“The troubles before the civil war,” Sylph said quietly. Thanahad mentioned the war before, when the nobles had clashed with the monarch, thevery war Queen Earnhilt had put a stop to in her younger days. “Some noblesrefer to the civil war as the Troubles.” Not her father. He rarely spoke of itat all. The nobility tended toward forgetting their past mistakes when theycould.
Thana stared, and Sylph realized her court mask had no doubt beenabsent for some time. Did she even need it anymore? She shook her head. Ofcourse she did. When things went back to normal, she’d need everything she’dever learned.
Sylph tried to keep up a blank look as Thana pointed out variousstructures around the city. She barely listened, looking at the people instead.She’d only ever ridden among the peasantry on her own estate, when theresidents lined the road as she and her father rode through town. Whenever theycame to Marienne, they rode down the main street to the palace, but a wall ofguards had always ridden between her and the people.
Now, hardly anybody paid her or Thana any mind. They went abouttheir business, walking, talking, calling out to one another. Their faces andbodies were so alive. She read happiness and anger and sadness from a distance,as if they didn’t care if their fellows knew what they were feeling.
“Wonderous,” she whispered. Her father would have sneered, butthese people must have so many words for what they were thinking, how they werefeeling. They would’ve had the right words for Thana, but Sylph didn’t evenknow if such words existed within her.
“Hello, Thana, dear. How are you?” someone called from across thestreet. A short young woman with an enormous basket was hurrying in theopposite direction.
“All right, Miss Chambers. You?” Thana said.
“Can’t complain. Take care.” And then she was gone. No bows, nocourtly maneuvering. Just hello and then gone. Sylph felt like laughing butfeared looking like a lunatic.
Others greeted Thana, too. Some seemed a bit wary of her, nodoubt a sign of the recent pyradisté troubles. Thana frowned at that, and thepinched look between her brows said she was hurt.
Sylph couldn’t stand to see it and grabbed for the first wordsthat came to her. “Any anti-pyradisté sentiment is no doubt due to ourproximity to this academy of yours. Most people seem quite friendly, and thereis comfort to be had in that.” Spirits, she sounded like a formal letter. Shetried a smile, hoping her feelings came through. “That is the norm, correct?”
Thana gave her a crooked smile. “Are you asking if people usuallylike me?” She shrugged. “I don’t have many close friends.” She looked away.“Still, people out here are a lot nicer than the nobles in the palace.”
“Yes.” Sylph didn’t even have it in her to be arch. Thana spokethe truth. “Were people friendlier toward the pyradistés when they had theirgrand building?”
Now Thana frowned at her. “During the rebellion? I don’t thinkany non-pyradistés felt very charitable toward them.”
Sylph thought through her lessons but couldn’t recall a rebellionconcerning the pyradistés.
“You have no idea what I’m talking about, do you?” Thana asked.When Sylph stared, Thana sighed hugely. “During the reign of Queen Earnhilt’sgrandfather, a group of pyradistés banned together to try to take the kingdom.”
Sylph knew her surprise had to be showing, but they were out inthe world now, and she doubted anyone cared. Still, she reined it in a little.“They what?”
“Yeah,” Thana said slowly. “I’m not surprised you don’t know. Thenobility has probably written it off as embarrassing.”
“I had the same thought.”
Now Thana gave her a slightly condescending smile. “When Farradaywas formed, the king’s sister and her pyradisté husband defeated a Fiend usingpyramid magic. These rebel pyradistés I mentioned took that as the reason whypyradistés should rule the kingdom. When they were defeated, the monarchdeclared magic illegal. Pyradistés were either locked up, executed, orbanished.”
Sylph frowned, both at the thought of rebellion and that a pastmonarch’s sister had married a peasant. Her father would have said those weredark days indeed. Sylph tried not to mirror his feelings, but it felt liketrying to pull something out of herself. “How were they defeated?”
“We’re only as powerful as the number of pyramids we have. Themonarch cut off the routes to where the crystal is mined, and when thepyradistés ran out, that was it.”
Sylph nodded. Had the king let the pyradistés run amok amongstthe populace until they ran out of pyramids, knowing they couldn’t get more? Orhad he fought them tooth and nail beforehand, losing troops, losing nobles,perhaps? If a great many had died, they would have declared that period inhistory a great embarrassment indeed.
“We lost a lot of knowledge,” Thana said, her gaze far away. “Andit wasn’t until years later that pyradistés were allowed to practice again.It’s gotten to the point where we aren’t completely under suspicion.” Shefrowned hard. “Or it had until now.”
Sylph put a hand on her arm, surprising herself, but she had todo something, some show of support. When Thana smiled at her, she thought shemight not need so many words after all.
Chapter Eight
Thana was happy that Sylph seemed thoughtful about thehistory of pyradistés. Or maybe her look of intensity was due to the fact thatshe was out of the palace with only Thana for company. Or it could have beenthe fire or the threat of death.
Or any of a thousand things.
At least she hadn’t responded with scoffs and angry denials. Ifshe had, Thana might have abandoned her to continue this journey alone. Andeven that outcome would have been better than the mistrust she’d seen in theeyes of the people who lived and worked near a place she’d spent years gettingto know.
Oh, there had been smiles. And Miss Chambers, who Thana hadexchanged many flirtations with, had called a cheery hello. But others whoshould have known better scowled at her or hurried
