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  "Noll's brother Ephaim put him up to that, I think," Ruhl said, his gaze obviously searching past memory. "The post was one that Ephaim wanted for his own candidate, so he had his brother Sembrin block the only other candidate. But it was Sembrin's choice as to how to do the blocking, so he chose the way he liked best. Ruining people's reputations seemed to be a hobby of his."

  "The more I hear about Noll, the better I like him," the woman Issini said dryly, then she turned to Asri. "And what did the Noll woman do to you?"

  "She … was very cruel," Asri answered hesitantly, and then she seemed to brace up as she looked directly at the other woman. "She said it was lucky that I had no talent at all, or my prettiness wouldn't have helped me. Men of real importance disliked stubborn women, but they were willing to overlook the stubbornness if there was nothing in the way of talent behind the attitude."

  Kail felt startled that Asri would mention to these strangers the one point of her life that disturbed her the most. Asri looked almost defiant, as though she waited to be rejected because of her lacks. Kail was prepared to put an arm around Asri in support, but he suddenly found himself startled for the second time.

  "Lack of talent?" Driffin echoed with abrupt and unexplained interest as he exchanged glances with the others at the table. "Did you all hear that? Asri supposedly has no talent, but I'm now remembering that Idresia's man said these two were found not far from here. They 'just happened' to locate the neighborhood of the only people in the city who could give them a true welcome… Would anyone care to guess how unlikely that is?"

  "That's an excellent point, Driff," Idresia said from where she stood near the stove, her expression seemingly filled with delight. "I'll bet Asri was the one who wanted to come in this direction. Isn't that right, Kail?"

  "Well, as a matter of fact, she did say we ought to come this way," Kail admitted without thinking, completely confused about what these strangers might be talking about. "But that doesn't really mean anything, any more than her lack of talent makes Asri less of a person. She - "

  "Less of a person!" Driffin echoed again, now looking really amused. "You've been away from the city a long time, haven't you? You obviously missed the great revelation, so it gives me quite a lot of pleasure to tell you two that Asri doesn't lack talent at all. She's clearly someone who has the sixth talent, and wasn't taken in with the others because she was a member of the nobility."

  "What are you talking about?" Kail demanded, disturbed over the way Asri now sat staring at Driffin as though what she'd heard was too good to believe. "If there was a sixth talent, the Astindans would have told us about it. I don't know what you think you're playing at, but - "

  "Engreath, the Astindans don't yet know about the sixth talent," Ruhl put in gently, and Kail could feel himself being calmed. "Driff told me that it was the sixth talent that let our Seated Blending defeat the Astindans when they came here to destroy the city. The sixth talent is Sight magic."

  "Those with Sight magic hid out among the supposedly untalented," Driffin added just as gently while Kail sat with his mouth open, gripped in mild shock. "They were afraid to let anyone find out about their talent, since they knew without doubt that the nobles would have made slaves of them. The current Seated Blending somehow managed to have a Sight magic member as one of them, and after they won against all comers the people with the sixth talent revealed themselves."

  "And now it's time for you two to eat," Idresia said as she put plates in front of Kail and Asri. "Revelations sit better on full stomachs."

  "Is what you just said really true?" Asri asked the others, ignoring the plate of food in front of her. "I'm really not useless and I do have a talent? I don't have to give up my baby because he isn't untalented either?"

  "No, my dear, you're really not untalented," Driffin said with a warm and reassuring smile. "The fact that you're sitting here being told about it ought to be proof enough of that. If you were an ordinary talent I might not be certain about your son, but since you have Sight magic the chances are excellent that he has the same. We'll have to wait until he gets old enough to speak before we can be certain, but I'm very optimistic."

  Asri began to cry then, but the way she laughed at the same time kept Kail from being overly disturbed. Her tears were ones of relief, and if Kail didn't understand exactly how she felt, no one in the world did.

