(Mabry Aldaran: Mabry Slemmons; Rafael Lindir: Laura Lulli; Jorik Hastur: Jurij Gosso;

Myria Lanart y Aillard: Julie Stampnitzky)

After a bath and a couple hours rest, Mabry felt much better. She was not looking forward to dinner with Domna Myria, but he Keeper was going to know that she was not going to change for her benefit. She was here to learn control. No more, no less.

Rafael and Mabry were already sitting in the dining room, but Myria wasn't there yet.

Rafe tried to hide his anxiety sipping his goblet of wine, while Mabry stood in perfect silence, staring at the tapestries hanging at the walls.

Rafael would have payed gold to know his lady's thoughts, but her face was impenetrable.

When the Lady Keeper arrived, though, Mabry raised form her sit, too, and

payed her the ritual courtsey. Rafe sighed with relief.

"So you managed to arrive, lady Aldaran" said Myria

"As you can see, domna" answered Mabry, nodding politely.

"I hope that your stay here will be fruitful for you" continued the Keeper, her face still like an ice mask.

"I'll try and make it as shorter as I can" concluded Mabry with a soft smile.

Rafe wished desperately to be anywhere else but there in that tower, and his thoughts went to uncle Regis, whose wisdom and experience would have been more suitable for that situation.

Nevertheless, he made some attempts to lighten the atmosphere, telling Myria the story of their adventures in the Yellow Forest, where they had met Jorik and their company. He didn't mention the previous events at Corandolis, although he was quite sure that Myria knew them (and knew also why he wasn't telling). He limited the conversation to Mabry's troubles with her Rockraven Gift and how she had managed to reach a sort of control with the help of Jorik Hastur. Rafael stressed his lady's courage while facing her problems, and hoped that the picture he was giving of Mabry would please either of that two terrible women.

Despite the fact that Rafe had sometimes been a bit clumsy, he succeeded in gaining a couple of smiles, and to make Myria and Mabry relax a bit.

The dinner was very good, and exactly what Rafael and Mabry needed after all those days of travel, so for the rest of the evening the conversation was focused on the food.

It was the first night Mabry stayed at Neskaya. Idriel and Liriel were high in the sky, while Mormallor was barely visible beyond the mountains. She was not able to sleep. Myria hadn't tell anything abot her training yet and Mabry's future was uncertain like a kireseth pollen brought up by the ghostwind.

She had tears in her eyes, but she wasn't able to cry. Wandering with her laran she thought to Jorik. Were could he be now? As a joke she discovered herself blowing kisses to him. She laughed at herself and went to bed.

That night she had a strange dream. Jorik was near her caressing her hair and she was saying: "Jorik, I love you, but no one can touch my hair, and you should know!" Then Jorik said: "Mabry, I won't come here anymore from now on... You need to focus on your training… But I need a reminder of your hair..."

Suddenly the butterfly clasp she was wearing changed into a real butterfly and flew to Jorik shoulder. Jorik smiled: "Thanks Mabry! Remember our rendez-vous!"

Mabry was puzzled. She did not want to change her clasp in a true butterfly, but she had done it! Her laran was definitely out of control.

When she lifted her eyes Jorik wasn't there anymore.

She slept well that night, and the morning after she looked for her butterfly clasp. She thought: "Jorik, you thief! If something bad happens to my butterfly clasp!..." and the last words of a proverb came to her mind: "make a thief even of a Hastur". She laughed, but she did not find her butterfly clasp that day, or any other day.

The following morning, after a wonderful sleep, Mabry and her regent were summoned in Myria's study. The Keeper didn't spend too much time on regards, but went straight to the point.

"Mabry's training ought to start as soon as possible, and your presence here, dom Lindir, is a distraction. I'm sure your uncle Regis needs you in Aldaran"

*Well, a bit blunt, but crystal nevertheless" Rafe told to himself, while he was quickly nodding in agreement, and bowing to the Keeper.

"Of course, domna. I'm ready to do all I can to ease your task. And pressing business do await me indeed at Caer Donn"

He tried not to notice Mabry's expression of pure hate, and hoped he could some time later, to greet her properly.

"For what concern you, damisela, I expect you to pay me the same respect you'd give to your mother, and much more obedience" Myria added, willingly ignoring her pupil reactions.

