I don’t think he’s all that different from most High Holders, but he did bring his wife to look at the drawings before he approved the upholstery design for the dining chairs. She was cautious, but did recommend a small change, and he agreed. He paid the advance deposit without quibbling.”
“What’s your impression, even if you can’t explain it?”
“He’s cautious. He won’t go against the other High Holders unless he’s fully convinced. I think he could be stubborn, even against the other High Holders. I also feel he has a dislike of open violence. He’s doesn’t like to be out in front, but he’s not a blind follower.”
“That sounds like a cautious choice on the part of the High Holders.” It also suggested they were aware that they would be wise not to propose anyone too controversial.
“Things are going to get worse, aren’t they?” asked Seliora.
“They could. I’m supposed to keep that from happening.”
“Dear…that may beyond even you.”
“Why do you say that?”
“I was at Mama’s earlier. She’s gotten word that there were anti-Pharsi riots in Westisle and Solis. They all started in the taudis.”
“I suppose there are rumors that the imagers and the Pharsis are the cause of all the problems?” I wasn’t quite satiric.
“There are some. Mama says some are saying that the imagers and the Pharsis are doing the High Holders’ dirty work.”
“I wonder who’s behind all that.” As if I didn’t know.
Seliora stood and scooped up Diestrya. “You have work to do, and I want to put the house back in order. As much as I can, anyway.”
I stood, walked around the desk, and hugged the two of them. “I’ll see you later.”
“At home,” Seliora declared.
“Yes, Lady.” I grinned.
She did smile back.
Seemingly within moments of Seliora’s and Diestrya’s departure, Beleart knocked on my door. “Maitre…?”
“Come in. What is it?”
He set five folders on the corner of the desk. “Maitre Dyana said you’d need these. They’re the preceptor folders. There’s one for each of the junior imagers…”
“The ones for whom I’ll be preceptor?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Thank you.”
He nodded and was gone.
I had no doubts that before long, more piles of papers and reports would appear. So I quickly looked over the files to get the names: Eamyn, Haugyl, Marteon, Ralyea, and Shault. Then I read the biographies and academic records on each. After that, the files went into the second desk drawer. I just hoped I didn’t have to deal with immediate academic, personal, or disciplinary problems for them.
What I needed to do more than anything was have a series of long and detailed conversations with Schorzat about all those matters about which I knew nothing or too little. So I walked to the third door down the hallway. I didn’t have to knock because the door was open.
Schorzat stood with a smile. “I thought it wouldn’t be very long.”
I stepped into his study and closed the door, then sat down in the single chair across from a desk piled with papers.
Schorzat re-seated himself behind the desk. “I don’t envy you, Rhenn.”
“I don’t envy me, either. What are the more urgent matters I should know about and probably don’t? I’m sure there are more than I even know about. So you might start with those that are most likely to impact us immediately if we don’t do something.”
“First, we need to go over what you…and I…have to work with.” He handed me two sheets of paper. The first was a map of Solidar, with numbers at various locations. The second was a listing of names, with a number after each. The numbers corresponded to those on the maps. “Those are our regionals and their locations. You’ll need to keep those safe.”
I studied the locations and the comparatively short list of names. “Just thirty-one for all of Solidar?”
“If we could find more with the independence and abilities…” Schorzat shrugged. “We have ten vacant regional houses right now, and they’re not in tiny towns. Places like Alkyra, Ruile, Thuyl, Juvahl. A regional has to be able to hold light shields, be intelligent and discreet, and have the ability to practice another occupation or have an economic reason for support.”
“Most are classed as tertius or Maitre D’Aspect?”
“Mostly very bright thirds. It’s a good position for an intelligent imager who won’t ever have the raw ability to be a master, but they have to be able to blend in and listen and draw conclusions…. They reported to Dichartyn, and now…”
“To me,” I finished. “I assume there are reports somewhere that I can read and catch up on?”
He laughed. “You get a copy of the monthly report from every Civic Patrol Commander in Solidar-from every city big enough to have a Commander, rather than a captain. You also get a monthly report from every regional.”
“What about High Holders, or more important factors? Do we have information on them?”
“There are files on the High Holders who serve on the Council, as well as those who have served, and others who have come to our attention. We only have files on fifteen or twenty factors.” He shook his head. “We do our best, but there’s no way to keep records on more than a thousand High Holders and tens of thousands of factors. The ones we do have are all in the cases in the study. You’ll need to image the hidden catches…”
I listened as he explained in more detail the regional imager network that I’d known existed, but little more than that.
After a glass, he leaned back. “Any questions about this?”
“No. I’m sure I will, once I read through everything and think about it. What’s most urgent that I should keep in mind as I try to get on top of matters?”
Schorzat chuckled, if nervously. “The biggest problem is the Ferran support of the more militant freeholders. That’s a guess, of course.”
“I assume that we have no proof of an actual connection, since, if we did, you’d already have done something about it.”
“We’ve discovered and dealt with, in one way or another, over twenty agents. So far there’s barely circumstantial evidence of a connection with any others we suspect.”
“Blast patterns similar to or identical to Ferran demolitions…that sort of thing?”
He nodded, then went on. “Here’s what we do know….”
I listened as, again, he provided detail after detail, not once repeating himself, for more than half a glass. In the end, though, he had provided a wealth of events, discoveries, and possible connections-yet without a single concrete linkage to either factors or freeholders. I had a far greater breadth of understanding, but the structure looked to be what I’d already pieced together from my own observations as a Patrol Captain and from my reading of the newsheets. At the same time, I had the feeling that there were events and actions that didn’t fit-like the grain explosions and the bombard attack on Imagisle…and the growth and distribution of the stronger elveweed, which I suspected lay more with Stakanaran origins.
When he finished, I was the one to nod, then say, “Thank you. You mentioned the riots in Westisle, Estisle, Solis, and Kherseilles. I’ve heard that all have started in the local taudis, and some were sparked by rumors that imagers and Pharsis have been doing the dirty work for the High Holders.”
“That I hadn’t heard, but it would fit. The Ferrans will use anything.”
“So where are the Jariolan agents?”
He smiled sadly. “We don’t know for certain, but we’ve tracked several suspicious persons to the estates and lands of various High Holders.”
“Such as Haebyn?”