  "The Astindans are still requiring 'the untalented' to give up their equally 'untalented' children?" Ruhl asked after a moment, faint surprise in the question. "I would have thought that they'd learned the truth by now."

  "They don't seem to have," Kail confirmed as he began to give his omelet some attention. "I suppose I might as well admit now that we were sent to Astinda with the rest of our former peers, but we did well enough that we were given the chance to earn Astindan citizenship. I was in the midst of doing just that when Asri was told that she would be best off giving up her 'untalented' son. That's when we decided to come back here."

  "What sort of thing were you doing there?" Idresia asked as she returned with two cups of tea. "Is it anything you could do here as well?"

  "I'd love to do the same here," Kail answered ruefully after he swallowed a delicious bite of omelet. "A group of us were looking into new uses of talent, and we came up with a number of good ideas. If you know of any High talents who would be willing to help out, I'll be glad to share what we came up with."

  "We'll accept that offer, but not right now," Driffin said after exchanging odd glances with the others. "Among other things, we have the Nolls and their plans to worry about. Those renegades have almost a hundred and fifty men to do their dirty-work for them, and we don't want to see any innocents hurt by their hired bullies. If you'd like to give us a hand with that project, we'd be happy to have you."

  "I suddenly have the feeling that we'll be of more help to you than you expect," Asri said, the food on her fork ignored as she stared elsewhere. "Does the feeling have anything to do with my … talent?"

  "It certainly does," Driffin agreed at once as he leaned forward with obvious interest. "That's what Sight magic is, being able to see into the future. Do you see any details to go along with the feeling?"

  "Not really," Asri answered, sighing as she now looked at the forkful of food. "Obviously my talent isn't as … full as I'd hoped it would be."

  "That's what you think," Driffin disagreed as quickly as he'd spoken a moment ago. "Being able to see into the future at all is nothing less than incredible, so being disappointed that there aren't all sorts of details to go along with the sight is downright silly. You might not think you're doing much, but you have to remember that it's a lot more than the rest of us can do."

  "I knew there was a reason I would like you," Asri said to Driffin with a warm smile and a bit of amusement. "Thank you for saying that."

  "Believe me, it's my pleasure," Driffin returned with his own amusement as he watched Asri begin to eat with as much enthusiasm as Kail already showed. "But if I recall correctly, Issini said she had a plan we could use against Noll's men. I'd like you to listen to that plan, Asri, and then tell us if you get any 'feelings' about it."

  Asri nodded her agreement as she chewed, clearly enjoying the omelet as much as Kail did. Idresia was a really fine cook, and the food was excellent.

  "I don't yet have all the details of my plan, but here's the outline," Issini said with a smile for everyone. "If one of you has a suggestion or something you'd like to add, please speak right up. The only thing I haven't really thought of a way to do is see the renegades' faces when they hear about what we mean to arrange."

  At first Kail considered that an odd comment to make, but once he heard Issini's idea he quickly agreed. It would be worth quite a lot to see Noll's face when he learned what his plans had come to, or rather what they would come to. Kail finished his food quickly as he began to apply himself to the task of refining Issini's plan, and even Asri joined in with complete eagerness. The talk went on for quite a while, but Dereth's wa
king up hungry put a temporary halt to the discussion.

  "Do you two actually have a place to stay?" Idresia asked as Asri began to soothe her son. "If not, there's another empty apartment here in the warehouse. Edmin and Issini have all but moved in, so you two - or three - might as well do the same."

  Kail exchanged a glance with Asri, seeing the smile and nod he'd expected to. He mirrored Asri's smile, and then turned to Idresia.

  "We haven't even been here two hours, but for some odd reason I feel completely at home," Kail said, looking around at the others as well. "I believe Asri agrees with me, so we'll happily accept your offer. I'll admit I never expected anything like meeting you four, but I'm very glad that we did."

  "And we're glad we kidnapped you," Driffin said as the others smiled. "Your suggestions about Issini's plan will make the plan stronger, and we'd better not wait to put it into effect. Since the renegade can move onto the next stage of his own plans at any time, we need to be ready."