The audience was concluded, and the Keeper gestured to the kyrri to have her guests led back to their rooms.

Mabry was boiling, her anger a white flame, clearly visible also to head-blinds. She didn't speak a single wprd, but Rafael was sure she was swearing vengeance...

Anyway, his lady didn't tell him anything else but "Farewell, and take good care of yourself, Rafe"

*It doesn't matter how strong and hard she wants to look. She does need a hug, and I'm giving her* thought Rafe, making the action follow shortly after.

He held her tightly. "YOU take care of yourself, chiya, and make your regents proud of you... and Jorik too."

Something broke in Mabry's shields, and tears ran down her cheeks, to be angrily wiped away. Rafe held her a little longer and wispered "I'm going to miss you...Be sure to write me every now and again, agreed?" Mabry tried to smile bravely "I will, Rafe, rest assured..."

One more hug, and Rafael left her rooms, proceeding to pack his belogings once more, and leaving Neskaya soon after. He had tried to greet Myria, but he had been told by a young monitor that the Lady Keeper was busy, but she wished him to arrive safe and sound at Aldaran.

So Rafael mounted, and left. Only a couple of hours later, while he was riding towards Nevarsin, he realized that he hadn't managed to tell Myria about his strange dreams.

Read Rafe's adventures in A co-Regent's job.

After Rafe's departure, Mabry sat in her room, staring out the narrow window at the snowy hills. She fixed her eyes on a particularly desolate tree and tried to keep back tears.

There was a knock at the door, and a kyrri entered, carrying a tray with a bowl of soup and some bread. It put this tray on the little table by the bed and exited as noiselessly as it had entered. Mabry noticed that there was a piece of paper on the tray as well. It said: "Come to my study after you have eaten so that we may discuss your training. -Myria"

Needless to say, Mabry was hardly eager to see the Keeper again, but she told herself that she would be seeing Myria often during her stay at Neskaya, which hopefully would be as short as possible, and she might as well get used to it.

"Please sit," Myria said as Mabry came in. The chair was wooden and uncomfortable; Mabry noticed that it was identical to the chair at Myria's desk and decided that this was further proof that this Keeper in her red veils had no human feelings.

"I postponed this interview until after your Regent had gone; I see that you have decided to stay here and be trained. This is a wise decision.

For my part, I must say that in light of your recent conduct, I was uncertain whether I ought to permit you in my Tower. Therefore, I require that you take an oath before I will allow you to work with our circle. I think I can rely on your honor."

Mabry took a deep breath and reminded herself as she did twenty times a day, that she was the Lady of Aldaran, and therefore not allowed to react except with pride. She sat up a little straighter - short people must never slump, or they seem even smaller than they are. "Domna Myria, I may not take an oath lightly. What is this oath you require? Should I take this oath, you may indeed trust my honor."

"You are of age to take the Monitor's Oath; but as a condition of allowing you to train here, I also require you to swear Mabry stiffened her back even further. Obey her? Think again! She sopke calmly. She would not scream or lose her temper. She would not give her that satisfaction. "The Monitor's Oath, I will gladly swear. And I will swear not to use the Rockraven Gift, EXCEPT to defend my life, but I can not and will not swear to obey you. I am the Lady of Aldaran, and such an oath is out of the question."

Myria sighed inwardly at the thought of the struggle she could expect in the coming weeks and months. She was glad to see that Mabry was trying to control her temper; it gave her hope that the trainee's childishness might be balanced by maturity in time.

"In Aldaran, you are a Lady, but the only ranks in this tower are those earned here by hard work. In this tower you are a trainee and I am your Keeper. Your gift in particular is dangerous to yourself and to others; you *must* rely on my judgment when we are working together. What I ask of you is no more than is expected of every trainee who comes here."

Mabry gave her an icy smile. "That's the problem, Domna Myria, I'm not every other trainee who comes here. I'm Mabry, Lady of Aldaran. I can not swear an oath to obey you blindly. However, I can promise to obey you where my training is concerned. Will that suffice?"

Myria did not smile at all; her grey eyes were icier than the Wall around the World.

