The Alchemists' Council, page 9
“Have you had time between homework assignments to learn more about erasure?” she asked.
“I have questioned Sadira on the matter. She reiterated what I have read. The Council member is stripped of the pendant — if a pendant has been earned — and physically removed from Council dimension. The Council provides the member with basic survival needs — identification, a place to live, money. After that, all ties are severed, and the one erased will live out the remainder of his or her life. The length of that life is relative to the amount of Elixir previously ingested while an alchemist — an Elder would survive far longer than a Senior Initiate, for example. Meanwhile, Scribes manually and alchemically erase all known references to the member from Lapidarian manuscripts.”
“All known references. So there could be others — unknown?”
“If a reference is unknown to the Council, I doubt we could find it.”
“Still — it’s a possibility.” Jaden paused, taking a sip of her coffee. She closed her eyes and lowered her head to concentrate. After a few seconds, she asked, “Why don’t I remember anything yet? I’m outside Council dimension, and I’m not wearing a pendant. I must have known the person.”
“When did the erasure happen?”
“Obeche said it occurred last year. So why can’t I remember?”
“You have not been outside and away from Lapidarian proximity for long. The process of regaining erased memories is usually gradual.”
“Usually?”
“Last night, I read of a 15th Council alchemist who lost his pendant during an outside journey and within an hour began to have flashes of someone who had been erased during the previous rotation. He became confused and disoriented. Finally he was rescued by a Rowan who returned him to Council dimension. I assume the story was intended as a warning to those attempting to regain erased memories — the swift timing exaggerated as a fear tactic. In most circumstances, a person would have to be outside Council dimension for several days to regain erased memories completely. Perhaps I should not say completely — after all, memories are rarely complete, regardless of Lapidarian effect.”
“But I want to remember. I need to remember,” said Jaden.
“You are probably better off not remembering. Erasure is an extreme measure. It occurs only if the person is posing some sort of threat to the Council and — through the Council — to humanity.”
“But it isn’t fair.”
Arjan laughed. “You might not think that if you knew the circumstances.”
“Exactly! Then that’s the reason I need to remember! Maybe if we’re here long enough today, I will remember something.”
“Maybe. But you’ll forget again as soon as you return to Council dimension. And then, were you to leave again, you may not have the same memory or set of memories you had previously. Memory changes with each remembrance — theoretically.”
Jaden made a grunt of annoyance. “Did you learn all this from your books?”
“I have asked Sadira many questions about many subjects over the weeks. Each time she tells me one thing, I ask something else. On the topic of erasure, I asked for details. And then I consulted the books. I have found the third floor, eighth case of the North Library to be particularly useful regarding Lapidarian law.”
Jaden slumped down in her chair and crossed her arms in frustration. As Arjan sipped his coffee, Jaden stared at hers. After a minute or so of silence, her eyes widened.
“I could write it down and take it back with me.”
“Write what down?”
“Whatever I remember today. I could write it down and take it back with me. Then, if I don’t remember after I return to Council dimension, I would still have the record.” Jaden looked around the café. “I need some paper. I should have brought my journal.”
“You keep a journal?”
“Well, I have a journal. I haven’t written in it for a while.”
“Have you consulted it?”
Jaden looked puzzled.
“Perhaps you wrote about the one erased — before the erasure.”
The possibility that she had written something of the one erased — the possibility that she had a way to outmanoeuvre Obeche and the other Elders — startled Jaden to such an extent that her sudden, swift movement sent her coffee cup crashing to the floor.
“Really, Jaden, the coffee can’t be that bad,” said Laurel, who was approaching their table. A young woman who worked in the café came over to aid in the clean-up. Arjan gathered the fragments of cup and tossed them into a bag the waitress held open. Jaden repeatedly apologized. Once everything was cleaned up, Laurel pulled up a chair to the table and ordered an espresso. She then began a rapidly paced monologue on the plans she and Cercis had for their afternoon in Santa Fe. Jaden barely listened. She no longer wanted to be in Santa Fe. She wanted to return to her residence chambers and search her journal for references to the one erased. If she had known the person well enough to care about him or her, she most certainly would have made some reference in an entire year’s journal, even if her entries were infrequent.
