Evastany

22 IV

22 IV

I have learned that Ori and Gio are formidably devious.

I have also learned that Ori has a flair for espionage, and has had a fancy to try his hand at it for some time. I discovered these things because when Tren and I returned to Glour City and revealed our findings, the two of them threw themselves into the problem with an enthusiasm I can only describe as Gusto (believe me, the capital letter is more than justified).

‘Right, so,’ said Ori, stretching out in his chair in my favourite parlour and putting his feet on my favourite footstool, ‘There are a few places it would be possible to intercept post. We can assume, firstly, that this is happening from our end, not the sender’s, as the interference appears to be designed to discover the identities of the latter. So, it is probably happening somewhere in between Glour City’s main sorting office and the letterbox at Headquarters.’

‘Big office?’ asked Gio.

‘I have never thought about it,’ I replied.

‘Of course it is,’ said Tren. ‘Big city, big sorting office.’

‘It would be difficult to find and intercept two particular letters in a sorting office like that,’ Gio suggested. ‘If they have no idea where the letters are coming from.’

Ori agreed. ‘So they are probably getting hold of them after they leave the sorting office. It might be a question of swiping them off the post carrier en route, or maybe it’s been as simple as taking them out of our letterbox before we can get to them. As for the other problem: how are you sending letters?’

He was looking at me, which left me in some little difficulty. ‘Um,’ I said, and looked at Tren for help.

I had to suffer the indignity of being laughed at in response. ‘Eva never thinks of simple practicalities,’ Tren said, with a wink at me to show that he was not being malicious. ‘It is for others to deal with dull matters like how to get a letter out.’

‘I have other things to think about,’ I said, and hoped I did not sound as defensive as I feared.

‘What do you do with your letters, Eva?’ said Ori, in a patient tone I found deplorable.

‘I sign and seal them and leave them on my desk.’

Tren put in, ‘Adonia probably takes them and posts them.’

‘In theory then, anybody could take them off your desk, alter them and put them back before Adonia finds them?’

I nodded at Ori. ‘In theory.’

‘Supposing, of course, that it is not Adonia herself,’ he added.

I was horrified. ‘No, I am sure not. I have known her since she was a child. She’s a former student of mine. I invited her mother to my wedding!’

‘Which wedding?’ put in Tren in a whisper.

‘The previous one.’

‘The… cancelled, previous one?’ Tren looked faintly nervous, as though he seriously imagined I might have been married and widowed before and somehow contrived to conceal the fact from him.

‘The cancelled one,’ I said, heroically resisting the impulse to roll my eyes.

Tren looked relieved.

Ori eyed me with suspicion, apparently unconvinced by my staunch faith in Adonia. ‘Do not doubt me, Ori,’ I told him sternly. ‘It is appallingly rude.’

‘Fine, fine,’ he said ungraciously. ‘For the present, we will assume Adonia’s innocence and look elsewhere for our culprit.’

‘Do we have any security at headquarters at all?’ said Gio.

‘I have no idea,’ said I frostily.

He smiled faintly in response. ‘I will attend to that, if you will permit.’

‘Feel free.’

‘Not yet,’ said Ori. ‘We can use this to draw out our kidnapper.’

And Ori paused. His only possible motive in doing so was to heighten the suspense, so I had no qualms in bending my most ferocious glower upon him until he started talking again.

‘This is a complicated scheme,’ said he. ‘I see two possible motives for it. One: to ensure that people like Miss Nallay go along quietly. A person who does not realise they are being kidnapped is much easier to make off with, no? And two: to conceal the Lokant’s identity, and if possible their activities, from people like us who might object. If they can throw suspicion on you in the process, all the better.

‘So, I imagine a few things likely. One, we may not receive any more letters from prospective students. They will mysteriously go astray, because how can we interfere in the removal of more of our students if we are not even informed of their existence? In fact, Eva, I would not be surprised if that has already occurred. You did wonder why you received so few letters. Miss Nallay’s was probably swiped a bit late, forcing our kidnapper to arrange an alternative way to intercept her.’

