Fewer people in the business district—this could be her chance.
“Yes, why, do you want to go to the trial?”
Sylah didn’t, but it would get her out of her tasks for Gorn, and maybe she could slip away to scout the library.
“Let’s go.”
“Really? You didn’t seem bothered about the trial of knowledge.”
Sylah screwed up her face. “Too fishy.”
Anoor laughed her laugh of clouds and cotton.
“That’s true,” Anoor said. “There was this girl that I used to know, Tanu, apparently she dissected a goat and a lava fish in twenty minutes. They each had to present the anatomy to the audience, and Warden Wern looked like she had sucked on a lemon as Tanu beat her record by five whole minutes.”
“Five whole minutes.” Sylah rolled her eyes.
“Yes.”
“Not half? Or quarter, but whole ones. Who would have thought?”
Anoor’s smile faltered as she caught up on Sylah’s teasing.
“Oh,” and she laughed her laugh again. This time it was rain on glass.
“Can we go?”
“If you want, though I can’t imagine it’ll be interesting. We’ll need to get to the arena by midday.”
Sylah began clearing up Anoor’s meal to take to the kitchens. She’d have to miss her lunchtime meeting with Jond, but he’d understand; it was for the cause, after all.
“I’ll meet you in the gardens just before twelfth strike. Gorn’s asked me to sort out laundry today. Practice the first Nuba formation, it’s getting better.”
Anoor nodded, her pride at Sylah’s words beaming across her face.
—
The Aktibar for duty was dull. The seats of the arena were half full of drowsy audience members, all watching the desks below with increasing boredom. The standing area at the back was sparse, but Sylah scanned it for any Dusters or Ghostings she knew. Still no sign of Hassa.
Even the wardens looked bored. Sylah had barely taken her eyes off them. Aveed watched the trial from the podium with sharp eyes, sometimes pacing back and forth to observe the different competitors. Wern looked asleep in her chair, her gnarled walking stick resting on her knees. Uka was so statuelike, Sylah wasn’t sure she had blinked. And Pura was openly cleaning his nails.
“This is shit,” Sylah grunted.
“You’re the one who wanted to come,” Anoor whispered. The arena was silent except for the clicking of the competitors’ abacuses and the soft sound of snores. They were sitting at the back, the only seats reserved for Ember servants. Anoor had suggested it.
“What do the wardens do all day when the Aktibar is on?”
Anoor turned to Sylah, her voice still lowered. “After the Day of Descent, the disciple’s prior Shadow Court take over. The handover is fairly smooth as they’ve had ten years to choose their senior officials. So the new skeleton court manages the empire while the Aktibar narrows down the next disciple. After the Day of Ascent, where the disciples join the court, the new Shadow Court will be chosen by the new disciple. And they’ll be a full court up until the next Aktibar—unless someone dies.”
Sylah nodded; she remembered that during Yona’s Day of Descent, there had only been three wardens ascending. The Warden of Knowledge had died during his tenure and his disciple’s Shadow Court had already taken over.
“They go to court? Every day?”
“Well, there are two courts, the Noble Court made up of the imirs or their representatives, and the Upper Court of the wardens and their disciples. Technically there’s a third court, the Shadow Court run by the disciple, but that is run separately. Both are adjourned during an Aktibar day, but the rest of the time they’re in session.”
“And the wardens belong to both courts?”
Anoor sighed through her nose. “The wardens are the court; they technically oversee both.”