"How would you measure the weight of a mountain if you only know its height?" Master Lodley said. He may have supported her earlier, but he wasn’t letting her off easy now.
Ella felt a pressure grow behind her temple. "I would measure the circumference of the mountain by walking around it and calculate its volume using the circumference and height. I would weigh a smaller volume of the mountain to estimate the density. Finally I would multiply density by volume to calculate the weight."
Master Lodley nodded. "Master Samson, would you like to go next?"
"Yes, of course," Master Samson said. His eyes regarded her under the heavy eyebrows. "How can you throw a ball as hard as you can and have it come back to you, even if it doesn’t bounce off anything? There is nothing attached to it, and no one else catches or throws it back to you."
Ella thought furiously. "Throw it up in the air?"
"Next question. You are in a room with no metal objects except for two iron rods. Only one of them has been given a magnetic charge. How can you tell which one of them is magnetic?"
Ella’s headache grew in intensity. She tried to work it out in her mind. If she brought the two iron rods close, they would both move together. So how would she know which one of them had the magnetic charge? Master Samson already said there were no other metal objects in the room. What other properties did magnets have? She suddenly remembered reading a book, A Brief Cartographical Analysis of Merralya, which described a mechanical device called a compass. Modern travellers generally used a seeker to help find their way, but in poorer lands an alternative to magic was found.
"I know! Hang them both from a piece of string. Whichever points in a north-south direction is the magnet. Is that it?"
Master Samson simply nodded. "My final question. How do moneylenders create gilden from nothing?"
Ella’s brow furrowed. She felt the headache grow until it was a pulsing pain that increased with each beating of her heart. "If I give one silver deen to a moneylender, and he promises to give me five cendeens every year as interest, then I still think I have one silver deen. But if someone else then comes and borrows my silver deen, then we both believe we have a deen, and there are two deens where before there were one."
Master Samson looked at the timepiece on the wall. "I am finished. Master Goss?"
Master Goss sat up in his chair. He looked at Ella down his nose. She was suddenly very worried about what he was going to ask her. "I am going to test you on your knowledge of lore, young lady. First," he quickly drew something on a sheet of paper, "what is this rune?"
Ella could barely see the symbol. She started to step forward.
"No, don’t come any closer."
Ella’s head pounded. "Asta?"
"You may come closer now."
Ella walked towards Master Goss and looked down at the symbol. She could see her guess was correct, and silently breathed a sigh of relief.
"Now, point to the whorl," Master Goss said. Ella pointed. "The bridge?" Ella circled it with her finger. "Mark out the hollow."
Ella looked up. "There are two hollows." She ran her finger along the dip on the left of the rune, then on the slight curve at the bottom."
"You may step back now. What is it the rune for?" Master Goss said.
"I… I think it’s a rune for colour," Ella said.
"What activation would you ascribe, if you wanted to use this rune in the creation of a nightlamp?" Master Goss asked.
"Tish-suka."
Master Goss looked satisfied.
Ella continued. "But you wouldn’t use asta without a tertiary chain. You’d end up having to darken the lamp by activating a sequence for darkness, which doesn’t make sense. One would instead include a sequence to deactivate the lamp."
Ella saw Master Lodley smile, and then attempt to cover it up.
"My final question," Master Goss said. "When will the Evermen return?"
Master Lodley coughed and choked. Ella opened her mouth and then closed it again. How was she supposed to answer? Did they want the kind of response a priest might give? Or was it another mental challenge?"
"Your time is up," said Master Goss. He smiled, but it wasn’t a friendly smile. "You may have some knowledge, young lady, but don’t forget that you also need faith."
Master Lodley looked up, evidently aware that the hidden figure in the mezzanine was listening. "You may go now, Ella. You can speak with Madam Foley regarding your tuition."
Ella’s eyes widened. "My tuition?"
"Yes, Ella, your tuition. Classes start on Lordsday."
Ella felt a thrill run through her. "Thank you!" she said to the masters. She beamed up at the mezzanine. One day she would learn who it was who could tell a man like Master Goss what to do. "Thank you," she said to the hidden heights.
Master Lodley gave her a hint of a smile in return. As the timepiece struck the hour, Ella left the room.
4
All this wealth and no use for it. Does it make you frustrated?
— Emperor Xenovere V to Primate Melovar Aspen, 543 Y.E.