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Otah took the blow on the ear, the flesh opening under the rod Tahi-kvo, Tahi the teacher, pulled the thin lacquered wood through the air with a fluttering sound like bird wings Otah&039;s discipline held He did not shift or cry out Tears welled in his eyes, but his hands reain," Tahi-kvo barked "And correctly!"

"We are honored by your presence, h Dai-kvo," Otah said sweetly, as if it were the first ti before the fire considered him closely, then adopted a pose of acceptance Tahi-kvo made a sound of satisfaction in the depths of his throat

Otah bowed, holding still for three breaths and hoping that Tahi-kvo wouldn&039;t strike hi The moment stretched, and Otah nearly let his eyes stray to his teacher It was the old man with his ruined whisper who at last spoke the words that ended the ritual and released him

"Go, disowned child, and attend to your studies"

Otah turned and walked humbly out of the room Once he had pulled the thick wooden door closed behind him and walked down the chill hallway toward the coave himself permission to touch his neound

The other boys were quiet as he passed through the stone halls of the school, but several tiazes held him and his new shame Only the older boys in the black robes of Milah-kvo&039;s disciples laughed at him Otah took himself to the quarters where all the boys in his cohort slept He reown, careful not to touch it with blood, and washed the wound in cold water The stinging cream for cuts and scrapes was in an earthenware jar beside the water basin He took two fingers and slathered the vinegar-s ointment onto the open flesh of his ear Then, not for the first time since he had come to the school, he sat on his spare, hard bunk and wept

"THIS BOY," the Dai-kvo said as he took up the porcelain bowl of tea Its heat was almost uncomfortable "He holds some promise?"

"Soainst the wall and took the seat beside his master

"He seems familiar"

"Otah Machi Sixth son of the Khai Machi"

"I recall his brothers Also boys of some promise What became of them?"

"They spent their years, took the brand, and were turned out Most are We have three hundred in the school now and forty in the black under Milah-kvo&039;s care Sons of the Khaiem or the ambitious families of the utkhaiereeht have been sorrow or apology

"Not h"

The Dai-kvo sipped his tea and considered the fire

"I wonder," the old "

"We teach them all Letters, numbers Any of them could take a trade after they leave the school"

"But nothing of use Nothing of poetry Nothing of the andat"

"If they realize that, h, they&039;re halfway to your door And for the ones we turn awayIt&039;s better, ed and looked into the fire He looked older, the Dai-kvo thought, especially about the eyes But he had e he saw there now, and the cruelty, were seeds he himself had cultivated

"When they have failed, they take the brand and make their own fates," Tahi said

"We take away their only hope of rejoining their fa a place at the courts of the Khaiem They have no family They cannot control the andat," the Dai-kvo said "We throw these boys away much as their fathers have What becomes of theine The ones from low families of the utkhaiem are hardly worse off than when they came The sons of the Khaiemonce they take the brand, they cannot inherit, and it saves theift in its way"

It was true Every generation saw the blood of the Khaiem spilled It was the way of the Eed sons slaughtered one another, the high families of the utkhaieht for a time in fits of violence fro fight These boys in the school&039;s care were exe they had known in their short lives And yet

"Disgrace is a thin gift," the Dai-kvo said

Tahi, his old student who had once been a boy like these, sighed

"It&039;s e can offer"

THE DAI-KVO left in the reat bronze doors that opened only for hi a pose of farewell Behind hi - Otah could hear the shifting sound of fingers against cloth He didn&039;t look back Two of the oldest of Milah-kvo&039;s black robes pulled the great doors closed

In the dih-set, narros, Otah could see the bustle of the black robes taking charge of the cohorts The day&039;s tasks varied Thewalls or washing laundry or scraping ice froarden ays that no one see would be spent in study Nuion, history of the Old Empire, the Second Empire, the War, the cities of the Khaiem And more often these last weeks, one of the two teachers would stand at the back of the room while one of the black robes lectured and questioned Milah-kvo would sometimes interrupt and tell jokes or take the lecture his the black robes never spoke of Tahi-kvo would only observe and punish All of Otah&039;s cohort bore the marks of the lacquered stick

