6: Kenet

“What do you mean, Sergetten isn’t here?” That my father’s advisor and my tutor should not be present when expected stunned me.

“I mean,” said the scholar who kept the archives in order, “I have not seen him yet today, my prince. Normally he arrives long before you.”

“You’re sure he’s not in there somewhere?” I waved a vague hand at the entrance to the archives themselves. I rarely ventured there myself and the keepers preferred it that way, usually only allowing Sergetten and some other high ranking scholars to enter the repository. Others had to petition to have materials brought to them and it was in the reading room where they would wait that Sergetten and I usually had lessons.

“No, my prince, he is definitely not here. As I said.” The man was short and his hair was shot through with gray. Velred was his name, and he had been head archivist since before I was born. “He left no instructions and sent no messages.”

“And can you verify that I am on time?” I pondered how long I should wait, if at all.

“Yes, my lord, you are most definitely on time. And this is most definitely unusual for him to be absent.” He nodded sagely. “If he arrives, where shall I tell him to seek you out?”

Well, that decided it. “The afternoon’s too nice to waste indoors anyway,” I said. The last of winter had left the mountains and spring was in full...