Page 15 of A Tower of Half-Truths
“Gar-duh-man-see.”
Didn’t I just say that?
She forced a smile. “I’m also studied in alchemy, shadow magic—I mean, Ambermancy—and Souder—”
“Ahm-bruh-man-see andSoo-druh-man-see.” He articulated slowly, as if he were speaking to a child.
Her smile fell. “Right, well, some of those terms have gotten a little rusty. I’ve been out of the academic circles for a while.”
“Personally, I don’t mind if you use colloquialisms, but some of my colleagues are sticklers for using the proper terminology. Before you meet with them, you’ll want to brush up on that—as well as your Dauphinian, by the sound of it.”
Over a thousand years ago, the First Reforms had established Dauphinian as Tanarim’s language of law, commerce, and magic. Even the names of the months and days of the week originated from Dauphinian. It was the closest thing the continent had to a common tongue, though Mavery had never been capable of wrapping her own tongue around it.
“Do you knowanyforeign languages?” Aventus asked.
“I can speak Fenutian well enough.”
He uttered a small sound that Mavery could only interpret as disapproval.
“What is it now?” she demanded.
“To paraphrase one of my colleagues, anyone can speak Fenutian. All that’s required is stuffing a sock in one’s mouth and speaking Osperlandish at half-speed.”
While he lowered his gaze to his teacup, she gave him a hard glare. She’d also picked up some Nilandoren from Neldren, though none of it was suitable for polite conversation. The waythisconversation was heading, it wouldn’t be long before she introduced the wizard to some of her favorite phrases.
“What of your field experience? Have you ever assisted any other wizards?”
“Look, we could talk about my qualifications until nightfall.”And you’d likely disparage each one.“But shouldn’t the fact that I’m sitting here be enough evidence of my skills? I managed to break through your wards, and that was some of the most intricate magic I’ve everSensed.”
“Fair enough. Even the University’s best Gardemancers couldn’t—” He stared at her over his half-raised teacup. “Wait. When you say ‘Sensed,’ you don’t mean—?”
“I can see magic. Taste and smell it, too.”
“Y-you’re a Senser?” he asked. When she nodded, his eyes widened. He placed his cup on the table, then raised a finger. “Wait there just one moment.”
He stumbled over the blockade of books between his armchair and his desk, then riffled through the stacks of papers. Mavery watched him with a satisfied smirk. She’d had a card hidden up her sleeve—one that even a pompous ass like Aventus couldn’t disregard. He returned to his chair, opened a notebook, readied a fountain pen.
“I hope you don’t mind if I take some notes.”
“Not at all,” she said cloyingly.
“When did you first develop arcane hypersensitivity? ‘Sensing,’ if you prefer.”
She relaxed into the sofa. “Since I first showed signs of magic, I suppose. When I was a child, I described it as seeing colors and shapes. For the longest time, everyone in my family thought that was normal. I was the first mage in my family in at least four, maybe five, generations.”
“Were there any Sensers in your family before then?”
“No idea. Neither side of my family kept many records. Any that didexist are long gone.”
“Still, that’s consistent with the current body of research.” He tapped his pen against his cheek, leaving behind a black smudge that he didn’t seem to notice. “When a magical bloodline skipsseveral generations, the next mage’s arcana tends to be exceptionally strong. Most often, that takes the form of uncontrolled bursts of magic during the developmental years. ‘Magic surges,’ if you will.”
“Oh, I had plenty of those, too. Still do, on the very rare occasion. But, as I said, everyone around me thought random outbursts were normal. We had no one in living memory to compare me to, and we didn’t leave the family farm very often. Once I started school and met other mages, I learned that few people experience magic like I do.”
“That’s putting it lightly. There have been only a dozen or so Sensers in the past century.”
“In Osperland?”
“Across the entire continent.”