Riit-kvo, one of the oldest of the black robes, led Otah and his cohort to the cellars For hours as the sun rose unseen, Otah swept dust from stones that seemed still cold fros until his knuckles were raw Then Riit-kvo called them to order, considered them, slapped one boy whose stance was not to his standards, andhall Otah looked neither forward nor back, but focused on the shoulders of the boy ahead of him

The midday meal was cold meat, yesterday&039;s bread, and a thin barley soup that Otah treasured because it arm Too soon, Riit called them to wash their bowls and knives and follow him Otah found himself at the front of the line - an unenviable place - and so was the first to step into the cold listening room with its stone benches and narros that had never known glass Tahi-kvo aiting there for the teacher had taken an interest in the cohort, though speculations hispered in the dark of their barracks The Daikvo had chosen one of theo and study the secrets of the andat, to becoher than the Khaiem, and skip over the black robes of Milah-kvo entirely Or one of their fa their child, however otiation to forgo the branding and take their disowned son back into the fold

Otah had listened, but believed none of the stories They were the fantasies of the frightened and the weak, and he knew that if he clung to one, it would shatter hi beyond survival was the only way to keep his soul fro apart He would endure his term and be turned out into the world This was his third year at the school He elve now, and near the halfway point of his time And today was another evil to be borne as the day before and the day ahead To think too far in the past or the future was dangerous Only when he let his drea the secrets of the andat, and that happened so rarely as to call itself never

Riit-kvo, his eyes on the teacher at the back as an to declaions of Chaos It was a story Otah knew, and he found his h the stone arch of the , Otah could see a crow hunched on a high branch It re he could not quite recall

"Which of the gods tames the spirits of water?" Riit-kvo snapped Otah pulled hihtened his spine

Riit-kvo pointed to a thick-set boy across the rooratitude to one&039;s teacher

"And ere the spirits who stood by and neither fought with the gods nor against theain Riit-kvo pointed

"Because they should have fought alongside the gods!" the boy shouted

It was a wrong answer Because they were cowards, Otah thought, and kneas correct Tahi&039;s lacquered rod whirred and stuck the boy hard on the shoulder Riit-kvo smirked and returned to his story

After the class, there was another brief work detail for which Tahi-kvo did not join the rateful to crawl into his bunk and pull the thin blanket up to his neck In the winter, ainst the cold, and Otah was a that nu the warotten where he was, expecting to see the walls of his father&039;s home, hear the voices of his older brothers - Biitrah, Danat, and Kaiin Perhaps see his mother&039;s smile The rush of memory orse than any blow of Tahi-kvo&039;s rod, and he bent his will toward erasing the memories he had of his family He was not loved or wanted in his ho too much about this truth would kill him

As he drifted toward sleep, Riit-kvo&039;s harsh voice ht spun through his ned to the deepest and coldest hell

When the question came, his eyes flew open He sat up The other boys were all in their cots One, not far fro in his sleep It was not an unusual sound The words still burned in Otah&039;s ned to hell

And what keeps them there? his quiet inner voice asked him Why do they re

THE TEACHERS&039; quarters opened on a common room Shelves lined the walls, filled with books and scrolls A fire pit gloith coals prepared for them by the ap of a- glazed double to hold out the cold of winter, the heat of the suh road Tahi sat noar out into the cold plain beyond Milah opened the door behind him and strode in

"I expected you earlier," Tahi said

Milah briefly took a pose of apology

"Annat Ryota was coain," he said

Tahi grunted

"Sit The fire&039;s warreed, his tone dry and ed a thin smile as his companion took a seat

"What did he make of your boys?" Tahi asked

"Much the sah the veil and now lead their brothers toward knowledge," Milah said, but his hands were in a pose of gentleenough to be worth holding would eat them before their hearts beat twice"

"Pity"

"Hardly a surprise And yours?"

