“Is it true? Will there be sorcerers from Solaris competing with these other kingdoms?” someone shouted.
“Since the emperor said it, I assume it must be true,” Fritz answered. Then added hastily, “But again, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Until we know the details of this tournament there will be no way to decide who will get to partake in it or what partaking will mean.
“For now, every apprentice is to continue their classes and duties as normal. Every instructor will do the same. I will seek a meeting with the emperor or empress as soon as possible and will reassemble the Tower with an announcement hopefully in the next week. In the meantime, please remain focused on your obligations. And I had better not hear any of you harassing or questioning anyone about this.
“Am I understood?”
Muttered agreement.
“Good. Look after each other in the meantime.” What Eira really heard Fritz say was, keep each other in line. “For—”
“The Tower takes care of its own!” every student and teacher said in one unanimous voice.
“Now, your dinners are getting cold.” Fritz shooed the room.
Talk of the tournament was the only thing on every sorcerer’s lips the entire way to the dining hall. Alyss and Eira bypassed it, too full of excitement to think of food. They’d find something in the pantry later to snack on so their stomachs didn’t eat themselves before morning. Instead, they ascended the curving, central path of the Tower, looking for a corner to talk in. But everyone else had the same idea. Even the library was noisy with discussion.
Ultimately, they retreated to Eira’s room.
It was a cramped place, like every apprentice’s dormitory chambers. But Tower apprentices didn’t have to share their rooms with others, which was better than most of the servants and staff in the palace. Alyss plopped herself on Eira’s bed, immediately producing a blob of clay from her pouch and beginning to magically manipulate it. Eira chose to pace instead.
“What do you think it will be?” Alyss asked as she wriggled her fingers, watching the clay writhe and dance. “A tournament, so there must be games of some kind.”
“I wonder how they’ll manage to have us compete against each other… The elfin’s magic—Lightspinning—is so different from ours. And I don’t know anything of the Twilight Kingdom or the others.”
“If you don’t know it then no one in Solaris does.” Alyss laughed. “Aren’t you excited to find out?”
“I could burst.” Eira curled and uncurled her fingers. Every icy wall she’d built up around her emotions had thawed. Magic seeped from her pores. She was surprised she wasn’t leaving wet footprints behind her with every step. “I wonder if the tournament will be here. If we’ll get to see them and whatever magic they do have.”
“Of course it will be. Solaris is the center of the world,” Alyss proudly proclaimed.
“You don’t honestly believe that propaganda.”
“Even with the new maps, it’s just Solaris and Meru out there.”
“The world is so much larger, Alyss.” Eira stopped, staring out past the leaded glass of her window. The frosty peaks of the mountains teased her with that jagged horizon line. The world was out there, calling to her. Whispering from the great unknown. “Solaris was the center of the world, until trade opened with Meru. That was just three years ago. Now look, there’s three, three other kingdoms! Think of how many more there could be.”
“I’d rather not.” Alyss laughed. “History class is already unbearable. Think of how much worse it will be if we keep making or discovering new history.”
“Either way, I just want to see their world,” Eira said wistfully. “I want to see Lightspinning in person. They say it’s like weaving sunlight.”
“And the Crones of the Mother say it’s sacrilege to compare it that way.”
“The Crones of the Mother hate progress.” Eira shook her head and dismissed the notion.
“You know, there’s one way to ensure you see them.”
“What?” Eira turned to face Alyss.
“Go to the tournament.”
“Obviously.” Eira rolled her eyes. “But I’m not going to be able to get there if it’s on Meru. Unlike the crown princess, I don’t have a whole armada to carry me back and forth.”
“There’s a way to get there.” A bright grin crossed Alyss’s cheeks, nearly from ear to ear. “Compete.”
“What?” Eira whispered.
“Be a competitor.”
“We don’t even…we don’t know how.”
“You could ask your uncle. You’ll likely be the first to know,” Alyss said eagerly. “Think, you and I could have a leg up on all the others.”
“It’ll likely be the instructors, or sorcerers far better than us.” Eira hated how disappointingly logical she was inclined to be.
“We can be just as good as any of the instructors and are better than half—you know it.”
“You might be just as good.”
“We are,” Alyss said firmly. “And if you try and fight me I’ll throw this clay in your face and make it stick in your hair.”
“I’m sure my brot—” Eira was interrupted by a deep growl of her stomach.
“Ha! You are hungry.” Alyss sent the clay back into her pouch just as it was beginning to take the shape of a bird. Eira was grateful it didn’t end up on her head. “I knew it.”
“I only said I wasn’t because it was so crowded.”
“It’s likely calmer now; let’s go.” Alyss linked her elbow with Eira’s and pulled her into the hall. “We’ll go. We’ll eat. And we’ll plan our training,” Alyss decreed.
“Training?”
Alyss tossed her braids over her shoulder dramatically. “Of course. We want to be in top shape if we’re going to be competitors.”
4
For a week, Eira went along with Alyss’s pushing to turn themselves into “top competitors.” Predictably, by day seven, their morning jogs ended up being more of a stroll around the city and ending either at the bookstore or the sundries store for Alyss’s crafts. Not that Eira was complaining. The more she had time to think about the possible logistics of this competition, the more she doubted she would have any chance of actually participating.
She and Alyss were sitting in one of the Tower lounges, enjoying a peaceful, quiet evening, when a young apprentice approached.
“Eira Landan?” He stayed a few steps away and kept his eyes down. Eira had learned just how quickly rumors of her could spread in the Tower.
“You know it’s me. What does the minister want?” She avoided calling Fritz her uncle and drawing any more attention to the familial bond.
“He’d like a word. He sent me to tell you he’d be in his chambers.”
“All right, I’ll head over.” Eira closed the cartography book she’d been flipping through—looking at maps of Meru’s crescent-shaped coastline and the city of Risen nestled within it—and slipped it into her bag as the young man left.