The Enhancer Read online

"I've had enough excitement, thank you," Meeral said as she climbed up the stairs behind Thera.

  A tiny young woman came bouncing down the stairs. She had hair so dark it was almost black, contrasting with her white skin and blue eyes.

  "Bring me some bandages and medicine for a cut, please, Lenera," Thera said. "We'll be up in the attic."

  The attic room was large and hot, with cots on the sides where the ceiling was too low to stand. If there had not been a window at each end that let a breeze through, the heat would have been unbearable. Through the window Meeral could see the summer sun shining brightly on the bay. Between each cot stood shelves stuffed with clothing, books, combs and other things that women use. Thera stopped at a cot near the middle of the room.

  "You're lucky we have an empty cot. Most of the women are at work."

  "That dress is a mess," Lenera said when Thera was putting some foul-smelling ointment on Meeral's cut. "It needs a good soaking."

  Meeral's trunk arrived before Thera finished bandaging her arm. Meeral put on a clean dress while Lenera, with the exuberance of her sixteen years, triumphantly gathered all the bloody clothes and disappeared.

  "You can get your things organized on your shelf," Thera said, "but you need some rest. We'll look in on you now and then and bring your dinner."

  "But I want to come down for dinner," Meeral said.

  "If you feel up to it. Be careful of your arm though," Thera said, stroking Meeral's cheek with her large hand, as Grandma Varis had done. "I had hoped when you moved here that you would blend in without a fuss. Not much chance of that now "

  "I'm sorry," Meeral said as Thera stood up.

  The big woman put her hands on her hips. "Sorry? You saved my life "

  At supper Meeral sensed the women at the table knew what had happened to her and Thera. Lenera sat down next to her and said, "We're all so grateful to you. I don't know what we'd do without Thera."

  A woman sitting across from her smiled in a meaningless manner then asked. "What do you think of the Duke?"

  Meeral shrugged her shoulders. She heard a woman called Rephna say in a low voice, "More important, what does the Duke think of her?"

  Rephna's comment reminded Meeral of Cyrtuno, where people wanted to say unkind things to Meeral but pretended they were talking too softly for Meeral to hear them. She was grateful when Lenera burst in between bites of the stew and said, "We're all excited because we've never heard of anyone being attacked in daylight. It hardly ever happens, even at night. Do you have to worry about that where you came from?"

  Meeral explained that since Cyrtuno had so many enhancers men dared not bother women.

  Someone asked Meeral why she came to Pactyl.

  "To get a job."

  "Can you enhance other things besides fire?"

  "Yes."

  "What level?"

  When Meeral said she enhanced at eighth level, Lenera asked, "Have you ever enhanced spinning?"

  "Yes."

  Lenera looked anxiously at Thera, then back at Meeral. She wiggled so much that the woman on each side of her swayed on the bench, but she said no more.

  "Lenera needs an enhancer at Spinners's Hall." Thera said. "Does that sound like something you'd like to do, Meeral?" Thera asked. "The pay is good. You can start working tomorrow if you feel up to it."

  The tiny woman stopped wiggling. She sat still, as if she were holding her breath.

  Meeral said, "I'd like to, if they want me."

  Lenera smiled, showing both the top and bottom rows of her white teeth. "At Spinners' Hall," she said, "you just start working, especially if you're as high a level enhancer as you are."

  "I'll take you over in the morning," Thera said. "It's less than a mile from here."

  After dinner Meeral went into the back yard and took her freshly washed clothes and Thera's green sash from the line. As she came back through the kitchen door, she was startled to see a tiny dark-haired young woman perched on a stool, shoveling the dinner stew into her mouth. How could Lenera be eating again after such a large meal?

  "Thanks for washing my clothes," Meeral said to her.

  The young woman gave her the same friendly smile and went back to eating. At the foot of the stairs, Meeral saw what appeared to be the same young woman,

  "I see you got your clothes, Meeral."

  Meeral looked at her, and then stepped back into the kitchen where it appeared that Lenera was also sitting eating, then back to the Lenera in the hall.

