The Towers of Adrala - Book One, Part One: Saranoda

  ***

  It didn't take Zook long to get a fire going in the clever Eretian stove that dispersed heat throughout a large black countertop and begin cooking a meal for five.  Eris and Pird helped while Sye went out to look for Magist.

  “Why'd you fall asleep in the library?” Pird asked Eris as he deftly sliced vegetables.

  “Tired,” Eris answered, perforating potatoes with a fork.  Zook had delegated her to where she could do the least flavor-damage.

  “From what, reading?”

  Eris paused in the middle of taking down plates, “To be honest, I heard Saranoda.”

  Pird snorted, “Then you'd be asleep all the time!'

  “No I mean I really heard it.  It was like everything was quietly shuddering, the rumble seemed a little louder.  It was…disconcerting.”

  “You passed my syllable limit,” Pird said.

  “I heard it too,” said Zook, looking up from the stove, “Patient yelled at me for not paying attention.  It was odd.  The tower, I mean.”

  “We never really think about Saranoda much, do we?” asked Eris.

  What is up with everybody today? Pird thought, then shrugged, “There's only one room and no one's been able to climb it.  It's just a big fountain.”

  “Do you ever think about...” Eris paused, “I don’t know, what it does?  Besides making water?”

  “Why?” Pird replied, “The Priests do enough of that and look at the 'respect' they treat everyone with.”

  “Never mind,” said Eris, sounding disappointed.

  They heard the door open and Sye and Magist's words floated in, along with a third tenor.

  “You mustn't be so modest,” said a woman's brassy voice, “The crowd was cheering every time you raised your hand!”

  “Oh please,” said Magist, sounding abashed, “It is just the spirit of the celebration.”

  “I kid you not, Magist,” said Sye, “That was the most patriotic I've felt my entire life.”

  “Lo' Angelina!” Pird said animatedly.

  “A cheery hello to you, too,” the intimidating woman replied.  She was tall and ornamented with so many jewels it was blinding.  Her jet black hair was frozen in an elaborate bun and her voluminous green dress seemed to take up the whole large kitchen.

  “I really do envy you, Magist,” she said, looking around, “The Mayor treats you well, even for tutoring his son.”

  “He is a close friend,” Magist replied.

  “Your charges are so well behaved,” Angelina remarked, looking over Zook, Eris, and Pird as though they couldn't hear, “I'd hate to imagine what would have happened to them if you weren't named godfather for all three of them right before the disappearance.”

  There was a long, awkward pause as Zook's prodding slowed and Pird found other places to look.  Magist was the first to speak, if quietly, “They were also all my close friends.”

  Angelina, apparently not noticing the drop in atmosphere, gave a lighthearted wave and announced her farewell.  Magist softly closed the door behind her and turned to find how quiet and methodical Eris, Pird, and especially Zook had gotten in their work.  Sye stood awkwardly to the side.

  Magist sighed wearily, “Come now, I can not have you go dark on me every time the Sea Hammer is mentioned.  It is long in the past and by now you should have-”

  “Gotten over it?” Zook interrupted with open bitterness.

  Judge damn you Zook, Pird thought tiredly, Do we really have to play this game today?

  Magist paused, looking at him sympathetically, “That was far from what I was going to say.  It was eighteen years ago Zook, you're the only one who was old enough to truly remember anything of your parents-”

  “My mother,” Zook said firmly.

  Another pause, “You are keeping the disappearances of Pird's and Eris’ parents alive by bleeding yours.  You need to let it heal, Zook.  It is hurting you in more ways than you want.”

  Zook returned darkly to the steak’s cooking.  Magist hesitated, then left with a silent Sye.  Pird watched him go, as it wasn't often Zook turned his back on Magist.  On others, perhaps, but not on the man who simply didn't have an sliver of malice in him.  The man who didn't just give them a house to live in, but a home.  After thinking about this, Pird decided to break the ice Angelina had flash-frozen on them, “Zook, is this onion supposed to look like your face?”