Chương 301: Observable Patterns

Vancy was the one who insisted we stay in town today. Maybe because she hates the first-bell wake-up that I demand any time I'm in charge of transportation. But in the end, she really was right. We had all had a hell of a week. Me with liches and sigil tattoos and fire temples and business negotiations. Elica was going through a dozen iterations of policy changes and public works projects to try to boost her earldom to a higher level of prosperity without causing long-term trouble.

Rinnie was stressed out trying to help her with that and clearing up some wild misconceptions. Larianne was being run ragged by her geography teacher and the ever-changing requirements for her mid-term project. Vancy was going through a bit of a meltdown because three of her boyfriends were breaking up with her just because all three of them thought that they had something exclusive with her.

So the plan was to enjoy the sights, the slightly brighter weather, the variety of candy shops that I have not yet sampled, and to gently teach Vancy the kind of communication skills that will stop misunderstandings like this from happening again. For the sake of our stressed-out friends, we let ourselves off to a slow start. I handled some greeting-cards while Elica took her time in the shower. Rinnie looked around the room, then at me.

"Don't tell Elica," she said, and then flopped down onto the lady earl's bed and relaxed there.

"Huh. Not actually any better than the other beds."

"I'm not gonna snitch," I promised her, and practiced taking my time with the cards.

"But I wouldn't recommend telling her the mattresses in this building are all basically the same." Curving ink let me do this kind of work very efficiently, with scrupulously sharp corners and no bleed into the paper at all. But calligraphy takes more time, and I use the extra time here. Next door, Vancy and Larianne are stumbling around and bumping into stuff and trying to be awake but failing at it. I can tell already that I'm going to wind up doing their hair for them. And one more: Belisa is coming with us.

"Are you really sure? You've already done so much for me," she said, biting at her lip.

"Oh hush," I told her.

"This will be good for you. You've been cooped up in this school for way too long already." We're still using a cover story in front of Rinnie.

"I can't pay you back," she pointed out.

"Not for a while, certainly." She squirmed in guilt, the agony of accepting generosity. People that offer charity use that word like glory. People who are offered charity often think of it as a mark of shame. Not all, but some; there are personalities that will or that won't. Now in that dichotomy I understand that I'm firmly in the 'givers' category, because I got my start in life with a double-handful of natural advantages.

But the times that I have had to approach someone for a hand-out, it really did just kill me inside. Even if I knew it was in good faith, even if I trusted there were no strings attached, even if I understood that it was offered in love and would never be held against me. That's part of why I still sometimes consider my "poor little rich girl" upbringing. I did not have a penny to my name. I could have anything I wanted, if I submitted to the mortifying ordeal of asking for it.

I generally did without, because the alternative was to go to honest, earnest, loving people who had all the resources they would need and would happily give me anything at all. The memories I took away from that have stuck with me. It's definitely shaped the way I address the entire idea of gifts, favors, and philanthropy. One of my main takeaways is that I never make anyone ask. I try to always make myself aware of other people's circumstances so that I can anticipate a need.

I feel like the ideal presentation is "shut up and let me do this for you". If your friends need something, spare them the whole experience and give it to them before they can even argue with themselves about whether to ask. And don't take 'no' for an answer.

"If I wanted you to pay me back we'd have a contract signed by now," I quipped.

"Just let me do this because it's what I want, yes?" And at the end of the day, it's easier for me to be an overbearing hardass with good intentions than to try to thread the needle of other people's issues with accepting a little help.

But to be clear: I did check and make sure that Belisa does want to go with us and does want to hang out, the part that hangs her up is that she has been cut off from her family for a year, has no income or savings, might have been declared dead at some point, and is not going to have any resources of her own until after the Marquis finishes destroying her family for their perfidious treachery and has her declared the sole heir to the whole family's holdings.

And we don't have a timeline on that, so she hates the idea of spending other people's money. My most cynical sentiments remind me that the more indebted to me she is, the more leverage I have over her. And after spearheading the efforts to free her soul from a lich's captivity, she's already very indebted.

So yes, the seedy scheming portion of my brain is correct, but that does not take away from the fact that she is a very nice girl who has gone through a lot of hard times and frankly does deserve a great deal of downtime, relaxation, and as many little treats as she likes. Water stopped running in the shower. I glanced up over at Rinnie.

"She's done, she'll be out in a minute." Rinnie knew how quick this next part would be and she did not dawdle, she sprang up off the mattress and moved twenty feet away to sit on the edge of the dresser. A couple seconds later, a towel-wrapped Elica opened the door, with warm steam billowing behind her.

"Natalie, my towel is broken. Dry me?" I whisked the water off of her, and she headed to her wardrobe and gestured Rinnie to follow. As an afterthought, I smoothed the sheets and blankets on Elica's bed, wiping out the evidence. Belisa looked from the bed to me, with a tiny smile quirking one corner of her mouth. I winked and gave her a 'shush' gesture. Belisa's moods have been delicate since she came back, like her entire mental state is still delicate.

She took it hard when she found out that her captor, Meadwhite's local confederate, had escaped the Ebonder dragnet and was in the wind. They haven't given up the search, but the best chance has already passed. Apparently the confederate had access to prototype versions of Belisa's sigils. I only have reports to work with, because I am not invited to be part of that operation. Something about it being a bad idea to ask teenaged girls to hunt for someone that abducts teenaged girls. Makes some obvious sense to me.

