Fire: Tales of Elemental Spirits (43 page)

ʺAnd you also think he might shake us up,ʺ said Cladharg.

ʺI am looking forward to it,ʺ she said demurely, and he laughed, a proper loud crack of laughter, and something in the room cracked too, and after that we were all more comfortable with each other.

I started to open my mouth and then closed it again, but the first old guy said, ʺErn. It is time you said something. This is your life we are prescribing for you. What did you want to ask?ʺ

ʺNot about my life,ʺ I said. ʺI—ʺ I stopped. Not yet, I thought. I can't think about that yet. ʺBut I'd like to know who you are.ʺ I glanced quickly around the table and then back at the first old guy. ʺI don't even know your name. I mean, I should know, that morning in the food halls, but . . .ʺ

The first old guy said gravely, ʺBut you have had many things on your mind and you have been introduced to nearly an entire Academy of new people. It is very discourteous of us not to have identified ourselves in the beginning—that I have not ere now is the worst of all. I'm afraid we have been too interested in what you could do for us—what you have done for us already.ʺ

One of the other old guys who hadn't said anything yet said, ʺWe believe we are looking at our future, and that we are already the past.ʺ He didn't sound unhappy about it though.

ʺIt was the story of Erzaglia and Sorabulyar that told me to send Ern and Sippy to you,ʺ said Ralas. ʺThe past remains vital.ʺ

ʺThe past holds the present and hands it to the future,ʺ said the first old guy. ʺI am Storkhal, First Commander of the Academy—ʺ

I blinked.

ʺThisʺ—the old guy who had just spoken for the first time—ʺis Sfector, First Dragonrider. This is Mjorak, First Professor of Practise; Nonoran, First Professor of Theory; and Cladharg, who is First Seer.ʺ

I started missing the names; everything had been way too much for way too long. Even Sippy seemed content to sit quietly with his head in my lap as if he was feeling it too. First Commander of the Academy! But I was listening again in time to hear Storkhal say, ʺAnd Carn, Five-Crown Sukaj Colonel of the Inban Regiment—ʺ

Carn interrupted in his harsh voice: ʺStorkhal, stop it. I'm a minor tutor here, that's all. But I'm guessing Ern has heard my name, and can himself then guess why it is I begged a place here today—and why I was granted one.ʺ

I said the only thing I could think of to say: ʺHereyta is lovely.ʺ

ʺYes, she is, isn't she?ʺ said Carn, and smiled his wonderful, contagious smile again.

But Carn was the last. I'd missed some names, but I checked back in my mind for the sound of Storkhal's voice rising and falling through the introductions, and I didn't think I'd missed what I'd been—what I should have been—listening for. I remembered the day Dag and I had arrived at the Academy and met Eled, and Dag and Eled had looked at each other and said, We're supposed to do without wizards. I swallowed. ʺNo First Wizard,ʺ I said. And then, ridiculously, I added, ʺNo First Healer.ʺ

ʺNo,ʺ said Cladharg. ʺThere was once a First Wizard; perhaps there should be again. There has never been a First Healer. Perhaps that is an error. I look forward to beginning that discussion in three years.ʺ

ʺOh, but—ʺ Dag burst out, and then turned to the First Commander and said, ʺ
Zedak,
my apologies.ʺ

Storkhal was wearing his amused look again. ʺNo, please go on,
Singla
Dag.ʺ He sounded as if he knew what Dag was going to say. I know I did.

ʺYou're not going to send him away for three years? What about Hereyta?ʺ

ʺThat is up to Ern, and his—your—parents, and Ralas,ʺ said Storkhal. Now he was using his smooth voice. I only knew what Dag was going to say, I hadn't thought about what it meant. I looked at Ralas and then at Cladharg. Ralas was looking disconcerted again—the second time I'd seen her off balance in all the years I'd known her—and I'd known her all my life—only half an hour after the first time. Cladharg, on the other hand, had the look of a man undergoing a revelation he wasn't sure he approved of. ʺErn and Ralas are welcome here as soon and for as long as they wish to stay,ʺ added Storkhal.

ʺOh, dear,ʺ said Ralas.

ʺThere is certainly no one here who can teach him what you can teach him,ʺ said Storkhal, still smooth.

ʺNo,ʺ she agreed. Cladharg twitched but didn't say anything. ʺErn, what do you think?ʺ

What did I think? I had no idea what I thought. I had no more idea now how Sippy and I had got Hereyta in and out of the Firespace than I had when we'd first come in here and sat down at this table and the old guy whose name I had forgotten had asked me how I'd done it. But I did know I was Ralas' apprentice, which I hadn't known then. And she said I was going to be a healer. And Hereyta . . . and the other dragons . . .

ʺRalas,ʺ I said wistfully, ʺwould you really hate it here?ʺ

Ralas looked around the table and back at me. She was smiling again, and if it was a wry smile, it was also amused. ʺFate finds you out,ʺ she said. ʺI knew I wouldn't stay at Birchhome forever—but I did think I'd have three more years. And the Academy is the last place . . . I'll have to tell Fran I need her at Birchhome three years early.ʺ

ʺWe'll have to go back to Birchhome for me to talk to Mum and Dad too, but I'm pretty sure I can talk them round,ʺ I said, and I was surprised at how strong and clear my voice was. ʺI still want to be your apprentice more than anything else—but I want to find out what happened during First Flight. And I need Hereyta to do that. And I don't think there's room for Hereyta in Birchhome.ʺ

Ralas laughed. ʺNo. But we might ask if she'd come for a visit some day.ʺ