To Be Chosen (21 page)

The couple eyed each other, it was clear they wanted to visit their son, and yet seemed reluctant to leave the mountain. “It would be good to see him,” Miriam said.

“True, but I have a set of chairs to make for Val and Todd’s new home, and it will be weeks before the vegetables ripen,” Ronn replied.

“The vegetables are ready to be picked. I hope you don’t mind, I took the liberty of ripening them on my way in. Making plants grow is a specialty of the Willow Guild,”
Simon told them. He was hoping to persuade them to go where it is safer without worrying them. “If the chairs are to be made of wood, I can form them to your specifications,” he offered.

Ronn paused, as if tempted, but then shook his head. “I appreciate the offer but it would be your work, not mine, and a Benhannon never fobs his chores off on someone else.”

“I am not being deceived into doing your work nor will what I make be of less quality than your customer expects. If you make one chair, I can form the wood of the others into exact duplicates, they will still be of your design,” Simon assured him.

“I would like to see Daniel,” Miriam said and folded her arms across her chest.

Ronn stared at his wife for a ten count and then turned a suspicious eye on his Aakacarn guest. “You travel all the way from Aakadon, propose to escort us almost four hundred spans farther, all just so we can visit our son. I know Daniel gave a mighty blow to the Serpent Guild, I was there, and while things have been quiet ever since, surely an Accomplished has better things to do.”

A sigh escaped before Simon could stifle it. “Serin Gell has escaped from the Eagle Guild and could be on his way here. Daniel befriended me when I was a Talented, which is why I came and am willing to see you safely to his estate where I believe you and Tim, if he wants to come, will be more secure.”

“I told Daniel we would not be chased away from our home every time one of these dangers comes to call, we would be leaving all the time,” Ronn replied and he pursed his lips stubbornly, as if this was the end of the discussion.

Miriam studied her husband for the longest time, not really but it seemed so, and then turned to her Aakacarn guest. “Serin Gell and the danger he poses aside,” she began as if brushing away a gnat. “I want to see Daniel and his new home.”

“But the chores,” Ronn began to say.

“Can be done with the assistance of Accomplished
Trenca,” she finished for him.

Ronn opened his mouth as if to give another reason why leaving was unacceptable, but Miriam did not give him a chance to get out whatever it was. “You can stay and finish the chores. I am going,” she told him in no uncertain terms, and then turned to Simon. “Tim and Gina are away. Daniel gave them some coins and they are off celebrating their wedding. It might be days before they get back.”

Ronn stared at his wife and finally sighed after realizing she meant exactly what she said. He turned to his other guest. “Darby, will you look after the place while we are away?”

The old-timer smiled while nodding his head. “Sure enough, no problem, I’ll watch over yer place,” he assured them.

Ronn went back into the room he had been in and then came back with a fist full of silver coins, giving them to the old huntsman. “These should be enough to pay any expenses and give you something for all your trouble,”

Darby took the coins and stuffed them into his pocket, while Miriam smiled behind her husband’s back. “I’m going with Darby into Bashierwood to buy two horses, either from
Chad or Donald, which ever one gives me the best deal. Chessy is too old for this trip,” she said and then departed with the old-timer, being careful to stay up wind of him.

Simon followed the mountaineer to the barn where a carpenter’s work bench was set up in the back. Ronn went to work, putting together the pieces he had meticulously cut and shaped, and completed the first chair. Simon touched the chair and the pile of wood next to it, and then summoned the potential for Shaping and a second chair came together exactly like the one Ronn had made. Simon continued the process until all ten chairs were made.

The mountain carpenter inspected the work and finally gave a grudging nod of approval. Simon knew all of the chairs were identical to the smallest detail. It did not take long for Miriam to get back with a pair of stallions, Raindancer and Flashpoint, both from Donald Laird’s breeding facility. They gathered the vegetables, packed up, and began the journey to Ducanton.

“The Ducaunan capital should be coming into sight in a few more marks,” Sherree Jenna needlessly told Jerremy DeSuan, a newly raised one bolt Accomplished of the Stone Guild, and her fellow veteran of the Battle of Bashierwood. He had been in the same geography class she once attended so did not need the information. She was nervous, being on her way to meet Fenton Chen, but also concerned about a certain Ducaunan who had been made a Royal Knight of the Realm.

Jerremy smiled at the statement and pointed his nose slightly upward, pretending he did not hear. He was like that with her. If Samuel Cresh had told him the same thing, he more than likely would have had a scathing retort, those two had been sniping at each other for years, and only after the final grades were posted before graduation to Accomplisheds did they speak kindly to one another.

His mentor, Master Artisan Franklin Togan, was in the cabin they shared on the riverboat. Forty oarsmen rowed against the current of the Mighty Hirus. It had taken six days to reach this point, mostly because no members of the Zephyr Guild were aboard to speed the voyage along. Several boats fortunate enough to have those Accomplisheds passed them by even as she and Jerremy stood staring off the starboard rail.

“Naturally they would call upon the Stone Guild to help investigate the rediscovered city of Tomlin,” the tall Serinian continued the conversation they had been having before she interrupted him, doing so as if she had not spoken. It was a one sided conversation to be sure, but she enjoyed his company none the less. Tall, dark and handsome is how
Charlene described him and she was not wrong, although Sherree thought of him as a brother who at times can be annoying but worth putting up with. “It was sunken beneath Lake Tomlin for nearly nine hundred years. You know, it was only discovered when the water level dropped and a spire appeared in the middle of the lake,” he added while waving his arms animatedly, that sort of thing truly excited him.

“This project will be a great addition to your accomplishments,” Sherree told him.

