The Clocks

The Year 40 After the Founding

Everyone knew her, but almost nobody knew her, if you take my meaning. There was no doubt that she'd been born here, but nobody remembered her parents, who had died in one of the pestilences that occasionally swept through the countryside. She'd been about three years old at the time, and, since no-one else was willing, she'd been taken in, and eventually adopted, by Duchess Carline and the Duke. Carline had called her "Raven" because of her extraordinarily dark, black hair.

One thing that was generally known about her was that she'd been quite the tomboy in her early years -- climbing trees, and playing at sword fighting with the boys. She'd even been known to skinny dip with them right up until she was almost 12. She'd acted totally unconcerned when Duchess Carline had caught her that June and had lectured her for a good 10 minutes about "ladylike behavior" right then and there. The whole time Raven had stood there, stark naked, and listened with what any astute observer would have called a "tolerant" attitude.

At the end of Carline's lecture, which had obviously not had the intended effect of humiliating Raven to the point where she'd never do such an unseemly thing again, Raven had simply nodded, put her clothes back on, and followed the Duchess back to the Ducal Residence. She was, however, never caught swimming with the boys again.

The Duke's response, upon hearing of her latest "adventure" had been rather different from his wife's. In his diary entry for that day he had written: "It is becoming apparent that her inclinations are very different from those of almost all other women. Although she is still very young, her mind is as sharp as the best poniard, and, perhaps, she will one day be able to serve me in a similar way. For the nonce, let us direct her energies into attaining the skills she will need if things do turn out as I suspect and hope. Besides, if we do that, she'll be too tired at the end of the day to continue to aggravate my dear Carline so frequently."

Over the next seven years, very few people had any suspicion as to what Raven was up to. To be frank, very few people noticed her at all. Oh, if someone asked if you'd seen her, you could honestly answer that you thought that you'd seen her in thus-and-so place that morning but that you had no idea where she was right now. It wasn't that she wasn't memorable. She had developed into an extremely handsome woman. However, one doesn't particularly notice someone who has mastered the art of Not Being Seen.

Among those who claimed to have "magic powers" and fooled both the rich and poor with various kinds of tricks, you would occasionally find one who practiced true magecraft. These people could be separated into one of three general categories.

First there were those who masked their powers within their displays of trickery. Second were those who did their utmost to conceal their skills at all times. Most of the latter group were scholars and never showed their skills to anyone. They wanted nothing so much as to be left alone to do their research. The third group consisted of mages who revealed themselves only to those with deep pockets, or those nobles who needed help in reaching various goals that they also supported. There were times where those in the third group found themselves at odds with each other, which was where people like Raven became incredibly useful.

It was not that she had some sort of super-powerful mage gift, far from it. However she did have an ability to not be noticed. After being thoroughly, and exhaustively, trained in the use of said skill by one of the "hidden" mages, she could walk in the front gate anywhere without being challenged by the guards, as long as she was at least a meter away from them. Any closer, or if she made more than minor noise, she could be discovered.

In addition to being trained in magery, the Duke also made sure that she no longer played at sword-fighting but rather learned it...as well as every other kind of weapons work Armsmaster Bjornson or the armsmaster's apprentice, Delilah Stockholder could teach her. By the age of 17, Raven was nearly as good as Delilah, and Master Bjornson frequently had them spar together, all the better to improve Delilah's skills, as he intended to retire within the next few years.

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July 12, In The Year 47 After the Founding

When she was about 18, the Duke had called Raven to a very private audience. Only four people were officially present: The Duke, his daughter Abigail, her younger twin brother Pasquale, and Raven. There was also Armsmaster Bjornson who sat some distance away, hiding in plain sight in a shadow and keeping watch for anyone who might be skulking around trying to eavesdrop. The Duke's beloved Carline had, sadly, passed away the previous month.

Not being one for small talk, the Duke got right to the point. "Raven, you have no skills in what we call the 'womanly arts'. We all know that you also have no interest in that direction either. Bjornson there," he nodded toward the armsmaster, "says that you're as skilled with weapons now as Stockholder is. If you had her interest in weapons-work, you could take over as armsmaster as easily as she could."

He raised his palm to block Raven's response. "But I also know that you don't, so that's not an option for you. What IS an option, and all of us are agreed..." He looked at the others and each nodded back at him. "Well, that option is this. I want you to be for me what that dagger at your belt is for you, a tool. I want you to be my eyes and ears, and, rarely, my hands in places that I can't go. In order to protect this town and its people, I need to know what others are planning that might affect us, either for good or for ill.