  "I didn't tell you I had a twin, did I?" said the Lenera in the hall. "She went to help a friend after work. Come and meet Linima."

  "How do I tell you apart?" Meeral asked when Lenera stood next to her twin.

  "You don't," Lenera said. "No one can."

  Meeral was comparing each twin with the other as they walked with Thera to Spinners' Hall early the next morning. The manner in which the twins fastened their dark hair was different: one twist went clockwise while the other counter clockwise. One wore a green blouse with a matching skirt, while the other's outfit was a bright blue. At that moment Meeral thought she could tell them apart. Later she was to learn that the twins switched clothes and the twist of their hair, deliberately confusing anyone who thought they had figured out their pattern. One thing they both had, at least in summer, was a scooped neckline on their blouses, scooped much lower than Meeral had ever seen in Cyrtuno. But Meeral excused their almost indecent show of bosom: it was much hotter in Pactyl than in the northern mountains.

  The streets of Pactyl had no logical organization. They were narrow and wound about in seemingly random curves. Intersections did not meet at right angles. Ahead of them was a wider street. A sign said, "Warning! Bridge Out," but Meeral could see people walking on the bridge.

  Thera edged her over to one side where all the people were walking, even though another sign again declared that the bridge was out.

  "It's half out," Lenera explained as they walked in single file.

  Meeral looked around, wondering what half that was. After they crossed, Lenera led Meeral downstream until they came to a spot where the bank was not too steep. From the edge of the churning water Meeral could see fragments of wood splintering off from both the center and the downstream beam. The upstream beam looked solid and new.

  "The men who rebuilt the bridge last time showed the city official the new beam when they put it in place. Then, when no one was watching, they finished with old, rotten beams."

  "That's terrible " Meeral exclaimed. "Why didn't they get the men to fix it?"

  "The city didn't find out until the men had been paid and were gone."

  "Someone could be killed "

  "Everyone knows they can walk on the good side. Heavy traffic goes around, though it takes longer."

  "If everyone knows about the bridge, why didn't they know about the men who built it?"

  Thera said, "That's one of the advantages of a big town, Meeral. You can keep secret things you don't want people to know."

  Meeral met Thera's steady gaze and hoped that she was right.

  Soon Linima announced that the building ahead of them was where they worked. Even with the early morning sun glancing off the gray stone walls, Spinners' Hall was an ugly building. Matching the building, a short, squarely built man sat by the front door of the ungainly structure. With a nod of his head at Meeral he asked Thera, "Spinner or enhancer?"

  "Enhancer. Level eight. She'll work with Lenera." The man waved Meeral into the large room as Thera left to return to Macy House.

  "Can you help me bring the rolags?" Lenera asked, as her eyes rested on the bandage on Meeral arm. Meeral nodded, reached for the rolls of carded wool and followed the young woman into the Spinners' Hall.

  "That's Trop," Lenera said, indicating the man at the front door. "He runs Spinners' Hall. He doesn't want to be bothered with your name until you've been here long enough so he'll know you'll stay. Thera brings him workers from time to time."

  Meeral looked at the large, re
ctangular hall with rows of spinning wheels. The room was light even though the windows near the ceiling looked as if they had never been washed. Three small fireplaces down the center of the room warmed it winter. The heavy wooden columns that held up the ceiling interrupted the expanse of the hall. Unlike Macy House, where Meeral was able to reconstruct the building into its original use as an elegant home, this building gave no hint as to its history.

  Meeral and Lenera walked down the room, past group after group of spinners and enhancers. Sometimes the wheels were so close together they looked like one large machine of whirling wheels turning at the same rate; other wheels, though further apart, turned in unison with those in their cluster.

  "Trop pays us and supplies the fibers and the spinning wheels. He takes a profit. Spinners get the proceeds of the yarn we spin from three wheels, while enhancers' earnings comes from anything over that," Lenera explained.

  As she started to arrange the wheels, Lenera asked, "Do you need the wheels very near you?"

  "I can enhance at a distance," Meeral said.

