“How?” the young man asked.
I started to reach for the note, then realized I couldn’t without moving the hatchet. I did it awkwardly with my other hand, handing it to them.
While he read, the woman asked, “Has he acted against you? Done unprovoked harm to you?”
“Directly? No. Indirectly? He tricked me and left me for the monsters to eat. We’d only just met. Unless the whole history of my family counts as a provocation.”
“You’d be secure. It would even benefit you. You should be able to find all of this information in the textbooks of the library.”
“I looked,” I said. “We looked. There was nothing about what justifies an execution.”
“Executions are a formalization of what we just talked about. You’ll find more on them in books relating to karmic debt and the manipulation thereof.”
I groaned a bit. Looking in the wrong place.
“Damn it,” I heard Rose muttering.
“You offend the community, the community retaliates, and the balance is maintained. If the community acts against you and it’s unjust, then there is imbalance, and this weighs heavier than matters between individuals. Clever individuals with some knowledge on how to use and manipulate karma could theoretically survive and ride the backlash to a position at the top.”
I rubbed my chin. “And if I contrived to get them to punish me for a crime I didn’t commit? Get an order of execution against myself?”
“Blake!” Rose said.
“Theoretically,” I said.
“There are any number of factors to consider,” the older man said. “If they offer you a chance to speak for yourself and you don’t, they would face little backlash. Are they brash? Too stupid to do so?”
I didn’t even have to think about it. The way they’d shut down my attempt to divide them was still fresh in my memory from last night. “No.”
“There is also the matter of the debt weighing on you,” he said. “Nearly seven lifetimes worth of unpaid karmic balance. You could work hard your entire life and only make up one of those. Devote yourself wholly and singularly to that one task, and you could maybe make up a second lifetime’s worth. Reality is not of a mind to assist you in ascending to greatness. Far easier to help the execution along and take what it can from the aftermath.”
“The universe sounds a bit like some kind of asshole loan shark,” I said.
“Make of it what you will,” he said.
The hatchet wasn’t as cold as it had been, but with the chill it emanated, my hand couldn’t warm up.
I was distracted by the pain, stumbling as I tried to find what I was trying to say, “And… I haven’t read anything explicit about the reason this is all secret. There are rules Others follow, with stiff penalties, and they generally keep to hunting what they’re allowed to hunt… but what’s to keep me from appearing on TV tomorrow and showing off my magic?”
“Responsibility,” the old man said. “It started as an ethic; you don’t initiate someone into this world without teaching them the proper way things are done. That ethic became a rule, and the rule became a part of the fabric of things. If you introduce someone to all of this and they make a mistake, then some of that karma weighs on you.”
I nodded slowly.
“These are the sorts of things Rose should have taught you. Any more questions?”
“I’ve probably spent way too long asking about stuff I could read in books,” I said. “But this is useful grounding to have.”
“And we probably wouldn’t have gotten around to those books for another few weeks,” Rose said.
“Right. But I should to ask about other stuff. I’ll start with an obvious one. Can I trust you guys?”
“No,” the woman lawyer said. “But you can trust that we won’t sabotage you. Our interest is in bringing more people under our wing. We can achieve that by offering you good service.”
“And by helping maneuver me into a corner,” I said. “So I end up saying your names three times and using the escape clause?”
“We could use those tactics,” she said. “For the time being, we won’t.”
“That’s vague,” I said.
“Then I’ll be specific. We’ll tell you before we maneuver you into a corner.”
“Explicitly?” Rose asked.
“Beg pardon?” the woman lawyer asked.
“Tell us explicitly, please.”
“If you wish. I or one of my partners will look one of you in the eyes and inform you exactly what we’re doing, when it comes up.”
“Why do you want me?”
“We don’t. Quite frankly, you’re useless to us at this point,” the young man said. “But things do change.”
“And… the cost is a few thousand years of servitude? To clear my entire family’s debt?”
“That is part of the cost,” he said. “Any true mark you made on the world is painted over. If you want to rise in the ranks and become partner, you’ll need to give up your name, possibly aspects of your identity. Easier than it sounds, after a few decades or centuries of long days, your past life well behind you.”
“I see,” I said.
“Any other questions?” the old man asked.
Something was bothering me. I had doubts, and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.
Okay, I had a lot of doubts, but there was one that seemed fresher in my mind, elusive.
“The money?” Rose asked. “Our allowance?”
“If I may suggest we deduct the necessary expenses for the upkeep of the property?” the young lawyer asked.
“No trick?” Rose asked. “If it’s not a trap, then yes.”
“No,” he said. “No trick.”
He pulled two envelopes from his suit pocket, checked them, and then tossed one onto the table.
Okay, that was handled. Good. I picked up the envelope and pocketed it.
“Um. Important point number two. Going outside,” Rose said. “How do we do it?”
“Know how to defend yourself,” the old man said. “If you wish, we can arrange for an errand boy, to handle groceries and purchases. You’d be limited to the house all the same.”
Rose glanced at me. She still looked out of sorts, but she was thinking now. Which was good, because I was preoccupied.
I nodded absently. I couldn’t quite figure out what had bothered me. Something elusive one of them had just said.
“Yes,” she said.
“Then we’ll take out the cost for the errand boy from next month’s allowance,” the young lawyer said. “If that’s all right?”
“Yes,” Rose said. “If it isn’t a trap or a trick.”
“We’ll see to it.”
“And the question of marriage, in the instructions?” Rose asked.
That got my full attention. I’d nearly forgotten.
“What of it?” the lawyer asked.
“Blake has to marry a man?” Rose asked.
“Mr. Thorburn has to do no such thing,” the older man said. “It has been left up to our discretion, to evaluate Mr. Thorburn’s progress and evaluate him regularly, keeping the intentions of the departed Mrs. Thorburn in mind all the while.”
“That seems too easy,” I said.
“It isn’t easy at all,” he replied, “Rest assured. I do recommend you marry, and I’d even recommend you marry a man, because fulfilling an obligation is an advantage that can help you survive. Still, I can’t imagine it’s at the forefront of your mind right now?”