"I'm going to be brutally honest with you." He rubbed his palm across his balding head. "There may be times that I need you to use that dagger on one of those who mean us harm. There's no reason to fight a war, and get dozens or hundreds of people killed if removing the person who wants to start that war will prevent it from ever happening.

"That no one has, as far as I know, planned such thus far, doesn't mean that it won't happen next month or next year. And that's the problem, isn't it? "

He looked at Raven and examined her carefully. She was surprised, yes, he'd expected that, but she also looked thoughtful.

"I don't expect an answer today, or even next week. I want you to take however long you need to decide. When you're ready, come back and let me know. If it turns out that this isn't something you can do, tell me. There are other things that we four have come up with that will also keep you busy, and, probably, not bored to death."

Raven stood, bowed, and left the room without saying a word. It wasn't in her nature to speak unless she had something worth saying, and thus far she didn't.

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July 23, In The Year 47 After the Founding

Spring planting was long over, and harvest time wouldn't be for almost three months yet, which meant that it was time for the younglings of the town to work on their staff training. Raven, not having anything else to do at the time, had parked herself under a tree near the training ground and was munching on a poor excuse of an early apple. She still hadn't decided how to answer the Duke. Oh, yes, the idea of skulking around and investigating things appealed to her, quite a bit. On the other hand, the idea of killing someone who hadn't personally attacked her bothered her a great deal.

While her teeth worked on the apple, and her mind worked on nothing in particular, her eyes were drawn to the training ground by a flurry of motion. One of the trainees, a boy of about 14, had managed to seriously press the staff master before he had been defeated. Not bad. Not bad at all. Even most of the adults couldn't do that.

It had clearly been a demonstration at the end of the day's work, as the group began to break up immediately thereafter. A small girl ran up to the boy Raven had been watching and took him by the arm. His sister maybe? Then again maybe not. She'd just pulled him down and had given him quite a thorough kiss.

The boy blushed beet red, but, rather than teasing him, the other boys, and the men for that matter, except for a few grins and envious looks, totally ignored it and continued on about their business.

How interesting. Raven loved solving puzzles, which was probably why the Duke wanted her.

Let's see now:

The kiss was obviously not something rare or the others around them would have reacted much more strongly, either positively or negatively. And that was interesting. This society frowned on casual displays of affection unless....unless one were in a serious relationship, though even then it would be tolerated more than approved of.

She stared at the couple with some degree of disbelief. The girl was holding the boy's arm, looking up at him and chatting merrily about whatever it was she was telling him, and most of his attention was on her rather than where they were going. A faint blush was still present, but his gaze was more like a lover's than a friend's.

Oh. Really. That was surprising. They were much too young to be married, so, bethrothed? Even that was a stretch, but it was the only thing that fit the facts. Raven looked at the girl more closely. Hmmm. Bubbly personality. She was very pretty. She hadn't begun to develop, but if she were as young as she looked, that was a ways off yet.

That would explain the envious looks from the other younglings present. And as for the older men, they weren't making a fuss because they were betrothed. Still the girl's behavior was more than a bit beyond what one would expect even so.

Then it hit her. Replaying the expressions of the adults in the area when the girl was kissing the boy, Raven realized that she'd made a mistake in assessing them. What she had thought of as grins on the adults faces were partially that, but they were more looks of resignation than anything else, which confirmed her suspicion that this wasn't the first time she'd kissed him in public. How exciting! This girl was, in her own way, as unconventional as Raven herself. She tossed the apple core aside and followed the young couple into town. This might be interesting.

They made a beeline for what turned out to be the girl's home. The boy seemed to be somewhat reluctant to enter, but he quickly gave in when she tugged on his arm and dragged him toward the door.

Raven was about to leave when she heard a cheerful voice behind her, "Well, well. If it isn't Raven. Don't you look a fright. You have scrapes all over."

Raven spun around and beheld a familiar face. It was Rachel the herbalist, not to mention her older sister by adoption. Even though she'd married before Raven was adopted, Raven had seen her many a time at the Ducal Residence where she'd been called to aid the Guard medic when someone had a difficult illness, had been injured in practice, or, more uncommonly, in a fight with would-be bandits.

She relaxed, then tensed up again. How had Rachel seen her? She'd had her "You don't see me" skill active as a matter of course. As it was, after several years of practice, it was always "on" unless she made a conscious effort to drop it.

Rachel approached and pulled on Raven's sleeve. "Well, don't stand there child, come on in. I can't treat you out here in the street after all."

She leaned closer and whispered in Raven's ear, "If you always depend on that little magic spell of yours working, someday you're going to find yourself in a world of hurt." Leaning back she smiled, her bright white teeth in sharp contrast to her dark skin. "Let's get going. Neither of us has all day, do we?" So saying she led Raven across the street and into her home.