  "I'll show you both to the apartment, and you can get some rest," Idresia said as she stood. "When I've gotten my people arranged into groups, we'll meet again and see if any of us have come up with additions or changes to the plan."

  Kail joined Asri in nodding agreement as they stood, and then the two of them followed Idresia out. He hadn't been lying about how comfortable and safe he felt, and that despite his suspicions when they'd first arrived. These people were not lying or intending to use Asri and him, Kail was willing to bet his life on that opinion. He'd had to leave his good new life in Astinda, but it looked like he might have traded something good for something incredibly great…

  Chapter Three

  Lord Sembrin Noll sat in his study, enjoying the book he'd decided to read. He'd been enjoying quite a lot of things these past days, not the least of which was the return of his ability in Spirit magic. His ability wasn't all that strong, but having even a weak talent was better than having none at all.

  Just a short time ago the thought of having had to do without his talent would have enraged Sembrin, but he'd had a number of days of pleasure which had soothed his need to feel rage. His loving wife Bensia and their children had kept him under their control for quite a long time, but Sembrin had gotten his hands on some of the drug Puredan and now had his devoted family under his control.

  "And they've all paid quite a lot for what they did to me," Sembrin murmured, the memories making him smile. He now used Bensia every time the mood took him, her own interest being entirely secondary. And he did what he pleased to her, a good deal of which she most certainly did not enjoy. That last was a terrible shame, of course, but Bensia had no choice about cooperating. The Puredan saw to that…

  "And my darling children are much more polite these days," Sembrin murmured again, enjoying those memories as well. He'd punished all of them, more harshly than had ever been done, and now they gave him every courtesy as well as complete obedience. Sembrin's family life had finally become a delight, and his public life would surely soon become the same.

  A knock came at Sembrin's study door, pulling him out of his thoughts. When he called out permission to enter, the door opened to show Jost Feriun, the commander of the men Sembrin had brought into the city to help him gain control of the city.

  "All the men have now reported back, my lord," Feriun said as he entered and closed the door behind himself. "I've spoken to them, and have their reports for you."

  "Your expression isn't the victorious one I was expecting, Feriun," Sembrin observed aloud as he put his book aside. "Did something keep the men from putting on their little plays in the taverns and dining parlors? Too many city guards around, perhaps?"

  "No, my lord," Feriun said, stopping in front of Sembrin's desk without making an effort to sit in one of the chairs. "Each set of the men was able to … put on their play in two of the chosen locations, but the reaction they got was so far from the expected one that they decided against trying a third location before reporting back for orders."

  "How different could the reactions have been?" Sembrin asked with a frown. "When people complain about being taken advantage of with a large crowd around them and someone else pipes up to agree, there will always be some fool in the crowd who also agrees. All that agreement makes the rest of the crowd think, and they believe what they heard even if they've experienced the exact opposite of the claim themselves."

  "I'm afraid it didn't work like that at any of the locations," Feriun returned sourly. "Instead of some fool in the crowd coming forward to agree with our men, the fool in each instance came forward to disagree. And to make matters worse, the fools forced the rest of the crowd to agree with them instead of our men. Since the fools didn't have to get anyone to change his mind, the agreement they got was a lot more certain and forceful."

  "And none of your marvelous men thought of accusing the fool of being a tool of the government before knocking him unconscious?" Sembrin demanded, hearing the growl his voice had become. "Do you have any more excuses about why your men ruined what I'd thought was a foolproof plan? Obviously, incompetents have the ability to destroy any plan, no matter how good."

  "One of my men did try to stop the fool from the crowd," Feriun stated, all but interrupting Sembrin in mid-tirade. "He would have stomped the fool into the floor, but there were off-duty guardsmen in the tavern who made it clear what would happen if my man did as you suggested. Did you really want him to be arrested and questioned by members of the government?"

