Gloria Oliver (37 page)

“What should we do now?” Yllin asked glancing at the games around them.

“I know just the thing.” Mandee headed off to the right, not waiting for them.

“Here we go again.” With a groan, Yllin took off after her. Grinning, Talia quickly followed as well.

A couple of hours later, she left her friends watching a puppet show so she could go take care of her evening chores. On the way, she bought Kel and Clarence some sweets with her winnings for the day as well as grabbed more fruit and cheese from the dining hall tables.

When she arrived at the dragon’s dormitory, she found Clarence and the old dragon still in deep conversation. They were keeping it quiet, not that Clarence ever spoke out loud, but from what she could overhear from the old dragon’s side of the conversation it sounded extremely involved and perhaps a little heated.

Though she wasn’t quite sure how she could tell, Clarence seemed incredibly content. She was still pondering on it when she arrived at Kel’s room. He opened the door and stood there grinning at her from ear to ear.

“Welcome!” He stepped out of the way so she could come inside. “I owe you a great debt of thanks,”

he said as she placed his tray on the table. When she turned around, she found him before her down on one knee and he bowed as he spoke. “I thank you for your efforts from the bottom of my heart.”

She took a step back, astonished by the display. “It was no big thing. It’s just a few sweets.”

Kel looked up, his clear blue eyes trapping her own. “It’s not for those, but for what you’ve done for Clarence. His spirits are much higher than they’ve been of late and it’s all due to your efforts.
Thank you

.”

Talia felt herself blush. He really shouldn’t be making such a big deal out of this. “It-it was the least I could do. I was happy to.”

“You’ll forever have my thanks. And if there’s anything I could ever do for you…” He stood up, making her feel a little better. She didn’t see how she warranted being knelt down to.

“Have you been enjoying the carnival so far?” he asked her.

She turned away from his piercing stare and picked up the afternoon’s tray. “Yes, very much.”

“I’m glad.”

She could hear he meant it, and in a weird way it made her happy she went after all.

“I’ll bet there will be a fireworks display on one of the nights,” Kel told her. “They’re not to be missed.”

He grinned.

Talia recalled the rare occasions when their own carnivals were graced by such displays. If it proved to be as grand as the carnival was compared to those at home, the fireworks display would be phenomenal.

“Feel free to watch it from up here when they do,” he added. “The view would be perfect.”

“Thanks.” She left not much later, returning the empty tray to the kitchen. Rather than leaving the dining hall and rejoining the massive throng outside, she sat down at one of the tables and enjoyed the quiet solitude for a while. It’d been a very exciting and strange day.

“Talia.”

Her head snapped to the right, not having noticed anyone coming in. Yllin and Mandee were storming over toward her.

“What are you doing here? We’ve got hours to go before curfew.” Mandee waved for her to get up even as Yllin gave her a pitying look. “Let’s
go
.”

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TALIA FINISHED DELIVERING Kel’s and Clarence’s lunches and started back toward where Mandee and Yllin had agreed to meet. When she arrived her two friends weren’t there. Not really concerned, she decided to take the opportunity to grab a short break. Standing between two of the tents so as to be out of the way, she watched some of the students as they played the nearby games. As her gaze drifted randomly up and down the way, she spotted a numbers of watchers in the crowd. After several minutes, she realized while a number of them were frequenting the food vendors, none seemed to be taking advantage of any of the free games. As she pondered the question, she also noticed a few of them, while not playing the games, seemed to be keenly interested in the students playing them. Could it be—?

“Hey, sorry we’re late.” Yllin bobbed into Talia’s line of sight. “I was having a bad craving for some of those cherry tarts from yesterday. Have you been waiting long?”

Mandee stood beside her, saying nothing because her mouth was full of sticky sweets.

“No, just a few minutes,” she told them.

“Well, unfortunately, Mandee’s already chosen the next torture for us.”

Mandee stomped her foot on the ground, her mouth still too full of food for her to be able to protest.

