“Why do you need to find a courier service?” Kiarn’s hands were shoved firmly into his pockets, walking side by side with Merel. This was the first time Ullic had asked them to try to do anything together, and she was already a bit irritated by him. Outside of the city walls, there were only a few buildings, but most of them were things like couriers and stables, or military posts. “Are you writing tawdry letters to your gentlemen callers? I certainly hadn’t thought you the type.”

“Very, very funny.” Merel was certainly not the type. She was very plain, dressed in a plain way, and rarely bothered with romantic exploits even with her fiancé. The last time she had seen him they had only kissed for hello and goodbye. “I write only to my fiancé and benefactors.”

“Fiance?” Kiarn raised his eyebrows. “Tawdry indeed. I am sure you, as a talented sketch artist, have included some rather illicit drawings of yourself. I should hate to get a letter from my betrothed without one.”

“What would you know of being betrothed?” Merel glared at him.

“Precious little.” He smiled. “And you, how long have you been betrothed? I thought wizards were not ordinarily fond of marriage.”

“Five years.” She paused. “Though, the arrangements were made prior. Listen, I don’t really wish to share my personal business with you.”

“Five years! That’s a very long time to be engaged. What are you, twenty two?”

“Twenty five,” corrected Merel. “I know the round face might confuse one, but I am not a spring hen.”

“Twenty five and you already talk like a spinster. I bet your letter to him is very dry and exclusively business related.”

“I really do wish you would stop talking to me about this.  Though, there is nothing wrong with that even if it were true.”

“Alright, alright.” He sighed. “Well, after you find a courier, we have to go survey the outfield past the garrison.”

“Are you familiar with field survey methods?” Merel asked, dubious.

“Absolutely not in practice, only in theory and written form. But I’m sure it can’t be so hard.”

Merel worried for his work ethic, though voicing that was not something she felt so confident in. The fact that he thought something would be easy based only on theory, and not on any experience, was a position of privilege he was very clearly exercising. He seemed like the kind of person who had never worked hard, and she did not feel too fond of entertaining such an attitude in the field. “You do have the instruments, don’t you?”

“Well, I wasn’t going to make you carry them.” He shifted the bag on his shoulders. “I did check to make sure we had everything. The chains and compasses and such forth.”

“Such forth?” She raised an eyebrow. Merel had plenty of experience with field surveying. “Well, we’ll see if it’s as easy as you seem to think it’ll be. I’ll have you use the theodolite.”

“How hard could it really be?” He lazily stretched, kicking a rock along in the street.

“Well, most people do have to train in the skill at least for a few weeks to demonstrate any mastery of it.” She gave him a look. “I used to be one of the more qualified surveyors at the Academy. It’s one of the most underrated skills that a wizard can possess.”

“I don’t need the lecture on environmental awareness,” said Kiarn, as a gust of autumn wind stirred his wispy red hair. “I know it’s worth its salt.”

“Then you also understand that it is valuable to hone as a skill?” Merel grabbed the slack of her skirt to keep it from blowing in the wind.

“Sure, sure, I’m just saying that doing it right can’t be terribly hard. Just do what you’re supposed to do. It’ll be pretty self explanatory.”

This was not an accurate assessment of what it took to properly complete things, thought Merel. If you did not know the process and understand why things were the way that they were, then troubleshooting in event of any problems would be impossible.  That was her thinking. Besides, it was conceited of him to assume that he would do it right on first pass.

“You’re judging me.” He glanced at her with a dry, almost smug smile.

“I said nothing of the sort.”

“No, but I can tell. You’re poking your lip out and chewing on the inside of your cheek like you do when you think. Like at dinner last night when Ullic asked you about finances.”

“I do not do such a thing!”

“But you do, you just don’t see it. Like how you think nobody notices that you chew your nails.”

“What is your problem?” Merel asked, stopping in her tracks. “Very sincerely, since when was any of this your business?”

“I just observe, Miss Pedler. These eyes of mine are always wide open. I’d hate to miss something.”

Something about that made Merel’s insides flutter a little. To pay attention to her, to give her the attention to notice such small things, was a funny concept. How very silly, to think that she would carry such import to anyone that a small thing like the face she sometimes made when thinking, would be noticed. How funny.

