Xilanada - Unforsakable Birthright/Part 6

Xilanada scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed at the floor. And after several more minutes...a faint discoloring could still be seen.

She swore by several of the Sacred Names under Heaven, that the stain wouldn't come out and that a student had dropped coffee and caused this in the first place. She had to admit progress had been made but she was looking at least another half an hour of work.

Cleaning the rag by plunging it into the bucket of soapy water next to her, Xilanada caught her breath and wiped the sweat from her forehead. Cleaning was hard work. Much harder than any work she'd ever done in her life. Training, sparring, all the physical education a Dynast received was specific and intense. But you only trained for a couple of hours at a time. Not 12 hours a day.

It didn't help that she was Xilanada now and not who she was before. Xilanada remembered what it felt like to have the health and strength of a Solar Exalt. This frail woman's form was so much more difficult.

Reluctantly, Xilanada had to acknowledge that her health probably wasn't what it should be either.

That fever that had followed her since taking this life persisted. After the last several weeks, if anything, it grew stronger. Frequent chills kept her up at night, and the bouts of dizziness continued also. Xilanada thought for a time that it might be an illness, but the School's libraries were extensive and among her duties. During a break, she had managed to consult several texts she knew and was able to verify that she wasn't suffering from anything quite so easily diagnosed.

Likewise, this didn't sound like a case of poisoning. The kind of lingering suffering she was enduring wasn't consistent with most poisons, which tended to act swiftly or slowly but always finally. Unless she was coming into continuous contact with the poison, her symptoms should either exacerbate more swiftly or diminish. Not persist the way they had.

And being a woman was the last complication, one she had not counted on. It was mild compared to the fever and chills, thankfully. But the twisting of her insides only made the rather miserable experience of cleaning all day while sick...even worse.

It was in this state that she realized that someone else was present, and had been listening to her mutterings for a little while.

Xilanada glanced up and saw the shapely Headmistress of the School. Tepet Ajalat Seya. The face of the Headmistress was frowning, seemingly in thought more than in irritation.

"Your pardon please, Headmistress," Xilanada said, bowing her head. "I did not realize anyone was present. I hope your enlightment was not disturbed too much by my coarse words." All she knew of being a servant was from Passion's example, and what she had personally seen of her own servants back in the Realm. She hoped those lessons would be enough.

"That's part of what disturbs me, Xilanada. Part of what makes me curious." The Headmistress looked serious, intent. Impassive. Despite the Tepet's reserve, Xilanada was well accustomed to reading the faces of the Dynasty. Something serious was going on here, but the Headmistress hadn't decided what to do yet.

"Your pardon please, Headmistress," Xilanada repeated. "I am your servant, of course." She bowed her head and again returned to her scrubbing. Waiting to see what the Tepet would do.

"Rainblown Joybringer tells me you corrected one of his ward diagrams."

There it was. That was the reason she was here. Xilanada suppressed the urge to swear further, knowing it wouldn't help. By the Sun, why did she have to pick up the chalk and make the changes? Professional pride? To see if she could still do it? Why?

"I did, Headmistress."

"I'd like to know how a servant knew how to recognize a 4th Tier mistake."

"A 4th Tier?" Xilanada asked, again wiping the sweat away from her forehead.

"Yes, the correction you made. In the tertiary supports of the Sigil."

"Oh. Of course. Your pardon, Headmistress, I did not know what you called it."

"What would you call it?" the Headmistress said, eyebrows rising in surprise.

"A 3rd State Conjoining Error, Headmistress."

"A 3rd State Conjonining...I do not believe I am familiar with the term."

"A difference in terminology, I'm certain," Xilanada said respectfully, recognizing that it was not. Now that she thought about it, a 4th Tier mistake implied that their understanding of wards did not encompass the incorporation of Celestial ward techniques. Not surprising, really. Why would the Terrestrial bother to understand the mathematics behind the use of magics too strong for their Exaltation?

For that matter, though...was there any point in her understanding it now? She had forsaken the use of Sorcery because of all the deaths that had come from it.

