Spinspace: The Space of Spins (The Metaspace Chronicles Book 2) (6 page)

Chapter 14

Kareef:
The Second Birth

“But it may happen that you hate a thing which is good for you.”

– Quran 2:216

It was still early, but he stood there in the road next to his new suitcase.  He supposed that he really should be breathless with excitement. At least he would no longer be breathless from walking the two miles to the
madresah
every day.

He had a good view of the road.  His father's house stood on a little hill surrounded by fields. The road ran through these, with a path extending from it up to the house behind him. In much of the rest of the year, he would, by now, be seeing the
fellahin
, the peasants tending the fields, but now that they were going into Winter almost all crops had been harvested. The fields were acres of desolation, mirroring his mood exactly.  He felt like a piece of fruit that had been harvested and would be carried wherever others wished.

In his prayers that morning as he had knelt on the
sajjada,
the prayer mat,
he had tried to be thankful for his
hajj
.  But it was a struggle.  In his soul he was still grumbling.

Movement out of the corner of his eye prompted him to swivel and catch sight of several vehicles coming down the road.  This must be it.  He picked up his suitcase and trudged carefully down the path to the road to meet them.

The caravan consisted of three covered wagons, each like a wooden room on wheels drawn by two horses, plus an escort of four armed men on horseback  He gathered that one of the wagons must be for him and the ambassador, and another for luggage and provisions.  He wondered  what the third was for.

As they pulled up to him the lead wagon ground to a halt. The door on his side popped open. The heads of a man he presumed to be the Ambassador and his wife swiveled to greet him.

“As-salaam-alaikum (peace be unto you).”

Kareef smiled back at them.  “Wa-alaikum-salaam (and unto you peace).”  He did not bow. 
It is not permissible to bow or prostrate to anyone but Allah, may He be glorified and exalted.

Introductions ensued. He had never met Ambassador Qusay and his wife Ateeqa before, but they did not appear to mind having him as a traveling companion.  One of the guards dismounted and took his suitcase and carried it back to the second wagon, and Kareef climbed into the wagon took a seat.

After a couple of minutes they wagon lurched forward and they continued on.

“So you are coming to Denver with us,” said Ambassador Qusay.  “How do you feel about that?”

“Forgive me for asking,” Kareef blurted out, “but how do
you
know?”  As soon as the words left his mouth, he realized he must sound impertinent and felt his face grow warm.

Qusay, however, did not seem to mind the question.  “I was informed by the same people who told
you
,” he said, flicking his glance sideways toward his wife and back again.

Kareef understood immediately. 
She does not need to know these things.
  “Forgive me, it was a foolish question.  Obviously they would have told you so that your caravan could pick me up.”

“So,” said Qusay, as if this interruption had not even occurred, “how do you feel about it?  You do not appear to be very excited.”

And whenever you give your word, say the truth.
  “I confess I am not completely at peace with it, sir.  I am told I am sent on an important
hajj
, yet I cannot even tell my own family why I have left the
madresah
and abandoned my studies before graduating.  It is as if I am born a second time, cast out naked from my home.  I do not understand why I was chosen for this, but I wish that the message had been given to another.”

Qusay regarded him.  “He who obeys the Messenger has indeed obeyed Allah,” he quoted.  “You should trust that the ones who selected and who are sending you know what they are doing.”

“I hope that is true,” he said.  “But wouldn't it be more likely that I would succeed in my task if
I
knew what I am doing?”

Qusay chuckled at this.  “How can I put this tactfully, Kareef?  It is entirely possible that you will be far more effective in your task in this particular case, actually, if you do not know why you are being sent. Your observations will not be influenced by preconception...and you will be unable
even accidentally
to disclose anything to the people you are going to meet.”

He stared at the ambassador, his thoughts scattered like a flock of ducks at the approach of a hunter.  Behind the ambassador he could see the man's wife Ateeqa.  Her face mirrored his own confusion and curiosity.

Chapter 15

Xander
: the first student

“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.”

– Winston Churchill

Gazing out at the remains of Denver from the rooftop, he told himself that he had not lived in vain. 
There will be a school.  All we need is some students.  If I can get Lester up to speed in the time I have left, the torch will have been passed.  The first class to graduate will become teachers, and the knowledge will spread.

Already, Kristana's artisans had readied two bedrooms and a single classroom to his specifications.  If Lester could find someone to get the ball rolling...

The door of the stairwell banded open, startling him out of his reverie.  Aria sprang out onto the roof.  “They're coming!”

“Eh?”  Xander turned away from the edge of the roof to regard her.  “Who's coming?”

“Lester.”  She clung to the railing for a moment, trying to catch her breath.  It was obvious she had dashed up the stairs from her gardens.  “And someone he found to be your first student.”

His eyebrows lifted.  “Really?  Is he back already, then?  I wasn't expecting him until after the holidays.”

She sucked in another breath and steadied herself.  “No, he's about an hour or two away. A rider came in from one of the checkpoints to tell us..  Looks like our
LeStar
didn't want to risk the new student changing their mind.”

He shook his head, smiling.  “Don't let Lester hear you call him that.  He finds it embarrassing that someone who can't even spell his name right  is praising him in the local press.”  He paused. “Have you told your mother?”

“I was with Mother and her advisors when the messenger came in.  We're still putting the finishing touches on the treaty with Texas.” 

He heard the unspoken complaint: y
ou should be there helping craft the treaty.
 
He
lifted a hand to scratch his beard.

“Why are you wearing those?  Are you cold?”

