Changes

Bear. Bear’s brother was not going to stand for being put off much longer.

::Erm... :: Dallen said. ::If you were to stick your head outside, you would hear the rumbles of that very thing.::

That didn’t sound good. He hurried to the stairs and clattered down them, a lot more noisily than he usually did. He had yet to figure out how to be fast and quiet. ::What’s goin’ on?::

::What you’d expect. Bear’s brother and his father are ranting at him at the tops of their lungs. He’s not alone with them. There is a great deal of... erm... presumed status flaunting going on.::

Oh, Mags could very well imagine how that was—wait, what?

::Status flaunting?::

::Bear has the four most senior Healers at Healer’s Collegium and their Dean backing him.:: Dallen was extremely amused. ::Against that, the head of a House of Healing, no matter how old and well-established that House is, just doesn’t measure up.::

::Huh.:: Mags had been under the impression that Bear’s father and brother outranked his teachers . . .

::Certainly his father and brother are under that impression themselves.:: Dallen paused. ::Oh my. They are going to bring out the Very Large Hammer now.::

::Very Large Hammer? Ye ain’t makin’ sense, Dallen.:: He shoved open the door to the outside and paused for a moment, casting a glance at the outwardly serene facade of Healer’s Collegium.

::Well, you might say that back when you and Bear had that little misunderstanding, I took one of the things he had said to heart. The part about us not getting him support against the arguments of his family from some of the more important people here.::

There was a long pause. Mags didn’t move. ::And?:: he said finally.

::And I had a few words about him with Rolan.:: Another pause.

::And?::

::And Rolan spoke to Nikolas.:: The third pause was too much.

::If ye don’ come t’ the point, I’m’a gonna come straight t’ the stable and shave yer mane an’ tail bald.:: He put a good deal of force behind his Mindspeech.

::I was getting to it!:: Dallen replied, sounding aggrieved.

::Ye’d make a ’portant message inter a joke. Ye’d draw out anythin’ with suspense so thet the telling uv it lasted all night. An’ hev! Th’ point!::

::The Healers will be presenting Bear’s father and brother with the King’s Edict that Bear is a vital resource and that he will remain at the Collegium to attain his Greens, then to train the unGifted Healers for the foreseeable future. In fact, they will be handing the Edict over about... now.::

The explosion of anger was so powerful it jolted against Mag’s shields. A moment later, two Green-clad figures stormed out of the Collegium, heading for the stable. Another powerful surge of mingled anger and impatience made Mags pick up his feet and sprint for the stables. But before he was halfway there, two sturdy cobs with those same Green-clad figures on their backs galloped out of the stableyard and down the road, heading for one of the gates to the outside world.

Mags slowed a little, but not too much. He wanted to make sure no one had actually done anything... egregious.

He only dropped to a walk when he reached the stableyard; the yard actually served three stables, with one open side. The Companions’ Stable was to the left, with all of Companions’ Field behind it. In the middle was the stable for draft and hauling animals. Riding beasts were served in the stable to the right. The yard was hard-packed dirt, but as clean as if a fanatic housewife kept it swept, and smelled of nothing worse than fresh straw and hay. The Stablemaster for the entire Palace was standing there at the riding stable door, shaking his head and patting one of his hostlers on the shoulder.

“Is ev’one all right?” Mags asked, and flushed. “I’m mortal sorry—them Healers, they was here t’get Trainee Bear, which he don’ wanta go, an’ Collegium ain’t gonna let him go. So they kinda got—”

“Put in their place?” the Stablemaster said, with a lift of his eyebrow. He and Mags were very well acquainted at this point, since Mags was living in the Companions’ Stable and had been since his arrival here. “My thanks, Mags; we were warned they were likely to be temperamental when they left. They were certainly temperamental when they arrived. But thank you for making sure they hadn’t caused anyone inadvertent harm with their—”

He groped for words. “Temper tantrum,” supplied the hostler, pressing the heels of his hands into his temples. “Blessed Cernos, my head is splitting. If they’d been my littles, they’d’a both gotten such a hiding they’d’a been eatin’ dinner standin’ up for a week. Grown men an’ Healers, actin’ like that!”

The Stablemaster patted him on the shoulder again. “You go up to the Collegium and get your head seen to. They’ll be able to put you right.”

“Aye, I will. By real Healers, not poncy little brats,” the man grumbled, and began to make his way, a little unsteadily, toward the Collegium.

Mags was torn between trying to offer up some sort of apology (since they surely wouldn’t) and running after the man to make sure he got where he was going safely. He decided in favor of the latter.

Good thing, too, the man was losing his balance a little just as he caught up with him. Mags caught his elbow to steady him.

“You be a good lad, Trainee,” the man said, thickly, through clenched teeth. “I got a very little touch of a Gift. Enough to make me good with beasts, not enough to be of any special use. So they tell me, anyway. So —”