difficult it was to focus on a boring piece of parchment when she was in the same room with me.
I thought he would speak only to me again, with that soft voice he used whenever we did these copying sessions with the rest of the students.
He did not.
“Copying these documents is not simply for the benefit of the library,” he said, raising his voice to reach all of us. A few students sitting in front of me looked up from their parchments. I couldn’t help but look toward Aislinn to see if she also turned away from her work to listen to Master Leo. My heart sank when she kept staring down. I could not see her face. Her hand kept moving over the parchment without pause.
“Divination students especially should pay attention to the historical accounts they are here to copy,” Master Leo continued. “You’ll use the knowledge you gain here to locate the place and time of your visions. Searching through the paths is a cumbersome task that will become fruitless without that knowledge. You cannot help the crown if you do not know where and when your visions take place. And if you keep a vision buried because you do not understand its significance, it is the same as hiding it. And why is that important?”
“It goes against the principle,” a girl sitting in the front row said, looking over her shoulder to make sure Master Leo knew who had spoken.
“Yes,” Master Leo said.
There were many rules and instructions when it came to the art of divination. Still, there was only one principle: every diviner is responsible for ensuring their visions do not disappear into the darkness of lost memories. Therefore, it was our responsibility to record, share, and protect our visions.
Although we could help each other understand the significance of specific visions, there was always the risk of losing a prophecy because we did not understand our vision and assumed it was a silly dream. Master Leo was right. The history lessons helped us differentiate dreams from prophetic visions.
“You have to know as much as you can about the world,” Master Leo continued after a brief pause, “that includes history, geography, science, and mythology. If you do not pay attention in class, you will miss things you might otherwise know.”
Guilt came over me at once. My eyes wandered through the parchment I had been copying from. At the end of the day, someone would check my work, and if it turned out that I copied the document perfectly, the old parchment would be burned. The parts that were omitted would be forgotten for good.
I should’ve paid better attention. The queen had been incredibly kind when she took me in, and here I was, ignoring the tasks I was given.
Master Leo ended his words with a familiar gesture. The other students returned to their work, and the sounds of pens on paper filled the library once again.
He leaned in to whisper in my ear.
“Your work is neat and clean,” he said. “Your mind is not. Unless you are watching her to learn how to concentrate better, it would be best if you paid attention to what you write.”
I felt my cheeks heating up. There was no use denying it.
“Yes, sir,” I whispered.
“Good lad,” he tapped my shoulder before moving on.
For the rest of the session, I did my best. I avoided staring at her and focused on the document in front of me. I managed to finish the copy without missing anything, and when I delivered my manuscript to Master Leo, he seemed satisfied.
He had finished pacing the tables to check up on our work and was now sitting at the desk facing his students. He had a parchment in front of him from which he was reading when I approached him.
“Sir?” I kept my voice low. “I’m done.”
He looked up. He looked surprised to see me standing before him. The sounds of ruffling paper continued behind me.
“You did?” He asked. “The whole passage?”
“Yes, sir,” I replied.
His lips curled with a smile as he tapped the table to gesture to me to put the parchment down.
“I am glad you listened,” he said and continued, “the queen requested to see you before supper. It is fitting that you finished your work so that you do not have to come back here at midnight to complete your task.”
I nodded. Although Master Leo was a kind instructor, he had to make sure we all did our tasks on time. The council of diviners did not allow students to slack off. To join the divination guild, we needed to be approved by them. Not finishing a task meant spending our free time to compensate.
“You have some time before she will see you in her small audience chamber,” Master Leo continued. “I trust you won’t make her wait.”
“Of course not, master,” I replied. “May I go now?”
“Yes,” he said, his gaze darting past the students to look outside the window on Aislinn’s right. “In fact, we will all go now.”
