Jebidiah's Change Bk. 01 Ch. 06

Welcome back gentle reader

Republished this one to fix all the italics {hopefully}.

Once again the standard disclaimer, multiply ages by roughly two to get equivalent Earth ages. Everyone is a consenting adult. There's also a section where the sex gets maybe a little rough.

-- Chapter 6: Bh'orel Academy --

-- Fifth Tenday of Antaen 813 AGR --

There's no such thing as gravity, the Earth sucks - unknown

The morning following what was already being called 'The Battle On the Promenade', Jebidiah and Dana found themselves traversing back across the Promenade. This time on horseback, with another company of soldiers as guard and reinforced with a few evokers. They were forced to slow when they came upon the scene of the battle from the day before. A group of artisans and stonemasons were busy shoring up shops and clearing debris while shopkeepers were setting out mounds of half burnt merchandise. Everyone paused as their entourage approached and many bowed or knelt as they passed.

Dana snorted "Must think we are nobility with this amount of guards." Jebidiah had not considered before how disruptive the nobles and royals must be to the average person trying to go about their day. Those workers probably spent ten minutes distracted from their work they really needed to be doing.

When they reached the Keep they entered the Lower levels back to the guard room Jebidiah had been sent to after the assassin was caught. They entered to find Master Standing already present and another face Jebidiah recognized. "Well me, Captain Irons."

"I heard about your escapades on the Promenade Mast Overton, and I heard you gave a good accounting for yourself. Not bringing me another invisible suspect from the battle?" asked the Captain.

"No. This time we killed who we could." Jebidiah said without bravado.

"I see." the Captain responded. "I was instructed to allow you to interrogate the prisoner you brought us. We have not had much luck cracking that one. The diviners say her name is Sally or something similar and that she is a Dark rogue Talent with an assassin specialization. Nasty business that. They are also as certain as they can be that she is not from Tonstar. She talks funny too, like she's not used to commonspeak. We have some Indexers trying to match Change, Talent, and approximate age combinations for possible identities in the Tally records in case she was born Human. Will you require anything?"

"I'm not sure. Can you set her up in an interview room so we can begin?" Jebidiah asked.

"She already is." The Captain pointed out a door. "Through there, down the hall, fourth door on your right. The sign says A8."

Jebidiah, Dana, and Standing followed the directions to the door marked A8 easily enough, the two posted guards drew attention to it. One of the guards unlocked the door and followed the three of them into a smaller room with a table and four chairs. Three on the side of the room with the door and the fourth on the opposite side, currently occupied. The guard stayed at the door, Dana and Standing took a seat and Jebidiah was about to sit but stopped. The others looked up at him in confusion.

The girl seated across from them was quite charming in that childlike way Halflings have about them even though she was chained to the seat and table. With a little maturity she could be labeled beautiful. Proud cheekbones, rounded chin, full lips, a button nose and large brown eyes much like Joy's filled her face. She also sported the same curly black hair Joy had, just a tad longer and more unruly. But none of that is what caused Jebidiah to pause before sitting. That would be the gray haze coating her body and the similarly sized gray haze moving slowly towards the guard at the door. He finally took his seat and pushed back from the table slightly.

The plan was for Dana to be her aggressive self to start the questioning with George finally stepping in as the older, mature, voice of reason to try and befriend the prisoner. Jebidiah thought it was dumb idea but Standing assured him it was a standard practice that had resulted in many confessions so he went along with it.

Dana began harshly, "Your friend's attempt to kill us yesterday failed as badly as your own attempt. Unfortunately for you, while they missed us they did kill quite a few civilians and some soldiers. We have some of your friends being questioned just so you know. That leaves you, as an accessory, to about thirty deaths which some were royal guards meaning capital offenses. They will hang you if you are lucky. The only real option you have is to cooperate with us."

Jebidiah watched the girl in the chair. She didn't really react to what Dana was saying. Her lack of reaction caused Dana to begin to display anger until she was nearly growling at the end of her opening dialogue. The gray shape against the wall kept slowly creeping towards the door and the guard. When Dana finally lost her anger and stood to slam the table top, Jebidiah calmly said, "Please, whoever you are, have a seat. I just have some questions for you. If it helps I won't ask them to put the restraints back on."

