The Mountain Dancer

Chapter 34: Sila & Shaynike

If she hadn’t wandered into the feast house and overheard some of the gossip, she might not have known at all. The small probes she had in the public mindtether had been very quiet of late. Or they had started to fail. Either way, she had taken the lull in activity as an opportunity to distance herself from the academy for a while so that she didn’t become too regular of a visitor. The occasional tutoring sessions with Rekness were routine enough, and while she staggered her methods of entry, any edgy Fistshield or astute Stateguard could decide to pry.

So she explored Tomecliff Pass itself when she wasn’t earning her room and board at the community house. She noted the dead ends, the pattern of the sewer lines, the most common footpaths between points of interest. But on occasion, she sometimes just wanted a decent meal. Being in Massus, it was hardly a chore to find a feast house with high credentials. She treated herself to one of the finer Summittask places with a good view of the town.

It was there, while she was enjoying a fine wine and watching the sunset from the balcony, that she heard two academy advisors chuckling over the damned Crown Artyss and his latest escapade. She hadn’t felt Daxill being brought down at all, but it prompted her to investigate. The next day, she risked a brief shard with her contact at the academy to get a better sense of what happened, but they knew little more than the advisors she had eavesdropped on.

The only clue that something might be amiss, other than boyish recklessness, was the little white poem book. She found it in their blue book cave, meaning he had been there outside of their regular schedule. Why didn’t I feel anything come down? she had wondered (and wondered still). She supposed he might have had some other reason to try and find her, but her instincts told her otherwise.

So she had impatiently waited out Rek’s confinement, keeping her distance from the academy. She traded exploring Tomecliff Pass for attempting to strengthen her stealth connection with the mindtether, without much success. Time felt like it was starting to run out, even though there were still five weeks left until the Mountain Dance.

But now, as the sharp little Crown Academic recounted the story of their book-quest, Sila found herself becoming more and more confident that they were on the right track. The rules fit. She hadn’t felt Daxill come down because it apparently wasn’t even in the mindtether, if the part about the moonlight was true. Daxill had been curled up inside that sail book itself.

Sila made all the right faces as Shaynike went through the details. Rek nodded along with her, occasionally adding a piece or correcting a description. When they were done, she closed her eyes for a few long moments. She was back sitting on the couch with the pupils, cozied up in the opposite corner.

She waited for one of them to say something.

“So, what do you think?” It was Rekness.

Sila took a breath, held it, let it out. “Sounds pretty unbelievable to me. It’s ill luck to play tricks on visitors, you know.”

“It happened! I swear it did,” said Rek. His voice was tinged with confusion, and his eyes betrayed impatience. He’s wondering why I’m putting on the little wonderment, she thought.

“Hey, if I just heard that, I’d think we were nuts too,” Shaynike said.

And if he’d just look to his left for a second, he’d have his answer. Sila took another breath, hoping that the boy could be trusted to keep his Bayth-blasted tongue.

“What happened to the book? You called it Oceanic Mappings? I’d be very interested to see it,” Sila said.

“Oh, I don’t know. I guess maybe the Fistshields took it?”