The banishment

Mary expected to see riders everywhere she went the next day. But surprisingly, there was no sign of them. Mary took it as a good sign. Until the second day after lunch. She and six other trainees were having history class.

There was a gentle knock on the door and a prospect stepped inside.

“Forgive my interruption, lord Furnlow and sir Teeran have asked for Mary Teeran to come as soon as possible,” the prospect said.

“You better get going, Mary,” the aari teaching the class told her.

Mary nodded and got a questioning look from Firlea and Hinat. Mary shrugged and followed the prospect. She assumed they would head toward Furnlow’s office. But they were heading toward her room. They passed the door to her room and walked into the small common area that was at the end of the corridor.

There, amongst the tables, there was a group of people standing, and Mary was surprised by who they were.

At the front stood her father, talking to Furnlow and Tariana. At a table Kornen was sitting on a chair with Tenac standing behind him, a firm hand on Kornen’s shoulder. Behind Tenac, Hermen and Lomi were standing.

“Hello,” Mary said, as she didn’t know what else to do.

Everyone looked at her. Both her father and Tenac looked like thunderclouds and Mary realised how similar they were at times. Tariana smiled at her and, as usual, it made Mary feel more at ease.

“Thank you for bringing her, you may leave,” Furnlow said to the prospect. He didn’t hesitate but left as soon as possible.

“Thank you for coming, Mary,” Tariana said.

“Of course,” Mary said.

Still uncertain of what was going on and feeling a little lonely standing in front of them all. As usual, her father felt her emotions and came to stand beside her and put a hand on her shoulder.

“What is happening?” she asked him.

“We have serious things to talk about. Why don’t we sit down?” Furnlow suggested and showed a table, not the one where Kornen was sitting.

Furnlow pulled out a chair for Tariana, and Mary walked over to it as well and sat down with her father next to her.

“Mary, your father and Furnlow have filled me in on what has been happening. First, I’m sorry this has happened, it never should have,” Tariana started. Mary nodded.

“I believe Furnlow told you he would speak to trainee Kornen about this, and some of the other people that were involved?” Tariana asked Mary.

“Yes, my Lady,” Mary nodded.

“Good. And you told your father what had happened when we got back and he… took some measures as well?” Tariana asked. Mary glanced at her father. She hoped he wasn’t in trouble.

“Yes,” Mary said.

“Don’t worry about your father. I agree with his actions. He had trainee Kornen followed. And I also understand that some of your rider friends already had put some prospects to keep an eye on you,” Tariana smiled and glanced at her son.

“Oh,” Mary said, surprised. She looked at Tenac and he shrugged.

“That leads us to today. It appears that trainee Kornen didn’t know he was being followed, and despite the talk he and lord Furnlow had just a couple of days ago. He found it wise to try to have a look inside your room,” Tariana told Mary.

Mary looked at Kornen with surprise and anger. He had tried to go into her room?

“Fortunately, Tenac and Lomi were following him and when they realised what he was doing, they stopped him. Rather forcefully, I’m afraid,” Tariana explained. She didn’t sound sorry.

“As Tenac detained him, Lomi went to fetch Kopa and on his way, he ran into Hermen. Hermen came to make sure trainee Kornen didn’t try anything. I was with Kopa when Lomi reported what had happened and sent for Furnlow to meet us here. We then sent for you,” Tariana finished.

Mary felt a little overwhelmed by the information, but nodded that she had understood.

“Now that we all are caught up. Furnlow, can you please tell me what you have found out when you have made inquiries into this matter?” Tariana asked Furnlow.

“Of course, my Lady. I started with talking to trainee Kornen the same day that Mary came to me. He denied following her but admitted to the altercation by the marketplace, but said it wasn’t his meaning to hurt her. He said that Mary wouldn’t let him escort her and he wanted her to listen to him,” Furlow told them.

“I warned him he should stay away from Mary, that she had no interest in him and that it would be in his best interest to keep his distance. He told me that wasn’t an issue, he had got the message the day at the marketplace,” Furnlow continued.

“I then spoke to his two roommates. After me explaining the seriousness of the situation and reminding them who Mary’s father was. They both confessed to accompanying trainee Kornen frequently as he followed Mary. Nothing was done or planned to be done, according to them.”

“Trainee Kornen told them he wanted to find out what Mary spent her time doing since she didn’t have time to spend on him. He was convinced she had a suitor that she kept secret and he slowly became obsessed with finding this man,” Furnlow finished.

Mary was shaken after listening to that. She had had no idea; she had never considered that she needed to watch her back when in the sanctum.

“Are you okay, Mary?” Tariana asked.

“Yes, I’m fine thank you, my Lady,” Mary answered.

