The Pen and the Sword (Destiny's Crucible Book 2) (28 page)

Second,
he had someone to blame when he preferred to avoid a meeting or a person.
“Sorry, Ser Businessman, but my schedule is full today. Please see Maera
Kolsko-Keelan to arrange a time.” Maera then judged whether the event was
important enough for his time, scheduled it efficiently if it was, and
intimidated those whose meeting rationale was mainly self-interest.

A
third advantage was that Maera scheduled daily time for him to write. She
didn’t understand the significance of his writings but recognized their
importance to him and fit in an hour most days. It was his explanation that
raised her suspicions: that he needed to write down his daily thoughts in
English, because his written Caedelli wasn’t good enough.

As
soon as the words left his mouth, Yozef recognized she didn’t believe him. He
tried to recover by adding that he also worked on science notes to discuss with
Cadwulf and the scholastics. He had already transmitted to Cadwulf all he
remembered of mathematics, and the Beynoms’ son had moved beyond Yozef’s level
on his own and was in active correspondence with several mathematics
scholastics elsewhere on Caedellium. Yozef foresaw the irregular communications
turning into a more formal mathematical periodical, if enough practitioners
developed—if not on Caedellium, then eventually elsewhere on Anyar.

He
filled the one set of journals with everything he remembered about science,
which the Caedelli were not yet ready to assimilate. The second set recounted
how he came to Anyar and as much as he recollected of the history and the cultures
of Earth. A key to both sets was the English-Caedelli dictionary he’d started
when first learning Caedelli, along with a grammar supplement. These were the
most carefully secreted journals, because he didn’t want anyone, particularly
Maera, to read them and think him mad.

She
pestered him at first on teaching her English but quit when she realized it was
one place he wouldn’t accommodate her. He couldn’t risk that she would read the
secret journals, either by accident or in her inability to contain her
curiosity.

Maera
kept up a steady, voluminous correspondence with her father. He partly filled
her place as the hetman’s aide with a young scholastic from St. Tomo’s abbey in
Caernford. However, Culich Keelan still valued his daughter’s insights and
skill with words. Though now separated by distance and time, she continued
summarizing and editing, albeit at a slower pace, as she and her father passed
papers back and forth.

Still,
her change in status awakened a need to establish a position uniquely her own.
An opportunity emerged from a casual remark made to her by Diera Beynom, as the
two women walked together one afternoon.

“Maera,
do me a favor and ask Yozef how his planning for the university is coming
along.”

“University?
What’s that? Another of Yozef’s projects? I’ve never heard the word.”

“Never
. . . ? You mean he hasn’t told you his idea to expand the number of
scholastics at St. Sidryn’s and house them in new buildings? I though Culich
told me months ago he was going to discuss the idea with you when you first
visited. He must have forgotten, what with everything else going on. Anyway,
Yozef calls his idea a ‘university.’ You say Yozef hasn’t mentioned it to you?”

A
chagrinned Maera shook her head. “No, and that’s not the only thing he doesn’t
talk about.”

“Oh,
dear, I hope the two of you aren’t having problems already.”

Maera
sighed. “Not really. He’s . . . you know, Yozef. He treats me well, is
considerate, and is the most interesting person I’ve ever met. Still, there’s
always the underlying sense there so much more he isn’t telling me.”

“Yes,
that’s Yozef. I think most of us who’ve known him longer accept it as part of
his idiosyncrasy. It may be one thing you have to come to terms with on your
own, unless you want to make it a serious issue with him, which I’d caution against
doing.”

Maera
looked with surprise at the older woman. “Why? What do you think might happen?”

“While
Yozef may seem mild mannered, which has been my experience with him, my
instincts are that he can be immovable. He accommodates to a point and then
shuts down. I wouldn’t recommend that in a new marriage.”

“I
don’t know, Diera. It’s bothering me more and more, even though part of me
knows our marriage is going well. No, better than well. I was resigned to a
marriage to benefit the clan, possibly to a man I didn’t even like. Instead, I
find myself with a husband I truly enjoy being with and whom I respect. Am I
just being silly?”

“Silly?
No. It’s normal to want to know everything about the person you marry and with
whom you share a bed. A difficult truth is that we never know anyone
completely. Even Sistian, after all of our years together, still surprises me
occasionally with something new. That little sense of mystery adds continuing
spice to a marriage.”

Maera
laughed. “In that case, I may be the most seasoned woman on Caedellium! All
right, Diera, I’ll try to listen to your advice and focus on what’s going so
well. Now, what about this university?”

Yozef
and Maera had barely begun to eat that evening when she queried him.

“Diera
mentioned today your idea to expand the number of St. Sidryn’s scholastics and
gather them into what you call a university. Diera’s enthused about the concept
and asked me how plans were progressing. Naturally, I had no answer, since
you’ve never mentioned it to
me
.”

He
ignored the implied rebuke. “It’s an institution where I came from . . . America.
We believe scholastics are better concentrated in larger numbers than here on
Caedellium into a critical mass to generate new ideas.”

“Critical
mass?”

“Sorry.
In numbers large enough that their interactions allow them to have new ideas
and clarify their own thinking more easily than by themselves or in smaller
groups. It’s something I feel strongly about. I’d talked to Abbot Sistian about
it, and we agreed to start by adding about twenty-five scholastics in three
areas of study—mathematics, the study of the history and customs of different
peoples and realms of Anyar, and the study of living creatures. The three to be
organized in the departments of Mathematics, Nations, and Biology.”

Maera
asked questions about why those three areas, either quickly grasping their
potential importance or willing to take Yozef’s word. “I can see why you
believe mathematics so important, Yozef, but I must warn you that most people
will see it as merely intellectual puzzles with no application to their lives.
I’ve listened to you and Cadwulf enough about how mathematics is applied, so why
don’t you call it the Department of Applied Mathematics and be sure to
emphasize utility?”