Tahi chewed for a moment at his lower lip and leaned forward He could feel Milah&039;s gaze on hiraced himself," Tahi said "But he accepted the punishment well The Dai-kvo thinks he may have promise"

Milah shifted When Tahi looked over, the teacher had taken a pose of query Tahi considered the implicit question, then nodded

"There have been sons," Tahi said "I think you should put a watch over him I hate to lose him to you, in a way"

"You like himent that held the nuance of a confession of failure

"Iinto the familiar, "but you&039;re heartless"

The fair-haired teacher laughed, and Tahi couldn&039;t help but join hihts Milah rose, shrugged off his thick woolen top robe Beneath it he still wore the formal silks from his audience yesterday with the Dai-kvo Tahi poured theain," Milah said sometime later There was a reement, then sipped his wine

"He looked so old," Tahi said

OTAH&039;S PLAN, such as it was, took little preparation, and yet nearly three weeks passed between the moment he understood the parable of the spirits who stood aside and the night when he took action That night, he waited until the others were asleep before he pushed off the thin blankets, put on every robe and legging he had, gathered his few things, and left his cohort for the last time

The stone hallere unlit, but he knew his ell enough that he had no need for light He made his way to the kitchen The pantry was unlocked - no one would steal food for fear of being found out and beaten Otah scooped double handfuls of hard rolls and dried fruit into his satchel There was no need for water Snow still covered the ground, and Tahi-kvo had shown the without the cold penetrating to their hearts

Once he was provisioned, his path led hi ghost-direat aisle where he had held a pose of obeisance everyfor the last three years The doors, of course, were barred, and while he was strong enough to open theht have woken someone He took a pair of wide, netted snowshoes froreat doors and went up the stairs to the listening room There, the narros looked out on a world locked in winter Otah&039;s breath plumed already in the chill

He threw the snowshoes and satchel out theto the snow-cushioned ground below, then squeezed through and lowered hiertips The fall was not so far

He dusted the snow fros, tied the snowshoes to his feet by their thick leather thongs, took up the bulging satchel and started off, walking south toward the high road

The htly arc, had loved hands toward the western horizon before Otah kneas not alone The footsteps that had kept perfect time with his own fell out of their pattern - as intentional a provocation as clearing a throat Otah froze, then turned

"Good evening, Otah Machi," Milah-kvo said, his tone casual "A good night for a walk, eh? Cold though"

Otah did not speak, and Milah-kvo strode forward, his hand on his own satchel, his footsteps nearly silent His breath was thick and white as a goose feather

"Yes," the teacher said "Cold, and far froment appropriate for a student to a teacher It had no nuance of apology, and Otah hoped that Milah-kvo would not see his tre before your terrace yourself"

Otah switched to a pose of thanks appropriate to the end of a lesson, but Milah-kvo waved the for hi

"Why do it?" Milah-kvo asked "There&039;s still hope of redeeht still be found worthy So why run away? Are you so much a coward?"

Otah found his voice

"It would be cowardice that kept me, Milah-kvo"

"How so?" The teacher&039;s voice held nothing of judg a question because he truly did not know the answer

"There are no locks on hell," Otah said It was the first time he had tried to express this to someone else, and it proved harder than he had expected "If there aren&039;t locks, then what can hold anyone there besides fear that leaving ht be worse?"

"And you think the school is a kind of hell"

It was not a question, so Otah did not answer

"If you keep to this path, you&039;ll be the lowest of the low," Milah said "A disgraced child without friend or ally And without the brand to protect you, your older brothers may well track you down and kill you"

"Yes"

"Do you have soh road leads to Pathai and Nantani"

"Where you know no one"

Otah took a pose of agreehten you?" the teacher asked

"It is the decision I&039;ve made" He could see the ah, but I think there&039;s an alternative you haven&039;t considered"

The teacher reached into his satchel and pulled out a s, and dropped it on the snoeen them It was a black robe

Otah took a pose of intellectual inquiry It was a failure of vocabulary, but Milah-kvo took his ods And they don&039;t love being held to a single forht it, and since the forms they have are a reflection of the poets who bind the victiainst them An andat formed from a mind like that would destroy the poet who bound it and escape That you have chosen action is what the black robes mean"

"Thenthe othersthey all left the school too?"

Milah laughed Even in the cold, it was a warm sound

"No No, you&039;ve all taken different paths Ansha tried to wrestle Tahi-kvo&039;s stick away from him Ranit Kiru asked forbidden questions, took the punishain until Tahi beat him asleep He was too sore to wear any robe at all for weeks, but his bruises were black enough But you&039;ve each done so If you choose to take up the robe, that is Leave it, and really, this is just a conversation Interesting maybe, but trivial"

"And if I take it?"

