Tessili Academy (2 page)

Jey let her cry. She seemed to recall crying
like this herself from time to time, though she couldn’t think why
she might have done such a thing. She stroked the disarrayed hair
and waited.

After a time, the girl’s sobbing quieted.
She sniffled. Jey was aware she was quite late by now, and perhaps
her dress was mussed as well. She said, “Your name is Bea?”

The girl was kneeling on the ground, leaning
against Jey’s legs. Now she separated herself and glared up with
red-rimmed eyes. “My name is Frani.” Her tone was fierce. “I want
my mother.”

Something stirred deep inside Jey’s mind.
She seemed to hear an echo, seemed to recall her own childish voice
saying those exact words.
I want my …. My name is ….

Her tessila landed on her shoulder and made
his slinking way down her sleeve, pausing to regard the girl with
his brilliant eye. The child went very still at the sight of him.
“Do you have your tessila yet?” Jey knew she did not, of course,
but it seemed an easy way to change the subject.

The girl shook her head. “I want one,
though.”

Jey found herself reciting part of the
sermon Peia Garot had delivered on Apex. “Delari, the goddess of
bounty, brings us what we are prepared to receive.”

The girl’s small brows lowered, but she said
nothing. Then the sound of footsteps rang through the quiet
cloister. The girl flinched, half turning as three orderlies strode
in from the quad. Professor Dail had called for reinforcements.

“Ah, you found her,” one of the young men
said. The three stepped onto the lawn.

For a moment, Jey feared the girl would run
again. But she only sat, hollow eyed, as the men drew near. Two of
them stopped a few paces away while the third continued forward. He
crouched down in the grass, fumbling in the pouch at his waist. He
brought out the small, glass tube of a single dose spritzer. He
held it to the girl’s nose. Suddenly docile, the child didn’t
resist. He squeezed the plunger, she inhaled the mist. He patted
the girl’s hand. “There now, Bea. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

The orderly stood, straightening his tan
robes. He glanced at Jey, but said nothing. Jey remembered, with a
strange, surprised rush, her own orderly. Like this man, he’d been
young, with light hair and a shy smile. She felt a strange tug in
her chest. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen him, or
what his name had been.

Bea wiped her eyes and rose to her feet. The
sun was growing warmer now. Jey was aware she should get to class.
She watched the girl walk across the grass, one foot bare, the
other slipper stained with damp dirt. As two of the orderlies split
off and headed back to the quad, Bea and the third man disappeared
through the heavy doors that led into the initiate’s hall.

Jey stood, smoothing her dress. As she
turned to go, she spotted the missing slipper at the base of a
column. She walked to it and picked it up. It was soft and light in
her hand.

She was about to follow the girl and her
orderly, to return the slipper, when the flashnode at the top of
the column went off. Its brilliant light flared in Jey’s eyes.

Her thoughts dissolved into white snow.

•••

Jey stood in the dorm cloister, holding a
child’s slipper in her hand. She stared at the object in mild
wonder. She blinked, unable to imagine why she would have such a
thing. She stood for a time, turning it over in her hands. It was
so small. Her tessila crept down her arm, flicking his quick tongue
at the embroidered side.

She was still standing like this when
Professor Liam strode into the cloister. He walked through the
propped open doors from the quad, glancing up and down the long
space until he saw her. Then he took a few quick strides in her
direction. “Jey.” His tone was impatient. “What are you…” He broke
off, taking in the dull flashnode above her head and the small
slipper in her hand.

Professor Liam closed his eyes for one long
heartbeat. “Delari, grant me patience.” He muttered the words under
his breath. Then he approached. Gently, he took the slipper and set
it on a nearby bench. He wrapped his warm, firm fingers around her
wrist. He gave her a small tug. “It’s time for class now, Jey.”

When she didn’t move, he fell back beside
her. He set a hand on the small of her back. He guided her forward,
though she resisted at first. It seemed to Jey there was something
she should remember.

All around her, the cloister was quiet. The
columns threw their long shadows. One or two early tessili stirred
in the bushes.
I want my …. My name is ….