"You understand why we're having this conversation, Xilanada?" The shift in topic surprised her.

"I do, Headmistress. I mean, I believe so," she corrected, noticing the faint displeasure on the Dragon-Blooded's face. "I would not presume to judge your motives."

"But you have, haven't you?"

"You asked me about the correction I made to Professor Rainblown Joybringer's models, Headmistress. And then you asked me how it was I knew how to do so. In the absence of other information, it does seem to be the best conclusion to draw."

"You certainly don't talk like a servant." The Headmistress was as remote as ever. That professional looking face would have seemed at odds with her apparent youth, if Xilanada hadn't grown up in the Realm in her former life. When you come from the greatest nation in the world, where 10,000 Terrestrial ruled, you tended to associate authority with youth.

And that might be part of the problem here too, Xilanada mused. All the servants here, including herself supposedly, came from Nexus. Dynasts like Tepet Ajalat Seya were quite adept at reading people. Xilanada should not only feel a little odd at taking orders from someone her apparent age, but also a little fearful or at least respectful given the power an Exalt wielded alone.

She had been respectful. But the Dragon-Blooded did not inspire any fear or a feeling of being out of sorts. Perhaps the Headmistress was picking up on that.

"I humbly beg the Headmistress' forgiveness, if I have offended."

"Tell me, Xilanada...where do you come from?" The tone in Tepet Seya's voice was surprisingly warm and friendly. Pleasant. And subtly laced with Essence. The Headmistress' Charm wouldn't compel, but it would make her words sound far more pleasing than they would otherwise. And falsehood became the Dragon-Blooded's enemy, though Xilanada knew how to lie through that charm, at least from a Terrestrial.

"I don't remember, Headmistress. As Passion can verify, I do not remember where I come from or much of anything before the last several weeks." The deception stopped just short of a lie. It was her perfect defense against lie-detection Charms. For the truth was, she didn't know where this woman she now was had been a few weeks ago or where she'd come from. She was now this woman but she hadn't been before.

"No memory of it? That's interesting." The Headmistress surveyed her for another long moment while Xilanada scrubbed. And then the Headmistress pointed at the bucket. "Here you are scrubbing floors. You have a face and a body that could easily land you more comfortable work. Why become a cleaning servant?"

"It's honest," Xilanada said, avoiding eye contact. "Passion thinks I may have been a prostitute before. Whether I was or not, that's something I have no desire to do. As long as I can get by, Headmistress, working in your employ is far more preferable to anything I could find on the streets."

"But you can read. And write, I assume." Tepet Seya's mouth quirked into a small smirk at Xilanada's nod. "If you can correct a 4th Tier mistake, by Mela I hope you can read and write. Why not find work as a scribe, at least?"

"I had not considered doing so, Headmistress. I know nothing about what is required to be hired in such a profession. And most employers would shy away from a girl who didn't remember where she came from, with only a kind old widow for reference."

"I see."

They waited for another long moment.

"Tell me, Xilanada...you don't remember your past...but you remember how to read and write. You know enough of wards to correct a mistake the professor didn't catch. What else do you know?"

"Headmistress?" Xilanada asked, a little confused by the change in direction. It was obvious that Tepet Seya was going somewhere with this, but where...she didn't know.

"I'll put it another way. What are the common ingredients in a ward that bars the Fair Folk?"

"Iron, naturally. Quartz can also be effective, as can a small mixture of common soil, though effectiveness diminishes as you go down that list."

"Good. What about the dead?"

"Depends on the dead. Salt of course is best. For corporeal dead, a bit of powdered bone in an oil mixture works. Even better if you burn it. For the incorporeal dead, a wind chime system can work if it's windy. Sound can compel them to stay back. If not...you're best off using prayer strips written in blue ink."

"What form would you use to build a ward against vermin for a campsite?"

"Octagonal."

"And for a city to repel the Faerie?"

"Like all of this, depends on what resources you have. For a city, if I had my pick...I would go with a tri-modal distribution of a linked five-fold represent as a model."

