“Do you really think Mother will see the difference?”
“No,” Ehlissa groaned from under her pillow. Then she
threw her pillow aside and bolted upright. She laid
her hand on her sister’s arm and said, “Promise you
won’t tell Mother.”
“What? No,” Johydee said. “All right, I will, but
you have to promise to keep me informed. No secrets
from me.”
Having a confidante in this matter, even if it was her
own sister, comforted Ehlissa enough that she was able
to appear normal at supper and almost forget the
matter entirely as she readied herself for bed. But
as she laid there that night, she could not stop
thinking about Tenser and how she was, because of him,
in a curious situation. She could have just told him
the truth, she reminded herself. She was only in
magic school to stall her parents from constantly
trying to marry her off. She had no training and
hardly any inclination for combat, subterfuge, or even
personal risk. She expected to use her education to
apprentice herself to a craftsman who used magic, or
maybe work for the guild itself and that would be the
end of her career in magic. She certainly had no
ambitions towards being a sorceress or a wizard
someday. But if she told Tenser all this, then she
would see that disappointed look again that she saw in
his face today when he realized she was a woman and,
for some reason, she wanted to avoid that again for as
long as possible.
By the next day, after a night of very little sleep,
Ehlissa had thoroughly explored her options. Time,
she had decided, was on her side. Yesterday was the
first day she had ever run into Tenser, so it would
likely be quite some time before they happened to run
into each other again. In the meanwhile, she needed
to at least make it appear she was studying a spell
that would be useful for adventuring, or something
Tenser might think was useful. Her best bet there was
the unseen servant spell that she would learn at the
end of the semester, but she would not start those
lessons for weeks. That was the point at which she
was stuck in her plan-making, and that point consumed
her thoughts for the rest of the morning.
This was Godsday, so the guildhall was only open for
the morning before closing for weekly religious
observances. Ehlissa had no class to attend on
Godsday morning, but she did have a study group that
she met there on this morning each week. She was glad
to leave the house for a brisk walk to the guildhall.
That itself had been a small victory for her, after
convincing her parents that escorts were frowned upon
at the wizard guildhall. And that had been only
partially true. She had seen magicians coming and
going from the guild before with a wide variety of
escorts, often gnomes in colorful costumes, all manner
of animal familiars, and even litter-bearing orcs
once. True wizards came and went from the guildhall
more mysteriously, so that she had yet to witness it
happening. Of course, what she feared was that her escort in
particular would be frowned upon, since it would
likely be a common household servant or, worse,
Ehlissa’s mother herself.
|
