"I think it almost did," he said with a shudder. "Me and Dar were playing with the area inside the symbol, because it was creating light when we put our hands in it. The woman came in and stopped us before we did anything else."
"Then your roommate has the talent," she told him calmly. "He will be a Sorcerer."
"Yes, the woman told him that," he replied. "He's very happy about it."
"Have you, done anything with Sorcery?" she asked.
"No," he told her. "After what happened with Jenna, I don't even want to try until I know what I'm doing. I've seen what can happen if I mess it up."
"That is a very good attitude," she told him fiercely. "Sorcery is not bad, Tarrin, but you must understand what you are doing when you do it, or there is a tremendous potential for disaster. Training people as powerful as you is very, very dangerous because of that. I have asked for the honor of doing that myself. I feel that I am best qualified to do it, since I know you so well, and you are so comfortable with me."
"I wouldn't mind it."
"But they may not allow it," she told him. "I am very strong, Tarrin, but there are others much stronger than I. They may decide to pair you with a Sorcerer with enough raw power to stop you from hurting yourself. And there are only a handful with that much raw talent in the Tower."
"Not if I refuse to learn from them," he said.
"Tarrin, you cannot do that."
"Really? What's stopping me?" She gave him a blank look. "I didn't think so."
"Tarrin, that is rebellion you are talking about," she said. "That is not tolerated in a Novice."
"I'm not a normal Novice," he told her.
"You will get in a great deal of trouble," she warned.
"And? Dolanna, I'm already in trouble. Do you think that a little bit more is going to make a difference? Between Jesmind and the Goblinoids and the person that was trying to kill me, I'm really not going to worry about someone getting into a twist because I want a specific teacher."
She gave him a strange look, and then laughed delightedly. "Tarrin, my dear one, you are going to drive this Tower to distraction," she told him fondly. She looked down the passage between the bookcases. "It is getting late, dear one. We should be leaving."
"It is getting there," he agreed. "I don't have anything to do tomorrow either…maybe I'll spend the day reading. And maybe see you in here. Around sunset maybe."
"Perhaps," she said with a smile.
Tarrin left her sitting at the table. It had been a productive meeting. Dolanna had calmed some fears that had broiled up in the past day, and he had learned a thing or two besides. And he got to talk with Dolanna. Tarrin had a very special rapport with the Sorceress, and they both knew it. It had been she that had kept a terrified Tarrin from going into histrionics after he'd been bitten. It was her gentle guidance that had literally kept him from going mad. And they had a very close personal friendship as well. She was in many ways one of the crutches on which he leaned, and he would have no one else teach him about Sorcery. Unlike many others in the Tower, he already knew Dolanna, already knew what to expect from her. Despite them being Sorcerers, and despite the warm welcome he had received from many in the Tower, Tarrin was still a bit reluctant about getting close to strangers. He wouldn't be as forthcoming with a stranger as he would with Dolanna, and that made her the best teacher for him.
Tarrin was used to being what he was. Now he had to get used to how that would affect relationships with others.
Tarrin was up before dawn, and so was Dar. Someone walked up the hallway just as Tarrin awoke, ringing a bell. That was obviously the signal for all Novices to get up and start preparing for the day. Tarrin had had a very good sleep, and much to his surprise, so had Dar. Dar had not shown the slightest reservation about sharing his room with such an exotic, unknown creature as Tarrin, and that surprised the young Were-cat considerably. Dar was perfectly at ease with Tarrin, and that simple fact had endeared the Arkisian to him even more than the previous day. Being able to sleep soundly in the same room as someone was a definite measure of trust.
Tarrin wondered if it hadn't been for that specific reason that Dar was chosen to be his roommate. Because he was so tolerant.
Dar groaned, sat up, and yawned deeply. "Dawn gets here earlier every day," he grumbled in complaint as he rubbed his eyes.
"Of course it does," Tarrin told him. "It's coming into summer. Each night is a bit shorter than the last. If you'd go to bed at a decent hour, then you wouldn't be so sleepy."