“There is that,” he admitted. “It is Master Togan they actually need, but an Apprentice cannot be separated from his mentor until being raised to Journeyman, so I have the privilege of accompanying him.”

“It seems we three veterans of Bashierwood have been placed with mentors of great repute,” Sherree said as a gust of wind blew back the hood of her black and crimson silk cloak. Normally she would have automatically pulled it up but the gesture was futile where she stood, besides the wind in her hair felt good. “At least I am getting off soon. You have more than a hundred spans to go.”

“True on both counts, I heard Samuel is being mentored by Jeremiah Lassiter, a Senior Soarer, and you a Senior Practitioner, someone is helping our careers along. It is unusual for seniors of any guild to be saddled with Fledglings, Interns, and Apprentices. And yes, I have a way to go yet before getting off this boat, and then have another twenty or so spans over land before reaching the lake, but what we, Master Togan and I, will be doing is well worth the effort,” Jerremy replied.

“Our career helper is the Grand Maestro,” Sherree said, managing to sound respectful, it was not easy, but she was developing a grudging respect for the man so it was not as hard as it used to be.

Jerremy smiled and nodded his head. A son of a Serinian lord would have already figured out the politics of the situation. “I don’t need the daughter of a hotel magnate and the cousin of a queen to tell me that,” he replied, bringing up her father’s heritage as well as her mother’s.

“The fact may have escaped your notice while your nose was in the air,” she teased.

A chuckled slipped out of him before he was able to assume his normally haughty expression. “Perhaps, but my peripheral vision is excellent so few things of importance escape my notice.”

“Did you know Charlene had a crush on you?”

He blinked for several moments, his left eyebrow arched up speculatively, and then he resumed his haughty expression. “I specified things of importance. Her feelings have no more relevance for me than do Daniel Benhannon’s for you.”

That is what she got for bantering with the Serinian; he struck the mark dead on. “Of course not, I only cared for him as one in need of healing,” she lied.

Jerremy laughed. “One of the good things about traveling with you by boat is that you cannot stop and heal every sick or injured creature we come across. I will grant you did a good job of keeping the mountaineer functional with that spell you should not have known until after affiliating with the Aloe Guild.”

Sherree had never explained how she learned that spell to anyone, those who were there when her Potential was discovered did not need to be told, and the information was no one else’s business. “Is this your way of asking about the acquiring of my repertoire?”

Once an Aakacarn affiliates with a guild it is considered rude for a member of a different association to inquire about the specifics of another Accomplished’s repertoire. Jerremy raised his arms in a warding off gesture. “I would not dream of it, but was merely stating a fact,” he quickly assured her.

She smiled, letting him know she was not offended. “I thought not. Why don’t we go to the galley and have our mid-day meal?”

“Why don’t we,” he replied and gestured with a broad swing of his right arm toward the hatchway.

As they were eating, Sherree handed him an amulet with an amber stone set in gold. “I want to hear of your accomplishments first hand.”

Jerremy accepted the communication device and gave her one in return. “Keep in touch,” he told her and then deliberately assumed his haughty expression as if the moment never happened.

She marveled over how often he pretended to not care about other people, but she knew he did care; else he never would have entertained those children back in Bashierwood, nor exhausted himself healing a village full of injured commoners after the battle. She would have liked giving an amulet to Samuel, desiring to stay in touch with him as well, but the newly raised Accomplished of the Eagle Guild was not available at the time
, and she had a boat to catch.

---------------------------

Jerremy should be well up the river, Sherree pondered as she stood in the vestibule of the seven storied mansion designed and built by the Stone Guild. This was the residence of the Accomplished of Ducanton, who was approaching her even as she took in the surroundings of the place that would be her residence for the foreseeable future.

Fenton Chen was a lean man with light brown skin and black silky hair
cut short. His brown eyes were ovoid in shape and his mustache neatly trimmed, sloped around his chin and along his jaw line. His dark complexion marked him from the coastal region of Zune; people from the interior, including the royal family, had skin that was a dark pink in color. He was about a hand shorter then her. “Come with me,” he said in a low monotone.

Sherree followed her new mentor down a maroon carpeted hallway to the first door on the left. The room was pale green with a couch and two chairs facing each other with a table between them. He sat in the chair on the right and motioned for her take a seat in the other. “I am honored to be mentored by you,” she said in an attempt to break the ice. The man’s face seemed to be carved in stone, showing no sign of expression, and his tone of voice, what little she heard of it, was neutral.

“It was not my decision. I was told to mentor you and I shall, that is all there is to it. You see, discipline is everything, and those who fail to comprehend this are prone to sloppy work. My feelings toward the order given to me are irrelevant. I shall teach you to the best of my ability,” he replied in his monotone.

This man was nothing like her previous mentor, but that was not important. Sherree well understood the importance of discipline. “I will study hard,” she assured him.

He gave a quick nod of the head in acknowledgement. ‘I expect so. Your records indicate one who can put aside frivolous things and focus on your task, which is why you excelled above your peers all the way through levels one through four. Your casting ability is not in doubt, your repertoire will continue to grow at a respectable pace, but it is in other aspects I intend to sharpen your skills.”

“I am looking forward to your instructions,” Sherree replied.

Fenton stared at her for quite awhile, still showing no emotion, just studying her. “Did your previous mentor discuss with you matters of intimacy?”

Sherree had no idea where the Senior Practitioner was going with this line of questioning. Obviously, healers dealt with people’s intimate physical problems, and would naturally see them in situations that could be embarrassing under different circumstances. “I know our profession forces us to deal with people on an intimate basis, I have no problem healing someone, male or female, of the most personal of afflictions.”