By Alberich’s standards of camp cookery, it was a sumptuous meal. All of it was laid out in the sitting room, with cutlery and plates that Dethor produced out of a cupboard that Alberich hadn’t noticed until Dethor opened it. The servant departed, but Jadus did not; evidently he intended to share their meal. There were four different dishes, plus bread and butter; Alberich took an equal portion of each. Something like a stew, some sliced vegetable, beans, and what appeared to be baked apples. The flavors were good—when in the hands of the Healers, he’d first noticed that the food was good—but not quite familiar. The spices were all different; flavors he was used to were missing, new ones added. And these people didn’t seem to use as much spice as Karsites did. It was good but—not exactly right. Even the bread was lighter in taste, texture and color than Karsite bread, and not as chewy. As much as the language, the food brought it home to him that he was on alien soil.

“Your classes won’t start for another three days, Alberich,” Jadus said, when the edge had been taken off Alberich’s hunger. “Dethor, up at the Collegium we’ve decided that you should establish a schedule with Alberich first, and we’ll work his classes in around that.” The Herald sighed gustily. “At the moment, there are so many classes he will need to take, it won’t be a problem to work a schedule of three in around whatever you set him up for.”

Dethor nodded, and refilled all their cups. Alberich was mildly surprised to find that they were drinking, not beer or common wine, but some rather tasty herb tisane. Tisane—well, that just wasn’t what a soldier generally drank. Not that Alberich had any objections to the beverage; after all, most of the beer he’d gotten over the years was indifferent at best and vile at worst, and all of the wine had been harsh and rough. Still—tisane. It conjured up images in his mind of little old ladies puttering at sewing and gossiping.

Perhaps it was meant to serve as a good example to all those children populating the place. If so—well, if he was allowed to leave this place, he suspected he would be finding a tavern fairly soon.

Perhaps, if he asked, someone would find him a little cask of some good strong ale.

“At any rate, you won’t be seeing nearly as much of me, Alberich,” Jadus continued. “You’ve got another guide coming, a fellow called Elcarth, a bit of a scholar. You see, we reckoned he’d be the best one to help you over some of the classes I’m hopeless at. I’m to bring him around to meet you in the morning.”

:Which really means, what?: he asked Kantor. :What isn’t he telling me?: