troubles. And once she did, I felt much better, but. . . Well. I fell in love with a woman, one who is half Dargasi. And she, Lorrine, she. . . kissed me, and. . . "
It wasn't silly anymore. Nor distant. Kama fell right back into that moment, feeling Lorra in her arms, then reliving the hideous pain as Lorra pushed her away and tore her heart into little shreds.
Kama fought herself back under control, re-invoking the barriers Liesel had raised for her.
Then the Shrouded One pounced, like a stooping hawk. She moved swiftly across the space between them, grasping Kama's chin again and looking deep into her eyes. The inside of Kama's head hummed and crackled like lightning in summertime.
"Aha! I see it now. You. . . you." She shook her head in disbelief, releasing Kama.
"What is it?"
"Stormrider." The Shrouded One shook her head again and retreated back to her seat. "Well. And here we sit, two creatures of legend, a part of the modern world and yet apart from it."
Kama forgot her awe of the other woman in the midst of her suddenly deepened confusion. "What is going on? Please, I need to know. Tell me!"
"You, my dear, are of an ancient lineage that I have not encountered in many generations. Tell me, have you heard of the Lake People?"
Kama shook her head.
"No? Pity. Perhaps this is the truest reason why the lineage has faded. Very well, I shall tell you a story. There was once a land not terribly far from here which was filled with folk who had a strange and wild magic built into their very blood. They were such powerful elemental mages that they frightened everyone around them, for they had control over the entire elemental world. Strongest among these mages were the Stormriders, those who controlled the very winds and weather. It wasn't too horribly long, perhaps two centuries or so, before the rest of the world got tired of these powerful elemental mages dominating the lands around them and attacked with overwhelming military force. The mages were forced into a vast system of underground caverns and kept there as a precaution, a way to ensure they didn't take over the entire world. They actually thrived down there for centuries, building a remarkable city of stone on the shores of a great underground lake which gave them their name, but nearly the entire civilization was destroyed by merchants bringing swamp fever to this continent from Bandor. I'd thought they were all gone, but clearly at least one line survived, or you wouldn't sit here in front of me, with your Stormrider heritage stirring into wakefulness."
"Forgive me," Kama said slowly. "I am afraid what you just said makes little sense, at least when applied to me. I have no mage talent."
Sharp blue eyes bored into her, then the intensity dimmed a bit. "Relax, Kama. It is good that you have come here, to me, perhaps the only person in all the lands that knows what you are. My school will guide you and keep you. We will protect you from the dangers of your own inborn skills as they develop. And we will never, ever allow you to come to harm."
"Thank you," Kama said, because she couldn't think of anything else to say.
"As to your lack of mage talent, there you are quite wrong, my dear. I can see the mark upon you with perfect clarity. Something in your recent ordeal has triggered the development of your inborn ability. It does not really surprise me that you have not felt it yet, but you will."
Kama fidgeted a moment, uncomfortable with the thought of herself developing some kind of mage ability. She pushed that problem aside.
"May. . . may I ask a question?"
"Of course," the Shrouded One nodded graciously.
"I know this is a school, but I have no idea what you teach. What will I learn here?"
"We teach all of the womanly arts."
"The what?"
A chuckle emerged from beneath the shroud. "Women are expected to carry this entire society, are we not? And we that serve the First Goddess know better than most that this has been true throughout history. And yet, women are expected to perform this monumental task without any preparation. This is where my school comes in."
The Shrouded One paused for breath, and Kama wondered if all students got a similar pitch. The words sounded rather rehearsed. But Kama didn't mind in the slightest. If the Shrouded One had practiced the speech many times, chances were good it covered all the important information.
"Here is where girls and young women learn everything from cooking and sewing, which I understand you could teach on your own, to where babies come from and how to enjoy getting them there. We cover the principles of basic housekeeping, we learn business management, and we learn which herbs aid digestion and which prevent pregnancy. And by the end of the coursework, we have learned the best lesson of all, which is that each and every one of us is a wonderful, skilled woman, in her own right, without the need to depend upon anyone, man or otherwise."
