Page 34 of Cast in Conflict

“I don’t think the few lecturers the Academia retained will know, either.”

“No. But they know more about sentient buildings than we do. They know more about the library we’re not technically allowed to enter than we do. They know about Starrante. I really wanted to meet him.”

Robin perked up. “You can.”

“I’m not allowed in the library. Technically, neither are you.”

“Starrante’s the only librarian who can easily leave the library. I’m pretty sure he can’t leave the Academia, though. He does this really cool thing with webs; he can build portals out of them. But he can stabilize spaces with them as well. It’s not a magic that exists—or existed—among either Dragons or Barrani. He’s a bit scary to look at, and sometimes when he’s talking really close to my ear, it makes my spine tingle, because the clacking is terrible.

“But of the three Arbiters, I think he’s the least dangerous.” He paused, and then corrected himself. “He’s the least likely to kill someone because he’s angry.”

“I’m surprised this place isn’t crawling with Arcanists.”

Serralyn grinned. “If it were up to the Arcanum, it would be.”

“Arcanists aren’t allowed as students?”

“They’re already students—of the Arcanum. Given the difficulty Arcanists caused the past couple of weeks, when they worked to destabilize the Academia, I don’t think anyone wants members of the Arcanum here as students.”

Kaylin certainly didn’t, but the choice wasn’t hers.

“You’ve heard of at least one of them—I think you’ve met him a number of times, according to Teela.”

Ugh. “Evarrim.”

Serralyn nodded. “Teela doesn’t hate him.”

“He’s saved my life, so I shouldn’t.”

“There’s a chance he’ll come here.”

“He’s very much part of the High Lord’s inner court. The Consort trusts him. I can’t imagine either of them would willingly cede him to student life.”

Serralyn nodded. “It’s the one advantage to having no power to speak of—no one cares what I do.”

“Sedarias very definitely cares. So do the other ten.”

“You know what I meant. I’m not useful in the same way. If Sedarias’s attempts to rein in her family required my presence, I couldn’t be here. Anyway, you should finish eating. You’ve been staring into space too much. If you’re worried about the Dragon, you’ll be seeing what she’s doing firsthand from tomorrow.”

“So will you.”

In a much more serious tone, Serralyn said, “Mandoran really likes Bellusdeo. For most of us, she’s a Dragon. I mean, so’s the chancellor, so it’s not all bad, but...we were sent to the green because of the Dragon wars. Personal history doesn’t immediately make Dragons objects of affection.”

“Unless you’re Mandoran.”

“Unless you’re Mandoran. To be fair, Annarion and Teela like her as well, just not in the same way.”

“Oh?”

“Mandoran would happily have her join the cohort. I mean, he wanted to give you his name as well.”

“So...he’s more trusting.”

“Not trusting, not exactly.”

Valliant cleared his throat. “Mandoran tends to trust humor and affection. But he’s always had good instincts. I think he could give you his name safely. Sedarias doesn’t agree. And no one joins us without consensus.”

In Kaylin’s admittedly brief experience, consensus was not something the cohort could expect to achieve. But not even Sedarias attempted to use True Names the way the Barrani feared they would always be used.

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