Chapter 19: The Examiner’s Question

Kael looked at the young examiner, then at the wardens by the door, then at the corridor behind him, where his parents had already gone to the study.

“Of course, Master Examiner,” he said, with a small bow. “Would the garden gazebo be suitable? It is quiet there.”

“That will do.”

They walked out through the side door and across the lawn, with the two wardens following at a polite distance. The gazebo stood at the end of the garden, a small round structure with a wooden bench and a view of the pond. Varos sat down on one side. Kael took the other, and folded his hands in his lap like a boy who had been called to the front of a classroom.

Be careful, Maltherion said. He is not as nervous as he was an hour ago. He has decided on something.

I know.

He has not sat down to chat.

I know.

“Young master,” Varos began. His voice was polite but flat. “I will be brief. You are Kael Voryn, the second son. Sixteen years old. Has never awakened Ember Vein.”

“That is correct,” said Kael. “It is not a pleasant thing to hear aloud.”

“I am sorry. It is a fact that concerns my inquiry.” Varos opened his leather case and drew out a single sheet of paper. “Over the last month, you have visited an abandoned training ground east of the city on a regular schedule. Every other day. You stay for several hours. You are usually accompanied by Darin Havel, the merchant’s son, who leaves before you do.”

Kael did not move.

“On two occasions,” Varos went on, “you were seen alone, at dusk, practicing in the courtyard. And on one occasion, a church observer reported that you sat motionless for an entire afternoon behind a ruined hall, with your eyes closed.”

The watcher in the tower, Kael thought. He wrote all of it down.

“Would you care to explain?”

Kael let the silence stretch for exactly three breaths. Then he looked down at his hands, and his lower lip trembled once, very slightly.

“I was hoping nobody would find out,” he said.

Varos blinked. “Find out what?”

“That I go there because I am ashamed.” Kael’s voice was small. “My brother is the best cultivator in the district. Everyone says so. Master Garrick says I am slow, and my father says ‘keep trying,’ and my mother tells me I will bloom late. I have heard that sentence so many times that I can say it in my sleep.” He swallowed. “So I found a place where nobody can see me fail. The training ground is old and empty, and Darin does not laugh at me. I run through the first stance, the first cut, and the first guard. Then I sit and try to feel the spiritual energy that everyone else feels. I never do.”

He wiped the corner of his eye with his sleeve. It was a small, hasty gesture, as if he had hoped the examiner would not see it.

Varos shifted on the bench. “I see.”

“If you wish to tell my father, I understand. I will not argue. He will be disappointed that I sneak away like a coward. But I did not know that it was a crime to practice poorly in private.”