Constellations Characters

Futur — Future in Maltese, Catalan, French, and Serbo-Croatian

Wèilái — Future 未來 Chinese

Glossary

Bibliotecaria: Librarian in Spanish

Act IV Scene ii — Inyanga's Star Finale

Under an obnoxiously cold bright light in a small office adjacent to the library sphere, librarian magicians conducted the investigation of Mingxia.

One librarian sat across from Mingxia in a maroon uniform. She had introduced herself as Bibliotecaria Futur, and the other as Bibliotecaria Wèilái.

Bibliotecaria Wèilái, a parens pregnant with a growing starborn bump, took the lead with the questioning. Standing over the table, aeh asked the Secondae to present the page on which she had written the words "artificial scarcity."

Bibliotecaria Futur tapped her fingers on the page. She said, "Read those words aloud, Secondae Mingxia."

A guttural sound came out over Mingxia's limp tongue, but that was all. It might have been better not to try.

Pacing away from the small conference table, Bibliotecaria Wèilái took a sharper tone, aer voice hard and honed. "You cannot speak about the taboo. The blanket spell didn't fail. You found a loophole."

Shaking her head, Mingxia calmly answered, "Did I find a loophole, or did you leave one open for rulebreakers to exploit?"

A hand smacked down on the top of a stack of books. "You reported the leak for a reason. Who has been discussing the economy of magic out loud despite the prohibition of that subject?"

A taunt sneaked out in her tone. "I thought there was a flaw in the spell. Because I could write down message we weren't supposed to be able to talk or write about." Faux innocence. It was difficult to keep her irritation to herself; not a shred of anxiety remained in her calm body, and now the fear that had always acted as a boundary between her thoughts and her mouth was gone. The injustice of being questioned for helping them boiled into outrage that wanted to come right out, and she had to keep thinking to herself, "Stay calm, don't talk back, don't tell them anything, and don't piss them off."

"You're lying. Did you write down the taboo to communicate it to someone?"

"I wrote it down . . . to show you . . . there's a flaw." No matter how deeply she breathed, her jaw clenched at the unfairness.

"You lied so we would cast the blanket spell again. To prevent someone who was talking about the economics of magic from doing so."

Eyes narrowed. "I don't know anything about that."

Biblioteca Wèilái's eyes narrowed. "You said Secondae were talking about it. Who were they?"

"I don't know," she put in a peaceful, apologetic tone, through her clenched teeth. "It seemed like everyone was talking about it. The whole class. I was walking in the courtyard and I kept overhearing it."

"Even though it's against the rules," aeh said.

"Students break rules," she said.

"Yet you can't say the words," aeh said.

"Other students could," she said.

"Give us a name. Just one. One person you overheard talking about it."

"I don't know who it was. I don't know many people's names here."

Alondra came in, wielding an airweave page in one hand, the hilt of her gnomon clasped in the other. She came up to the table and stopped there between the interrogator and student and said, "That's enough grilling of the student who took it upon herself to report that the spell failed to work properly. Mingxia will already be serving detention for the unauthorized use of a psychiatric remedy spell. Come with me." Turning as if they were both leaving this instant.

An answer from Bibliotecaria Futur stopped the maestra in her tracks. "We must uncover which student chose to communicate the taboo whether in speech or writing, prompting this Secondae to make that report. Secondae Mingxia has already admitted that she overheard students speaking about the economy of magic despite the prohibition. You may take her when we have uncovered who." The librarian turned her face back to Mingxia. "It's understandable that you don't want to get anyone into trouble; however, you are our only lead on this leak. In exchange for time off your detention, you must give us one name. So that we may continue our investigation."

Briskly, Alondra stepped back between them and placed the airweave page before Mingxia on the table. "Think about your answer while you sign," she said.

The page read, "I will not speak or write about the artificial scarcity of magic." Underneath were hundreds of signatures, starting with the barely legible celebrity autograph of Amafu Lizulo, the pristine penmanship of Storm Gloriam, and the elegant calligraphy of Inyanga Kyu Numbia.

The ink of their names shimmered like moonlight on dark waters.

The library magician peered at Mingxia with eyes like magnifying glasses, as if examining her through spectacles — at her, awaiting her answer, not down at the page. Gnomon held aloft, Alondra would force the stars to make the promise a binding truth.