"Good. What about First Age history? The Old Realm?" The pace of questions was relentless and Xilanada struggled to answer each as quickly as possible. By the time the Headmistress finished, Xilanada's soapy towel had dried and she felt more wrung out than it was.

Tepet Seya tapped the back of her hand with her other hand's index finger. Likely a nervous habit, something people did while preoccupied. Xilanada watched and waited and figured that now might be a good to wet the towel again, to distract her thoughts with the work of the hands.

She did not want people to know who she had been. And she would have liked to have left all magic and sorcery behind, in the past, where it couldn't hurt anyone new. Yet it seemed one thing after another was being placed before her, drawing her back into that fold. Being rescued by a cleaning woman who worked in a magic school. Feeling and acting on the impulse to correct the God-Blooded's work, only to be caught. And then to be interviewed, much of her knowledge revealed. At least the Dragon-Blooded hadn't thought to question her about her memory more.

"I'll tell you what I can do. And what I would like to do." Tepet Seya's eyes were sober and intent. Yes, this is what all the conversation had been leading up to.

"I am your servant, Headmistress," Xilanada replied, as humbly as possible.

"What I can do is have you thrown out of here on the street. It is not the place of a servant to correct a Professor's work. It is risky, it is dangerous. My students could die because they learned a ward the wrong way. I will not tolerate a servant who meddles in what is not their place. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, Headmistress," Xilanada said, just barely avoiding grinding her teeth. No matter how much she wanted to leave her old life behind, being treated like this...was not easy. Not easy at all.

"Good. That is what I can do. And that is what I will do if this happens again."

Xilanada nodded and kept her head lowered. Calmness was returning, as she worked at mastering herself.

"Now, this is what I would like to do. You have the choice. Of remaining a servant and never meddling again and being thrown out on the streets if you do. Or..." the Headmistress said, letting the word hang for a long moment. "Or you can continue to make those corrections. As a Professor."

"A Professor? Me?" Xilanada was stunned enough that further words were impossible.

"Yes, I believe so. You know your material, Xilanada. Whatever your background, whoever you used to be...you're a very competent thaumaturge. I need someone to teach some of the First Age lore classes. Given your name...would you happen to speak Old Realm?"

Xilanada smirked and nodded.

"Very good," Tepet Seya said, nodding and smiling. She had a surprisingly nice smile. It transformed those so-serious features from statue to stunning. "The choice is yours. I think you would find your time wasted here as a servant when you could serve this school in a much greater capacity. You would be given quarters in the School itself, of course. As well as your own office and an annual stipend that I think you'll find more than adequate to your needs, given what you're used to. The School of the Six Poses of Lighning is not an impoverished institution."

"Would it mean I don't have to finish cleaning this stain out?" Xilanada said with a wry grin. Tepet Seya's smile grew wider and she even giggled a little.

"It means you could take the stain out right this second, since I know you must be able to."

Xilanada looked down at the floor, considering the possibilities. She hadn't tried using Essence since...since. Was anything left to her? The knowledge, yes, but the thundering heat of majesty was gone. When she searched inside herself for the threads of her mastery of Essence, she found only a dimly lit void.

It couldn't hurt to try, though. Either it worked or it didn't. Thaumaturgy wasn't Sorcery, after all.

The incantation, one she'd learned when she was mortal the first time, came to her mind and she uttered it grimly. Xilanada arched her fingers into a strenuous stance to direct what little Essence stirred naturally in every living thing. It was an old technique, inefficient, but it didn't require anything to prepare and deliver a spell but practice.

In moments, the stain lifted and bled away into the air. It didn't even feel bad. Thaumaturgy, mortal magic, was not Sorcery after all. And it was apparently still within her grasp.

"I wouldn't want Passion to have to clean it up." Xilanada chuckled and rose to her feet.

"Very compassionate. You don't follow the Immaculate Philosophy, do you?"

"No," Xilanada said, shaking her head, for obvious reasons best kept private.

"Then perhaps we can sit down and have a talk sometime about other things. Books, other shared knowledge?" Again, the warmth returned to Seya's smile. Xilanada found herself replying.

"I'd love to."