But the thoughts faded. By the time they
reached the doors to the quad, Jey was moving on her own energy. A
few steps later, Professor Liam let his hand fall away. They walked
together, not speaking, towards his classroom.

Jey woke to a hand on her shaking her
shoulder. She opened her eyes and knew she was not in her own
room.

“Get up now, girl. It’s time for your
opportunity.” The voice that spoke was a smooth, neutral tenor. Jey
recognized it as belonging to Chim, one of the orderlies who
attended Handler Nylan. Chim carried a candle. Its small flame
danced and bobbed on its wick. Light pooled around the man’s chest.
The only other illumination in the room was the dull glow emitted
by the flashnode in the corner. It was full, but did not flash.
Which meant it must be disabled for the moment.

Jey sat up, recognizing the room now, too.
It was in the small complex attached to the deployment blocks. She
must have been instructed to sleep here instead of going to her
dorm room.

She didn’t remember this happening. But she
was used to that.

Yawning in the dark room, Jey put on the
clothing Chim handed her. A pair of dark leather leggings were
tight to get on but conformed to her shape once she had them laced
into place. A soft, clinging dark shirt and a dark leather vest
went on top. As she pulled on her dark gloves, Chim hung a long
dark cloak around her shoulders.

Chim took a moment to look her over, then
picked up his candle and turned to open the door. Jey glanced
around the room with a vain hope, but her tessila did not sneak out
of some hiding place to follow her. He’d have been kept back in the
academy. He always was when she had opportunities. She knew that.
She could feel the dull ache in her chest that meant he was not
near. She left the room slowly, heart heavy with dread.

Outside the room, a dim corridor stretched
into the night. Chim moved quickly; Jey had to hurry to keep up.
They walked past the closed doors of more sleeping chambers, then
turned left.

Chim opened a door and held it for her. He
waited, indicating she should go ahead.

Jey stopped walking. Something shifted in
her chest. A thought rose, unbidden.
Don’t go. Don’t go
in.

“J114, get in here. And Chim, close that
door.” The words sounded in the room beyond the door in a tone Jey
knew well.

Jey didn’t move. Her heart was suddenly
pounding. Her mouth had gone dry.
Run.
The thought quivered
in her mind like a broken promise.

“Handler Nylan, you may need to help me
here.” Chim spoke in a careful, liquid tone. He removed a long,
slim wand from within his robes and held it in his hand. It looked
innocuous, but Jey knew it was not. “I don’t think you want me to
zap her right now.”

Handler Nylan appeared in the doorway, his
jaw set with irritation. His dark eyes raked over Jey in fierce
displeasure.

Run.
The thought came again. Jey
quivered, but she couldn’t move.

“Oh for the love of Priam.” The Handler
strode forward, grabbed Jey’s arm, shoved her sleeve up beyond her
elbow, and stabbed a needle into her flesh. He was so quick, so
rough, Jey did not have time to react. As Nylan dipped the plunger,
administering the injection, she saw the grid of silver scars on
the soft skin of her inner elbow, arrayed like a small galaxy
around the place where the needle pierced her skin.
From all the
shots.

Handler Nylan withdrew the needle and turned
to Chim. “I can take it from here.” The orderly tucked his stunrod
back into his robes, and withdrew.

Jey stood, rooted to her spot. Something was
happening. Her mind was clearing. Bit by bit, thoughts rose,
surfacing one after another, like popping bubbles. She blinked,
trying to contain it all as the old, fierce, familiar anger bloomed
through her.

Handler Nylan was watching her. There was a
lamp on the wall. His heartless eyes looked out at her from dark
sockets. “Now, J114, would you like to hear about your opportunity,
or will it be tonight that we kill your little beast?”

Jey closed her eyes in a rush of horrible
understanding. She remembered now. She remembered everything. This
was why they didn’t let her bring her tessila with her. Tonight, he
was a hostage, just as he had been so many times before.
Not my
tessila,
she thought,
Phril. His name is Phril. This time,
I
will
remember. I will remember at least that.