Dana, George, and most pointedly, the guard looked at Jebidiah like he had grown horns but the gray shape stopped moving. Dana sat back down looking unsure if he had asked her to sit.

"I mean it. We just want to talk. I would hate to resort to violence again but I did just lose several friends because of your people and, while I'm not prone to violence, I wouldn't be bothered starting with you. My patience will only go so far. Please, sit." Jebidiah said the last in a frightfully commanding tone Dana had never heard out of him. He noticed she squirmed a little in her seat.

The girl in the chair disappeared at the same time she materialized in the spot the gray shape had occupied. Jebidiah imagined it must have looked like teleporting to everyone else and from the gasps and swearing by the guard it probably did. The girl grinned, showing two wonderfully cute dimples, and took her seat. She looked exactly as she had when they entered but without the restraints.

"Thank you," Jebidiah said. "A little honesty will go a long way here."

The girl couldn't help but release a giggle at that. "Admit I must, Valor, you have a habit of surprising me. But 'honesty' I've been told isn't your strong point, no? Considering how much is wrong about what I was told, a lot you must be hiding. I wager more than I am guessing. Doesn't sound very honest to me."

"You have a knack for hiding as well." Jebidiah shot back. "Even so far as hiding your wizard Talent from the diviners. Though the mass Dispel on the light globes was pretty strong magic, too much I am told for one such as yourself. Let's start with your name and we'll go from there." Jebdiah was gambling now, the jab about not being Talented enough was thrown in by instinct. He tried to center his focus solely on the girl and was rewarded by regaining the hyper focused feeling.

She smiled sheepishly at Jebidiah, flashing those dimples once again, and said "My name is Monica. And you are right, Abjurationist I be."

Dana, who had retaken her seat and lowered her anger muttered, "if that isn't the sappiest pile of horse shit."

With better awareness, Jebidiah noticed a small tic of muscle under her ear when she answered. "Let's try again, shall we? Nothing you just said is correct." He motioned towards where Dana sat beside him, "While what my friend here was saying does hold true, more importantly for you, what she does not know is I won't need a court magistrate to determine guilt or administer punishment. We have moved past that stage I'm afraid."

For just the briefest instant the girl looked unsure then resumed her casualness. The other's wouldn't have caught the change, but Jebidiah did. She kept smiling and said "Odd way to haggle you have. Starting at the extreme without working up. What's a girl to do with a threat like that? Where is the carrot that goes with the stick?"

"I apologize," Jebidiah replied sincerely, "that was not meant to be a threat. I was not trying to be intimidating. I do not like nor have time for games so I will just rely on the direct approach and I am simply telling you what is going to happen."

The girl looked briefly at Dana. "Your little drama wasn't intimidating. A lot from him you should learn." She looked back to Jebidiah. "Fine, Mila."

"That wasn't so hard Mila, was it?" Jebidiah gave his own smile. "Now let's try the second part. I am well aware you are not an Abjurationist."

She sighed and lost her smile. "Illusionist, happy?"

"No, it will be some time before I am happy again. Now that we have preliminaries out of the way, Who sent you after me? I know the why so we can skip that part."

She smiled again and said, "Private contract, dead drop communications, that sort of thing. I had no contact with who hired me." The muscle tic under her ear made another appearance.

Jebidiah sighed again. "Lying is not helping anyone here, and I really do mean to help you get out of here and on your way." He leaned back and rubbed at his temple. His internal calculator was working hard and he was biding time for an answer to pop out.

Mila started to lose some of the calmness she was trying to keep. "How? On my way I should have been if not for you."

Jebidiah waved absently, "As I said, lying is not helping anyone and I was not lying before. I am here to judge you and determine what justice requires."

"Judge me, eh? So, big man are you, here to punish the little girl." She sniped, composure lost.

Jebidiah leveled his gaze at her. "I judge everyone and everything. Judgment is not just about determining fault, it equally applies to merit. Justice is about determining the amount of fault or merit, nothing more. While everything has to either be good or bad, right or wrong, there are degrees." And just then his calculator provided an insight for later.