Kama rocked back against the settle, thinking. "Perhaps. . . perhaps I will not need some of your classes, such as the sewing you mentioned. But I. . . I think I need this school, far more than you need me. You see, I decided to live, and with that comes the need to create a new life for myself."
"You and I, dear Kama, will be working together very closely, soon," the Shrouded One said. "I have no intention of letting you slide down into madness by leaving you untrained. And some day, if I believe you can tolerate the process, I will share knowledge with you the like of which you've never dreamed of."
Am I dreaming now? Kama wondered, still trying to reconcile the notion of herself and her utterly ordinary life having anything to do with some wild magical talent. "Madness? I could go mad?"
"Yes. The power stirring within you is a dangerous one. It could consume you easily. You must tell me the moment you feel the power come to life. Any time, day or night, if you feel the power within you, you must tell me immediately. I have seen. . . but enough about that. I originally invited you to speak with me out of curiosity. I wished to see the kind of person Elise Banchek thinks so highly of."
"You know Mistress Banchek?" Before coming here, she'd never known Mistress Banchek had a given name, other than "Mistress." The fierce and dedicated woman most certainly did not encourage familiarity with her employees.
"Certainly." Even through the shrouding veils, Kama heard a smile in the older woman's voice. "She attended this school annums ago, and left a swath of devastation in her wake. Elise was one of a kind. I am honored that she thought well enough of her time here that she brought you to us."
Kama desperately wished she could set good manners aside, just this once, and pry into the history of Mistress Elise Banchek. It sounded like there must be a fabulous story there.
"But that's beside the point," the Shrouded One said briskly. "Moving on. In speaking to you, I have discovered an ancient talent come to light, and a soul with wounds so deep it hurts me to see. But here, you will do well. Now. Get yourself off to Mara Eldanquin, and speak to her regarding a recommended course of study. Your classes will begin this afternoon."
"Thank you, Shrouded One," Kama said, rising and making a deep curtsy.
"Call me Mother. The world does not know the open secret of this school. We fear retribution if word got out of the connection with the First Goddess."
"The secret is safe with me, Mother."
Kama curtsied again, then left, feeling more than a bit intimidated on several levels. Suddenly, she'd gone from the gutter, to a place where a very powerful woman expected great things of her.
And the first great thing was finding a person in this maze of a building, with only a name to go on. Perhaps this constituted a test of her abilities, and of her ability to function under pressure. Not very fair, not really, when Kama hadn't been able to function at all for weeks on end. But she'd decided to live, so she'd best ignore the gaping hole inside her heart that threatened to suck the entire world back down into it in a shrieking spiral, and get on with the business of living.
With no real guidance, Kama decided to just start walking until she found someone. They'd moved her to an upstairs room, which told her people most likely slep
t upstairs, leaving the lower floor for the school. But her room sat on the third floor, and she'd spoken to the Shrouded One-er, the Mother-on the second floor. Perhaps the first two floors were for the school?
Kama walked around the second floor, wondering where in all hells she was going. True, the outside of the building was shaped like a big rectangle, which she knew because all buildings in this district were shaped like big rectangles, but the inside did not reflect that neat and orderly shape. Rather, there seemed to be a right warren of small rooms, almost all with their doors closed.
Then, at last, just when Kama felt herself trembling atop her protective wall, about to fall over the edge into despair and failure, she spotted an open door. With a vast sense of relief, she tapped on it and stuck her head in.
"Excuse me," she said, and a woman searching a bookshelf that surely held hundreds of books turned to face her.
"Can I help you?"
"Yes. I, um, I'm new here, and I'm to find Mara Eldanquin, and I have no idea where to go."
"You must be Kama, we've no other new students." The older woman smiled. "Welcome. I am Sharanna, and I am the Keeper of the Library. I can certainly tell you where to find Mistress Eldanquin this time of day. She will be in her office, which is on the first floor, the first door to the right of the Grand Staircase."
"Thank you," Kama said, then blushed. "And. . . forgive me, but I do