  "Since his being arrested would have helped us enormously, of course I didn't want him to be arrested," Sembrin returned dryly, leaning back in his chair to study the commander of his forces. "The other two men could then have pointed out that the guardsmen were arresting people to keep them from speaking against the government, and the only one being protected by the guardsmen was the tool of that very government. If you'd chosen intelligent men the way I'd ordered you to, they wouldn't have missed the opportunity."

  "You consider it an opportunity to put one of our people in the hands of the government?" Feriun came back, and the man actually had the nerve to sound disdainful. "If you do, I could always send a letter to the authorities telling them exactly what we're trying to do. That way the authorities will have the same information without our having to sacrifice one of our very few men."

  "How dare you be sarcastic with me when you're admitting that one of your men would betray us?" Sembrin demanded, his anger rising. "You weren't supposed to send out anyone weak, and now you're telling me - "

  "Where have you been, Lord Sembrin?" Feriun demanded in turn, actually having the nerve to interrupt his superior. "The government has Highs in Spirit magic, people who can make anyone tell everything they're involved with. If one of our men was taken, the man would talk no matter how strong and loyal he was. You can't tell me you didn't know that."

  Sembrin wanted to snap at Feriun in the same way the man had done with him, but sudden unease kept him silent. Of course he'd known that the government had High talents, but for some reason he'd dismissed the knowledge. For some reason he'd been picturing anyone arrested being questioned in an ordinary way, possibly with the help of someone with Earth magic to apply a bit of coercion. Then it came to him why he'd dismissed the matter.

  "Feriun, you've just demonstrated why you're no more than hired help," Sembrin said with a haughty sneer, making the words as cutting as possible. "Using a High talent to force people to talk is something we would do, but the peasants in the government are much too wholesome and pure to do the same. In their own eyes they're good people, and good people don't do awful things like invade the privacy of others. I thought you would have realized that by now."

  "Depending on the government having that kind of outlook doesn't strike me as being wise, my lord," Feriun answered after something of a hesitation. "If even one of the people in charge doesn't care about being considered 'good,' then we'll be betrayed even if the man involved has no desire to betray us."

  "Why don't you let
me worry about that, Feriun?" Sembrin said, now trying to soothe the man. "And while I'm doing the worrying, you can be getting other men together to try the plan again. And this time choose men who are adaptable, men who can think on their feet. I want the necessary rumors circulating throughout the city before we go to the next step of the plan. Do you understand me?"

  "Yes, my lord, I understand," Feriun said, sounding and looking as though he would have preferred to say something else entirely. "I'll choose the men, and send them out again tomorrow."

  "Good," Sembrin said with a smile. Feriun performed a small bow before turning and leaving, and once the door was closed Sembrin lost his smile.

  "The man's a damned fool," he growled under his breath, feeling the urge to break something. "Imagine, someone like him trying to do the thinking for someone like me. If I had anyone at all I could put in his place…"

  But there wasn't anyone to take Feriun's place, no one all the men would take orders from the way they did with this man. Sembrin knew he would have to put up with Feriun's old-womanish fears until the plans worked, but afterward would be a different story. Feriun would pay for the disrespect he'd shown today, not to mention the way he'd ruined Sembrin's good mood. Now Sembrin needed something to retrieve that good mood…

  "And I think I know just what that should be," Sembrin murmured, rising from his chair as soon as the thought came to him. "Bensia will certainly be delighted to help me, and the diversion will put me in an even better mood."

  Sembrin left his study with the intention of asking the servants where Bensia was, but asking quickly became unnecessary. The large sitting area near the dining room contained Bensia and their oldest son Travin, the two standing and talking. Part of the orders Sembrin had given his family was to behave as normally as possible, and it pleased him to see how well they obeyed.

  "Bensia, my dear, how fortunate to find you so easily," Sembrin said as he approached the two, which immediately drew their full attention. "Travin, I'm sure you have tasks to occupy you, so please go on about those tasks. There's a different chore your mother needs to see to."