Right. Time to visit Sinit?a, assuming Sinit?a was available. Felit?a nodded to Hedromornasta. I’m going to see my sister. Follow.

  “Felit?a!”

  Felit?a turned around. Down the hall, Corvinian came around the corner, holding the Staff of Sestin in one hand and supporting Agernon with the other. Agernon was leaning heavily on both Corvinian and his cane, and was limping slowly along.

  “Sorry we’re late,” Corvinian said. “Agernon was preparing a—”

  Agernon’s cane clacked loudly on the marble floor. “Hush, boy! Felit?a doesn’t need to be bored with excuses. We’re late. You’ve apologised. That’s enough.”

  “Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.”

  Damn. Felit?a had completely forgotten she had a meeting with Agernon. Good thing she’d been delayed by those communications. It would have been extremely embarrassing if they’d arrived while she was off somewhere else. Maybe it was time she accepted Anita’s offer to provide her with a servant whose whole duty was to keep track of her itinerary.

  She gave her best smile as they approached. “No problem. I was delayed with some communications anyway.” It was technically true.

  It took Agernon some time to traverse the distance to the library door, during which Felit?a did her best to resist asking what had happened. When he got to her and she took over supporting him from Corvinian, she couldn’t resist any longer. “What happened?”

  “It’s nothing of consequence,” Agernon snapped. “Like I told the boy, it’s bad enough we’re late. I’m not going to compound that by boring you with excuses.”

  “Of course. Are you sure you’re all right?”

  “I’m fine! Or I will be. Just a minor limp.”

  Felit?a helped him to a seat at the table.

  Corvinian tugged at her sleeve, and mouthed, “I’ll tell you later.”

  She gave him a smile and mouthed, “Thank you.” Aloud, she said, “You brought the Staff,” and took it from Corvinian. She looked it over, running a hand along the top and over the coiled serpent.

  “Yes,” Agernon said. “I’ve been trying to understand the connections for how the Pearl might be reattached. I figured when we’ve finished for today, I’ll stick around and do a bit more of that. It’s more comfortable here than at the Hall of Knowledge, even with…” He paused and looked over to Hedromornasta, who had taken his usual position in the corner. “With him here.”

  Felit?a looked at the Staff a little longer. One advantage of the shield around her was she didn’t have to hear the Staff’s incessant calling. She could hold it and enjoy blissful silence. Still, a part of her kind of missed the noise. She didn’t like admitting that to herself, seeing as its constant calling had made it difficult for her to sleep. It had started the exhaustion Plavistalorik had then made worse. If it hadn’t been for the Staff, Plavistalorik might not have gotten to her so easily.

  Yet its silence now also reminded her of the silence of everything else. She couldn’t detect Agernon’s annoyance at her desire to know what had happened to him, or the comfort at her concern he would never admit to.

  Almost reluctantly, Felit?a handed the Staff back to Corvinian, and sat at the table across from Agernon. “Shall we start?”

  Agernon pulled the Pearl out of a pouch and placed it on the table. “Is Zandrue joining us?”

  Felit?a shrugged. “I don’t know. Zandrue’s been...distracted recently.”

  Agernon harrumphed. “Typical. She was always unreliable. I don’t know how Elderaan put up with her all those years.”

  Felit?a grinned. “I made him.”

  “I always said he doted on you too much.” Agernon frowned at her, but after a moment, broke into a grin and laughed. “Far too much. Pick it up and concentrate.”

  Felit?a picked up the Pearl, held it in her outstretched palm, and stared at it.

  There was nothing particularly noteworthy about its appearance. It looked like nothing more than a pearl. It was a particularly fine pearl—perfectly smooth and spherical, a translucent white that would glint under the right lighting conditions. It didn’t quite sparkle the way the version in the Staff in her head would when it was there, but it was still very pretty. But that was the extent of its apparent specialness. It never did anything else.

  Agernon’s studies had revealed that it contained magic from five separate disciplines. Two were enchantment—required to make anything magical—and mentalism. He didn’t know what the other three were, but given the Pearl’s ability to transport people across large distances, one was presumably dimensions.

  But it never did anything. No matter how much she stared at it and tried to get it to respond. It was a bit like the Staff in that regard.

  After a few minutes, she sighed, and shook her head. “Still nothing.” She placed the Pearl back on the table.

  It had to be the shield stopping her.

  Except that didn’t quite explain it either. Dyle had been able to make it work, and unless he was hiding telepathic powers, it meant the Pearl could be used by anyone. But Zandrue hadn’t been able to get it work either. Nor had Agernon, nor anyone else they had brought in to try.

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  Agernon picked up the Pearl and traced a few equations on it. “I’m certain there are two aspects to its control. One is how you hold it. The other is just thinking in the right way. Try again. This time, close your hand around it.” He held out the Pearl to her.

  “We should get Mikranasta’s help,” Felit?a said.

  With a scowl, Agernon pulled the Pearl back from her. “Not a chance.” He pointed an accusing finger towards Hedromornasta. “It’s bad enough I have to put up with him watching everything I do. I am not letting his mother get her hands on this. No way.”

  With a sigh, Felit?a nodded. “Okay, I’m sorry.” It had been hard enough getting Agernon to do this at all in Hedromornasta’s or Mikranasta’s presence. It had only been the crisis in Arnor City that had gotten him to agree. She wasn’t going to push any more on him.

  Agernon harrumphed and held the Pearl back out again. His gaze, however, remained on Hedromornasta. “See that? He’s still looking at me. Always staring at me and watching every little thing I do.”