“I think Cedar has plans for us,” Arjan was saying to Laurel when Jaden refocused on the conversation.
“She’ll give us some free time, won’t she?” protested Laurel. “What’s the point otherwise?”
For several minutes, the conversation moved along these argumentative lines, with a continual contrast between Arjan’s logic and sense of Council duty, and Laurel’s hopes for a romantic getaway with Cercis. Just as Jaden was thinking she would rather be back pacing the street corner than sitting in the café with Laurel, Cedar and Cercis appeared.
“Finally!” exclaimed Laurel. She reached for Cercis’s hand.
“All right, everyone, finish up here and meet me in La Plazuela,” Cedar instructed, handing Jaden some money. “I will arrange a table.”
Jaden looked at Arjan and shrugged. He need not spend his secret stash of money. Laurel finished her espresso while Jaden paid the bill.
As the group walked through the lobby, Arjan pulled Jaden aside and into a small shop. “Go ahead,” he said to the Laurel and Cercis. “We’ll be right there.”
“What are you doing?” Jaden asked, startled.
“Paper,” he said. He picked up a small spiral notebook and a pen from a display case. “Will these do?”
“Yes,” Jaden responded. “Thanks for thinking of it . . . and for paying for it.”
Arjan laughed. “You know, as an alchemist, you really should learn to create some wealth for yourself.”
“You didn’t—” She began but then stopped herself when she noticed the cashier’s puzzled look.
As they walked down the hall towards the restaurant, Jaden put the notebook and pen into her coat pocket. Thus far, no erased memories had reappeared, but at least now she was prepared if they did. Cedar, Laurel, and Cercis were seated at a table near the middle of the restaurant. Cedar, to Jaden’s surprise, was drinking what appeared to be a margarita. Laurel and Cercis were discussing the menu. The room was large and colourful. A stylized but majestic double-headed eagle graced the beam above the table. Jaden liked this place. She wondered why Cedar had chosen it, whether she had history with this hotel in particular. Cedar has a history, Jaden realized. At one time, hundreds of years ago, she too had been a Junior Initiate. Perhaps Santa Fe had meant something to her, back in the day.
When the Initiates had placed an order for lunch and all the drinks had arrived, Cedar raised hers and made a toast. “Welcome to Santa Fe,” she said. “May you find here all that you seek.”
I seek the one erased, Jaden thought. But Cedar had something else in mind altogether.
“This afternoon, after lunch, you are to find your pendants,” Cedar announced.
“Pendants!” Laurel exclaimed.
“Today, you are being given the opportunity to attain interim pendants.”
Laurel and Cercis stared at Cedar in disbelief. Arjan twisted his silver chain as if anticipating its pendant. Jaden wondered about the implications this unexpected task could have on her search for the one erased. Finally, Laurel ventured, “Why?”
“You will wear your pendants in order to help the Council research the phenomenon of the disappearing bees within the protectorate libraries of the outside world.”
“Here? In Santa Fe?” asked Jaden.
“Not necessarily. Council maintains protectorate libraries throughout the world. Together, they house thousands of Lapidarian manuscripts we have recovered over the centuries in the aftermath of their theft and dispersion during the Second Rebellion. Elder Council will determine in which library you would be of most value.”
“Why not bring the manuscripts back to Council dimension?”
“The Elders maintain that the manuscripts are safer if secreted in numerous locations rather than one. The protectorates also act as safe houses for Council members as well as training facilities for our allies in the outside world.”
“William Butler Yeats studied alchemy in both the Dublin and London protectorates,” Cercis chimed in, seemingly proud to offer up this fact to Arjan.
“Really?” replied Arjan, noticeably impressed.
“But that,” said Cedar, “is a story for another day. Over the next few weeks, you will be given details of the mission and your duties as necessary. The interim pendants will be infused with Lapidarian essence of a potency strong enough to last twenty-four hours per infusion. The pendant will ensure you remain connected to Council. Under accompaniment, you may come and go from Council dimension as required and as warranted for the duration of your term of duty.”