“Well, then keep your observations to yourself.” She pursed her lips, giving him a meager attempt at a steely look. “Ah! There.” She pointed to a sign on the nearby stall, beside a stable. “A courier.” She fished a few of her copper punts from her purse, and walked to the stand. There seemed to be nobody there, but Merel waited a moment, peeking around the counters, and saw a young woman at the back.

“Ah! Can I help you?” She called.

“I’m just sending out a letter.”  Merel counted out her punts, and glanced behind her at Kiarn. He was leaning on a fencepost, watching something in a tree. She sighed. “It’s to Carrafrag.”

“That’s a long way to take a letter.” The girl walked towards the front of the stand. “But it’s not that expensive, really. Here.” She slid two of the copper punts back to Merel across the counter. “Only three. It goes out in two days with the next shipment.”

“Thank you,” said Merel, who was now very happy to have two punts back. That was a small bit of fabric she could turn into a finer dress, she thought with a dry little smile, or a skein of wool she could make into a scarf. Bluestone would have wet winters, she had to account for that when she thought forward to her clothing. Lodgrey had been nearly fully closed off by winter, and there really was no need for her to have newly fitted winter clothes after she had gone away there at seventeen. In summer, when she traveled home, why would she need a coat? “Which route do you take?”

“Well, the safest is through Snowshear Pass. But Cilcarrick is the fastest. Really depends on the time of year, but I think about now, we’re taking Snowshear, before it freezes up in the winter. If you want me to ask—“

“Oh, don’t worry. I was just wondering.” She tucked the change back into her purse. “Have a nice day!”

“You’re far friendlier to people you don’t know.” Kiarn gave her a puzzled look. “Far less stiff.”

“Well, I have no reason to be averse to a stranger. I know I shall probably not see her again except on letter related business, which is the finite end of our interest in one another. What reason do I have to keep my distance from her?”

“What reason do you have to keep your distance form me?” asked Kiarn.

“For starters, you have been busy observing me, and I find that concern enough.” Merel glanced up at him while they walked out towards the garrison field— perhaps another half mile away from the walls. “Secondly, Kiarn, I think that you and I have a great gulf between us that will be difficult to cross on any interpersonal level.”

“How great a gulf?” He seemed very curious.

“Great enough.” Merel pulled her mantle around her shoulders. “Oh, what I wouldn’t do for a hot cup of tea right now.” She put her hand to her collar, where beneath her dress the amber pendant rested against her bone. It was nearly cool to the touch. “Next time we leave the walls together, remind me to bring my jacket.”

“You’re cold?” Kiarn shook his head. “Girls! Always freezing. Have you considered trying to will yourself warmer?”

“Of all the idiotic suggestions, I can’t think of any stupider.” Merel frowned. “You must be kidding.”

“Oh, I’m very serious,” said Kiarn. “That’s how I do it. I mentally concentrate on making my body into a furnace.” A gust of wind stirred the long, yellow-green grass in the fields, the trees only beginning to turn. The broad leaves were all hues of amber and orange, and lined along the path, with apples hanging on many boughs.

“You must be kidding,” repeated Merel.

“You like to think I joke with you a lot. Maybe you’ll never know if I am!” Kiarn reached up and grabbed an apple easily, and took a huge bite thoughtfully. “It would be a very fun bit if I told you that and it wasn’t true.”

“That is most definitely not how the body works,” reiterated Merel. “If I could just will myself warmer, I would have figured that out a long time ago.”

“And yet!” Kiarn smiled, broad and goofy.

“You are awful. Really, truly awful.” She tugged at her mantle. “It’s so cold!”

“Do you never get fresh air?” asked Kiarn.

“I go outside when it’s warm,” clarified Merel. “I’m very susceptible to cold.”

“I find cold to be perfect. I’d rather have that than heat any day. The cold is perfect. Stimulating, brisk, thought provoking, full of all sorts of wonderful feelings. Do you not feel the same?”

“I like it in theory,” said Merel hesitantly. “But I cannot withstand the cold. It makes me ill.”

“Ah,” he said simply. “Well, I am made ill by the heat, so it seems we shall not get along. I do not anticipate planning leisure trips with our happy bunch. No sights for Ullic to see, no heat for me, and no cold for you.”

“Were you planning a leisure trip?”

