“Every single time I’ve seen you since you’ve come to the city,” Char said.
“That might be fair,” she said.
“Might? It’s true. You’re constantly getting caught up in some dark sorcerer issue, and . . .” He looked over his shoulder, back at the building, tipping his head to the side. “And I shouldn’t even be talking about this out here. If Master Agnew finds me doing this, I don’t know what he’s going to do. He’s already concerned about my relationship with you.”
“Relationship?” Jayna asked, arching a brow.
“I know we don’t have a relationship,” Char said hurriedly, flushing slightly. “But he’s concerned about the fact that the two of us have been spending time together. He feels like it’s detracting from my studies. And, to be honest, he’s not wrong. The time I’ve spent working with you, and trying to understand more about your friend Eva, has been taking away from my studies. As much as I feel like I need to know what’s going on with you so I can help, I’ve also been finding myself drawn into much more dangerous things than I’d ever expected.” He shook his head. “You know I came to Nelar to learn how to heal.”
“I know you did,” Jayna said.
“And you know that has been difficult. Especially since the Society has been viewed with a lot more skepticism now than they had been before. People haven’t been coming here for help.”
“Where have they been going?”
“Ever since the attack on the manor homes, people have been going to the dular, as if they would offer them more than what we can provide.”
“Maybe they can,” Jayna said.
“Not you too.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I know you’ve given up your ties to the Society, but I would’ve expected you to still recognize the value of sorcery.”
“I do,” Jayna said, “but I also recognize that the dular have a different kind of magic, which has different uses than sorcery.”
“I’m not saying it doesn’t,” he said. “All I’m saying is . . .” Char shook his head. “I don’t know what I’m saying. Maybe nothing.”
“Can I come in now?”
“You don’t have somebody for me to heal this time?”
“Nobody else is with me.”
“That’s unusual,” he said.
“Unusual or not, it’s the truth. I don’t have anybody with me, and I don’t intend to ask you to heal anybody, and I’m not here to cause any trouble. All I want is information. And the kind of information I’m looking for isn’t even the kind of information you need to keep hidden. Why would the Society care if someone learned about their founding?”
Char bit his lip for a moment. “I suppose they wouldn’t. If you do find something that makes you think you need to do one of your Jayna kind of things, would you at least do me the courtesy of telling me what it is?”
“One of my Jayna things?”
“You know. The kind of things that lead to dark sorcerers getting attacked in the city, violence spreading, houses burning.” Char shrugged. “That sort of thing.”
“Sure. If I do find something like that, I will make a point of letting you know that you have dark sorcerers in the city, and I’ll see if you would be so kind as to work with me to try to remove that threat.” She shook her head. “Honestly, Char. It’s almost like you don’t even care that there might be some danger here.”
“I know there is.”
“Do you? That’s good. I was worried that you might—”
“It’s you.”
Char held her gaze for a long time before spinning, pushing open the door, and motioning for her to follow.
He guided her into a room off of the main entrance. It was in the opposite direction from the way she had gone when she had been looking for healing in the past. Rather than leading her down the narrow hallway to the left, he brought her to the right side of the outpost. The room looked to be little more than a closet, but there were hundreds of books crammed into wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling shelves, even piled up along the floor.
“What is this?”
“This is the library within the Nelar outpost.”
“This is the library?”
“It’s impressive, isn’t it?” Char asked, chuckling softly.
“I would’ve used a different term, but sure.”
“We’re just an outpost, Jayna. And not even a large one at that. The influence we have here has waned over time.”
“Because of the dular,” she said.
“Maybe,” Char agreed, then shook his head. “But it might be more than that. There are other reasons that the outpost’s importance has dwindled. It’s also partly because we’re situated so far at the edge of the kingdom.”
“The Society doesn’t care so much about being at the edge of the kingdom,” she reminded him.
“Not usually, but in this case, with the El’aras so close, the Society hasn’t felt a real need to push their own influence.”
“I would’ve expected the proximity to the El’aras would only strengthen their desire to do so.”
“I don’t think the Society wants to antagonize the El’aras,” he said.
That didn’t sound like the Society.
“I don’t know why. I’m not really part of those conversations,” Char said. “And to be honest, I don’t really want to be.” He shrugged. “None of it makes a difference to me. All that matters is that I continue to work as diligently as I can, and I continue to progress with my healing, and eventually . . .”
“Go on,” Jayna said.
“You’re only going to taunt me.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because eventually, I intend to go back to teach at the Academy.”
Jayna smiled. “I didn’t realize you wanted that.”
“You’ve known I always had an interest in learning. Where else can I do that but at the Academy? At least the library there is larger than what we have here.” He swept his hand around the inside of the small room. “Remember that library? Or maybe you don’t, considering how you took off from the Academy.”
Jayna glared at him. “I remember the library. I remember sitting at one of the alcoves, the two of us studying long into the night, chasing some piece of magic that neither of us could quite perfect.”
“And now you’re back in one of the Academy libraries.”
“This isn’t one of the Academy libraries,” she said. “This is an outpost library.”
“You don’t think it’s still a Society library?”
“I don’t really know.” She looked around. The library had a faint glowing light coming up from the floor, drifting up softly, shimmering along the stones around the perimeter of the room. All of it was enchanted. It gave a warm light, bright enough to read by. “You think you can help me find what I need to?”
“I can try,” he said, shaking his head. “I really do have things I need to be doing today.”