  Felit?a took the Pearl. “He’s watching all of us. It’s not just you.”

  “No, look at his gaze.” He pointed, starting at his own nose and reaching out towards Hedromornasta. “His line of sight. It’s directed right at me. Not you. Not Corvinian. Me!”

  “Well, you are the one pointing at him,” Felit?a said.

  “Pheh!”

  Felit?a put the Pearl down on the table and stood up. “I have an idea.” She headed over to Hedromornasta. Why wait until she got to Sinit?a, assuming that even happened? Hedromornasta was going to have to get used to it eventually. Might as well be now.

  She stood right in front of him and looked down into his grey eyes. Hedromornasta, I’m going to ask you to go into the hall, please.

  He just looked back up at her, unmoving and not responding.

  You’re strong enough to maintain the shield from outside the door. I won’t go anywhere, but you don’t need to be in here. Are you listening to me? He probably wasn’t. He probably had her blocked, though it was hard to tell with the shield around her.

  She waited a few more moments, but he remained unresponsive.

  Fine.

  In the Room in her head, she approached the shield. It was like a web around her consciousness. She spun it round until she came to the tiny hole Mikranasta used to let herself through. Not surprisingly, it was closed over, but it was a spot of weakness in the shield. A spot where she could easily get through without tearing the whole thing down.

  She brought over a bit of diamond wall and shrunk it down to a tiny, thin, needle-like point. Then she spun it rapidly and drilled through the hole. Gods, she loved these new walls!

  Shrinking herself down, she peered through the hole. In the library, she touched her thumb and forefinger on each hand together and cast a guiding spell. Sure enough, there were the threads of mentalism magic blocking her from Hedromornasta’s head. So he really hadn’t “heard” a word she’d said to him.

  So much of what she did next was just instinct, and she wasn’t entirely sure how she did it, but she pulled on those threads. She didn’t tear through them. She didn’t rip them apart. Rather just gentle pulls that caused them to unravel.

  Hedromornasta’s eyes widened in shock and fear poured from him.

  It was a shame it had to be such a negative emotion, but nevertheless, it felt good to experience another’s emotions. That was probably not the healthiest response, but she wasn’t going to worry about that right now.

  New magical threads wove themselves together, but again, she unravelled them with a gentle pull. Hedromornasta responded by creating more and more, but she just increased the speed at which she took them apart.

  “What are you doing?” Corvinian asked.

  “One moment, Corvinian,” Felit?a said, as she unravelled more magical threads, this time gathering them together and turning them back on Hedromornasta, blocking more from forming.

  Gods, she could do that? It was almost terrifying, and it reminded her momentarily of just how much she didn’t understand her abilities, and how important the shield around actually was. But she only hesitated a moment.

  I’m sorry I have to do this, but you are going to listen to me, Hedromornasta. You won’t speak to me because you don’t know my language. Fine, I get it. But I know you can use the same technique your mother uses to understand magically. You refuse to let me in, so I have no choice but to force my way in.

  He continued to try to push her back, but he only lost more ground. There was strain in his eyes.

  Listen to me, please! I don’t want our relationship to be antagonistic, but you keep making it that way. Please, just listen! If not, I’ll have to tell your mother. She told me that if you responded this way, I should tell her, and she would discipline you. So if you want to avoid your mother’s anger—

  Diare, he said, relaxing and ending his resistance against her.

  What?

  Not mother. Diare. She is my diare.

  My apologies, Felit?a said. I promise not to make that mistake again. Look, I know you don’t like me, and you don’t like having to do this job. You’re with me fourteen to sixteen hours a day sometimes. It’s not fair to you, and I really think your diare should be taking on more of the responsibility. However, it is what it is. I’d like to make it as painless for both of us as possible, but I need you to listen to me, to acknowledge me. I also occasionally need some privacy. So right now, I would appreciate it if you would wait in the hall. You can maintain the shield, but I will be blocking you from being in my head.

  He stared at her a few moments more, his fear and anger starting to subside. Then he nodded and walked to the door. As he opened it, he turned and looked back. My diare warned me you would do this. She instructed me to resist as much as I could and report how long I held out. She knew I would not succeed in keeping you out completely. Resentment accompanied his last words. Then he opened the door and went through.

  Felit?a shook her head and sighed. She could believe Mikranasta would give him instructions like that, though she could also believe he was making it up to make it look like Mikranasta had, in some way, manipulated her, and thus proving Mikranasta was superior. Or something like that.

  She covered over the hole in the shield and shaped the diamond walls into an n-dimensional sphere to keep Hedromornasta and anyone else out.

  “What did you do?” Corvinian said. “You just stared at each other and then he walked out. Were you doing head stuff?”

  “Head stuff?”

  “Yeah, you know, stuff with your head. Controlling minds and stuff.”

  Felit?a headed back to the table. “I don’t control people’s minds, Corvinian, but otherwise, yes, I was doing...head stuff.”

  “Impressive work, too, from what I could tell,” Agernon said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him look so panicked and pathetic.”

  Felit?a reached across the table and took Agernon’s hand. “Go easy on him. I think he’s just a kid trying to impress his mo...his diare, and she’s not easy to impress.”

  Agernon frowned. “Pheh.” He stared into Felit?a’s eyes for a moment, then sighed and pulled his hand away from hers. Looking away, he said, “You’re right though about his mother being the larger concern. Anyway, let’s get back to work.” He handed her the Pearl. “As I said, try closing your hand around it this time.”

  With a nod, Felit?a took the Pearl, closed her hand around it, and concentrated.

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