Workload

Mary and Procecsa got busy with all the work they had. They planned how to spend their time together. Mary wanted to push everything else aside and focus on analysing their experiment. But Procecsa insisted that they at least had one lesson in fire magic and one in aari politics per week.

That was why Mary was now sitting, listening to Procecsa explaining how titles worked.

“A title is not something you inherit,” Procecsa said.

“But if you only keep your title during your life? What happens to the land and the assets when you die?” Mary asked.

“Titles don’t work like that in Salmisara. A title here isn’t bound to earthly possessions. A title is given as an honour to an individual that the council has deemed worthy. Often a title comes with a moral obligation,” Procecsa explained.

“A moral obligation?” Mary asked.

“Yes, let’s take lord Gregic as an example. I believe you have met him,” Procecsa said. Mary nodded.

“He has the title lord of Agiler’s sword. The title was created about a hundred years ago in honour of aari Agilier. One of the few aari that studied the art of the sword. He was known to protect the weak and those in need. His deeds were so honourable that when he died, the council created a title in his name. It is given to someone that has the same spirit as Agilier and when they receive it, they are obligated to live by that code,” Procecsa told Mary.

“It’s a way to both recognise someone’s virtues and a way to keep them on the same path?” Mary asked.

“That’s right. Few get a title, those who do are admired and their status goes up. It’s easy to understand why. People trust the aari. An aari that have taken a vow to uphold a moral code, they are even more trusted,” Procecsa explained. Mary nodded.

“What happens when someone with a title dies?” she asked.

“The title is then added to the records of available titles. There are two records, one for titles that are available to hand out, and one with owned titles and who holds them,” Procecsa answered.

As they continued, Mary realised that because of their origins, the aari used a system based on merits rather than on birth and family connections. Mary liked this system better than the one she had seen in Dermes. This way, everyone had the chance to become an aari and to take part in the politics as well.

After they had gone through the title system of the aari, in more detail than Mary would have liked, they started looking into the results of their experiment. Their initial thoughts seemed to be supported the more they looked at their material.

Procecsa wanted Mary to read up on some of the earlier works involving planetary movements and its effects on magic. Mary was quite happy to head to the library after they ended their session. She loved the library and, as she was a regular visitor, she had become friends with the head librarian.

Aari Lucas was an old man with a long white beard and a thick mass of white hair that always seemed to stand on its ends. The first impression of him was that he was unfocused and hard to keep up a conversation with. Mary had discovered that he was a highly intelligent man. He just preferred to read books over talking to people.

In Mary, he had found someone that enjoyed books and the seeking of knowledge almost as much as him. He therefore tolerated her more than most other people. As he was a walking index list of the library, Mary was grateful that he liked her. When she walked into the library, she spotted him at the back, standing at a reading pulpit, eying through what looked like an ancient book.

“Hello, head librarian,” she greeted him.

“Well, hello, Mary. What are you on the look for today? Pleasure or work?” he asked.

“A little of both,” she smiled and explained what she needed.

“We do have some books that touches on the subject. Surprisingly few have studied it, though. The best one is the old Planetary effects on herbal magic. But the translation of it is quite lacking, I’m afraid,“ he sighed.

“We don’t have it in the original language?” Mary asked.

“Of course we do,” he scoffed. As if the thought that they would not was a personal insult to him.

“But I don’t think you read old Urundi,” he said with a smile.

“I don’t think so either,” Mary laughed. “What is old Urundi?” she then asked.

“It’s the first common language of our world. It’s from the time before the sundering, from the original priest and priestess,” he told her.

“Oh, so most old books would be written in it?” she asked.

“That’s correct. There is a long tradition of writing important books in old Urundi. It wasn’t until about eighty years ago that we regularly started using Common,” he told her.

“Is old Urundi related to the language the priests in Dermes use?” Mary then asked.

“It’s old Urundi that they use. Even though most of them don’t understand it, they still recite all their ceremonies in it.” He shook his head in disbelief.

“If so many books are written in that language, I would think many people spoke it,” Mary said as they walked between the shelves, sometimes stopping for aari Lucas to pull out a book and hand to Mary.

