Arri- February 28, 2005

February 28, 2005
Dear Keish,

I’ve taken pages and pages of notes as Master Grant and I try different types of spells on the bacteria. Our results are identical to those obtained by the scientists and magicians in Inconei. In some ways it makes us feel like we are as competent in our work as they are. In other ways, it is frustrating, because we want to find a spell that works. To get statistically viable results we must perform the exact same experiment hundreds of times. It gets very tedious. Sometimes I feel that the Winged Lioness is right and more information is just more information, but then when I think about it some more, I realize that I can be a lot more confident about research that has been tested many times than something that was only done once or twice. If something has been done hundreds of times with the same results, then probably it will always have the same results. Master Grant says to be careful about that though, because the variables have to be the same every time and sometimes there are variables you don’t know are there. Testing the same thing hundreds of time can reveal those variables.
Unfortunately, all that doesn’t make it less tedious. Sometimes it’s as tedious as Master Ujifil’s awareness exercises. I think he would like biology, if he ever tried it.

March 1st
Brynn arrived unexpectedly at the townhouse this evening. I put away my studying and Gretel put away her quilting to meet her.
“Well, we know four of the names,” she informed us without preamble, “Y’low, of course is Bradford. Then there were two more easy ones: P’Le is captain of the Grestian army. We know him as Captain Pelei in Elcaro. A’ter is what we call Aitero, the city where Greste maintains a training camp for its armies. It’s about a five-day carriage journey west and a little north of Siskyil. The third one was harder to obtain: K’Lei has been working as a butler for Sergeant Kesler of the 3rd division for the past five years. He’s been using the name Toris Jay. One of the court magicians tricked Bradford out of that one, but he was unsuccessful at getting anything from him about the remaining three names.”
“That’s a good start though,” said Gretel.
“King Trunsle has put out a request for anyone with knowledge of Sunem to report to the court,” said Brynn, “If there are any more cities or persons of power in the Grestian government, we should be able to uncover those names quickly. Hopefully the court magicians will be able to get more obscure name out of Bradford or Jay.”
“I’m wondering how much information Jay was able to pass to Greste during the last five years,” said Gretel.
“It is disturbing,” agreed Brynn, “but they have him in custody now, so at least he won’t get any more information.”

March 3rd
I received your letter yesterday evening. That Bradford had an escape route makes the most sense of anything that has been suggested so far. He doesn’t strike anyone as a suicidal person, so he must have expected to live. It’s frightening to think about how easily he might have succeeded if you hadn’t detected him.
Having decided that she wants to learn magic, Gretel has commandeered Nysa completely. Actually, I think she’s grateful. It gives her an even stronger excuse to turn over Uncle W.’s bookwork to someone else. I don’t really have time for it like I used to, so Uncle W. has hired a part-time clerk. Sales of fireworks are up and his income will allow for an employee. To start with Nysa is teaching Gretel awareness exercises, since you have to be aware of your magic to be able to use it. Gretel says her sympathy for me is growing daily as she spends hours trying to feel her magic. Nysa is so delighted to have a willing pupil that she doesn’t mind that nothing has worked so far and is perfectly patient with Gretel in her efforts. Oddly enough, Liop has begun asking questions about magic again. Maybe he misses the attention.
Master Grant and I would welcome any thoughts from Tish on the subject of cytology. Master Grant also wonders what would happen if you held a reflectography machine up to microscope, if it would make a reflection of a cell. He has a friend who is working on a master’s in chemistry and he’s going to suggest it as a joint project for next school year.
Divination is probably the only way we could possibly find Father’s talisman after so many years. Imato has a pocket watch that belonged to Father, and fortunately it isn’t in the Etautca safe. Gretel knows where it is, so she will get and we can send it to you.
I mentioned Caden’s problems with his mother to Mendel and Gordo the other day. He laughed.
“And I thought my parents have unreasonable expectations,” Mendel said, shaking his head slowly, “I’m not sure it’s occurred to my mother that having me marry would make me a more suitable companion for Tulson. I don’t think I’ll suggest it. Fortunately, no young lady in her right mind would agree to marry me anyway.”
“Stacia Pastile might,” Gordo grinned at him.
“I’ll keep her in mind,” said Mendel, “However, I’ve decided that I won’t marry anyone who can’t pass a basic intelligence test.”
“Really?” Gordo was intrigued, although I could tell he expected a joke.
“What will be on the test?” I asked.
“Geography,” said Mendel, “I can’t risk my future wife getting lost. She must have excellent navigational skills. After all, I intend to be an architect, and what I build will never have been built before.”
Gordo and I looked at each other in confusion.
“And math,” Mendel added, “my wife must be able to calculate the height of a tree based on its shadow.”
“Why?” asked Gordo.
“So she knows whether or not it’s a danger to air traffic.”
Neither of us had the slightest idea what to say to this.
 “You can let Caden know that I’d be happy to send him a copy of the test for his own use. I personally guarantee that the woman who can pass it is worth marrying,” Mendel concluded proudly.
I agreed to pass that information along to you. Don’t ask me what it means.

