Read Online Spinspace: The Space of Spins (The Metaspace Chronicles Book 2) by Matthew Kennedy - Free Book Online

I've heard, a lot of soldiers, the first time they kill someone in battle, have after-effects.  Even if it was someone who was about to kill them , there's usually some guilt once they get past the relief of surviving.”
    “But he's just holding it all in.”
    “Looks like it.”  Aria pulled open the door at the next landing. “This is the floor for the student rooms.”
    She showed her the two rooms already redone for the use of students.  “You're the first student to arrive, so I guess you have your pick of rooms.”
    Carolyn surprised her by picking the one farthest from the stairwell.  To Aria's eye it looked fairly bleak, with blank walls, simple carpet, a rough-hewn wooden bed  and the one narrow window, but the Inverness girl seemed not to notice.
    “It's bigger than my room back home!” said Carolyn, setting her bag down by the bed.
    “Well, to be fair, if any other female students show up soon, they'll probably be bunking in here with you until more rooms are renovated.  Do you have any questions?”
    “Yes, actually. It's been a few hours since our last stop so...what do you do for, you know, the outhouse, this far above the street?”
    “Oh, I'm so sorry, I forgot.”  Aria went to the side door that the girl had probably thought was a closet and showed her the bathroom.   It was fun watching Carolyn's eyes when she realized she didn't even have to leave her room to take care of personal business.  And when Aria showed her the flush toilet and the sink and tub and that she could get hot water just by turning a spigot, Carolyn was speechless with astonishment for a long seconds.
    “No one back home has anything like this, not even at the Inn.  How do you do it?”
    Aria grinned.  “Well, we do have a court wizard.  Xander set it all up with the swizzles to pull water from the cisterns and everflames to warm it on the way here.”
    Caught by surprise, Carolyn, who had been holding her hand under the warm water streaming from the faucet, jerked her hand back with a yelp when the it got too hot.  Aria chuckled and showed her how to mix the hot and hold to get whatever temperature she wanted.
    “I don't know what I expected, said Carolyn, “but this is like, more than I've seen even in large farmhouses back home.”
    “You have to remember that the founder of the school has a lot of influence here these days.  Especially since he and Lester saved us from the Honcho's invasion,” Aria told her.  “Xander's an important man these days, and the school is a big deal to him. Since he's important, the school is important, and as our first student that makes you important too.”
    “But I'm nobody, just a smith's daughter.”
    “Not any more,” said Aria. “If you stay here and learn, you're going to be a wizard someday.  There are a lot of smiths in Rado, but only a couple of wizards.  You're joining a very small group of important people.”  She took a deep breath..  “If I wasn't being raised to be Governor someday I'd be doing the same thing.  But I can't.”
    “But there's nothing more important than being the Governor!  That's the most important job of all.”
    “Maybe.  But I'm in no hurry.  Why don't you take a few minutes to unpack and freshen up while I check on my gardens? Then we can go back down to Xander's floor and see what he and Lester are up to.”

Chapter 18
     
     
     
    Lester : a lesson in spinspace
     
    “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
    – Albert Einstein
     
    Xander watched Carolyn go off with Aria to fix herself a place to live. “You did well there,” he said. “I would have talked to the smith himself, not his daughter.”
    “Too old,” said Lester.  “He didn't grow up in a forge with an everflame.  Fortunately for Carolyn, he took over for a smith who did have one, so she grew up exposed to it.”
    “But from what you described, she would never even have touched the everflame.”
    “True.  She just operated his