Within
an hour, they similarly changed the other names to the Department of Biology
and Medicine, and the Department of History and Societies. Maera went beyond
his broad-stroke ideas on each of the areas and had intuited some of the
rationales Yozef hadn’t mentioned to anyone else.

By
the time they finished, they’d also added a Department of Apothecary and
Chemistry. Yozef insisted the two were different, in that chemistry was dependent
on rules and principles, while apothecary was little more than rote
memorization of recipes.

“Yozef,
no one on Caedellium, including myself, understands about your
chemistry
,
but we all see what you’ve done with ether, kerosene, soap, and gunpowder, all
of which you insist involves chemistry. I’ve heard you say that apothecary will
eventually change into chemistry, so why not set up a department to speed it
along? Doesn’t some of what an apothecary does relate to chemistry?”

“Probably
to some extent. St. Sidryn’s library hasn’t many apothecary books, and I
haven’t had the time or opportunity to look elsewhere. For all I know, there’s
more basis for chemistry than I’m aware of in books elsewhere on Caedellium.”

“The
answer is for you not to do the search yourself. We’ll hire an apprentice from
one of the abbeys training apothecaries, such as St. Alonso’s Abbey in Hewell
Province, a good place to start. He can scour libraries throughout Caedellium
for everything known about apothecary and mixing substances. We’ll collect it
here, along with enticing additional apprentices who can form the basis of your
Department of Apothecary and Chemistry. Then, as you think it possible, you can
begin introducing more chemistry knowledge.”

Yozef
tugged on his lip, then chewed on his beard while thinking. “Yes, I hadn’t
thought of that strategy. You’re right.” He chewed more. “Yes. A core of young
apothecaries not yet stuck in the rut of their profession is the perfect place
to start. I can put them to work experimenting with distillation, differential
precipitations and extractions, elementary thermodynamics . . .”

Yozef
lost Maera, as he ruminated in what she assumed were English words.

Well,
she
thought,
looks like it’ll definitely be four departments.

Five
minutes later, Yozef remembered Maera was in the room, and he realized another
problem.

“All
these ideas are wonderful, but there’s a stumbling block. The number of new
scholastics will need to be larger. The abbot and I talked about twenty-five as
all we could support to begin. I now think the number may need to go higher, perhaps
forty or more. I doubt the abbey can help more, and I’d have to check with
Cadwulf on the conditions of my enterprises to see how much more I could do.”

“That
shouldn’t be a problem,” Maera said. “I’ll write to Father and describe the university
idea, offering reasons it would be advantageous for Keelan. You can write up a
summary of your ideas, and we can get Abbot Sistian to write a supporting
letter. I’m sure we can arrange for additional coin to reach the forty scholastics
you believe is a better number to start with.”

Yozef
stared at his wife. “Maera, and this is meant as a compliment, having you
around is like having more hours in the day or even a second me. Too often, I
come up with ideas I don’t have time to implement, and sometimes I’m simply bad
at carrying through on plans. With you to help, I’m wondering if I’ve
underestimated what’s possible.”

The
rest of the meal and the evening, they were two colleagues planning a grand
venture.

“Unfortunately,
we won’t have access to more knowledge outside of Caedellium,” she rued.

“Damned
Narthani again!” said Yozef. “Why do so many things have to keep coming back to
them?”

“We
all pray they’ll be gone someday. Until then, we can only do what we can do.
And what we can do now is establish your university.”

Yozef
sat back in his chair and scowled. “As good as all this sounds, someone needs
to be in charge, a head of the project and the university itself. I don’t have
time to do what I’m already involved in, so someone else would need to lead
this. I’ll have to find someone to . . .” The solution was obvious before he
finished the sentence. “Maera, is there any reason
you
couldn’t lead the
university project?”

“Me?
I’m not even a scholastic.”

“The
leader of the university doesn’t have to be a scholastic. Often they are, but
it’s not required. What’s needed is someone to lead, plan, and keep everything
organized. I can’t imagine anyone better than you to get the project started.
You’re smart enough to talk to scholastics in different areas, even if you
don’t know details of their studies. Moreover, I’ve heard the abbot say you’re
almost a scholastic in your own right on Caedellium history and customs. You’re
the hetman’s daughter and the wife of the man providing much of the coin. Who
else would be better?”

Maera
sat considering. As seconds passed, he could see her face slowly flush, her
eyes dance, one hand stroking her chin faster and faster. “I can do it. Woman
are not usually in such leadership roles, although it’s not unheard of. Think
of Diera being the lead medicant at St. Sidryn’s.” She pounded a fist into the
other palm, raised both hands shoulder high, and almost danced in her chair. “I
know
I can do it.” She was talking to herself, her eyes focused on a
distance. “I can hold my own with any scholastic. I’m the hetman’s daughter and
the wife of Yozef Kolsko, so by those alone I have to be taken seriously. And
by Merciful God, it sounds exciting!”

She
jumped from her chair and hopped into Yozef’s lap, plopping a kiss on her
surprised husband’s lips. “Yes, yes, I can do this, and I
want
to do it!
Oh, Yozef, what an opportunity! It’s something important that can be
mine
.
Even with you and Father supporting me, if it succeeds everyone will
acknowledge Maera Kolsko-Keelan. Thank you, husband!”

Approval
of additional funds came a sixday later from Hetman Keelan, and Maera formally
became Chancellor of the University of Abersford. They agreed that the four
planned departments each needed a leader. To begin, Cadwulf would lead Applied
Mathematics, Diera Biology and Medicine, Maera History and Societies, and Yozef
Apothecary and Chemistry. As the university staff grew, each could relinquish
leadership once the department was established and a suitable candidate
identified.