“I was considering it.” He shrugged. “I’m always half planning a leisure trip, you know.”

“Do you have a mind for work, at all?”

“You do wound me.” Kiarn sighed despondently. “Of course I do not. Work is something I do, and while I do it, I think of other things I will do when I’m not working anymore.”

“How you rose to this position, I might never understand.”

“Ullic recognizes potential when he sees it.” Kiarn beamed proudly.

“And what of gold?” asked Merel. “How do you hope to make a living if you intend to do everything but work, Kiarn?”

“You assume I need to make a living.” He glanced at her. “My parents have more gold than you could probably even imagine. If I were to go home a failure at this court wizard business, I would likely never hear the end of it, certainly, but I’d have a happy laboratory and travels at the bankroll of my parents, and eventually, as their inheritor, I would probably eventually have to manage things around the estate and with political relations, but really. I’m not some helpless little thing. I’m here on charity work.”

“Charity work!” Merel scoffed. “Some of us are sacrificing a great deal to be here.”

“Well, that is your own decision, Miss Pedler.” He threw the apple core far into a field, chunking it with the strength of his skinny arm. “If you really want to make money, you could do simple magics for people around the city. Advertise or something. It’s very lucrative, it’s how most mages outside of the best wizards break even.”

“Magic isn’t meant to be used for profit.” Merel’s mouth tightened into a grimace. “It is to be used to serve people and communities, to better the world around me. At the Academy, we were told that wizards who used magic to such ends were no better than those who had lost their hearts.”

Kiarn laughed, a loud and bright thing that even sounded red. “Do you think Ullic does his work for free?”

“I don’t think he’s mercenary with it if you mean to insinuate that a salaried position is comparable to— to—“

“Taking any money for this is just the same.” Kiarn kicked a pebble along the path. “You’ve got need of it, there’s no shame in it.”

“To you.” Merel shot him a look.

“I forgot.” Kiarn softened. “You have a moral compass. That’s right! Beneath the jaded dour exterior you do truly believe in doing the right thing at all costs.”

“Oh, would you quit already,” said Merel. “You say that as if you have no values at all.”

“I find it endearing.” Kiarn said. “Really, truly, a rare thing, these principles. Plenty of people can perform the part or look far kinder and more moral than they are, but to be by all appearances sour and then hold to such strong values and beliefs?” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “It is a refreshing change.”

“Well, what about you? Lazy and shameless, overly private and candid all at once, and I don’t think you’ve ever said a word you meant in the last few days.”

“Ha!” Kiarn snorted, and pushed his glasses up onto his nose. “If you say so. Is that the garrison? Ah, you wouldn’t know, you’d never been to Bluestone before last week, so how would you— ow!”

Merel popped her cane onto his foot. Deliberately. He was being annoying.

“You— Oh, am I going to ever—“

“It was an accident,” she lied. “Really, it’s not even so bad, those are very sturdy boots.”

“That was on purpose!”

“Fine, fine.” Merel rolled her eyes. “You might as well call me a country lout, and get it over with, though.”

“Thank goodness you’re self aware of it.”

“I was being snide with you!” Merel was actually hurt now. “So that’s what you think of me. Wonderful.”

“Well, don’t take it too personally, nearly everyone who is from the northern half of the country and didn’t at least go to the city once or twice is a country lout.”

“Just stop.” Merel stopped in place. “We’re at the garrison, we can take care of it, and we don’t need to say anything that’ll make me even more frustrated with you.”

“Does everything I say frustrate you?”

“You’re getting near to it.” Merel gave him a very serious look. “So now what I need is for you to give me the instruments, I’ll start the field survey, and when I need something, I’ll tell you what to do.”

“I walk a good bit faster, realistically, are you sure you don’t want my help?”

“I’m very sure.” Merel grabbed the bag of surveying tools from him, fished for the auger she would need, and turned towards the middle of the field, striding confidently over the grass. She was looking for a good spot that looked rather representative of the soil deposition patterns of the area. Little creeks, she noticed, sure, and a few sandy deposits and fens. But it was uneven. She decided, about a few hundred feet from the road and atop a small ridge dotted with hills, that this would require multiple samples. A few of the higher soils, some of the alluvial deposits. She yanked her skirts up and knelt down and began using the auger to remove her sample at its first, then, second, then third depth.