Oasiss cheerfulness is akin to Balas but it's not accompanied by clumsiness. Clumsy children just dont survive in an urban jungle.
Jarmin Fredery-Alan. The youngest of the ten. He is only six. His little sword looks like a cute toy even though its rather sharp. His master Kangassk Eugenia hasnt had time to teach her little apprentice much yet but she loves him with all her heart like her own son.
Things took a bad turn after Juel made a cruel joke about Jarmin. The little boy burst into tears.
Hey you, boar! Leave the kid alone! Orion stepped up. That was brave and rather reckless of him, considering the difference in size and weight between him and the Faizul.
Jarmin ran up to his protector, hid his face in Orions sleeve and started bawling even louder. Jovib gently ruffled the childs yellow hair.
No true Lifekeeper would hurt a child, Lainuver joined Orion with a menacing sneer.
Friends, friends, please, lets not fight in the holy place! Bala jumped from his seat and stood between the rivals with his hands widely spread in a pleading gesture.
Juel and Orion exchanged looks. Faizul was fuming; the pirates descendant was smiling; but neither of them was going to forget the incident.
Meanwhile, the unseen hierarchy was rearranging itself behind their backs, some sympathies shifting to Juels side, the others to Orions.
The rivals did drop the matter, just like Bala was pleading them to do, but only for now.
Wipe your tears, young warrior. Its all right now, said Orion to the crying boy. Just wait until you grow up! Then you can beat all the shit out of this stupid boar. I bet he wont be so brave when youre his size. Do you like stories? Maps? How about we find the biggest world map in this library and make some plans for our future journey?
That did cheer little Jarmin up. Several minutes later, he was sitting on the lap of his new friend and looking at the biggest map he had ever seen. It even included some territories that most other maps just ignored: Faizul lands, for example.
The other boys, Juel and Irin excluded, crowded around the map as well, pointing at various cities they had visited with their masters and sharing their stories. Balas and Oasiss stories were the best.
Bala had even visited Kuldagan once. When he was telling about it, everyone listened to him with bated breath; in Balas stories, Kuldagan Desert seemed a wonderful alien world full of wonders.
Oasis adventures in Lumenik Hive made everyone laugh. Like any good storyteller, he knew which words to choose when he saw the audience. He could have easily told the boys very truthful horror stories from his past life if they were in the mood for that kind of entertainment. But for now, he just wanted to cheer everyone up. And he did. Even Kosta and Milian snapped out of their gloomy mood and looked genuinely interested.
When Oasis stepped out of the spotlight, it was their turn to shine. Two wide intersecting circles going through all the map prompted a question about Horas, the magical stabilizers, and there Kosta and Milian, the bookish boys, were the experts.
Excited, Milian even took a dried up diadem fruit out of his pocket and slashed it with his pen-knife to illustrate his story better.
Imagine that this dry tail here is Hora Solaris and this bump on the side is Hora Lunaris and there is a stabilizing field around each of them. If you leave just one Hora in the world, its influence will cover all the planet Milian was explaining, his eyes full of lively interest.
Itll detonate, said Kosta sceptically and rested his head on his hand, thoughtful. I read that someone had tried that in the past. Things went boom.
I know! I was getting to it! Milian waved the argument aside. So hypothetically! if we leave just one Hora, its influence will cover the whole planet. But if we add another, the tension between them will create a nice belt of a border dividing the planet into two magically stable halves. Intersecting circles don't show that! That said, he drew a perfectly straight border between the tail and the bump. A crunch followed; two sugary halves of the fruit fell to the floor.
The canonic way to draw the border has its practical use, Pai Prior, the only practising mage among the ten, joined the discussion. The strength of a Hora grows weaker as we move away from it. On the opposite side of the planet, it must be so weak that it fails to stabilize magic at all. And there, between the Horas, their influences conflict with each other, creating anomalies. Its always good to know where your spells may randomly start exploding.
Bravo, colleagues! Orion snapped his fingers. You are both right! Let us proceed!
Scientific lingo mixed with ordinary clowning around did the trick, making everyone involved in the discussion laugh.
Juel and Irin didnt join in the fun. They sat on the opposite side of the long table and talked about Faizul battle tactics. Orion wanted to comment on the topic by describing said tactics as Smash them with da ax!!! but restrained himself. It was neither the time nor the place to add fuel to the fire.
The library had a tall, arched ceiling made from a single dark crystal, black on the inside and transparent on the outside. A balcony going around the crystalline structure offered a great view on the hall below that looked like a deep, sunlit well to the observers. Thanks to the wonderful acoustics of the place, the observers could perfectly hear everything that happened in the library.
Not a single word escaped the ears of ten Kangassks and their father standing on the balcony. They heard Juels cruel joke and Jarmins crying; Milians emotional lecture and Pais arguments; all the anger, all the laughter, everything.
Everyone had learned something while watching their own and their siblings apprentices that day. Sainar learned even more for he was keeping track of his childrens reactions as well. He saw Abadar frown at Juels actions and Lar grin at Orions. He saw Eugenia clench her fists when her Jarmin started to cry.
Father! Eugenia turned to him when she could no longer keep silent. You cant be serious about sending him on a mission! Jarmin is only six! I beg you: wait for a few years or at least dont send him with the others!
My daughter, said Sainar in a soft but relentless tone and stroked her hair like a little childs, everyone is equal in the eyes of destiny. Often, its the smallest and the weakest one that gets chosen. Also, dont you see: he has his own protectors now!
That was when Jarmin was crying while hiding his face in Orions sleeve.
Chapter 2. The liars speech
Warriors on the Lifekeeper path are confident and level-headed. They know the difference between love and lust, learning and mindless parroting, truth and lie, loyalty and fanaticism. Warriors of the Order of Hot Obsidian build their lives upon the same foundation. The Order is no place for mindless fanatics!
Sainarnemershghan Saidonatgarlyn. Neophytes handbook.
Sainar made his speech right before dawn in a large, dimly lit hall. They must concentrate on my voice. Yes, my voice, and not on my face
Preparing the speech took Sainar a long time. Never before had the man whose words were strong enough to make a worldholder angry had to prepare his speeches beforehand. Whether he spoke as Hansai Donal or in his own name, he always spoke from his heart. Sainars words had always been a pure fire: passionate, straightforward, honest, and enhanced with his ambasiath power. But now