Everyone winced at the noise. Rhiow smiled, a little crookedly. The source was Hmahilh’. Delicate, graceful little creature though she was, with her demure semi-ehhifsmile, she was also profoundly deaf: when she spoke, the noise was so alarming that Rhiow was often amazed that bricks didn’t shatter. Rhiow had tried several times, as any wizard might, to treat the deafness, but there was something about the nerve damage that resisted treatment. Rhiow half-suspected that the trouble was not the nerves, but the less educable “limbic” areas of Hmahilh’s brain, which had gotten so used to being deaf that they couldn’t understand there were other options, and so ignored or stubbornly undid any repair to the cranial nerves involved. As a result, a conversation with Hmahilh’, while enjoyable enough for her cultured and humorous qualities, otherwise tended to resemble an interview with a fire siren.
“Here, young tom,” Yafh said, “you watch this now. She’s always worth watching. All right, all right,” he yowled back at Hmahilh’, “I’m in, already.”
“What??”
With a sigh, he turned to face her, a signal she would recognize. Arhu sat watching this, seemingly fascinated, and Rhiow took the opportunity to gesture the others over to a neighboring doorstep where they could watch without being anywhere near another player’s stance.
As they went, Rhiow said to Saash,“Are you feeling all right? It’s been a busy day … but you look tireder than usual.”
“Yes, well. There were some more mice in the garage this morning. I was trying to catch them…”
“And?”
Saash flicked her ears backward and forward, a hopeless gesture.“Nothing. As usual. I’m so glad I live in the city, and have access to anehhifwith a can opener. If I were a country Person, I’d be dead of starvation by now.”
Rhiow gave Saash a sympathetic look. She had never been a hunter: it was as if there were something missing in her makeup, perhaps the essential sense of timing that told you when to jump. Either way, the situation had always struck Rhiow as a little unfortunate, or strange, in someone whose technical expertise and timing in other matters were so perfect.
“So what did you do about it, finally?”
“This morning? Nothing. I mean, I could have blown the mice up, but besides being overkill, what good would that have been? The garageehhifwould just have thought a car ran them over or something. When Arhu’s done here, I’ll ask him to see what he can do. Have to keep theehhif impressed with our usefulness, after alclass="underline" otherwise we might have to find somewhere else to stay…”
“Oh, surely not. Abha’h likes you, he wouldn’t try to get rid of you!”
’True. But he’s not the boss in the garage. I’ll be making sure George sees whatever we catch.”
Rhiow sighed.“You let me know if you need any help,” she said.
They sat on the doorstep two doors down from Yafh’s stance. “Our boy is spending more and more time in weird-vision land,” Urruah said, looking with some concern at Arhu.
“Just as well,” Rhiow said. “It’s his wizardry … He seems toseethings … and then try toavoidseeing them. I’m getting concerned about the avoidance.”
“Can you blame him? I’m not sureI’dwant to be sitting on a doorstep one moment and looking at the original Battle at the Dawn of Time the next!”
Saash sat straight and scratched for a moment or so, then started washing.“I think the problem might be that he hasn’t really done much wizardry yet. Spells, I mean.”
“Yes,” Rhiow said. “Everything has sort of been donetohim, hasn’t it?” Rhiow cocked her ears, then; for the statement, once made, created a sort of silence around itself. When you were a wizard, you learned to pay attention to those silences: they were often diagnostic. Sometimes the Whisperer whispered very quietly indeed. “And you’re right: I haven’t really seen himdoa spell. Initiate one, I mean. Well, he walked through a door or so, and in the air. And the sidling…”
“As regards the physical stuff, he’s pretty good,” Saash said. “It’s the nonphysical I’m more worried about. Nine-tenths of our work is nonphysical…”
“There are a lot of different styles of wizardry,” Urruah said. “I think we should try to cut him a little slack, here. Not everyone jumps straight in and starts doing fifty spells a day.”
“Youdid,” Saash and Rhiow said, practically in unison.
“Well, we can’t all be me.”
Rhiow and Saash looked at each other and gave silent praise to Ian the Queen of Everything that this was so.“But it’s not like there’s a quota,” Urruah said. “Or some kind of template for Ordeals. Everybody knows you get the occasional ‘sleeper’ Ordeal that takes months or years. Or ‘second’ Ordeals, if you don’t finish your first one.”
“The universe doesn’t usually have that much time to spare for the first kind,” Rhiow said, “as you know; and the second kind is as rare as working balls on a ffeih’dtom, as you also know. His passivity just worries me a little, that’s all.”
“He’s a tom,” Urruah said, with a wink. “He’ll grow out of it.”
This time Rhiow did not bother looking physically at Saash, and didn’t have to: she could inwardly hear the small, stifled groan. “You are in, how shall I put it, unusuallymalemode tonight,” Rhiow said. “Got another bout ofo’hracoming on?”
“Night after next. It’s the big night, the concert. I’m going to need the time off, Rhi.”
“Take it, for Aaurh’s sake,” she said, waving her tail. “Get the hormones out of your system. If that’s possible.”
Urruah smirked briefly, but then folded himself down, and after a few seconds, looked a touch more serious.“Maybe the problem is that he just hasn’t noticed how muchfunwizardry is,” Urruah said. “How good it feels.”
“I would suspect not,” Saash said, with a little more tooth in her voice than usual, “since his first experience of it came immediately before being almost bitten to shreds by rats…”
“ ’Ruah,” Rhiow said, “I have to admit that Saash has a point. And pushing Arhu won’t help. Till he comes to understand that satisfaction claws-on, there’s no point in describing it. If he has what it takes to make a good wizard, he’ll know it when he feels it… no matter how he mayrationalize it to himself and others as time goes on.”
“… Well, I hope hehasthat time. Otherwise the crunch-part of his Ordeal may come upon him and he won’t have anything useful prepared. In which case…” Urruah chattered his teeth briefly, the way a cat will when seeing a rat or a bird, anticipating the jaw spasm that will snap its neck.
“We’ll see how he does,” Rhiow said, and yawned. “You going to see him home, Saash?”
“Yes. The mice…”
“That’s right All right, then … you call me in the morning when you’re ready, and I’ll take him down on patrol again: show him the differences between the gates, get him familiar with the track layout on the upper level.” She yawned once more. “Sweet Iau, but I havegotto get off days… I am just not a day person. Urruah, you take tomorrow evening off, though I wouldn’t mind having you on call during the early daylight hours, at least till I get up.”
“No problem. This is going to be going on for a while, and Yarn’s right about one thing: watching Hmahilh’ is always educational. She’s some strategist.”
“Right. I’ll have a walk around the block, then turn in. ’Luck, you two.”
“ ’Luck, Rhi…”
She went down the steps, looked up at Yafh and Arhu as she passed.“Hunt’s luck, gentlemen… I’m done for today.”
“Don’t want to stay and see the epic struggle?” Yafh said. “You’re working too hard, Rhiow.”
“Smile when you say that, Yafh. ’Luck, Arhu … see you in the morning.”
“All right,” he said, but he was still gazing at that empty spot… with less of an estranged look, this time. The expression was thoughtful, and Rhiow was not entirely sure what to make of it… but then, that was becoming the story of her life, where Arhu was concerned.