If she'd asked me two span ago, when I'd been fresh out of the Fae, I might not have understood her. If I'd stayed with Felurian any longer, it's entirely possible that having s.e.x on the hearth wouldn't have seemed odd to me. But I'd been back in the mortal world for a while now....

A wh.o.r.e, I thought silently to myself. And a cheap and shameless wh.o.r.e to boot. I was glad I hadn't mentioned Tempi's desire to learn the lute to anyone. How ashamed he must have felt for such an innocent impulse. I thought of a young Tempi wanting to make music but never telling anyone because he knew it was dirty. It broke my heart. I thought silently to myself. And a cheap and shameless wh.o.r.e to boot. I was glad I hadn't mentioned Tempi's desire to learn the lute to anyone. How ashamed he must have felt for such an innocent impulse. I thought of a young Tempi wanting to make music but never telling anyone because he knew it was dirty. It broke my heart.

My face must have given away quite a bit, because Vashet reached out to grip my hand gently. "I know this is hard for you folk to understand. So much harder because you have never even entertained the possibility of thinking otherwise." Caution Caution.

I struggled with everything this implied. "How do you get your news?" I asked. "With no troupers wandering from town to town, how do you keep in touch with the outside world?"

Vashet smirked a bit at this, and made a gesture to the windswept landscape. "Does this seem to be a place that concerns itself overmuch with the turning of the world?" She dropped her arm. "But it is not so bad as you think. Traveling peddlers are more welcome here than in most places. Tinkers doubly so. And we ourselves travel quite a bit. Those who take the red come and go, bringing news with them."

She laid a rea.s.suring hand on my shoulder. "And, occasionally, a rare singer or musician will travel through. But they do not play for a whole town at once. They will visit a single family. Even then, they perform while sitting behind a screen so they cannot be seen. You can tell an Adem musician because when they travel they carry their tall screens on their backs." Her mouth pursed a bit. "But even these are not viewed in an entirely favorable light. It is a valuable occupation, but not a respectable one."

I relaxed a bit. The thought of a place where no performer was welcome struck me as profoundly wrong, sick even. But a place with strange customs I could understand. Adapting to fit your audience is common as changing costumes to the Edema Ruh.

Vashet continued. "This is the way of things, and you would do well to accept it sooner rather than later. I say this as a well-traveled woman. I have spent eight years among the barbarians. I have even listened to music in a group of people." She said this proudly, with a defiant tilt to her head. "I have done it more than once."

"Have you ever sung in public?" I asked.

Vashet's face went stony. "That is not a polite question to ask," she said, stiffly. "And you will make no friends with it here."

"All I mean," I said quickly, "is that if you tried it, you might find it is nothing shameful. It is a great joy to everyone."

Vashet gave me a severe look and made a hard gesture of refusal refusal and and finality finality. "Kvothe, I have traveled much and seen much. Many of the Adem here are worldly. We know of musicians. And, to be completely forthright, many of us have a secret, guilty fascination with them. Much the same way your folk are enamored with the skill of the Modegan courtesans."

She gave me a hard look. "But for all that, I would not want my daughter to bring one home, if you catch my meaning. Neither would it improve anyone's opinion of Tempi if others knew he had shared the Ketan with such as you. Keep it to yourself. You have enough to overcome without all Ademre knowing you are a musician on top of everything."

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED FOURTEEN.

His Sharp and Single Arrow RELUCTANTLY, I TOOK VASHET'S advice. And though my fingers itched for it, I did not bring out my lute that night and fill my small corner of the school with music. I even went so far as to slide my lute case underneath my bed, lest the mere sight of it fill the school with rumor.

For several days I did little but study under Vashet. I ate alone and made no attempt to speak with anyone, as I was suddenly self-conscious of my language. Carceret kept her distance, but she was always there, watching me, her eyes flat and angry as a snake's.

I took advantage of Vashet's excellent Aturan and asked a thousand questions that would have been too subtle for Tempi to understand.

I waited three entire days until I asked her the question that had been slowly smoldering inside me since I'd climbed the foothill of the Stormwal. Personally, I thought this showed exceptional restraint.

"Vashet," I asked. "Do your people have stories of the Chandrian?"

She looked at me, her normally expressive face gone suddenly impa.s.sive. "And what does this have to do with your hand-talk?" Her hand flickered through several different variations of the gesture that indicated disapproval and reproach.

"Nothing," I said.

"Does it have something to do with your fighting, then?" she asked.

"No," I admitted. "But-"

"Surely it relates to the Ketan?" Vashet said. "Or to the Lethani? Or perhaps it touches on some subtle shade of meaning you have difficulty grasping in Ademic."

"I am merely curious."