The opportunity was simple. Go to the house
of a nobleman, break into his room, and change his mind on the
subject of an upcoming vote that would be taken in the House of
Laws. Then, on the way home, stop at a farm and make a young man
fall out of love with a young woman. Jey received her assignments
with the accompanying sense of relief that came whenever she
realized she should be able to make it through her night’s work
without killing anyone.

She received her instructions in grim
silence. She had followed Nylan through the door Chim had opened.
On the other side was a deployment block. One wall of the large
room was covered in an elaborate weapon’s rack. A tall black horse
with no white markings stood in front of a large double door,
saddled and tied, straining a little on its rope to try to look
back at them. The room was outfitted with all kinds of supplies,
with everything from stout ropes and grappling hooks to elaborate
metal and glass spectacles that would allow a person to see far
into the distance. Jey could select anything she thought she might
need and take it with her.

Now, Nylan turned to take a ring down from
the wall. It seemed an innocuous thing, a slim band of pale silver.
As she watched, Nylan gripped the ring in both hands and pulled, so
the two halves separated. They came apart, but a line of blue
energy continued to snake between the separated ends, dancing and
writhing on the air. “The oath.” He held the separated bracelet
towards her.

Furious with herself for never being able to
find a way out of this, Jey stuck her hand between the two halves.
The blue light danced on the dark fabric of her shirt. She spoke
the words she so hated.

I will fulfill my given task. I will not
deviate from my path. I will seek to avoid all people. If I am
spoken to, I will not respond. I will make no attempt to
communicate with others using any method, or share with any living
creature anything I may know. Once I have left this place, I will
not pursue any other task, desire, or goal other than that which I
have been given until I have returned.

As Jey finished speaking, Nylan let his
hands open. The two halves of the bracelet snapped back together,
going solid around her wrist. Jey felt the shock as the spell took
hold.

She glared at Nylan, making no attempt to
hide the murder in her eyes. The irony of it was, it would be such
a simple thing for her to kill him. It would take only a moment.
They’d taught her the first half dozen ways to do it when she’d
been ten years old.

Nylan seemed to sense what she was thinking.
His grim face twitched into a dry smile. “You should thank me,
J114. Tomorrow I intend to finish persuading Dean Balist not to
move your graduation forward. That’s six whole months of life you
have me to thank for. You might consider showing a little
gratitude, for once.”

With a final, unpleasant twitch of his
mouth, Nylan strode from the room, saying over his shoulder, “You
have five hours.”

Whenever there was a light visible out in
the deployment block complex, Professor Liam found it difficult to
sleep. Tonight was no exception. It was a warm night, and breezy.
They were at the apex of the year. He had the windows open, his
chamber was stuffy with the heat.

Although Liam had tried several times to get
into bed, he was up now, pacing around his chamber. Outside, the
moon was a high, bright, and sliver. The grounds of the faculty
complex were full of swaying shadows. Of course, no matter how hard
he stared at the cobbled lane that ran away from the academy to the
gate that opened to the bridge that crossed the river—the only way
off the island—he never saw anyone coming or going on these nights.
They were too good for that, these girls. A fact he was partly to
thank for.

He thought of the girl, Jey, whom he’d found
holding a child’s slipper in the dorm cloister, standing there
staring at it when she should have been in his classroom. Unlike
many of the other professors, Liam called the girls by their
letter, as their orderlies called them and they called themselves.
Back when the academy had been full, there had been a fair bit of
overlap. Now, it wasn’t much of a problem.

He was worried about Jey. She was showing
symptoms, little stirrings, signs she was learning to fight the
drugs, the flashnodes, the elaborate lie that was the academy’s
daytime life. He knew the warnings, like everyone else who lived
beside these girls, day to day. The cardinal gauge was simple: “The
more the flashnodes affect them, the more dangerous they are.”

He’d seen Jey today – still as stone,
bemused, staring at that slipper as if she’d never seen one before.
What had happened before he’d arrived? He didn’t know – couldn’t
ask her.