As he skimmed over the details, I silently thanked the Almighty that Zezilia was safely tucked away in the south. She would be exactly what they wanted for their community, a strong untrained talent to bear strong talented babies.
“I will go get that Elitist research now, Master. Is there anything else you would like me to fetch?” Renato asked.
“No, just the research.” I set aside Blandone’s letter and reached for Korneli’s.
My friend’s letter was of a much more positive nature. He said that he would be able to incorporate a stop at Errol’s farm twice a year without a problem. In fact it would work out well because he needed someone to test Septimus and an exchange in testing between him and Errol would be advantageous to both.
As I read of Septimus’ progress, I began to have an idea. He and Zez were of the same age. Perhaps, with a little encouragement, the two of them would become friends and eventually solve my marriage problem for me. Grabbing a sheet of paper from the stack in the desk, I quickly wrote a reply to Korneli asking him to encourage Septimus’ association with Zezilia and the Silas daughters. I included the daughters to disguise my intentions and mentioned something about the interaction would be good for both sides considering how isolated they all were from others their own age. I remembered how lonely that farm could get when you are young and wish to be around others who are young. I signed it with a flourish and had just removed the seal from the wax when Renato returned.
“Here it is,” he announced as he pulled up a chair. Sitting down, he spread his notes across his knees. “The last time this happened, the Sept Son did nothing for years. In my opinion, he waited until it was too late. Then the only action that he could take was military, which ended in a horrible slaughter. It took the Sept Son years to redeem his name and even to this day the histories are harsh when discussing the whole affair.”
I nodded. I remembered something similar, but I had still hoped to get some help from the past. “So, that doesn’t help us much. Do you have any ideas?”
Renato looked up at me, golden brown eyes wide. “Me?”
“Yes, you. You have now studied these people. How can we deal with them?”
“I don’t know, Master. It is easy to see the previous Sept Son’s folly, but I haven’t thought about how we can avoid following in his footsteps.”
“Well, first of all, I shall not repeat the mistake of waiting too long before taking action. We need to make our first move now, before they know we are aware of them. Tell me about their mentality.”
Scanning his notes, Renato obeyed. “The basic mentality is that the goddess created talents to be superior to non-talents. As such, non-talents are made to serve the talents by handling all the more menial tasks of house and agriculture.”
“So, they enslave non-talents to run the households and work the fields?”
“The community in the past did. That was the first complaint that reached the Sept Son’ ears.”
Picking up Blandone’s letter, I quickly searched for any reference to such activities. “It doesn’t appear that this group is doing that. They are only seeking out talents, untrained females especially.”
“The old group started that way too, but they didn’t grow aggressive about it the last year or two before the slaughter.”
I lay Blandone’s letter on the covered desk and stared at it as an idea began to form in my mind. “Was the old group picky about who joined?”
Renato rustled his notes for a few moments. “No, they were looking for any able bodied talent who agreed to their ways and beliefs.”
I couldn’t help smiling. There was a chance my idea could work. “Good. This is what we are going to do: attack from the inside. If a man, say Blandone, joins their community and does whatever they require to accept him. Then he can feed us information, work his way into the fabric of the community, and when the time is right, start working on sabotaging the leadership.”
Renato chewed on the inside of his cheek for a moment. “It might work.”
“And Blandone is just the man to do it too. Your brother is the best undercover man I can think of. He is so unassuming that everyone believes him without questioning.”
“I am not sure he will be willing to marry into it, but other than that I think it will work.”
“It shouldn’t go so far as marriage.” I leaned beck in the chair and pressed my palms to my face. I was suddenly extremely tired. “If we could manage to get in another man or so, that would be even better, but that will be later, much later.”
“The one problem with this is it is going to take time,” Renato observed, “Time where it is going to look like you are doing nothing.”
“Then we will put up a smoke screen of activity. I will move a few more agents over in that direction and start encouraging families with talent in them to come East and away from the danger.” As Renato nodded, I reached for the paper pile. “I am going to get this letter to Blandone written right now while I am thinking about it and then I am going to bed.”
“It has been a long day,” Renato agreed, stretching.
“Try long week,” I corrected and picked up the pen. “Why don’t you head to bed and get some sleep? You look almost as tired as I feel.”
Renato nodded and rose without complaint. “Sleep well, Master Aleron.”
“You, too,” I replied. The door closed behind Renato with a soft click as I bent over my work.
The letter took only a half hour to write. I explained to Blandone what I was trying to accomplish with my orders, warned him of the possibility