“I’m going to speak with trainee Kornen for a moment. Do you want to leave? We can tell you what happened later,” Tariana asked her.

“I’m fine. I would like to stay,” Mary said. Tariana nodded, and Kopa took Mary’s hand. She looked at her father and smiled at him.

“Bring him, please,” Tariana said.

Mary saw Tenac yank Kornen to his feet and led him over to the table where they sat. Hermen and Lomi flanked him. Kornen looked at Mary, searching for eye contact.

“Don’t look at her, boy. If you need to look at someone, you look at me,” Kopa growled. Mary smiled as she saw Kornen flinch and look down at the table.

“Trainee Kornen. I think we are past the point of denying your actions. Can you please tell me what you were going to do in Mary’s room?” Tariana asked in a firm voice.

It looked like Kornen at first was about to deny that he was going into the room, but then he seemed to change his mind and he looked to be thinking.

“If you tell us the truth, you don’t have to work so hard at coming up with a lie,” Furlow pointed out.

Mary watched as Kornen’s cheeks turned pink.

“I wanted to look to see if I could find her diary or anything to prove she has a suitor she won’t tell anyone about,” he then said.

“And what right have you to take those actions?” Tariana asked.

“I -I. She told me she didn’t have time to go out with me, my Lady,” he told her.

“And that gives you the right to invade her personal life?” Tariana asked.

“Yes, or no. I just wanted to know why she turned me down,” Kornen whined.

“She told you that. She didn’t have time. And even if she hadn’t told you, you are in no position to demand an answer. She told you no and that should have been enough,” Tariana said.

“But I wanted to have time to get to know her,” Kornen told them.

“Let me give you some advice. Life isn’t about what you want. You need to respect that other people have the right to say no to you. They don’t have to have a good reason to do so. They don’t need any reason at all. You need to respect them enough to accept that,” Tariana told him.

“But if she has a secret suitor, I would think that would interest more people than me,” Kornen tried to explain.

“That is not up to you to tell anyone. Mary is an adult. What she does is up to her,” Tariana told him.

“But she disappears every Saturday. She’s gone for hours, sometimes she doesn’t comeback until Sunday morning,” he desperately said.

It made Mary uncomfortable that he had that sort of information about her. How long had he been watching her?

“What Mary does on her own time is her business. You know as well as anyone that is free time to spend how you wish. But I happen to know that Mary is spending the time with my son and with her parents,” Tariana smiled.

“Your- your son, my lady?” Kornen stuttered.

“That would be me,” Tenac hissed.

“Now that we cleared that up for you,” Tariana said with a smile. Kornen looked pale.

“I think we need to go through what you have actually done. You have followed a fellow trainee without reason. You have tried to enter Mary’s room without the consent of her or her roommates. That is illegal. You have laid hands on Mary without her consent to where it bruised her skin. That is illegal. Am I missing something?” Tariana asked.

There was a moment of silence.

“Then, lord Furnlow, can you please recite what the trainees’ promise when they receive their white armbands?” Tariana smiled.

“Certainly, my Lady. When you don these, you are representing the institution of aari. You will behave in a manner that is appropriate for that honour. You will not be seen drunk in public. You will do nothing to break the law. You will not fight in public unless it is to protect yourself or an innocent person and lastly. You will not badmouth, ridicule, or harass another human,” Furnlow recited.

“It is clear that you have violated more than one of those promises. I am there for taking them back. You are no longer a trainee, and you are no longer a resident of the sanctum. By my authority you will be banned from the sanctum for ten years unless you have been given a specific written invitation from an aari. Do you understand?” Tariana told him.

“Yes, my Lady,” he said. He looked defeated.

“Mary, do you wish to press charges against him? You don’t need to give me an answer now. Just know that if you choose to, we will back you up and provide the evidence that lord Furnlow has gathered to the court,” Tariana continued.

“Thank you,” Mary said.

“Now, Hermen, Lomi, please escort this man to his former room to pack his things and then escort him to the river field of his choosing,” Tariana said.

“I would suggest that you leave the city within the next two days,” Kopa said.

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that,” Tariana smiled. “Mary, will you join me for some tea?” she then asked.

“I would love to,” Mary said. She could use some tea and one of her and Tariana’s talk to calm her nerves.

 “Let’s go then,” Tariana said, getting up and offering a hand to Mary.

Mary took it and they walked to Tariana’s private quarters. The two riders that were guarding the door opened it. Tariana stopped and turned around to look at Kopa and Tenac that had been following them.

“I know you two want to make sure Mary is okay. But it’s time for girl talk, so you will have to wait until we are ready,” she told them and put her arm around Mary’s shoulders and guided her inside.