Foundation

to do and we were both pretty tired, so we went back to our rooms. I don’t know what Lena did, but I just got something to eat and then went straight to bed.”

“I was down th’ road with some people—” He hesitated; how much did he dare say? He had been down at Master Soren’s house, of course, all of Lydia’s group had gotten together to enjoy the last night of the holiday, the last night all of them would be free to get together as a group until the next holiday of the Spring Equinox. They had not yet made up their minds about when the girls were going to humiliate those mercenaries ... and in fact, Mags was getting the impression that they had begun to have second thoughts about that idea, and Marc’s words a few moments ago had confirmed that. But he couldn’t tell Bear about any of that. And he couldn’t quite figure out how he could readily explain how someone like him was friends with the circle around Master Soren’s niece.

“’S no matter anyway,” he continued.” ’Cause if l’d a knowed you were comin’ last night, I’d a been here, not there!”

Bear shook his head. “We weren’t in any mood to be around, Mags. Things didn’t go well at home for either of us. And we would rather not talk about it, if you don’t mind.”

He was rather taken aback by his friend’s words, in fact, he was rather hurt. Wasn’t he their friend? They had obviously confided in each other, so why not in him?

He wanted to blurt out all of this, but his mouth had other ideas, and said nothing more than, “Well, we gonna study t’gether tonight? Or at least hev supper t’gether?”

“No studying, that was mostly all I did at home,” Bear replied. “But supper, absolutely And you can probably find Lena up at Bardic if you want to go look for her.”

He ducked his head, and hurried on his way, leaving Mags staring at his retreating back in puzzlement.

Although Bear had not seemed particularly encouraging, Mags went up to Bardic, looking for Lena. He realized as he was halfway there that he had never been to her room, and he suddenly felt very diffident about trying to find it. There were implications to looking for a girl’s room that he wasn’t sure he wanted to deal with. His steps slowed, and finally, when he reached the door of Bardic Collegium, stopped altogether.

He stood uncertainly, looking up at the wooden facade of the building, noting that it was getting pretty shabby. What to do?

Finally, another girl, a little older than Lena but also in Trainee rust-red, came up from behind him and moved to go around him. “Hey—” he said awkwardly, and she stopped. “I don’ s’pose ye know Trainee Lena? Little bit of a thing, dark hair.”

The girl looked at him as if he was mad. “Everyone knows Trainee Lena,” she replied, with a lot of undertones to the words that he couldn’t quite read. Still this was his chance.

“Could ye tell ’er that Mags an’ Bear wants t’ meet her fer supper?” he asked. The girl rolled her eyes, as if to say Why don’t you tell her yourself? but refrained from making any such statement.

He had to reflect that just keeping your mouth shut on things you wanted to ask or say was a much more difficult thing than he had thought.

The girl hesitated a moment, probably weighing her options, inconvenience or a stern lecture from one of the instructors about proper manners.

Evidently the thought of a lecture decided her. Instead of brushing him off, she replied politely, “If she’s in her room, I’ll tell her, and if not, I’ll leave her a note.” She smiled at Mags, and Mags found himself feeling very warm of a sudden.

He stuck out a hand; she shook it. “Thankee!” Mags said, with gratitude, and turned to go back to the stables.

It felt a little odd not to be heading to Master Soren’s house at this time of day, but the holiday was officially over and, besides, he had a puzzle to unravel. He thought best when he was away from other people and he wanted to get Dallen’s ideas on it, too.

Dallen was, of course, entirely aware of how oddly the mercenaries had acted this morning, and he was just as eager to talk about it. So after Mags settled onto a bale of straw in his loose box, they both went over how the men had acted in their minds.

“Ye know,” Mags said, looking up into Dallen’s bright blue eyes. “If I didn’ know better, I’d’a thought they’d seen a ghost, and was still lookin’ for it. You ever heard tell of somethin’ like a haunt around here?”

Dallen bobbed his head. :The Collegia are not haunted, let me promise you. Believe me, we Companions would know if they were. Neither is the Palace, even though by all rights it should be, if emotional turmoil is what creates a ghost. But you’re right. They did act as if they were expecting something supernatural to manifest at any moment: He bobbed his head thoughtfully. :People can be haunted as well as places, you know.:

:Ye think mebbe they brung a haunt with ’em?: Mags hazarded, but then shook his head. :Or one followed ’em here? Nah, if they had a haunt followin’ ’em, they’d be used to it, don’ ye think? An’ it’d have to be hauntin’ all of ’em for all of ’em to be so jumpy. How likely is that?:

Dallen rubbed his nose against his knee. :I don’t know. I am rather out of my experience when it comes to ghosts. All I know is the ghost stories other people tell. I’ve never actually seen one myself, nor has anyone I know.:

Mags pondered. :Well, ye reckon I ought tfollow ’em?:

:No. You are too obvious in your Trainee Grays, and you would be even more obvious in civilian garb, since the Palace servants all wear livery. No, you let Marc deal with that end of it. You and I will ask some careful questions, not too many, and not all of the same person. I have some ideas where you might go within the Palace that you might hear things without exciting any suspicion. And above all, you will listen.:

Mags grinned. :Now that, I c’n do.:

So he spent the afternoon doing just that. Dallen had excellent ideas, and more than just ideas, he had sound advice that not even Herald Nikolas could better.