The Budding Metalinguist

XX

Lillian arrived in Kern's office early the next morning, where he was already waiting for her on the couch. He looked more disconcerted than usual, and Lillian's first reaction was concern. She quickly dismissed this- after all, she barely knew Kern at all. She shouldn't be so worried about him, especially when there clearly was nothing wrong.

Kern motioned toward the mirror with a wave of his hand, and Lillian complied. She felt the familiar sensation of stepping through a dry waterfall as she entered. Her ears popped once she arrived in the Alin Gap- a change in pressure that she never seemed to remember.

"You need to be able to trace thaumaturgy," Kern began. "Today I wanted to talk about the Idea of Detection. It can trace thaumaturgy as well as use of the Idea of Disguise. With practice, you should be able to tell which is which."

"Are you going to use thaumaturgy?" Lillian wondered. She hadn't observed him using thaumaturgy since his arrest at the DIAO nearly a month previously.

"I can't right now," Kern confessed. "In the thaumaturgy building, the DIAO are watching, and here..." He trailed off with nervous, shadowed eyes. "There are others," he finished.

"How am I going to learn this?" Lillian asked irritably.

"Would you mind using the Idea of Disguise?" Kern asked in a polite tone.

Lillian complied. She used the elaborate signature of a complicated illusion taking place across the arena. Kern nodded.

Lillian could feel it quite clearly when he expressed the Idea of Detection. She understood what it was trying to convey. An order so powerful that it could not be translated into any language. A force sweeping out through all of space, which nothing could be hidden from.

"Now you try," Kern instructed. Lillian wasn't able to tell when he implemented the Idea of Disguise. She had learned by now that it was possible to use an Idea without alerting other metalinguists to the fact. Because metalanguage, unlike thaumaturgy, could not be traced.

Lillian expressed the Idea of Detection. Instantly, the full details of Kern's supposed thaumaturgy became clear in her mind. He was expressing a transfiguration, and a relatively simple one, performed by someone with disconcertingly low thaumaturgical efficacy. And it was also quite clear to her that he was using a metalinguistic disguise to do so.

Lillian watched Kern's face. He knew she understood, without a single hour of practice, whether something was the Idea of Disguise or actual thaumaturgy.

And he was disturbed by it.

❧☙

"Did you guys feel that last night?"

Dakota's eyes swept nervously across Ashley and Rory's nonchalant faces. He was getting more worried by the minute. If Ashley and Rory hadn't noticed the memory alterations, it was likely that Julian and the others had found him. In which case he didn't have long to live.

"What?" Rory asked unconcernedly. Ashley appeared to concur.

"The..." Dakota flushed. "You didn't notice Julian?"

"Oh, yes, that," Ashley responded with a touch of irritation. Rory made a similar, disgusted remark. Dakota relaxed. Apparently he had not been alone in feeling that last night.

"Was that everyone or just us?" he ventured tentatively.

Rory wrinkled his nose. "Everyone."

Dakota relaxed further. "What was it about?" he asked in confusion.

"Julian," Ashley complained, "is attempting to get information from a completely unreliable and useless source. You have nothing to worry about."

Dakota wondered what the source was, but decided it was probably better not to ask. Ashley and Rory didn't seem particularly liberal with information at the moment.

At least, Dakota told himself, he was safe.

❧☙

Something was wrong.

Galena felt it as soon as she walked into the DIAO. Something was different.

Diane arrived at the door with a surprisingly warm welcome. Galena returned the greeting distractedly. "Is there any news?" she said briskly.

Diane seemed nervous. "Nothing new," she reported. "Sorry about that."

Galena was unsurprised. She brushed past Diane and headed straight for her office. The third door on the right of the main hallway. Clearly marked "Assistant Director".

She swung the door open.

All of her belongings, she noticed in indignation, had been removed. The rug she had specifically chosen had been replaced, the chairs against the far wall had been moved, and the carefully organized layout of her desk had been disrupted. An unfamiliar woman in her early thirties was reclining behind the desk, and appeared to be reading a book. Galena stared.

"Morning, Galena," the woman said without looking up. Galena was nervous. The woman was probably a good six inches taller than her, with messy dark hair, a confident smirk, and deep brown eyes behind a pair of casual glasses. She was older than Galena as well, by what looked to be almost ten years. She wore jeans, thin hearing aids tucked behind her ears, and a striking red hoodie.

Galena abruptly backed away and headed for Diane's office at a brisk walk which quickly morphed into a run.

"Diane?" she called nervously. The administrative assistant poked her head out from inside the front office with a smile that struck Galena as distinctly unnatural.

"Who's in my office?" Galena called, without waiting for Diane to reply to her greeting.

Diane's brow furrowed in confusion. "Is there someone in your office?"

Galena nodded. "Here, I'll show you." She hurried into Diane's office, reached for her computer, and pulled up the security footage. The cameras clearly displayed the woman with the red hoodie. She indicated the screen.

"Who?" Diane asked in confusion.

Galena jabbed her finger at the offending camera. "Her."

"That's Vanessa," Diane said slowly, clearly completely baffled.

"Vanessa," Galena repeated venomously. "Who is Vanessa?"

Diane seemed to shelve her confusion. It was a familiar gesture. Diane was a very intelligent woman, both intellectually and emotionally. However, when she needed to, she could play the part of a brisk, completely characterless secretary.

"Vanessa Pearl is the Assistant Director," Diane responded in a flat tone of voice.

Galena was so confused and shocked that she could barely speak. "But-" She stopped for a moment to collect her thoughts. "I'm the Assistant Director," she said finally. "Did you replace me?"

"You're the Director, Galena," Diane explained robotically. "You've been the Director for a month."

Galena came out with the first thought in her head. "But what about Rolf?" she asked in an almost pleading tone of voice.

Diane's expression did not change. "Who's Rolf?"