  Lenera arranged the carded wool of dark blue and one of white at each of nine identical wheels, carefully arranging the placement of the wheels and fibers. She left enough space between them for someone to walk. Then she checked the fibers on the floor in front of each wheel, including the ones in front of her spinning wheel. She pointed to a stool for Meeral to sit. Taking the sandal off her right foot she put the bare foot on the treadle.

  "I'll start slowly, pick up the fibers and start the treadle going. You enhance the movement of the fibers and the other eight wheels."

  A ten-year-old girl hovered at the edge of the wheels. As soon as Lenera dipped her hands to pick up the fibers, the girl darted between the wheels and adjusted the fibers at one wheel and the cord band at another until all nine wheels were spinning in unison.

  "I pay the squirrels," Lenera said.

  Meeral looked around for a four-legged rodent but the little girl said, with a proud grin, "I'm a squirrel."

  "Squirrel,Ó called a spinner from another group of wheels.

  The girl darted off to help someone else.

  "The squirrels work half days, and go to school the other half. We pay them as we need them," Lenera said. "Does it bother you to talk?"

  "No," But at first, Meeral had to concentrate on spinning from two rolags. The red and the blue together twisted into a lovely, purple and spun more slowly than Lenera did on her more modern Saxony wheel, but Meeral quickly caught on to enhancing the fanning of the fibers as they were drawn into yarn.

  A voice from behind her said, "Good I'm glad she can talk. Now I don't have to talk to my twin all day long."

  As Meeral glanced around she saw Lenera bracing herself, as if expecting the enhanced wheels would stop when the enhancer took her eyes off them but Meeral did not have to watch the wheels as she enhanced them.

  Linima's spinning was enhanced on nine more wheels by an old woman. Meeral could tell from the way the old enhancer kept her eyes on the wheels that she had to concentrate totally to control them, just as Jarph had when she enhanced the pull on the horses.

  Remembering Jarph, and conscious of a slight pain from her cut, Meeral was reminded of what Jarph had said about the dangers of Pactyl. Jarph had been right. A sailor had attacked her. Then there was the Duke who might learn that she was Shejani's daughter, Shejani of "Origin unknown." But here in Spinners' Hall she felt safe.

  Lenera interrupted her thoughts. "Meeral, you can have a squirrel get you a mat to lie down on when you take a break."

  "Lie down?"

  Lenera dropped her voice. "Linima's enhancer has lost so much weight and needs to rest often. She makes up for those breaks by giving Linima more of her profits."

  "How many people are in this hall?" Meeral asked as she looked at the whirl of wheels.

  "About seventy-five," Linima said.

  Before long Linima's enhancer took a break while Lenera and Meeral continued their work.

  "Naril,Ó Linima said, "This is Meeral. She's just come to Pactyl."

  Naril was thin, her skin drooping like a deflated balloon. Her washed out brown eyes seemed to have forgotten how to look out into the world.

  "The enhancer that left took a long time before she could do as well as you do already," Naril said with a nod of approval. "You've done this before, haven't you?"

  Meeral told her how Grandma Varis borrowed wheels when they could get wool in the spring or flax fibers in the fall "She used a big wheel. The Saxony wheel goes faster but I think I've got the rhythm of it," Meeral said.

  "Does your mother take care of your grandmother?" Naril asked.

  For a moment Meeral had a twinge of guilt. She hadn't thought of Grandma Varis all day. Naril looked older than Varis, but Naril had been sick.

  "No,Ó Meeral said.

  "Who takes care of her?" Naril's sagging face became more wrinkled with concern.

  Linima broke in. "Naril worries about older people -- that no one will take care of them."

  "I know how it is," Naril says. "I'm all alone. I got sick last year -- spent all my money. Linima is good to me. She sees that I get a chance to work."

  "We work well together, Naril," Linima said kindly.

  Naril looked at Linima gratefully, then turned to Meeral. "Doesn't anyone take care of your grandmother?"

  "The neighbors help her if she needs it." Meeral could feel herself tightening up. She wanted to defend herself from accusation of neglecting Grandmother Varis, but she remembered Thera's warning about talking about Shejani.