A good point indeed.

‘Two: if we assume that all letters addressed to headquarters are being taken before we get anywhere near them, this is potentially of great benefit to us. We begin by pretending that we have no idea it is happening at all. Your ladyship can help this process along by making a deal of noise in public about your lack of applicants and your great disappointment in the failure of your scheme.

‘Meanwhile, we will set up a fake applicant. Have a letter ostensibly from that person sent to headquarters in the regular post. See what happens.’

‘You mean,’ said I, ‘that we will try to have one of ourselves kidnapped.’

‘Exactly.’ Ori beamed upon all three of us.

Tren gave a slight cough. ‘Not that I wish to pour scorn upon an excellent plan, Ori, but do you not think that might be a trifle dangerous?’

‘Not at all. I suggest we employ Gio. He can camouflage his appearance from whoever shows up, in case it turns out to be someone he knows — make them see a different person in his place. And he can translocate out of wherever it is he’s taken to, if he finds himself in danger. They are expecting untrained partials, remember, not a fully-trained Lokant.’

I looked at Gio to discover how he felt about Ori’s cavalier attitude to his safety. I was surprised by it myself, but I was prepared to put it down to enthusiasm for the thrilling adventure.

Gio looked slightly nonplussed, but his confidence in his own abilities appeared to equal his lover’s, for he shrugged and agreed. ‘It is a sound enough plan.’

That won him Ori’s full approval, which appeared to gratify him more than enough to justify his being used as bait in a mission of, possibly, some danger.

‘If you should happen to be successfully kidnapped,’ I told Gio, ‘and you should happen to find yourself left in company with Susa and Faronni, please do bring them back with you.’

‘Of course,’ said Gio.

‘But no,’ objected Ori. ‘That will give the game away! They will realise at once that we have found them out, and our advantage is lost.’

I said, ‘They will realise that anyway, as soon as they find Gio missing. Or whoever he is pretending to be.’

‘Gio won’t come back right away,’ Ori argued. ‘Or rather, he will come back long enough to collect me, then return and go on pretending to be a student.’

Gio’s brows went up at that, though whether it was the former or the latter part of Ori’s plan that disconcerted him I could not tell. ‘Leaving you to do what?’ he demanded.

‘Snoop.’

‘And how will you get out, if trouble happens?’

Ori shrugged. ‘I am not helpless. I’m a draykon. I can take care of myself.’

There appeared to be a severe disagreement pending, so I judged it best to intervene. ‘How about this. We go along with Ori’s plan, save for one modification: we are going to get all four of us kidnapped. We will do a better job of investigating the problems together, and nobody ends up left to the practice of high espionage alone.’

‘Absolutely not,’ said Tren. The fierce frown he directed at me expressed his objection clearly enough: he disliked the notion of my putting myself in any danger.

Endearing as was his concern, I dismissed it.

Other objections tended towards the practical, all of which I was able to argue away. ‘Gio and I will manipulate the perceptions of our kidnapper, in order to escape notice. Ori, you may shapeshift into any shape you please, no? I dare say you can turn your hair white for a time. And Tren has masqueraded as a Lokant before, with brilliant success. It will be perfectly possible to arrange for all four of us to be absconded with.’

‘The one problem,’ said Ori, ‘is that Heliandor has been ignored. You are right that there’s more to their choice of target than Lokant heritage alone. We’ll have to figure out what else they want, first, in order to be sure of getting ourselves onto their shopping list.’

‘In which case,’ I said with a brilliant smile for Ori, ‘I charge you to do what you do best: go gather information.’

‘Yes, my lady!’ Ori collected up Gio, and departed forthwith to conduct research.

‘I love academics,’ I said to Tren. ‘They never tire of digging for facts.’

‘Good memories, too,’ he agreed.

‘And so biddable.’ I made a mental note to do something nice for Ori and Gio sometime soon.