"So, Mila, I am running under the assumption you used an illusion to illegally smuggle your weapons into the keep, illegally used an illusion to lure me to the lower levels, illegally used scrolls to dispel the lighting, all with the intent to kill me. What I need from you is your help. Explain to me where I am wrong, or give me a valid reason why you did all of that?"

"Valid reason?" surprisingly came out of Standing. He had been following the questioning intently but had not felt the need to interject, amazed at Jebidiah's handling of the interrogation.

"Yes. She might have had a good reason for what she attempted to do." Jebidiah answered without taking his gaze from Mila.

"How in the divines am I supposed to come up with a good reason?" Mila cried, forgetting her composure completely. "You lay it like a monster I am. Killing me even I would do."

"Killing is neither good nor evil, right nor wrong, Light nor Dark, Mila. Only the reason you do it. If I kill you for your guilt it is within the Light. If I kill you for revenge it is masked in the Dark."

"Sure," Mila, now showing real signs of despair, replied waving her hands about and in a wavering, mockingly spooky voice she said, "what part of Light or Dark would be `Some faceless man in a dream told me to kill you or the world will end` or some other insane nonsense? How could I give a reason?"

Jebidiah was quiet for a moment. "It was two faceless people, not one."

"Not together." she replied without thinking then froze when his words registered.

"How did they name themselves?" Jebidiah prodded.

She sighed then and looked like her entire spirit deflated. "I mean, Bora she said. Bora."

"And the other?"

"He was easier to believe. Iztar, patron of Assassins." Now she looked at Jebidiah pleading in her eye. "Insane I may be but I swear on the Divines Iztar then Bora bade me kill you. It was she who gave power to outen the lights. Kill me if you must, but the Divines I could not refuse."

"Aye," he said quietly, "they are hard to refuse. When next you meet, give Iztar a warning if you would. We answer the call." Jebidiah stood up and said to the others, "We are done here." The guard opened the door for him and when he stepped into the doorway he stopped and said without looking back, "Justice sees the Dark and the Light, Mila, and all the grays in between. You need to decide how gray you want to be." He left.

When they exited the guard room, Standing stopped them. "Jebidiah, against my better judgment I let you handle that. I don't understand what just happened there but I'm not sure I could have interfered if I wanted to. What I was told to expect from you is not what I am seeing. What is this about dreams and faceless people? How did you know she dreamt of the Divine and immediately believed her?"

"The Divine have taken a direct hand. My guess is all of them are or will be involved. There are things I know and understand now that I didn't before our Change but I can't describe the how or why. George, I'm asking for some trust. Have them sit on Mila but not torture, no abuse. I may need her."

George assured them he would relay the results of the interview to the Princess. Dana and Jebidiah gathered their guards again to return to the Academy. It was a quiet ride back, Dana tried a couple times to engage him in conversation which he kept politely shutting down. Back in their rooms they found themselves alone. Curious, the guards let them know the administrators had taken them to discuss their schooling and would be by later to grab them as well.

"Jeb," Dana started, "I feel like you are shutting me out. You have changed so much the rest of us are getting scared. Please let us back in. Lately it's just you and Crystal and the rest of us are just hanging out around you. Losing Polly and Henna, you seem so cold about it. Charlene doesn't want to bring you up at all."

"The Divines are messing with me Dana."

Dana snorted, "Well that's obvious. If I understood what happened back there with Mila or whoever she is, the Divines have their hands in most of what has been happening to us."

"It's more than that, Dana. They have been changing me. I don't know if it will stop here either." He sighed. "Inside I mourn for them, I miss them. I hate what's going on with Char. My emotions are the same but their place inside of me have shifted. My best guess is that I have decisions ahead of me that cannot be clouded by emotions. Emotions have become the result of actions, not what drives me anymore. Does that make sense? Mila tried to kill me. She is part of my enemy's plans against me but my instincts say I need to work with her to get answers. They killed our friends yet I couldn't even feel anger. Just clarity in deciding how to act."

Dana sat beside him and grabbed hold of his hands. "And me? What have your emotions become with me?"

At that he smiled. "I love you, silly, as much now as ever. You know, regardless of what Mila said, you looked very intimidating to me."