"You're the one who kept me up," he shot back. "Do you always like to play cards?"
"It helps me think," he shrugged.
"Next time, read a book," he complained, sliding out of bed.
"I may. You're a lousy hand in King's Sword."
"Give me a break, I just learned it last night," he said indignantly.
"Do you play stones?"
"Religiously," he replied.
"I'll get a stones board."
"Not in this room you won't. Neither of us will sleep if you do."
"You may be right there," he admitted. "I don't like stopping in the middle of a game."
"I don't either." Dar was wearing his small clothes, and he pulled his robe off the peg and belted it on.
"What's the routine in the morning?" Tarrin asked.
"We all have to bathe first," he said. "After that, we eat. Then we either go to class or to our work."
"All the Novices at once?"
"No, they do it a floor at a time. We have to go bathe first."
"What do the others do while they wait?"
"They wait," he said. "They have to get up at the same time we do. But we have to wait on them to finish before we can go to eat, so it evens out."
"Well, what happens in you want to take a long bath?" he asked.
Dar laughed. "Tarrin, you don't see many Novices take long baths," he said. "At least everyone but Torians."
"Why is that?"
"Because they have to appear naked in front of the others," he said. "The Torians have communal baths, so it doesn't bother them. Most Novices jump in, jump out, and then wrap a towel around themselves as fast as they can."
"Humans," Tarrin sighed. "You're so quirky. After you see someone naked once, does it matter how many more times you see it?"
"I don't like doing it either," Dar told him. "I think having to take a bath with the girls is the worst part of the day."
"I'll go with you," he said. "I feel like taking another bath. That bathing pool is just too handy."
"It'd be real nice if I didn't have to take my clothes off in front of girls," Dar grumbled.
Tarrin laughed, which made Dar blush. Which made him laugh even more. Now he understood why Jesmind was so amused at his own discomfort. And now that he seemed to be closer to Jesmind's way of thinking, it was just as amusing to him as it was to her. It was such a silly custom, almost ridiculous, for humans to be so ashamed of themselves.
Dar and Tarrin left their room and fell into step with the other Novices that lived on their floor. They all seemed as sulky as Dar. Tarrin also noted that many of them stared at him in wide-eyed amazement, and not a few of them wouldn't get that close to him. That made him sigh a bit. It wasn't like he was some unholy monster there to drink the living blood from their veins. He was a person, after all. He even had a name. He understood that to them, he was a very strange creature, but it was silly to be afraid of him. He was a Novice, just like them. It wasn't like he'd gotten himself into the Tower so he could eat the unwary young Novices.
He ignored them as best he could. He was more interested in a hot bath than anything else. That he attended to with a brisk businesslike manner of which Dar seemed to approve. They disrobed and jumped right into the water, and he waded out into the hot water quickly, before others could get over there and intrude on his space. He had plans for the day, several of them. The first was to take his staff outside and start working out the differences that there would be. He had larger hands now. He was stronger, faster, and he had natural weaponry. He needed to work with them more than the chaotic, half-instinctual way he'd been using them. He needed to know exactly what he could do, so he would know exactly what he was capable of doing. In a fight, that was dreadfully important. His life would hinge on it. Then he would go to the library and start reading about Sorcery. He'd discovered from talking with Dar last night that they didn't start really teaching Sorcery until the Initiate. Well, he wanted to know now. And he was pretty sure that he could talk Dolanna into giving him lessons, whether or not they were sanctioned by the Tower. Before he started doing that, he wanted to read about it. Besides, he was rather sure that they'd watch him very closely for a while. He'd just arrived, and they had no idea what he was about. They'd watch him carefully until they were certain that he wasn't going to do anything unusual. At least for him. After that, if he had time, he wanted to explore the rest of the grounds more thoroughly. That, he knew, was a purely Cat instinct, to know his territory, but he was more than willing to go along with the idea. He was curious to see what all there was out on the grounds, which were about three times the size of Aldreth. And after that, he would meet with Dolanna in the library at sunset.