"I do not care if you are the blessed Cassilda herself. I have already told you that within this tower your rank means nothing. However, I will remind you that right now the domain of Aldaran is being administered by your regents, Dom Regis and Dom Rafael, and that *your* responsibility is to learn to control your laran. If you cannot do so you will never be qualified to rule. In case you misunderstood me, let me assure you that you will only be promising to obey me while you are training here. When you return to Aldaran we shall be at quits. As for your training, everything you do in this tower is part of your training. When I give you a directive, rest assured that it concerns your training."

Mabry clenched her fists in her pockets making sure Myria couldn't see them, of course, she probably knew anyway, Mabry had heard that leroni know everything and hear everything, and every thought you think is printed out in triplicate and three copies are sent to every tower on Darkover, and one copy to the Terran Empire. She thought about Jorik, and slowly calmed. He would want her to take this stupid oath, so she'd take it. She took a deep breath. "I will take this oath, domna, but I wish you to know that it is not because you said so."

Myria: "Anyway, the matter is not usually put to the oath, but by running away you have shown yourself to be untrustworthy."

Mabry: "I have done nothing untrustworthy. I swore no oath to come to Neskaya. I never agreed to it, until after Corandolis. I am here now of my own free will, because I nearly killed a man, on the way here. I destroyed Uncle Diego's yahtzee dice,a nd I don't intend to do it again. I came here because I trust Jorik, and because he wanted me to come. But when I ran away, I had broken no oath to come here."

Myria: "You may rely on me not to give a command that is not necessary to your training, and to allow you a greater degree of freedom as you show yourself to be worthy of trust; but I cannot allow you to remain in my Tower under any other conditions than those I have stated, so if you refuse to take the oath, we will contact Dom Regis tonight and decide where you should go."

Mabry: "If you do not wish to train me, Rafe left only a few hours ago. It will be easy to find him, and have him bring me to another tower with a Keeper who will."

Myria: "Finding Dom Rafael will be easy enough; finding another Keeper to train you will not. You would be well advised to address the second point before you disturb your Regent. If you are determined to be stubborn, we can contact another tower through the relays, but as I have told you, this is a standard condition, and I do not think you will find other Keepers to be more lenient than myself, or more eager to undertake your training. And you can rule out Dalereuth; I recently spoke to Marilla of Dalereuth, and she does not envy me the responsibility I have undertaken, to say the least."

Mabry nearly shouted: "I said I'll take you stupid oath, what more do you want?!? An engraved plaque reading 'Thank you for agreeing to teach me'? A golden coffee mug imported from the Terran Empire? All the moons on a diamond chain?"

Myria allowed herself to smile slightly. "You have made a wise choice, damisela. I am ready to hear your oath now if you are ready to swear it."

Mabry glared at Myria one minute longer, then swore the Oath she had dictated to me, with only a few modifications. "I, Mabry of Aldaran, do solemnly swear, by the power of laran that is in me and by my honor as a Comynara, that I will enter no person's mind except to help or heal, that I will enter no unwilling mind, and that I will never force the will of another person by means of my laran.I further swear that I will obey fully the directives of Myria, Keeper of Neskaya, and any other person she may appoint as my instructor for so long as I am reamin at Neskaya Tower, and that I will not use my Rockraven donas against any living being until such time as Myria, Keeper of Neskaya, may give me leave or to protect my own life when there is no other way to save myself. Thus do I swear in the presence of my Keeper, and may my laran be destroyed from my mind if I prove false to this oath."

Myria listened as Mabry swore the oath, with their hands touching.

"May the gods witness it, and the holy things at Hali!" she said when Mabry finished.

"Now we must plan your training. I will meet with you each day after breakfast. Most trainees spend most of their time working with a circle, but in your case most of your work will be as an individual. At some point, however, I may want you to learn some of the work of a monitor and a mechanic. Tonight, we will be setting up a new relay screen with Corandolis Tower. You may find it interesting to observe this operation, which is done only rarely."

Mabry sighed with irritation, then said, "And if that is all, I would like to go and make sure that Tallo survived the trip safely. If one whisker on his head is damaged, I'll... I'll... sick Brutus on you."

She stormed out (not literally, she DOES keep her oaths.)

"Oh, and damisela... proper attire in this tower includes a proper hairstyle. Please remember to wear your clip in the future." Myria added grinning at Mabry's back.

"I don't know where it is! I put it beside my bed last night, and it disappeared! Honest." Answered Mabry from the corridor.

Continues in At Neskaya-part II

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