Heroes' Reward by Moira J. Moore

Karish and Shield Dunleavy Mallorough,” Aryne said to her companion.
“This is Druce Steeler. My Source.”
    Aryne wore a
triumphant little smile. That was a relief. It seemed her relationship with
Steeler was a positive one.
    Druce’s smile
was warm as she shook Taro’s hand and then mine. “I’ve heard so much about
you.”
    Taro winced.
“I’m sorry about that.”
    She laughed.
“It’s nice to have an opportunity to get some of the real information behind
all of the rumours.”
    Taro sighed. “I
can’t believe there are still rumours about me in the Academy. It’s been
years.”
    “Good stories
never die,” Druce said impishly.
    Unfortunately.
    “And what have
you been doing between Matches?” Taro asked her, as a Source her age was
unlikely to be attending classes.
    “Teaching the
new subjects. Law and politics. I find it interesting, but alarming. I’d rather
not understand how badly the Emperor is violating the law as well as I do.”
    “You know about
all that?” I asked. “We never heard what was going on when I was in the
Academy. Not about the behaviour of the monarch.” There had been rumours, and
we’d learned about the powers of the monarch and the people she worked with,
but none of the professors actually taught us about the day to day activities
of the Empress.
    “They didn’t
teach us much about it, either, until just after this one came in.” She nodded
at Aryne. “Then that was pretty much all anyone learned that didn’t directly
involve channelling.”
    How did all of
the changes fit together? Was Aryne’s arrival some sort of catalyst for the
Triple S council? Or just a step in a plan that had been initiated long before
then?
    “We hear you’re
teaching people how to cast,” Druce said to me. “Do you think you could teach
us? Aryne and me?”
    Hm. An
interesting idea. “I can try, but you know not everyone can cast, right?”
    “But Shields are
more likely to be able to cast, I’ve heard,” said Druce.
    “Well, a lot of
casters seem to be Shields. I don’t know if that means the same thing, and most
of those Shields aren’t Bonded.” I plucked a blade of grass from the sole of my
boot and gave it to Druce. “All you have to do is focus, as you would when
channelling, and think of a colour other than green, or, uh, brown, and say,
    “Calling on
east,
    Calling on
west,
    Change the
hue of this blade,
    At my
behest.”
    Druce stared at
the blade and spoke the words, repeating the cast again and again. Nothing
happened. I didn’t feel the little buzz I always experienced at the casting of
a spell. Druce shrugged and gave the blade to Aryne.
    Aryne tried far
longer than Druce, with increasing impatience as she continued to fail.
Finally, with an oath, she shoved the blade back into my hand.
    “Not many people
can do it, Aryne,” Druce said soothingly.
    “It’d be nice to
be good at something,” Aryne muttered.
    “You’re
incredibly smart.”
    “So? What good
is it to be incredibly smart if I can’t do anything practical with it?”
    “You just
haven’t found your talent yet,” said Taro. “Everyone is good at something.”
    I didn’t agree
with that, as a general rule, but I did believe it of Aryne. She was strong and
intelligent and versatile and could read people beautifully. There were uses for that, including the position she was being groomed for.
    Aryne clearly
wasn’t convinced.
    “Teach me how to
work the locks,” Taro ordered her.
    “Why?”
    “Why not? Seems
a handy skill to have.”
    And it would be
good for Aryne’s mood to teach someone else how to do something.
    “And Druce,” I
said. “You can give us all of the gossip.”
    Aryne raised an
eyebrow. “Since when are you interested in gossip?”
    “When I was in
the Academy, it was the primary source of entertainment.”
    Druce dove into
the challenge, and with a flair for storytelling she wove tales of who was
cheating on tests, who’d been caught drunk in class, who was