Damn. I forgot about the gloves.
  “Sometimes.”  He moved toward the stairwell.  “Maybe we should head down to street level.  It's not everyday a new student arrives.”

As they passed the thirtieth floor Aria turned to him. “is is true what I heard? That you're going to give Gifts away?”

He nodded.  “Rebuilding the infrastructure will require two basic ingredients: functioning gifts and tech support people to  maintain and make them. So since we're starting a school for wizards, which is the second ingredient – the tech support for magic, why not use their practice to generate artifacts to distribute – which are the first ingredient, functioning Gifts?”

She frowned.  “But should we really give them away for free?  It would help raise money for the school if you sold them instead.”

He sighed.  “True.  I believe, however, that for school-produced Gifts we should charge what people can afford, i.e. zero at first.  When some of them return to their homes, they will be able to make money making them for others if they wish.”

“Why do you say
'some of them'
will return to their homes?”

“Becomes some of the first group of them will stay and become the nucleus of our faculty.  The best will stay and teach, so that we can be teaching larger and larger numbers of students as we grow.”

“Grow?  How big do you think the school will get?”

“As big as it needs to be to get the ball rolling.  Think of magic as the new literacy.  We Fell because almost everyone is illiterate in magic.  That has to change if we want to rise again.”

Finally they reached the ground floor.  Xander had to smile inwardly when he caught the guards there ogling Aria when she wasn't looking. 
Best for everyone if she gets married soon.

As always, the descent down the staircase took its time.  By the time they reached the ground floor they did not have long to wait.  Soon the familiar yellow coach pulled up in front of the 'scraper, the normal clattering of hooves muffled by a dusting of fresh snow from the night before.

Xander watched Lester emerge from the vehicle, then turn to help a young woman off the coach and accept her baggage  as Clem the driver passed it down to him.  But where was the new student?  No one else materialized, and as the two picked their way through the snow toward him the old wizard was chagrined by his failure to anticipate this. Well, well!  He had never had a female apprentice, though really there was no reason a woman wouldn't make a fine wizard.  Probably this would not be the time to mention to her that she would be the first female student; she was already out of her element and didn't need to feel any more out of place than she already did.

Her eyes were wide as Lester made introductions. “Now I see why Lester is wearing gray,” said Carolyn.  “Is it going to be the school color?”

Xander smiled at this.  “You know, I hadn't actually thought of it,” he admitted.  “When I started working for the General I chose gray because it attracts less attention than brighter colors and helps remind me that things are not always as black and white, as simple, as officers and rulers would like to think.  It's a good idea though, using that color for the school.”

Looking at Aria, he could see that she was struggling to conceal the fact that she was not entirely happy that the first student was so young and attractive.

“Speaking of rulers,” said Carolyn, turning to Aria, “how should I address you?  Lester's been telling me how he and Xander rescued you from the escape prisoners, but he must have forgotten to mention how beautiful you are.”

Aria's lips compressed.  “Well, I'm supposed to be Governor some day, but for now I have no official rank or title so  just call me Aria.”

“Let's go inside,” said Lester.  “Carolyn's father is a smith, so she's used to a warm house, what with the forge built on one side of it.”

Xander smiled inwardly, watching the two women and Lester, who seemed oblivious to the effect Carolyn's arrival was having on Aria.  It would be interesting to see how Kristana's daughter handled the competition for the boy's attention.

“Have I missed anything?” said Lester, as they began the ascent.  “Any word from Jeffrey?”

“No, we've had no word from the new Honcho yet.  He must be having his hands full explaining the situation to his officers and advisors.”

“I imagine so.  They were expecting a victory celebration, and instead he has to tell them about a defeat and an alliance with their old enemy.”

Xander stopped on the fourth floor landing, realizing that Carolyn would not be used to so many stairs in Inverness.  He huffed and puffed and put on a great show of aged infirmity, trying to help Carolyn not feel like the weakling of the group. But it seemed she was too busy trying to make friends with Aria to notice his performance.

“What's it like, being the Governor's daughter?  Do you have, I don't know, princes and rich men vying for your attention?”

“No, it's not a lot of fun, actually,” said Aria. “I hardly ever meet anyone but diplomats, officers, and tutors.  She keeps me busy learning about other countries and the details of running this one.”

“But don't you get out?  Aren't there, like, official balls and receptions and things like that?”

“Not really.  Eventually she's be having me go out to other towns and meet the commanders and such, but for now I rarely get out, and when I do it's always in the company of bodyguards.  I used to think her worrying about my being taken hostage was silly...until I almost ended up in Texas as one.”

“That must have been awful for you!”

Aria shrugged.  “They were too busy escaping to bother me much.  It was harder on our gray men here.  Xander got shot rescuing me and nearly died...and Lester went to Dallas instead of me and spent time in a Dallas prison.”

“How awful.  But what an adventure it must have been.  Lester never mentioned that part to me.”

“Oh, it wasn't all that bad for me,” Lester put in.  “I got some peace and quiet to practice my magic when they weren't watching, and the old Honcho wanted me to make things for him, so I wasn't mistreated, until the Pope tried to lynch me.  It might have gotten a little tricky at that point if Xander hadn't showed up to get me out of Texas.”

Carolyn insisted on hearing the story, which gave Xander and Lester something to talk about as the group continued climbing. 

When they reached Xander's floor, Aria offered to take Carolyn up to the school floors and get her settled into one of the dorm rooms.  By that time Xander didn't have to pretend he was getting tired, and he was only to willing to let her take care of that.