Or would she? Drawing her own glass gnomon to sign, Mingxia noticed a rigidity to Alondra's posture that recalled a bad actor on a stage. Wooden and unnatural, the actress Mingxia had once seen had moved in slow stops and accelerated starts, even letting an ulterior role be revealed through her eyes — and Alondra moved like that, leveling her eyes on Mingxia with the warmth of allegiance instead of the chilliness of disciplinary action.

And so Mingxia signed. The ink that appeared out of thin air drew her name, 雨云明霞, Yǔyún Nimbus Mingxia, in navy blue, and it did not shimmer like the others.

Hastily taking up the page, Alondra studied it with a satisfied nod. "You are hereby sentenced to six weeks in detention, unless you give up the names of those you overheard discussing the economy of magic. You will be assisting with the marking of homework and tests in my office every weekday at hora quinta, and every dies Saturni at hora prima. If you ever cast another prohibited spell — if you ever cast the anxiety remedy again, your sentence will be extended. Every time you cast it. Do you understand what I am telling you, Secondae Mingxia?"

Mingxia thought she did understand. Still the maestra's eyes were warm. Because hora quinta was the time at which Inyanga and Amafu did detention in her office. And Storm Gloriam, too. With a deep breath, Mingxia accepted that such a small, intimate setting might be a good place to get to know her classmates better.

"I'm sorry, I don't know who was talking about the taboo," she said. "I really don't. It was dark, and hard to see, and I don't know the names of anyone in the cohort, except those in my tutorial groups, and it wasn't any of them, I don't think. I will have to serve the entire six weeks."

Alondra said, "That's too bad. Perhaps if you come to my office and have a look at images of your classmates, you'll be able to pick someone out. Bibliotecarias, I will inform you if we do make any progress."

A portal tall enough to walk through extended from the floor fast, almost before the bibliotecarias could react, and Alondra escorted Mingxia out through it. Not into an office, but into a hallway, down which the maestra continued to walk, her pacing slowing to a stroll once the link disintegrated and they were out of sight.

Questions wrestled for control of Mingxia's tongue, and the winner was, "Where are we going?"

"We'll take the long way around for a little time to chat. Instant teleportation robs us of so much time that could be spent in conversation, bonding, coming to understand each other. Just one of the many downsides of the accelerated pace of modern conveniences. Perhaps if you and Secondae Storm had taken an omnibus to class together, you would have moved past your differences by now, but alas, the Gloriams must be seen linking wherever they want and your parens, like so many, takes pride in the moto that shows her self-sufficiency, and she wouldn't hear of her daughter being seen on public transit.

"Your ayudantes have been worried about your rivalry with Secondae Storm. But perhaps that's naive; those wounds might not have been so easy to prevent, and they might not be so easy to heal. We're about to see."

Still, her slow stride set a slow pace. It seemed she had more to discuss before they reached the confrontation awaiting, Mingxia was beginning to suspect, in the maestra's office.

"Now, about that anti-anxiety spell. It is not permitted for an unlicensed student to perform that kind of magic. Even if you take advanced neuromagic and psychiatric spellcasting, those remedies may only be cast under strict conditions, when overseen by the maestra. You won't be able to cast it on yourself whenever you want to.

"And there's no taboo spell preventing me from telling you that it's my opinion this is not a matter of precaution alone; the company charges for psychiatric remedy subscriptions at prices high enough that for the most part only magicians can afford them. If any magician who passes through these halls could just medicate aerself, rather than paying high prices to the trained professionals in that field, how would the company make a profit?

"Well, I'll tell you; the company would shift the cost to a bill like the one you would be receiving for the energy use alone. They will bump up the cost of the stellar energy. You won't be able to depend on prohibited spellcasting to treat your illness, and even I will not be able to administer anti-anxiety spells whenever you need them.

"Maestra Wenling, head of the neurology faculty, however, can. Aeh is a licensed physician. I will talk to aer about beginning a round of anti-anxiety spell trials. Perhaps we can find a way around the rules and to fund your treatment."

The two arrived at the maestra's office door. "I should warn you, Secondae, that the girls will be angry. Let's face it now and get it all out in the open, shall we?"

Thank you for reading Part II of the finale of Inyanga's Star! Please leave a star for me if you are enjoying the story. The final chapter will come out on Friday!