She puffed up some and gave him a forced frown, "I better be." She quickly smiled though, "I love you, we all love you, but we're having trouble figuring this new you out. And back there? You frightened the fuck out of me with how cold and calm you threatened to kill her. That alone is not the Jeb we know."

"Well then, what I'm about to say is probably going to suck." Jebidiah grimaced. "I meant what I told her. It wasn't a threat, just what I was going to do. I would have killed her right then and there if it was required"

Dana regarded him for some time. "I am supposed to be the aggressive one, the threatening one. Stern is a big baby so someone had to take the role. The shift in our group's dynamics is another part of the problem. You've always sort of been in charge but it was always me that made things happen. You nearly gave Stephanie commands yesterday. That's not the Jeb we know. Where do we go from here? If you want to be the leader, the rest of us need direction."

"Honestly Dana, I had not thought of it in those terms. That's obviously my fault."

"I wish I had some recording magic to keep that one. Not often I hear you admitting fault." Jebidiah genuinely smiled and stuck his tongue out at her after she said it. "See, that right there is another thing. That may be the first real smile you've given me in days and the most playful you've been. It's like you immediately aged ten years and went straight to twenty." She reached over and tried to twist one of his nipples through his tunic.

"Uncle!" Jebidiah jokingly cried fending her off. "I give, you are right."

"Did you just say I am right? I really need a recording of this entire conversation. No one will believe me."

"Fair," Jebidiah grinned again. "How about this? Family meeting at the dinner table tonight?"

"Family meeting is it? Graduating from a Group Conference? I think I approve." Dana nodded. She sighed then moved in for a hug. "Thank you Jeb, I feel better now." As they drew apart from the hug Dana quickly snuck her hand up to painfully tweak his nipple. "Damned it Dana!" She laughed and jumped away.

Before things could get interesting a knock at the door drew their attention and someone in an Academy uniform entered. "Excuse my interruption but the Seniors require your presence." Jebidiah nodded, rubbing his chest. He and Dana left following the messenger.

As they walked, Jebidiah asked, "Sorry we missed your name."

The messenger turned his head slightly and smiled. "Sorry, I'm Jeremy Tund, one of the office staff. Well, I am more of a gopher and run errands mostly. I already knew your names and it didn't occur to me you wouldn't know mine for some reason."

"Pleased to meet you, Jeremy. I am glad that you are real." Jebidiah answered. Jeremy almost lost his footing and tripped. "Real?"

"Last time a page summoned me for a meeting someone tried to kill me. Nasty business. You aren't trying to kill me, are you?" Jebidiah said with a serious glare.

"Damn, Jeb, you are brutal today!" Dana said as she pinched his arm. "You'll give him a heart attack."

Jeremy had stopped and just sort of stammered, lost with no suitable reply. Dana took pity and said "he's insufferable but you'll get used to him. Just ignore him and lead us on."

Jeremy picked up the pace and led them to the front office of the administration building. He knocked on another door, waiting a few polite seconds then opened it and announced their presence. Stepping to the side he ushered them in with a wave of his arm and closed the door behind them.

The office was large enough for three desks, each of which were currently occupied. In front of each of those desks were several chairs for visitors, all empty. The occupant of the middle desk waved them over indicating the chairs in front of her. "Please, have a seat."

Once seated the woman continued, "I am Senior Artificer Madeline Crag. I have been selected as your group's adviser during your education at the Academy. First, I want to offer mine and the Academy's condolences on your pod's loss. Normally we would be having a different conversation but my instructions have skirted any semblance of normal. Those instructions are for you and your group to move directly into individual classes with specialized tutors. Normally there would be an introductory period starting immediately after Summer's Eve when the second semester begins. During the first week I would have helped you select coursework suitable for your Talents. Normally. Instead, Dana, you are scheduled to begin immediate weapons training and your instructor will be here momentarily."

"Which leaves me with you, Master Overton. Normal does not apply to you in any form. I can't help you pick out a curriculum for your Talent as you are Talentless. We have some training available for Artificers centered around logistics and support but you already have Master status and outrank nearly every instructor. To put it plainly, I do not know what I am going to do with you."