“Most books have been translated into Common by now. It’s only old people, like myself, with nothing better to do that have learned it,” he smiled.

“But there can be misunderstandings when you translate things,” Mary said. She knew this from experience.

When she was new at Salamis, it had happened more than once that she had mistranslated things. Now she was used to speaking it. She had even noticed that her thoughts were in Salamis, so there weren’t that many instances of it anymore.

“That is true. Like I said, one of the books you are after is one of those that is not well translated,” he nodded. Mary stayed quiet for a while, thinking.

“How would I go about to learn old Urundi?” she then asked him. He stopped and stared at her.

“What? Am I not allowed to learn it?” she asked.

“Of course you are. I just never thought a young one like yourself would ask me that question,” aari Lucas told her.

“I will give you a book that has an excellent translation and is easy to read in both Common and old Urundi. Start with looking through those and then come to me with questions. We can start there,” he said.

“Thank you,” Mary smiled.

As she walked back to her room, she was wondering if she maybe had bitten off more than she could chew. Besides doing the research for Procecsa, she was now going to try and learn another language. Well, at least learning old Urundi didn’t have a timeline. She could go about it at her own pace.

As the days moved on, Mary was swamped with work. It felt strange not having her father around. Even though he had relaxed with his daily check-ups, they would still run into each other regularly. Not having him there at all made her feel a little lonely.

As Tenac was also away on assignment, Mary had a lot more free time than she usually had. She tried to spend most of it at home, with her mother. The two of them made plans for the garden.

The two weeks went by in a blur and before Mary knew it, both her father and Tenac were back home, and things returned to their usual pace. Mary’s schedule was packed and the free hours she had she was spending training with Tenac, doing research for Procecsa, or studying old Urundi.

When spring was around the corner and Mary hadn’t been home for three weekends in a row, her father came to find her. She was in the library, reading an old poetry book in old Urundi. Aari Lucas had suggested it to her for her first try at reading the language without a translation.

“Mary,” Kopa said as he stood by the desk where she sat reading.

“Hi, dad,” she smiled at him.

“Hi, little one. Your mother told me you wouldn’t be coming home this weekend,” he said.

“Oh, yes. Tenac cancelled the training, so I thought I would do some reading instead,” Mary said.

“Mary, you need to take a break once in a while. Both your mother and I are proud of your achievements, but you need to relax and have fun as well,” he said in a worried voice.

“I am having fun, dad. I love studying,” Mary told him.

“I know you do. But even your brain needs a day or two without having things crammed into it. You look tired. I’m not the only one that has noticed it. Tenac cancelled your training to give you a chance to rest,” he told her.

“He shouldn’t have done that. I’m fine. I had plenty of rest during my break,” Mary said.

“That was over two months ago. I’m going to take you up to your room, you are going to pack a bag and then you are going to come home with me,” he told her, leaving no room for arguing.

“But dad, I have so much to do. I don’t have time,” she whined.

“I know you have many things on your plate, Mary. But you need to take care of yourself, or you won’t be able to achieve anything. Now come on and let’s go. Your mother is worried about you, and you are going to let her take care of you for the next two days,” he ordered.

“Yes, dad,” Mary said and stood up and followed him.

When they got home, Bettina was waiting for them with dinner ready. Mary had to admit that even if she had objected to coming home, she was glad that she was here. She missed her mother’s cooking and the family time. As Kopa started doing the dishes, Bettina handed her a cup of warm milk and honey.

“Off to bed you go, young lady,” Bettina said.

“But mom, it’s early in the evening,” Mary objected.

“And you look like you haven’t slept in two weeks. Off you go. I’ll see you in the morning,” her mother told her, kissing her on her forehead.

Mary knew when she had been overruled and nodded as she took her warm milk up to her room. She wondered how she was going to fall asleep, as her father had forbidden her to pack any of her books.

But as she had drunk her milk, changed and crawled under her blanket in her bed, her eyes drooped almost at once as she looked out through her window, over the city.