Vashet sighed. "Can I persuade you to focus your curiosity on more pressing matters?" She asked, gesturing exasperated. Firm rebuke exasperated. Firm rebuke.

I quickly let the matter drop. Not only was Vashet my teacher, she was my only companion. The last thing I wanted to do was irritate her, or give the impression that I was less than attentive to her lessons.

With that one disappointing exception, Vashet was a sparkling font of information. She answered my endless questions quickly and clearly. As a result, I couldn't help but feel that my skill in speaking and fighting was progressing in great leaps and bounds.

Vashet did not share my enthusiasm, and was not bashful about saying so. Eloquently. In two languages.

Vashet and I were down in the hidden valley that contained the sword tree. We had been practicing our hand fighting for about an hour, and were now sitting in the long gra.s.s, catching our breath.

Rather, I I was catching was catching my my breath. Vashet was not winded at all. Fighting me was nothing to her, and there was no time when she couldn't chide me for sloppiness by reaching lazily past my defenses to cuff me on the side of the head. breath. Vashet was not winded at all. Fighting me was nothing to her, and there was no time when she couldn't chide me for sloppiness by reaching lazily past my defenses to cuff me on the side of the head.

"Vashet," I said, mustering the courage to ask a question that had been bothering me for some time. "May I ask a question that is perhaps presumptuous?"

"I prefer a presumptuous student," she said. "I had hoped we were beyond the point of worrying about such things."

"What is the purpose of all of this?" I gestured between the two of us.

"The purpose of this," she mimicked my gesture, "is to teach you enough so that you no longer fight like a little boy, drunk on his mother's wine."

Today her sandy hair was tied in two short braids that hung down her back on either side of her neck. This made her look oddly girlish, and had not done wonders for my self-esteem over the last hour as she had repeatedly thrown me to the ground, forced me into submission, and struck me with countless solid but generously pulled punches and kicks.

And once, laughing, she had stepped easily behind me and slapped me firmly on the a.s.s, as if she were a lecherous taproom drunk and I some low-bodiced serving girl.

"But why?" I asked. "To what purpose are you teaching me? If Tempi was wrong to teach me, why continue to teach me more?"

Vashet nodded approvingly. "I've been wondering how long it would take you to ask that," she said. "It should have been one of your first questions."

"I've been told I ask too many questions," I said. "I've been trying to step a little more carefully here."

Vashet sat forward, suddenly businesslike. "You know things you should not. Shehyn does not mind that you know of the Lethani, though others feel differently. But there is agreement on the subject of our Ketan. It is not for barbarians. It is only for the Adem, and only for those who follow the path of the sword tree."

Vashet continued, "Shehyn's thought is thus. If you were part of the school, you would be part of Ademre. If you are part of Ademre, you are no longer a barbarian. And if you are no longer a barbarian, it would not be wrong for you to know these things."

It had a certain convoluted logic to it. "That also means Tempi would not be wrong for teaching me."

She nodded. "Exactly. Instead of bringing home an unwanted puppy, it would be as if he had returned a lost lamb to the fold."

"Must I be a lamb or a puppy?" I sighed. "It's undignified."

"You fight as a puppy fights," she said. "Eager and clumsy."

"But aren't I already part of the school?" I asked. "You are teaching me, after all."

Vashet shook her head. "You sleep in the school and eat our food, but that does not make you a student. Many children study the Ketan with hopes of entering the school and someday wearing the red. They live and study with us. They are in in the school, but not the school, but not of of the school, if you follow me." the school, if you follow me."

"It seems odd to me that so many want to become mercenaries," I said as gently as possible.

"You seem eager enough," she said with an edge to her voice.

"I am eager to learn," I said, "not take the life of a mercenary. I mean no offense."

Vashet stretched her neck, working out some stiffness. "It is your language getting in the way. In the barbarian lands, mercenaries are the lowest rung of society. No matter how thick or useless a man might be, he can carry a cudgel and earn a ha'penny a day guarding a caravan. Am I right?"

"The lifestyle does tend to attract a rough sort of person," I said.

"We are not mercenaries of that kind. We are paid, but we choose which jobs we take." She paused. "If you fight for your purse, you are a mercenary. What are you called if you fight out of duty for your country?"

"A soldier."

"If you fight for the law?"

"A constable or a bailiff."

"If you fight for your reputation?"

I had to think a bit on that one. "A duelist, perhaps?"

"If you fight for the good of others?"

"An Amyr," I said without thinking.

She c.o.c.ked her head at me. "That is an interesting choice," she said.

Vashet held up her arm, displaying the red sleeve proudly. "We Adem are paid to guard, to hunt, to protect. We fight for our land and our school and our reputations. And we fight for the Lethani. With the Lethani. In the Lethani. All of these things together. The Adem word for one who takes the red is Cethan Cethan." She looked up at me. "And it is a very proud thing."