  "Why don't you lie down?" Linima said to Naril. "You like to rest."

  But Linima did not divert Naril from her questions. "Why doesn't your mother take care of her own mother?" she asked.

  "My mother is dead." The answer fell from Meeral's lips, and as she said it the eight wheels began to slow down. Quickly, she turned her attention to her enhancing of Lenera's spinning while Linima began talking to Naril about the Draries, which seemed to interest the old woman. The Draries had been making raids into Lurdoa and Lenera's former enhancer had moved north to be further away from the danger. Naril said the Draries never came this far north and they were perfectly safe in Pactyl.

  At lunch, over bread and cheese they brought from Macy House, Linima said, "Naril is really very nice, Meeral. She's a ninth level enhancer but can't enhance as well as she used to. She's terribly worried about having enough money -- if she gets sick again."

  "I understand," Meeral said. She had to send money to Grandma Varis -- when she figured out how to do it.

  The short, square man came limping up to them. He looked at the newly spun yarn on the spindles, gave a grunt and limped away.

  "Trop will want to know your name soon," Lenera said. "You just got his approval."

  It was a long day for Meeral, partly because she felt awkward with her bandaged arm. Some of the workers came and told her how much she had helped Pactyl by getting rid of the dangerous sailor, but one woman wanted to know how it felt to kill someone. "You're lucky the Duke saw the whole thing," she said. "They can be awfully hard on women who kill by enhancing."

  Nine hours after Naril had arrived at Spinner Hall, and with many rests, she said she was too tired to work any more. Lenera and Linima paid the second shift of squirrels and brought their spun yarn to Trop. Meeral's share was thirteen onics. In three days she would earn enough for her lodging for a week. For the other three days of the week's work she would be able to save money and send some to Grandma Varis.

  When she got back to Macy House she had more to worry about. As she came up the stairs with the twins she heard the sound of women talking. They were gathered around her bed. The minute they saw her they became silent and moved back to make room for her.

  On the center of her bed was a large basket of fruit. Tucked in between two red-cheeked peaches was a piece of paper.

  "We just got home and found it there," Whephalna, one of the older women, said.


  Rephna flopped on the bed next to Meeral's and crossed her ankles. Meeral noticed that her yellow blouse was cut even lower than the twins. Her brown hair was so curly it did not willingly accept its confinement in a bun but broke away in loose curls falling in front of each ear.

  "That paper sticking out between the fruit will probably tell you who sent it," Rephna said in a bored voice.

  Meeral pulled out the paper. It bore the Duke's coat of arms. On it was written in a generous, sprawling hand, "I hope your arm is mending properly. If you need a doctor, or anything else, write me a note and I'll be glad to help you." It was signed in a bold signature: "Daquad."

  "Well?" Whephalna said, and glanced at Rephna.

  Meeral hesitated.

  Linima said, "You don't have to tell . . . "

  "Of course you don't have to tell us," Rephna said with a tightly closed-lipped grin on her face.

  Meeral saw Lenera purse her lips and stare at Rephna, who looked away the minute their eyes met.

  They know already, Meeral thought. She was reminded of the gossip that went on behind her back in Cyrtuno. "It's from Duke Daquad," she said. In a deliberately slow pace, she read the letter to them.

  "He likes you," Whephalna said.

  Rephna began cleaning her nails with a small stick. "He'll be around even if you don't write him. If you start seeing him, you won't have to work in that old spinning hall," she said.

  Linima, with a withering look at Rephna, suggested changing the bandage on Meeral's arm while Lenera said, "Let me move this fruit. Then you can lie down. The first day of work is a bit tiring, especially with a sore arm."

  Meeral looked around the attic. The other women became very busy straightening their beds, organizing their shelves, or brushing their hair. Again she was reminded of Cyrtuno where years ago children would get preoccupied in games so they could pretend that Shejani's daughter did not exist. Was her life going to be like the spinning wheel, whirling round until it came back to where it started?

  "Oh, this is heavy," Lenera said as she started to move the fruit.

  Without thinking Meeral enhanced Lenera's lift, but there was no room for the large basket on her shelf.