"You will never be turned out of the school so long as you wear the black You will help to teach the normal boys the lesson you&039;ve learned - to stand by your own strength"

Otah blinked, and so - some emotion he couldn&039;t put a naht froe of his strength, the proof of his courage

"And the andat?"

"And the andat," Milah-kvo said "You&039;ll begin to learn of them in earnest The Dai-kvo has never taken a student asn&039;t first a black robe at the school"

Otah stooped, his fingers numb with cold, and picked up the robe He rinning Milah-kvo laughed, stood and put an arm around Otah&039;s shoulder It was the first kind act Otah could remember since he had coet back to the school by breakfast"

Otah took a pose of enthusiastic agreeive it, don&039;tfrom the kitchen It upsets the cooks"

THE LETTER came so in an upper room, his students abandoned for the row tight When he had gone over it enough to know he could not have misunderstood, he tucked the folded paper into the sleeve of his robe and looked out theWinter was ending, and so felt like an irony

He heard Tahi enter, recognizing his old friend&039;s footsteps

"There was a courier," Tahi said "Ansha said there was a courier from the Dai-kvo "

Milah looked over his shoulder His own feelings were echoed in Tahi&039;s round face

"From his attendant, actually"

"The Dai-kvo Is he "

"No," Milah said, fishing out the letter "Not dead Only dying"

Tahi took the proffered pages, but didn&039;t look at them

"Of what?"

"Tiainst the ith a sharp sigh

"Itit isn&039;t so bad as it could be," Tahi said

"No Not yet He will see the school again Twice, perhaps"

"He shouldn&039;t come," Tahi snapped "The visits are a forh which boys are ready We can send the him with a subtle pose that was a request for clarification and a hed bitterly and looked down

"You&039;re right," he said "Still I&039;d like the world better if we could carry a little of his weight for him Even if it was only a short way"

Milah started to take a pose, but hesitated, stopped, only nodded

"Otah Machi?" Tahi asked

"Maybe We h The robes have hardly been on hi to accept him as an equal Once he&039;s used to the power, then we&039;ll see I won&039;t call the Dai-kvo until we&039;re certain"

"He&039;ll come next winter whether there&039;s a boy ready or not"

"Perhaps Or perhaps he&039;ll die tonight Or ill No god made the world certain"

Tahi raised his hands in a pose of resignation

IT WAS a warreen seemed to permeate the world Otah and his friends sprawled on the hillside east of the school Milah-kvo sat with theh their lectures for the day were done Stories of the andat

"They are likethoughts estures which were not formal poses, but evoked a sense of wonder all the sa-Down In the Old Empire, she was called Rain, then when Diit A of the War, they called her Seaward But the thought, you see, was the same And if you can hold that, you can stop rivers in their tracks Or see that your crops get enough water, or flood your eneain?" Ansha - no longer Ansha-kvo to Otah - asked

Milah shook his head

"I doubt it She&039;s been held and escaped too ht find a neay to describe her, butit&039;s been tried"

There was a chill that even Otah felt at the words Stories of the andat were like ghost tales, and the price a failed poet paid was always the grueso of it

"What was her price?" Nian Toer

"The last poet who eneration before me They say that when he failed, his belly swelled like a pregnant woman&039;s When they cut him open, he was filled with ice and black seaweed"

The boys were quiet, i the scene - the poet&039;s blood, the dark leaves, the pale ice Dari slapped a gnat

"Milah-kvo?" Otah said "Why do the andat become more difficult to hold each tihed

"An excellent question, Otah But one you&039;d have to ask of the Dai-kvo It&039;s more than you&039;re ready to know"

Otah dropped into a pose of correction accepted, but in the back of his mind, the curiosity remained The sun dipped below the horizon and a chill came into the air Milah-kvo rose, and they followed hiht Halfway back to the high stone buildings, Ansha started to run, and then Riit, and then Otah and then all of the to be first or at least to not be last When Milah arrived, they were red-faced and laughing

"Otah," Enrath, an older, dark-faced boy fro the third cohort out toardens?"