Yllin grinned. “Speechless, are we?”

Mandee swallowed hard. “Yllin! Just for that, you’re going first.” She grabbed her friend with her free hand and cut through the crowd. Talia followed after them, hiding a smile with her hand, her previous thoughts forgotten.

About mid-afternoon, a lance throwing contest and a juggling lesson behind them, she pulled her friends aside. “I forgot to tell you. Stal, the red dragon from yesterday, asked if we wouldn’t mind helping out again today. He’s already given me the money. And from what you said before I didn’t figure you’d mind?”

Both Mandee and Yllin grinned. “I’m still pinching myself wondering if yesterday was just a dream. If Sonsan and some of the others only knew we’d been allowed in there…” Her grin turned into a mischievous smile.

Yllin nodded. “Besides, it means I get more cherries.”

Mandee rolled her eyes and then burst out laughing. Grinning, the three of them went to retrieve the dolly before going to the fruit seller’s stall. Talia couldn’t help notice that, after a couple of trips, her two friends seemed much more at ease in the dormitory than the day before.

By the next day, Mandee’s irrepressible nature reasserted itself and she introduced herself to all of the dragons and happily greeted them and chatted with them as if they were all old friends.

“They really are the same as people.” Mandee told Yllin and Talia after they said their goodbyes for the day. “They’ve just got bigger bodies is all.”

“It’s all a little scary if you ask me,” Yllin admitted. “I can see why people almost killed them off, but I can also see why the first Dragon Knights made the treaty with them, too.”

Talia saw both sides herself. With their long lifespans and the skills and knowledge they passed down from generation to generation, and just their brute strength itself, they gave much reason to fear them, but also much to offer to improve and help mankind.

Later in the day, she left her friends so she could deliver Clarence’s and Kel’s dinner but promised to return. She made good time and so took it slow in making her way back. She watched some of the students playing and smiled at the way the vendors encouraged even those without much skill. As she strolled by, she noticed once more how intently some of the watchers seemed to be studying the students as they played. She was sure she’d seen at least a couple of them taking notes. She suddenly got the distinct impression that while all the students were here partying and playing the watchers were actually working. Frowning a little, she stepped over between two tents and paid strict attention to the watchers.

The watchers were mixed in with the students, some appearing to be following particular ones while others hung around specific booths. Even the vendors seemed incredibly watchful, now that she was looking for it. But why? What were they hoping to learn? Still, as she continued to stand there and watch, an idea started forming in her mind. This carnival boasted a hundred different types of games and contests—more than she’d ever heard of being in a carnival before. And some of the games were outright strange, things she would not have thought would be included. What did cooking contests, sleight of hand tricks by the audience, pottery, improvisation, and short story telling ever have to do with a carnival? Yet each could be said to promote or represent a particular type of skill or talent. If it was true, and if you let a group of unknowing students participate, might you not then be able to ascertain what they were good at without…

“Your mouth is hanging open. It’s not too appealing, wouldn’t you say?”

Talia whirled to her left, closing her mouth, only to find the Administrator standing beside her with an amused look on her face.

“I take it you’ve just had a revelation?” Lareen smiled knowingly.

“No. I mean, I—” Talia stared at her, out to the moving crowd and back again.

The Administrator’s smile grew. “You may not believe this, but we don’t try to hide what we do.

Still—you’d be surprised at the number of students who never even suspect.” Her expression grew sly.

“But—” She glanced out once more at the river of people, not sure how to put all she felt into words.

“Are … are they being tested for other guilds then?” The realization of all she’d seen seemed almost too much to take.

“Sub-guilds. The Dragon Knight Guild is mostly self-sufficient and because of this has need of all sorts of skills. These are handled through sub-guilds,” Lareen explained. “We have a job for everyone.”

“Then the vendors…?” She couldn’t bring herself to say it out loud.

“Yes, they represent most of our sub guilds. And while this is not a usual recruiting period, it does make them as well as us aware of potential candidates.”

