Part 32 (1/2)
A Clan of shopkeepers, they h the occasional accountant, or librarian, or Healer was born These changelings puzzled the Clan elders when they appeared, but honor and kin-duty were served and each was trained to that which he suited, to the increase and best advantage of the Clan
Into Clan Obrelt, then, in the last relumma of the year called Mitra, a boychild was born He was called Ren Zel, after the grandfather who had first taken employ in a shop and thus found the Clan its destiny, and he was a norh child of the House, at first, second and third counting
He was quick with his numbers, which pleased Aunt Chane, and had a tidy, quiet way about him, which Uncle Arn Eld noted and approved No relative was fond enough to proclaih all allowed hiood countenance His hair and eyes were brown; his skin a rich, unbleold
As befit a House in comfortable circumstance, Obrelt ealthy in children Ren Zel, quiet and tidy, was invisible ale of his cousins His three elder sisters remembered, sometimes, to pet him, or to scold him, or to tease him When they noticed him at all, the adults found hi that one ht expect and value in the child of a shopkeeper as destined, himself, one day to keep shop
It was Aunt Chane who first suspected, in the relumma he turned twelve, that Ren Zel was perhaps destined to be soained the Delm's permission to take him down to Pilot's Hall in Casiaport There, he sat with his hands demurely folded while a lady not of his Clan tossed calculations at hiive the answer that ca at first, for Aunt Chane had taught him to always check his numbers on the computer, noin front of a stranger and perhaps bring shame to his House The lady's first calculations were easy, though, and he answered nearly without thinking The quicker he answered, the quicker the lady threw the next question, until Ren Zel was tipped forward in his chair, face ani tidy or quiet about it He was disappointed when the lady held up her hand to show she had no more questions to askAlso that day, he played catch with a very odd ball that never quite would travel where one threw it-at least, it didn't the first few times Ren Zel tried On his fourth try, he suddenly understood that this was only another iteration of the calculations the lady had tossed at hio
After the ball, he was asked to answer timed questions at the computer, then he was taken back to his aunt
She looked down at hiodd about her eyes, which race to check his numbers, after all
”Did I do well, Aunt?” he blurted, and Aunt Chane sighed
”Well?” she repeated, reaching to take his hand and turning toward the door ”It's the Del”
Obrelt Himself, informed in private of the outcome of the tests, was frankly appalled
”Pilot? Are they certain?”
”Not only certain, but-enthusiastic,” Chane replied ”The Master Pilot allows me to know that our Ren Zel is more than a step out of the common way, in her experience of pilot-candidates”
”Pilot,” the Dellass of wine ”Obrelt has never bred a pilot”
Chane pointed out, dryly, that it appeared they had, in this instance, bred what ht be trained into a very fine pilot, indeed To the eventual increase of the clan
That caught Obrelt's ear, as she had known it would, and he brightened briefly, then ation ”All very well to say the eventual increase! In the near while, have you any notion how much it costs to train a pilot?”
As it happened, Chane did, having taken care to possess herself of information she kneould lie near to Obrelt's concern
”Twenty-four cantra, over the course of four years, apprentice fees for two years lared at her ”You say that so calar the Clan to educate one child? I allow hied to becoh we have prettier, livelier children a us”
”None of whorudgingly showed her lead card ”A first class pilot ht cantra the Standard, on contract”
Obrelt choked on his wine
”They say the boy will achieve first class?” he ed a few moments later, his voice breathless and thin
”They say it is not impossible for the boy to achieve first class,” she replied ”However, even a second class pilot may earn five cantra the Standard”
”'May',” repeated Obrelt”If he brings the Clan four cantra the Standard, he will pay back his education right speedily,” Chane said Observing that her brother wavered, she played her trump
”The pilot's Guild will loan us his first two year's tuition and fees, interest-free, until he begins to earn wages If he achieves first class, they rite paid to the loan”
Obrelt blinked ”As desirous of the child as that?”
”He is,” Chane repeated patiently, ”more than a step out of the common way Master Pilot von'Eyr holds herself at your pleasure, should you have questions for her”
”Hah So Idown into the arden, hands folded behind his back Chane went to the table, poured herself a glass of wine and sipped it, recruiting herself to patience
Eventually, Obrelt turned away from theand cae path ould set the child upon, sister, to a place where none of his age-mates may follow He will sail between stars while his cousins inventory stock in back storerooiven him his own roo hier to his kin?”
And that was the question that needed to be asked, when all considerations of cantra-costs were ended
What was best done for Ren Zel hilass aside and er a his age-nored He goes his oay, quiet, tidy, courteous-and invisible Today-today, when the pilots returned him to me, it was as if I beheld an entirely different child His cheeks glowed, his eyes sparkled, he walked at the side of the Master Pilot visible and proud” She took a breath, sighed it out
”Brother, this boy is not a shopkeeper Best for us all that we give him the stars”
And so it was decided
REN ZEL ACHIEVED his first class piloting license on the nineteenth anniversary of his Na for the rank, especially for one who had not sprung fro thus canceled out half of his tuition and fees, he set hi off the balance as quickly as possible It had been plain to hione to extraordinary expense on his behalf and he did not wish his cousins to be burdened by a debt that rightly belonged only to hi so, he had the Guild accountant write a contract transferring the amount owed from Clan Obrelt to Ren Zel dea'Judan Clan Obrelt, as a personal debt
He was young, but he had a reputation a both steady and level-headed, a reputation they were glad to broadcast on the Port
That being so, contracts cae of the Guild's rates Often enough, there was a bonus, for Ren Zel had a wizard's touch with a coord string-or so his elders praised hiht hewould, someday
After he cleared his debt
IT WAS NIGHT-PORT at Casia by the tiave the shi+p into the keeping of the client's agent Ren Zel slung his kit over a shoulder and descended the ras with free air World air tasted different than shi+p air, though he would have been hard put to say which flavor he preferred, beyond observing that, of world-air, he found Casia's the sweetest
At the bottoh the night-yard, then out into the thoroughfare of Main Port
The job he had just co run, in fact, with the entire fee paid up front and a generous bonus at the far end A half-dozen more like it would retire his debt Not that such runs were coht-port was tolerably busy He saw a pilot he knew and raised a hand in greeting The other waved and cut across the croay
”Ren Zel! I haven't seen you in an age! There's a lot of us down Findoir's-colass or two!”
He sret ”I'm just in Haven't been to Guild Hall yet”