“Hmph.”Jadren sounded dubious.“How difficult for these wide-eyed, dewy freshwater wizards you’re signing up for classes?”
“That remains to be seen,” Gabriel allowed.That would be the real trick in attempting to teach these students Nic had wanted.He hardly knew how he did the magic himself; he had no idea how he’d teach someone else.
Jadren went to the window, nudged it farther ajar, and upended the flask.Water flowed out, then stopped.Frowning, Jadren glanced at Gabriel.“Turn it upright again,” Gabriel told him.
Doing so, Jadren made a sound of interest to find the flask full again.He emptied it several times, testing the effect.“Why do it that way?”he asked.“Why have it empty and replenish, rather than an unending stream?”
It had made sense at the time, though Gabriel didn’t want to admit he hadn’t considered doing it any other way.Inspiration struck him.“As you noted, my stopper mechanism is primitive.I didn’t care to risk a flask that, if accidentally spilt, would produce an unending flood.”
“Hmm.There is that, though—again, a better closing could prevent that.What’s the mechanism for triggering the refill?”
Gabriel didn’t know, and Jadren pointed a finger at him knowingly.“Ha!That’s what you get for going on instinct.Still, this is impressive for making it up as you go along.I can make it better.Is there a way to make the water colder or hotter?”
“I always handled that aspect for myself.”
“Well, you would, wouldn’t you?But in designing a product line, we want to think about what even a commoner would like to be able to do with it.I can see that being a feature people would want.We could charge more for extras like adjustable water temperature—have the basic model, then some with bells and whistles.”
“Sounds good,” Gabriel allowed, somewhat bemused by the other wizard’s didactic attitude, but not actually offended.Jadren’s approach was solid, anyway.“Nic mentioned she encountered a healer in—” Oops, he’d almost mentioned that Nic had made it all the way to Wartson and beyond.“At one point,” he corrected, hoping the cover was smooth enough, “who had a vase with a water elemental that made water placed in it continually pure, sufficient to disinfect wounds and so forth.Is that a variation we could consider?”
Jadren tugged on his lip thoughtfully.“We’d have to dance around the Refoel license, but as long as the water didn’t actually heal anyone, we should be safe there.House Elal has a monopoly on water elementals, but not water, full stop.I’ll give it some thought.”He turned to go, taking the flask with him, then turned back.“Where did your familiar encounter this healer?I can’t imagine a House Refoel wizard needing such a device.”
“I’ll have to ask her,” Gabriel replied breezily, taking up a missive from his desk and pretending to study it.Nonchalantly, he glanced up, as if surprised to find Jadren still standing there.“Was there anything else?”
“No, Lord Phel.”Jadren smiled easily, a glint in his black eyes.“I’ll let you know if the key doesn’t work.It would be a shame if we had to trot you down to the north wing every time we needed to go in and out.”He made it sound like not a shame at all.“Stay away from the pit, you say?”
“You’ll know it when you see it.”
“Good to know.What’s in it?”
“House Phel proprietary information, I’m afraid,” he answered coolly.It wasn’t a lie: someone in House Phel had installed the creature there, knew why, and what it was.
“Ah.”Jadren’s smile widened as he saw right through Gabriel’s prevarication.“I’m sure you’ll tell us once you figure it out.Nothing like the ancient monsters lurking in these mazes our ancestors saw fit to build.You should see House El-Adrel some time.Layers upon layers of mechanisms.Entire wings disappear for years, sometimes with unfortunate non-wizards trapped within and unable to extricate themselves.”
“How disconcerting,” Gabriel observed, quite sure he did not want to see that for himself.
Jadren’s smile faded.“You have no idea.”He tossed off a jaunty salute.“I shall report.”
“Jadren,” Gabriel called on impulse as Jadren opened the door to leave.He waited for the man to turn back.“Would your work be aided by the assistance of a familiar’s magic?”He couldn’t quite believe himself that he offered, but he also seemed to find himself awash in unbonded familiars who’d need their magic tapped.Clearly Nic’s practicality was rubbing off on him.
Jadren turned back slowly, all hint of amusement fled.“I am not interested in bonding a familiar, Lord Phel.”
How fascinating.And how fabulously unlikely it was that the spy fastened upon him by High House El-Adrel via extortion was the sole other wizard he’d encountered totally uninterested in bonding a familiar.Or was he?“I didn’t offer that,” Gabriel replied loftily, pleased when the arrogant man winced ever so slightly, caught neatly by his own confession.“I understand a wizard can tap an unbonded familiar’s magic.I might be able to provide that resource if it would be helpful to you.”
If anything, Jadren’s scowl blackened.“Are you implying I lack sufficient power to conduct my work, Lord Phel?”
“No,” Gabriel answered calmly, unwilling to antagonize the man, as much as he enjoyed poking at his pomposity.“I’m simply—”
“Because there is more to wizardry than brute power,” Jadren interrupted.“The meticulous application of skill, creativity, and intelligence can do more than wild displays of raw power that dazzle but produce nothing more than very loud storms and frightening special effects.”
Ah, well, Gabriel reflected to himself,poke a mad dog and expect to be bitten.Besides, Jadren’s accusation was fair enough.“The offer is there,” he said with a shrug, as if it didn’t matter to him.“I may have familiars in need of having their magic tapped.It occurred to me that we might as well put that magic toward the good of House Phel and the development of our promising new product line.”Listen to him.He sounded just like Nic.The thought amused him greatly, and he wondered again where she was and what she was up to.Amazing how he’d gotten so he missed her desperately after only a few hours deprived of her company.
“Like your sister?”Jadren asked silkily, stalking back toward Gabriel.
The volley hitting its target, Gabriel stiffened.“Selly is not in residence at the moment,” he bit out, realizing as he said it how absurd that sounded.
Jadren snickered.“Oh, I know.I was standing there when she scampered off like a wild goat escaping over the eaves like she was leaping into the mountains.Quite feral, your sister.Not at all the elegant lady of House Phel that one might expect.”
Gabriel viciously reined back the urge to throttle the snide words in the man’s throat.The worst part was, they weren’t lies.He recovered enough cool to realize the layers of insult in Jadren’s attack.House Phel obviously fell far below the elegant standards of the Convocation High Houses.Even were Selly perfectly sane and healthy, she wouldn’t meet the standards of a snob like a scion of House El-Adrel.Deciding the better part of wisdom lay in not taking the wizard’s bait, Gabriel faked a yawn.“The offer remains, Wizard Jadren.If you need to avail yourself of a familiar’s magic, I can potentially arrange that for you.”