Read It From The Beginning

On Midsummer Day, she carried her bag-clothes, books, and money for what she’d need until her work sold-down the road from her home, past the fountain that marked the turn to the temple grounds, and to the Market Square. She cut along the edge of the Market Square, avoiding the crowds, until she reached the other road. This one, she knew, ran along the river to King’s Keep.

She only followed it to the road to the bridge nearest to Master Noler’s. She turned, crossed the bridge, walked a little further, and then turned toward Master Noler’s.

“Hi again, Nayelle,” Cheriny said, leaving.

“Hey hi. Do you know which room’s mine?” It wasn’t all that long a walk, but her bag had gotten heavy.

“He doesn’t assign. Take mine-you’ll be between Kasi and Sara, and nowhere near Tafo.”

“All right, thanks,” Nayelle said, and resisted asking what that meant.

“See you at Craft fairs!”

###

Craft fairs, she found out, were gatherings in the biggest room of the Craftguild, closed to outsiders, where the masters exchanged ideas, the journeymen (and women, as Cheriny kept forcing Master Noler to point out) listened and learned, and compared with others, and, while a few senior apprentices stayed with their masters for part of it, the rest made and served the food.

“You still learn more than you’d expect,” Kasi said, taking her turn in the kitchen while Master Noler went to look at the work of his former apprentices.

“You don’t mind being in here?” Nayelle asked.

“It’s a lame deal if you ask me,” Tafo added. “We’re apprentices so we won’t have to do work like this. Why can’t we hire servants-”

“Craft fair tradition, Tafo. Besides, even nobles serve as pages.”

“Easy for you to say. I’ve been stuck here all day!”

“I get the Master’s morning, you get his evening, and the journeymen he’s trained get his afternoon,” Cheriny explained again. “You know that’s how he divides his time when he has two senior apprentices.”

“Aye, first apprentice first, then them that don’t need a master now, and second apprentice as an afterthought. I’d be happy to wander looking at stuff the rest of the day, but no, I’m a kitchen drudge.”

“Thanks for not saying ‘wench’ this time,” Nayelle said-Tafo had been complaining all day.

“Ignore him, Nayelle,” Kasi added. “You know what Master Noler says. ‘Once my student, always my student.’ What’s good for the journeymen is good for us later. Tafo’s sore ’cause nothing of his sold, last Market Day.”

Nayelle bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing at that dig.

“Maybe they would’ve if I’d gotten more than the three out there.”

“Maybe you would’ve if you’d made more things and better ones. ‘Sides, Nayi only got three out, and they all sold.”

“You got ten out and eight sold.”

“So Nayelle’s fraction sold is better than mine this time,” Kasi said, laughing. “Besides, you know how Master Noler fills the table. He arranges everything by quality, then takes from the top end until the table’s full, and then two boxes of small things to refill the table when things move.”

“And sends junior apprentices for more if he needs,” Tafo said. “That I remember. You’ll hate busy days, Nayelle.”

“You’ll hate them more if you don’t make any money off them,” Kasi added, smirking.

Nayelle laughed, leaving the kitchen with another tray of edibles for the masters and journeymen.

“Anyway, Nayelle cheats,” Tafo added.

“Tafo, it’s made or it’s not, you can’t cheat. It’s not her fault you can’t use craft magic. Master Noler says she’s got a gift, and I worked last Market Day so I can tell you the others agree. The magic-tester says she could go to Skystar. It’s no reflection on you, Taf. She’s just good.”

###

“Nayelle,” Master Noler said the next day.

Nayelle looked up from the wheel, where she was trimming a bottle; she thought she’d finally gotten the hang of telling thicknesses of something with the other side hidden. “Sir?”

“The half-season that you agreed to spend here is over.”

Part 3 is up!