As Jaden processed the explanation of the libraries and news about the interim pendants, she realized that the one erased might well have been an Initiate. After all, as Cedar herself had implied in their conversation over the ink spillage, Initiates would be the easiest Council members to erase. They had the least history with the Council and had not themselves added any new Initiates to their branch. As far as Jaden could recall, no Council branch had become weakened or ill since her arrival. Even if she could not remember the one erased, she would surely remember bouts of illness and pain throughout the orders. She realized then with growing discomfort that Junior Initiates, especially those without pendants, were certainly the most expendable members of the Alchemists’ Council.
“What about the test?” Jaden asked. “Is this trip not about a test?”
“Yes, it is,” replied Cedar. “The test is to locate a pendant that can withstand Lapidarian infusion. Turquoise works best, no matter its shade. Other than that, you are on your own. Choose wisely.” Cedar then stood up. “Enjoy your lunch. Divide this money among you,” she said as she placed an envelope on the table. “Meet me at the San Miguel Mission at five.” She turned and walked away, leaving Jaden, Arjan, Cercis, and Laurel to discuss the turn of events.
“Can you believe this?” asked Laurel.
“I am astonished,” said Arjan. “But the granting of interim pendants is not without precedent. I read about a similar situation in one of our history textbooks.”
“Really?” said Cercis. He wanted to know more, but Laurel interrupted.
“Well, a history book is one thing, but can you believe this is happening to us right here and now?” Laurel threw her head back and her arms up as if making a victory cheer. “This is the best thing that has happened to me since that spa day in Vienna with Kalina.”
“Before you joined the Council?” asked Cercis.
“No — last year, with Kalina. You know, the Senior Initiate. Remember, when Obeche sent us to that spa as a reward for our exam scores?”
“I don’t remember anyone named Kalina.”
“What happened to her?” asked Laurel. “I haven’t seen . . . Wait . . . I don’t remember . . . Who is she? I don’t remember her except . . . This is . . . weird.”
Jaden, who had been sipping her drink and only half-listening, suddenly sat straight up. She ran through the names of all twelve Senior Initiates.
“I don’t know Kalina.” She looked at Arjan. “Do you?”
“No. No one on the Council is named Kalina.”
“She’s the one,” gasped Jaden. “Kalina is the one.”
“Which one?” asked Cercis.
Jaden pulled her notebook and pen out of her pocket. “The one erased!”
“What?” said Laurel.
“My seat on the Council opened as a result of erasure,” explained Arjan. “Kalina may be the one who was erased.”
“I can picture her at the spa with me, but I don’t remember her,” said Laurel.
“And even this memory may be temporary,” said Arjan.
“You have to tell me everything you remember about her before we return to Council dimension,” Jaden said.
Laurel looked puzzled. She squinted and then glanced up towards the ceiling.
“I just . . .” Laurel paused. “I don’t know. I just . . . I have . . . fragments. It’s like I suddenly saw us at the spa, and I knew the spa was in Vienna. But then when I try to think about the details, I can’t remember anything except that I’d had the memory. I mean — now I remember the memory but not the actual event.” Laurel shook her head in frustration.
“Okay, then, describe the memory of the memory before it vanishes too,” said Jaden. “Describe anything — everything.”
“Why?” asked Cercis. “Are you hoping to resurrect her? If she’s erased, she’s erased. We’re not supposed to remember. Dredging up fragments is futile.”
“She was erased for a reason, Cercis. Don’t you want to know the reason?”
“No, I don’t care to know the reason. If we were meant to know, we’d know.”
Cercis stood up and reached out a hand for Laurel. “Come on. Let’s go. Finding our pendants is the current priority.”
Laurel pushed back her chair and gathered her belongings. She took Cercis’s hand and smiled. “Our pendants await!” she exclaimed, in what Jaden read as forced enthusiasm.