So now they keep searching, and I try to keep Belisa amused, distracted, and building positive experiences. Elica started sorting through her things while Rinnie stood back up and picked out some foundations, then she walked to the wardrobe and took down the hanger that Elica indicated, and they headed behind the privacy screen. While they were getting Elica decent, Belisa appeared closer to me, to whisper without being overheard.

"One of my classmates mentioned something. Apparently it's not just the magic that is increasing my senses, it really is brighter in the city? And you're involved?" I chuckled.

"First of all, no it's not just your eyes. But I can see why that would be confusing. Soon I'm going to have a whole lot of questions about your superior senses and strength. Second, the answer is yes, because last year my magic instructor tried to murder me a few times and then I finished her off in a magic duel up near the roof with the light-retaining crystals. I used a lot of extremely bright teleportation portals-""I'll not soon forget," she said, wincing a bit.

Everyone remembers their first time through the void.

"- and also I kinda-sorta turned into a giant firebird and consumed her," I went on.

"Anyway, that was a lot of light right by the crystals, and for a few months it really looked like daylight in here and not starscapes. It's almost faded now, it had been a lot brighter."

"I wish I could have seen it," Belisa mused, glancing away.

"Why was your teacher trying to kill you?" Well, I can't just say trope of the genre, now can I? There always has to be one teacher that tries to kill a student. But under the circumstances, I also can't say because there's an argument about whether or not I'm a lich. So I try to deflect with a joke.

"Pfft, have you met me?" I quip.

"I'm surprised more of them haven't tried." Belisa's eyes flicked my way, low and narrow.

"Yes, but, why really?" Rinnie came to my rescue, butting in on our conversation as she bustled past with a damp towel.

"No, I'm pretty sure it's the personality thing. Me, I'm biding my time." She disappeared into the laundry closet without looking back.

"Odd that your friends threaten to kill you," Belisa said, amused but surprised. Elica entered from stage left.

"Natalie? Did you and Rinnie become friends?"

"You know, I'm not sure? She confuses me almost as much as my brother."

"Your brother? Confusing?" Belisa asked.

"How so?" Elica's eyes whipped to me, sharp and quick.

"How does she not know?"

"Elica, you promised," I reminded her. I gave her a stern eye, and my roommate backed off. This is our rule, no digging into Belisa's missing year.

"Fine," she said, haughtily.

"I'm going to muster the countesses. We've dawdled long enough." Rinnie rolled her eyes, bringing Elica's clothes from yesterday out of the laundry and back to the wardrobe. I handle the sweeping, dusting, windows and bathrooms, but I'm not allowed to use sorcery to move Elica's clothes about. Even if I did immediately mend that tiny rip. Elica headed for the door, and Rinnie moved far enough to pretend not to eavesdrop, which is the best I'm going to get.

Unlike Elica, I have not been able to extract a promise of good behavior or good faith from Rinnie, so I put up the privacy bubble.

"All right, so while you were checked out for the past year, Nathan's really shown his true colors," I said.

"Cheating at the class rankings, compiling a lot of secrets from the student body, forming criminal contacts, and more. Betrayed me more than a few times. He got our home duchy hit with a trade embargo right when we were dealing with a plague and a famine, he got me arrested on my birthday, and instead of interrogating an agent that came after me, loosely associated with Meadwhite's organization, he sent the man back to his own handlers." I paused, ticked on my fingers for a second.

"I know I'm forgetting a couple of important ones." She was aghast." Nathan?! But he- he's an open book! He could never have!" My turn to look away.

"I'm good at keeping secrets. I have plenty, and everyone knows it. He's better at it than I am, because he can pretend to be openhearted in a way I can't. Though he has stopped pretending around me, which is a relief honestly, those lies hurt more than I would have expected."

"But he- he's so- " her hands fluttered as she tried to come up with the words.

"Heroic. Forthcoming. Unguarded. Warm. Gallant. Bold. Candid. Maybe even a little callow or unsophisticated," I offered.

"All of those!" she blurted, hands clutching her armrests.

"I know," I said.

"He would never be able to get away with as much as he does if he was not all of those things," I said. My voice sounded really sad there, but I didn't bother plastering over it.

"I just cannot see it," she insisted. Her hands squeezed down. Well damn. I guess I just got my best opportunity. I arched an eyebrow.

"You can find out for yourself, you know. More than anyone I know. You're the only person I've ever heard of that can move around even more freely than I can, and that is saying a lot." She seemed startled by this suggestion, so I softened it a little.

"He's probably not involved in sneaky skullduggery every minute I'm not watching him, but I'm pretty sure there are observable patterns. I bet some examination would turn something up." She frowned.

"That's a pretty big reach. It's Nathan. He's as transparent as they come!"

"He's one of the best forgers in the kingdom," I said, and gave her my full attention, my unvarnished expression.

"He knows a number of kidnappers-for-hire. He covered up knowledge of the royal princess's death until it could be used to frame me for the murder. And he has some sort of secret plan for this Fashion Week, but I can't figure out what." Belisa's eyes darted over my face, looking for something. some sly microexpression I guess. She had paled slightly.

"Some people say that you can't lie," she said, slowly.

"Not well," I admitted.

"There's nothing that keeps me from saying things that aren't true but I've never been convincing at it. And I don't have to tell everything. I hold secrets quite well. But the things I do say?.. well, as people say, I can't really lie." I paused, and changed the subject slightly.

"By the way, Belisa? You may need to be careful with your unconscious gestures." I waved my hand towards her armrests, which were splintered and cracked. Her fingers' impressions were stamped deep into the wood. She looked embarrassed, and I mended the wood, as Elica brought Larianne and Vancy into the room.