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replied, with an edge to her voice. “You ought to pay a bit more attention to what’s going on under your nose, Van, the lad’s been the talk of the Collegium for the past couple of years. That’s why we kept him here for his Journeyman period instead of sending him out. The boy’s got all three Bardic requirements, Van, not just two. The Gift, the ability to perform, and the creative Talent to compose. Three of his ballads are in the common repertory already, and he’s not out of Journeyman status.”
    Vanyel coughed. “I stand rebuked,” he replied, a hint of humor in his voice. “Well, let’s give this Stefen a chance. Do you want to tell him, or shall I?”
    Breda laughed. “You. I’d just gotten comfortable when you two sailed in. And at my age, one finds stairs more than a little daunting.”
    Vanyel rose, and Medren scrambled to join him. “You’re just lazy, that’s all,” he mocked gently. “You can outdance, outfight, outdrink, and outlast people half your age when you choose.”
    â€œThat’s as may be,” Breda replied as Vanyel turned toward the door, her own voice just as mocking. “But right now I don’t choose. Let me know how things work out, youngling.”
    Medren felt a hand between his shoulderblades propelling him out the door and into the corridor. “Just for that,” Vanyel said over his shoulder as he closed the door, “I think I’ll see that someone tells you—some time next week.”
    A pungent expletive emerged, muffled, through the door. Medren hadn’t known Breda knew that particular phrase ... though anatomically impossible, it certainly would have been interesting to watch if she’d decided to put his uncle in that particular position....
    Â 
    Stefen—or rather, Stefen’s appearance—came as something of a surprise to Van. Vanyel had been expecting something entirely different—a youngster like Medren, but perhaps a little plainer, a little taller. At some point he’d formed a vague notion that people gifted with extraordinary abilities tended to look perfectly ordinary.
    Stefen was far from ordinary—
    Van hung back when they’d gotten to the room Medren shared with the boy, prompted by the feeling that Stefen might be uneasy in his presence. Stef had just been leaving, in fact. Medren intercepted him right at the door, and Vanyel had lingered in an alcove while Medren explained to the boy what they wanted of him. That gave Van ample opportunity to study the musician while the youngster remained unaware of the Herald’s scrutiny.
    Vanyel’s first impression was of fragility. Stefen was slight; had he been a girl, he’d have been called “delicate.” He was a little shorter than Vanyel, and as slim. That didn’t matter, though—Vanyel could tell that Stefs appearance was as deceptive as his own. Stefen was fine-boned, yes, but there was muscle over that bone; tough, wiry muscle.
    I wouldn’t care to take him on in a street fight, Van observed, eyes half-closed as he studied the boy. Something tells me he’d win.
    Dark auburn hair crowned a triangular face; one composed, at first impression, of a pair of bottomless hazel eyes, high cheekbones, and the most stubborn chin Van had ever seen.
    He looks like a demented angel, like that painting in the High Temple of the Spirit of Truth. The one that convinced me that knowing too much truth will drive you mad.... Vanyel watched carefully as Stef listened to Medren’s plans. Once or twice, the boy nodded, and some of that wavy hair fell into his eyes. He brushed it out of the way absently, all his attention given to his roommate.
    He was tense; that was understandable. Vanyel was very glad that he had chosen to keep himself out of the way now. The boy was under quite enough pressure without the added stress of Herald Vanyel’s presence. Van was quite well