March 4th
I have tried so many times, asking as many different ways as I can think of to get the Chronicle to show me a spell to heal Father. Half the time it opens up to the entries I made about the life of Trena. The other half of the time it opens up to journal entries made by Leland, many of which describe his attempts to heal his father Guthrie. He didn’t try anything that I haven’t tried.
In addition to finals, it is also time to decide what classes to take next term. After the last two terms I find myself wondering why the university even bothers asking freshman what courses they want to take, since they seem to mostly disregard the list. However, I requested Basic Biology, course 2; College Algebra 2; Anatomy, course 2; and College Writing, course 2. For second choices I have Medical Biology (which Master Grant says is less strenuous than the two Basic Biology courses); Iconese, course 1; Introduction to Alchemy; and Elcaran History, course 2.

“What did you do for that essay we turned in yesterday?” Gordo asked Mendel as we sat down to lunch, “I overheard Dr. Freyvogel say something about it being unreadable.”
“It’s readable,” said Mendel, “you just need a mirror.”
We both blinked at him.
“What did you do?” repeated Gordo, grinning.
“Well, it was an essay on the importance of creativity in writing, right?” said Mendel, “However, when I reread what I’d written it was rather lacking in central element.” Mendel paused. “So I copied it out in mirror image. That should satisfy the professor’s desire for creativity, don’t you think?”
“It is creative,” I admitted, uncertainly. Gordo laughed.
It was time to decide our study schedules for finals. Philosophy, writing, and literature were not classes that required much memorization. Gordo wanted Mendel to go over his algebra work with him and had plans to practice Iconese with Liop up until they leave for Adya. We decided to take turns quizzing each other on history, anatomy, and chemistry facts.
“You’re forgetting biology,” said Mendel.
“No, I thought I’d ask Master Grant to go over that one with me,” I said.
“Taking up a lot of his time, aren’t you?” asked Mendel.
I reddened slightly.
“We’ve been helping each other,” I said defensively.
“Yes, that’s true,” Mendel acknowledged, “but if he doesn’t have time, Gordo and I can help.”
“Thanks,” I said. Mendel shrugged and changed the subject.
Later that day, I went to Master Grant’s laboratory to ask him about the studying.
“Miss Etautca,” he said before I could say anything, “I’m very glad you dropped by. Would you cast an anti-dust spell on this slide for me?”
I cast the spell and watched as Master Grant peered at it through the microscope.
“All the non-living particles are gone,” he commented, “but the spell failed to impact the bacteria on the slide.”
“Can I see?” I asked. He slid the microscope in my direction and I looked through it.
“It’s what I expected to happen,” he murmured, “but we should do this a number of additional times. I’d like to get some statistical results.”
I nodded, distracted by watching the living cells.
“Miss Etauctca?” he interrupted gently. I looked up.
“I was wondering if we could postpone our meetings until spring term begins? I have some personal things I’d like to do over the break.”
“Anything you need help with?” I asked.
He smiled, amused.
“No,” he said, “but, thank you for asking. I wish you luck on your finals, Miss Etautca. I will see you the first week of spring term and we can work out our new schedule.”
“Okay,” I said, disappointed. I gathered up the notes I had taken over the last couple weeks of research and left.

Liop is literally counting the days to when he can come visit you. They will all leave on the ninth. Taty is equally excited. I wish I could come. It sounds like you’re going to have a lot of fun. I will have to wait until summer though, and then only if Gretel is able to travel since I don’t think Imato would approve of my leaving her despite having an excellent doctor to see her. Even his letter about the Bellington ward managed to contain three pages of admonitions and advice, (some of which, admittedly, came from Sir Aoweir).  There was only one page describing the ward and a paragraph explaining why he didn’t think he would ever be able to create it again. His last letter came today and only briefly mentioned the weather (no snow). Most of it was dedicated to descriptions of how many weapons were gathered up after the battle and the number of carts it took to haul it all away. He also speculated briefly on whether he would get leave from Sergeant Levine to search for Father’s talisman, assuming you are able to narrow down a location to search in. Gretel complains that he says nothing about his day-to-day life. She worries about what he is eating and how he is staying warm. She has decided to address a letter to Master White on the matter. Maybe he will tell her what she wants to know. Unfortunately, this letter will have to travel by regular mail.

This is a much shorter letter than I’ve written in a long time, but there really isn’t much to say this week. I hope that things are going well with school. I imagine it must be just as hard to create a test as it is to take it.

Give my love to everyone!
Love, Arri

Go to NEXT Letter