“Oh.” It was the only thing she could find to say. The vendors were here to look for likely candidates for their guilds. The watchers would see what sorts of things the students enjoyed and liked as well as which ones they were actually good at. Did it mean they tried to not only give them jobs they could do but jobs they might enjoy as well?

“I assume I can trust you not to spoil this discovery for the others?” Lareen asked her quietly.

Talia nodded quickly. Now that she knew the truth, she could see evidence of it everywhere. It almost shouted out it was happening, yet no one could see it. How could this be? But, until only just now, she hadn’t truly seen it herself. Was nothing in this place ever what it seemed?

Lareen smiled at her again, almost as if she knew what was running through her mind. “Don’t let the truth keep you from enjoying the carnival or participating. I’m counting on you to try your best.” With a wink, the Administrator walked out into crowd.

Talia could only stare after her.

After a moment or two she snapped out of her stupor and headed off to rejoin her waiting friends.

Yet since she knew the truth, she found herself watching everyone more closely. Each game, each effort was more serious to her than before. The future of a lot of the people around her might be being decided as she watched.

That night, she didn’t sleep well. When she got up in the morning, she felt more tired than when she went to bed.

Clarence was awake and waiting for her, but most of the other dragons were still asleep. She greeted him quietly as he gazed at her sleepily, but said nothing else.

When she made it upstairs, Kel smiled at her as he normally did when he saw her. She didn’t see his smile falter as she walked on past.

“Is everything all right?” Kel asked her.

Talia nodded absently, setting his tray down. “Everything’s fine. I’m just a little tired this morning.”

He said nothing at her answer, instead picking up one of the tarts she’d added to his breakfast. “You don’t have to keep bringing me treats, you know. I don’t want you to deplete your funds on my account.”

She shook her head. “I’ve been getting those with the food coupons I’ve won. I’ve gotten more than I can possibly eat on my own.” Even as she said so, she realized the coupons and prizes were being used as incentives for the students to test themselves. They were being paid to categorize themselves for the school. She looked away, her brow creasing.

“You’ve figured it out, haven’t you.”

Talia looked over at him in surprise, caught off guard by his words. How did he guess? For that matter, how had Lareen known? Was it so obvious?

“I had a feeling you would, sooner or later,” Kel stated brightly.

She frowned. He knew about it all along, even as he encouraged her to go. “It … it doesn’t bother you?”

He shrugged. “Why should it?”

She couldn’t come up with anything definite, but just thought that it should. She realized what they were doing might help her make up her mind as to what field to choose, but…

“It’s fun,” he said. “Enjoy it. In the end it’s for our benefit as well as the guild’s. And regardless of what else it is, it’s still a carnival.”

“What … what if they find out you’re especially good at … say, cooking? Does that mean you’ll be made to join the kitchen staff? Would you have a choice?”

Kel gave her a grin, pleased by her questions. “No one is forced to join a sub-guild unless they want to.

You might be gently prodded in a particular direction but nothing will be forced. And just because you have skills as a cook doesn’t means your other talents might not make it better for you to join the thieves’

sub-guild instead.”

“I don’t understand,” she admitted.

He nodded. “Okay, you’d admit our cooks here are pretty good, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes, their food is wonderful,” she agreed, not sure where he was going with this.

“Yet cooking wasn’t the primary mission Tula and a number of the others were on before they were assigned here. Several of them worked for years for a foreign lord who was maneuvering for a chance to advance into his neighbor’s lands. Though Tula and the others were hired there as cooks, the main reason they went there in the first place was because they worked for the guild as spies. While they cooked for the lord, they gathered evidence to prove his underhanded actions and got him stripped of power before he really got away with anything. They did a wonderful job.”

Talia stared at the squire, not sure she could believe what he was telling her.

“When they got sent here, it was as a reward for service to their sub-guild. Though I have my suspicions Lareen also arranged it so she would have help in keeping Nertak in check.”

“You … you’re joking, right?” Surely he must be.