Jaden thought about pleading for Laurel to stay, but she knew it would only aggravate Cercis further and, consequently, have no effect on Laurel. She smiled weakly at Laurel who, to Jaden’s surprise, maintained eye contact for a few seconds longer than usual. Perhaps Laurel remembered something after all. Perhaps she would tell Jaden as soon as the opportunity arose. As she and Cercis walked away, Jaden pulled out her notebook and wrote the following words, which she then showed to Arjan: The one erased may be a former Senior Initiate named Kalina. Laurel recalls spending time with Kalina at a spa in Vienna last year. Arjan nodded his approval.
“You could look through Council archives for evidence of travel to Vienna last year. I believe all travel to and from Council dimension must be recorded.”
“No doubt our journey to Santa Fe has been duly noted.”
“Yes, I suppose it has. Shall we go then?”
“I don’t want a pendant. Its Lapidarian essence will make me forget.”
“You have not yet remembered anything. Besides, the pendant will remain essence-free until the Night of Albedo. And you must also keep in mind that the advantages of possessing a pendant outweigh the disadvantages.”
“Time will tell,” said Jaden.
They walked from La Fonda to the Palace of the Governors, where vendors from local pueblos displayed their wares. Arjan said he was not interested in searching the stores of Santa Fe: he would find his pendant along the palace walkway or nowhere. At first Jaden thought his decision was limiting, but she soon found herself immersed in searching for her own pendant among myriad possibilities of varying shapes, sizes, and colours. Indeed, Jaden lost track of Arjan completely at one point, presuming he had wandered amidst the crowds to the other end of the palace. Eventually, she found herself comfortably seated beside the display of jewellery offered by a woman named Florence. Jaden held one, then another, then another of Florence’s pendants until finally she narrowed her choices to three. She stared and stared at the pendants. She felt their weight and texture. She looked at the silver casing and at the specks of colour within the turquoise. Finally, after long deliberation, she chose one of blue turquoise flecked with black. The Flaw in the Stone, she thought to herself. Florence smiled, nodded, took Jaden’s money, and rummaged for change. “Thank you,” Jaden said before walking away in search of Arjan.
Arjan had chosen a large pendant of green turquoise, crisscrossed with seams of brown. It hung elegantly from his chain against the black of his shirt. Jaden removed her chosen pendant from its little plastic bag and showed him. She did not yet have a chain on which the pendant would find its home.
“That will look beautiful against your robes,” Arjan offered.
Their pendant search completed with almost two hours to spare before the appointed time of return to Council dimension, Arjan and Jaden wandered the streets of Santa Fe. They talked of Kalina and of Laurel and of Cercis. They interjected comments on the exquisite or gaudy or shocking or elegant objects displayed in the windows of various shops. They stood near the sculpture of the burro on Burro Alley and read over the sentences in Jaden’s notebook. “I wonder which spa,” said Jaden, leaning against the burro.
With only a few minutes to spare before the rendezvous, Jaden found a chain for her pendant in an exquisite boutique on West San Francisco Street. The chain, in both length and flexibility, would not be suitable for a permanent pendant — that would require an official pendant cord — but Jaden decided it would work for her temporary pendant. Thus she, like Arjan, donned her pendant as they returned to the Old Santa Fe Trail and made their way towards the rendezvous point.
Cedar accompanied each of the Junior Initiates back to Council dimension, one by one in the order she had brought them to Santa Fe. Thus Jaden was the first to return. She sat in the main courtyard by the fountain and waited for Arjan. She would ask him for tea — spiced perhaps — before she settled in for an evening of lesson review. She recalled that Arjan had suggested she search the archives upon return, but she couldn’t remember the reason. Perhaps he needed her help for an assignment. Or perhaps it had something to do with the one erased — but what? Perhaps she had forgotten the details now that she had returned to Lapidarian proximity. She would ask him when he arrived. She opened the notebook that Arjan had bought for her to search its pages for any memories she may have recorded and subsequently forgotten. But it was blank. Today’s journey must not have been long enough for the outside world to offer up any of its secrets, she thought.
