Athyra by Steven Brust Page A

Peasant,” and, after a verse or two, Savn joined in, changing pronouns as appropriate. He hadn’t heard it in some time, and laughed at a few of the verses that had been added since he was his sister’s age. He also sang her a few verses that had apparently been forgotten, and he was pleased that she liked them.
    When they reached Tern’s house, Vlad was not in evidence, but there was the usual noon crowd, and Savn noticed that he was receiving some odd looks from many of them. Polyi noticed it, too.
    “Do you see that?” she said. “The way they look at you? They’re wondering why you’ve been spending so much time with that Easterner.”
    Savn quickly looked around, but no one was looking at him just at the moment.
    “Are they really?” he said.
    “Yes.”
    “Hmmm.” He shrugged. “Let them wonder, then.”
    “Well, what are you doing?”
    “I’m learning things.”
    “Like what?”
    “Like, um, like how to catch gems in the wind—no, I mean, catch water in, um —
    oh, never mind. I’m learning stuff.”
    Polyi frowned, but couldn’t seem to think of anything to say, which was perfectly all right with Savn. He quickly finished his salad, said goodbye to his sister, and headed off to Master Wag.
    On the way, it occurred to him that the sharpness of sensation that he’d felt the evening before was gone. He wondered if it was something that would return as he became more adept in this strange art he had begun to study. The Master was in better spirits today, puttering around his small house (which had seemed much larger a year before, when Savn had begun studying with him) scattering bits of history with explanations of both the general and the particular. Savn wondered if he had solved the problem of Rein’s death, but decided that, if so, the Master would speak of it in his own time, and if not, he had best not bring the subject up.
    And in fact, Master Wag made no mention of it during the entire day, most of which Savn spent cleaning up the Master’s house and listening to the Master’s stories and lectures—a pastime Savn rather enjoyed, even though once Master Wag began to speak he soon lost track of his audience and went far beyond Savn’s knowledge and understanding.
    He’s quite a bit like Vlad, he thought, then wondered why the notion disturbed him.
    Toward the end of the day, the Master had him recite the questions, conclusions, and appropriate cures for various sorts of stomach ailments, and seemed quite pleased with Savn’s answers, although, actually, Savn left out stabbing pains in the side, and the questions that would lead to a dose of pomegranate seeds to ease an attack of kidney stones.
    Master Wag was standing in front of Savn, who was seated on the stool with his back to the hearth; there was a low fire which was just on the edge of being too warm. As the Master finished his explanation, he said, “So, what have you been thinking about, Savn?”
    “Master?”
    “You’ve had something on your mind all day. What is it?”
    Savn frowned. He hadn’t, in point of fact, realized that he had been thinking about something. “I don’t know,” he said.
    “Is it our friend Reins?” the Master prompted.
    “Maybe.”
    “Well, it’s nothing for you to worry about, in any case. I still don’t know what he died of, but I haven’t quit looking, either.”
    Savn didn’t say anything.
    Master Wag stared at him with his intense gaze, as if he were looking around inside of Savn’s skull. “What is it?” he said.
    “How do you know what to believe?” said Savn, who was surprised to hear himself ask the question.
    Master Wag sat down opposite Savn and leaned back. “That is quite a question,”
    he said. “Care to tell me what it springs from?”
    Savn found that, on the one hand, he couldn’t dissemble when the Master was staring at him so, but on the other hand, he wasn’t certain of the answer. At last he said, “I’ve been wondering. Some people say one thing, others