The Mountain Dancer

Chapter 17: Shaynike & Ellawek

Shaynike was the sixth member of the council.

Ella directed her to an empty seat beside a gangly, moon-faced girl, and then pointed at Shay.

“You – Shaynike Cliffland. Newly appointed Songmaster of my council. Responsible for the musical arrangement. You report to Affsol Bindwater.” The witch rotated her pointing arm towards the boy with the funny accent, without taking her eyes off of Shay.

“Affsol Bindwater. Wondermentalist of my council. Responsible for sparkling toys, glammers, and other such foolishness. Also responsible for ensuring the decorations and stylings sync with said foolishness, your arrangements and the feast. He reports to me. Say hi, Affsol.”

“Allo-a, Shaynike, I say to you, Ellawek here is just a rose in a field of weeds, a beacon to guide us, for we are but pups-a lost! Lost an wander –”

“Affsol has trouble with basic hellos.” Ellawek said. “Come to me if you can’t interpret his blathering.” Affsol smiled hugely in response. She swung her finger back across the table to the moon-faced girl beside Shay.

“WeeSeu Castflint. Newly appointed Decorator of my council. Responsible for visual coordination, colour placements, etcetera. She reports to Affsol.” The girl gave Shay a curious look and bowed her head. Shay nodded back. Ellawek swung her arm back over to the boy beside Affsol.

“Eckfay Corebound. Master of Ceremonies of my council. Responsible for stirring up excitement in the academy leading up to the Dance, not that that’s necessary at all. Most importantly, he will host the Dance itself. He reports to me. Eckfay?”

“Nice to meet you, Shaynike,” he said cordially. She seemed to remember the chubby, sandy haired pupil doing some public broadshard stuff earlier in the year. He had a wonderful voice.

“You too,” she replied, suddenly conscious about how her own voice might sound.

The pointing hand swung again, to the even chubbier pupil beside Ellawek.

“Bellajak Brickkeep. Assistant Caterer of my council. Responsible for resource management and channeling advanced Cropforth for the feast. Direct line to the kitchen advisors. Your direct report in my absence. Xe reports to me.”

The non-gendered pupil grunted a greeting towards Shay. She wondered why xe had such a feminine name, but supposed that was a question for xer guide parent.

“Hey,” Shay said, and tossed in a little wave.

Ellawek finally turned her finger inward. “Me. Ellawek Boulderin. Head Caterer. Responsible for the menu, and responsible for all of you. Any questions?”

About five thousand, Shay thought, but Affsol spoke up before she could say anything: “Ah yes Pupil Boulderin ah, I am not so sure, whose council is this exactly, I say?”

Eckfay and Bellajak both smiled, and Ella’s lip also twitched, almost as if to suppress a grin herself. She didn’t bother to look at Affsol, but instead kept her eyes on Shay. “Any questions from Pupil Cliffland?”

She gathered her thoughts, and tried to speak pointedly, like she supposed Ella would appreciate. “I am new here, and not so experienced with musical arrangement. I will probably need to learn quite... quite a bit between now and the Dance.” She realized with a sudden jolt of regret that she had failed to actually ask a question.

But Ella just nodded. “And so you shall. It should be a decent enough challenge for our Crown Academic. WeeSeu and Advisor Risper will be useful to you, given their birthrights. Maybe even Affsol, given his wide range of mostly useless talents.”

“I am always-a humming something, yes!” he said.

Still feeling refreshed by her trip through the waterway, and emboldened by the encouraging response, Shay ventured the main question that had concerned her. “Head Caterer Boulderin? Um, can I just ask one more thing?”

“Why did I pick you?”

The witch’s bluntness was going to take some getting used to. Shay nodded back across the table.

“Jaynek Standfast was my original Decorator. Her guide parent was the one slain in the drainworks.” Ellawek glanced around the table, to shocked expressions. Even Affsol’s smile was gone. “That is confidential, by the way. She, understandably, was unable to continue with the council. WeeSeu was the next logical choice, so I promoted her from Songmaster to Decorator, leaving the position open.”

Ella paused, seeming to weigh her next words carefully. “Certain, opinions... felt that having a Crown Pupil on the council would be beneficial to the Dance. I agreed. When you were announced as uncontested for Academic, the choice became obvious. Songmaster responsibilities are not necessarily as difficult as others, and you have already proven a knack for learning.”

Not as important as others, you mean, Shay thought, but did not dare voice it. She knew that many other pupils would probably gladly render their own kin for a shot to be on the council.

“Got it. Thank you. For choosing me I mean.” Speak more clearly, Shay, she reminded herself.

“Yes,” Ella responded. Then: “Any more questions? Affsol excluded.”

No one spoke.

“Good. Come to me, now. We need to catch up.”

Shay watched the other pupils’ eyes begin to glow green, and had to do a double take when she saw the yellow light radiating from WeeSeu beside her. Then she fired off her probe, caught Ellawek’s mindtether, and found her senses being transported to the room on the top of the spire.