"So becoming a mercenary is quite high on the Adem social ladder," I said.

She nodded. "But barbarians do not know this word, and wouldn't understand even if they did. So 'mercenary' must suffice."

Vashet pulled two long strands of gra.s.s from the ground and began to twist them together into a cord. "This is why Shehyn's decision is not an easy one to make. She must balance what is right against what is best for her school. All the while taking into consideration the good of the entire path of the sword tree. Rather than make a rash decision, she is playing a more patient game. Personally, I think she's hoping the problem will take care of itself."

"How would this take care of itself?" I asked.

"You could have run off," she said simply. "Many a.s.sumed you would. If I'd decided you were not worth teaching, that would have taken it out of her hands as well. Or you could die during your training, or become crippled."

I stared at her.

She shrugged. "Accidents happen. Not often, but sometimes. If Carceret had been your teacher ..."

I grimaced. "So how does one officially become a member of the school? Is there some sort of test?"

She shook her head, "First, someone must stand on your behalf, saying you are worthy of joining the school."

"Tempi?" I asked.

"Someone of consequence," she clarified.

"So that would be you," I said slowly.

Vashet grinned, tapping the side of her crimped nose, then pointing at me. "Only took you two guesses. If you ever progress to the point I feel you won't embarra.s.s me, I'll stand on your behalf and you can take the test."

She continued to twist the blades of gra.s.s together, her hands moving in a steady, complicated pattern. I'd never seen another Adem idly toy with something like this while talking. They couldn't, of course. They needed one hand free to talk. "If you pa.s.s this test, you are no longer a barbarian. Tempi is vindicated, and everyone goes home happy. Except for those who aren't, of course."

"And if I don't pa.s.s this test?" I asked. "Or what if you decide I'm not good enough to take it?"

"Then things grow complicated." She came to her feet. "Come, Shehyn has asked to speak with you today. It would not be polite of us to be late."

Vashet led the way back to the small cl.u.s.ter of low stone buildings. When I'd first seen them I'd a.s.sumed they were the town itself. Now I knew they composed the school. The group of buildings was like a tiny University, except there was none of the scheduled regimen I was used to.

There was no formal ranking system, either. Those with their reds were treated with deference, and Shehyn was obviously in charge. Other than that, all I had was a vague impression of a social pecking order. Tempi was obviously rather low and not well-thought-of. Vashet was rather high and respected.

When we arrived for our meeting, Shehyn was midway through performing the Ketan. I watched silently as she moved at the speed of honey spreading on a tabletop. The Ketan grows more difficult the slower it is done, but she performed it flawlessly.

It took her half an hour to finish, after which she opened a window. A curl of wind brought in the sweet smell of summer gra.s.s and the sound of leaves.

Shehyn sat. She wasn't breathing hard, though a sheen of sweat covered her skin. "Did Tempi tell you of the nine-and-ninety tales?" she asked without preamble. "Of Aethe and the beginning of the Adem?"

I shook my head.

"Good," Shehyn said. "It is not his place to do such a thing, and he could not do it properly." She looked at Vashet. "How is language coming?"

"Quickly, as these things go," she said. However However.

"Very well," Shehyn said, switching to precise, slightly accented Aturan. "I will tell it like this, so there will be less interruption, and less room for misunderstanding."

I did my best to gesture respectful grat.i.tude respectful grat.i.tude.

"This is a story of years ago," Shehyn said formally. "Before this school. Before the path of the sword tree. Before any Adem knew of the Lethani. This is a story of the beginning of such things.

"The first Adem school was not a school that taught sword-work. Surprisingly, it was founded by a man named Aethe who sought mastery over the arrow and the bow."

Shehyn paused in her tale and gave a word of explanation. "You should know that in those days, use of the bow was very common. The skill of it was much prized. We were shepherds, and much set on by our enemies, and the bow was the best tool we had to defend ourselves."

Shehyn leaned back in her chair and continued. "Aethe did not set out to found a school. There were no schools in those days. He merely sought to improve his skill. All his will he bent upon this, until he could shoot an apple from a tree one hundred feet away. Then he strove until he could shoot the wick of a burning candle. Soon the only target that challenged him was a piece of hanging silk blowing in the wind. Aethe strove until he could antic.i.p.ate the turning of the wind, and once he had mastered this thing, he could not miss.

"Stories of his talent spread, and others came to him. Among them was a young woman named Rethe. At first Aethe doubted she possessed the strength to draw the bow. But she was soon regarded as his finest student.

"As I have said, this was long years and distant miles from where we sit. In those days, the Adem did not have the Lethani to guide us, and so it was a rough and b.l.o.o.d.y time. In those days it was not uncommon for one Adem to kill another out of pride, or from an argument, or as a proof of skill.