Simmon looked nonplussed. “Is that a lot?”
“It is. A lot,” Sovoy said sarcastically. “And for no good reason. I answered their questions. This is a grudge, plain and simple. Mandrag does not like me. Neither does Hemme. Besides, everyone knows they squeeze the nobility twice as hard as you lot, bleeding us dry as stones.”
“Simmon’s nobility,” Manet pointed a spoon. “He seems to do fine for himself.”
Sovoy exhaled sharply through his nose. “Simmon’s father is a paper duke bowing to a tin king in Atur. My father’s stables have longer bloodlines than half you Aturan nobles.”
Simmon stiffened slightly in his seat, though he didn’t look up from his meal.
Wilem turned to face Sovoy, his dark eyes going hard. But before he could say anything Sovoy slumped, rubbing his face in one hand. “I’m sorry, Sim, my house and name to you. It’s just…things were going to be better this term, but now they’re worse instead. My allowance wouldn’t even cover my tuition, and no one will extend me more credit. Do you know how humiliating that is? I’ve had to give up my rooms at the Golden Pony. I’m on the third floor of Mews. I almost had to share a room. What would my father say if he knew?”
Simmon, his mouth full, shrugged and made a gesture with his spoon that seemed to indicate that there was no offense taken.
“Maybe things would go better for you if you didn’t go in there looking like a peacock.” Manet said. “Leave off the silk when you go through admissions.”
“Is that how it is?” Sovoy said, his temper flaring again. “Should I abase myself? Rub ashes in my hair? Tear my clothes?” As he grew angrier, his lilting accent became more pronounced. “No. They are none of them better men than me. I need not bow to them.”
There was a moment of uncomfortable silence at the table. I noticed more than a few of the surrounding students were watching the show from the nearby tables.
“Hylta tiam,” Sovoy continued. “There is nothing in this place I do not hate. Your weather is wild and uncivilized. Your religion barbaric and prudish. Your whores are intolerably ignorant and unmannerly. Your language barely has the subtlety to express how wretched this place is….”
Sovoy’s voice grew softer the longer he spoke, until he almost seemed to be speaking to himself. “My blood goes back fifty generations, older than tree or stone. And I am come to this,” he put his head against the palms of his hands and looked down at his tin tray. “Barley bread. Gods all around us, a man is meant to eat wheat.”
I watched him while chewing a mouthful of the fresh brown bread. It tasted wonderful.
“I don’t know what I was thinking,” Sovoy said suddenly, getting to his feet. “I can’t deal with this.” He stormed off, leaving his tray on the table.
“That’s Sovoy,” Manet said to me in an offhand manner. “Not a bad sort, though he’s usually not nearly as drunk as that.”
“He’s Modegan?”
Simmon laughed. “You don’t get more Modegan than Sovoy.”
“You should not prod at him,” Wilem said to Manet. His rough accent made it hard for me to tell if he was rebuking the older student, but his dark Cealdish face showed definite reproach. As a foreigner, I guessed he sympathized with Sovoy’s difficulty adjusting to the language and culture of the Commonwealth.
“He is having a rough time of it,” Simmon admitted. “Remember when he had to let his manservant go?”
Mouth full, Manet made a gesture with both hands as if playing an imaginary violin. He rolled his eyes, his expression vastly unsympathetic.
“He had to sell his rings this time around,” I added. Wilem, Simmon, and Manet turned to look at me curiously. “There were pale lines on his fingers.” I explained, holding up my hand to demonstrate.
Manet gave me a close looking over. “Well now! Our new student seems to be all manner of clever.” He turned to Wilem and Simmon. “Lads, I’m in a betting mood. I’ll wager two jots that our young Kvothe makes it into the Arcanum before the end of his third term.”
“Three terms?” I said, surprised. “They told me all I had to do was prove I mastered the basic principles of sympathy.”
Manet gave me a gentle smile. “They tell everyone that. Principles of Sympathy is one of the classes you’ll have to slog through before they elevate you to E’lir.” He turned back to Wil and Sim expectantly. “How about it? Two jots?”
“I’ll bet.” Wilem gave me a small, apologetic shrug. “No offense. I play the odds.”
“What’ll you be studying then?” Manet asked as they shook on it.
The question caught me off guard. “Everything, I guess.”
“You sound like me thirty years ago,” Manet chuckled. “Where are you going to start?”
“The Chandrian,” I said. “I’d like to know as much about them as possible.”
Manet frowned, then burst out laughing. “Well that’s fine and good, I suppose. Sim here studies faeries and piksies. Wil there believes in all manner of silly damn Cealdish sky spirits and such.” He puffed himself up absurdly. “I’m big on imps and shamble-men myself.”
I felt my face get hot with embarrassment.
“God’s body, Manet,” Sim cut him off. “What’s gotten into you?”
“I just bet two jots on a boy who wants to study bedtime stories,” Manet groused, gesturing to me with his fork.
“He meant folklore. That sort of thing.” Wilem turned to look at me. “You looking to work in the Archives?”
“Folklore’s a piece of it,” I hedged quickly, eager to save face. “I want to see if different cultures’ folktales conform to Teccam’s theory of narrative septagy.”
Sim turned back to Manet. “See? Why are you so twitchy today? When’s the last time you slept?”
“Don’t take that tone with me,” Manet grumbled. “I caught a few hours last night.”
“And which night was that?” Sim pressed.
Manet paused, looking down at his tray. “Felling night?”
Wilem shook his head, muttering something in Siaru.
Simmon looked horrified. “Manet, yesterday was Cendling. Has it been two days since you’ve slept?”
“Probably not,” Manet said uncertainly. “I always lose track of things during admissions. There aren’t any classes. It throws off my schedule. Besides, I’ve been caught up in a project in the Fishery.” He trailed off, scrubbing at his face with his hands, then looked up at me. “They’re right. I’m a little off my head right now. Teccam’s septagy, folklore and all that. It’s a bit bookish for me, but a fine thing to study. I didn’t mean any offense.”
“None taken.” I said easily and nodded at Sovoy’s tray. “Slide that over here, would you? If our young noble’s not coming back, I’ll have his bread.”