Free Clariel: The Lost Abhorsen (The Abhorsen Trilogy Book 4) by Garth Nix Page A

. . . uh . . . Ader,” said Clariel, hoping that she’d said it right.
    “We are delighted you could attend,” said Ader. “Valannie, you have done well, Lady Clariel is presented adequately. You may join the other maids in the Paneled Chamber, until you are summoned.”
    Valannie, for once, didn’t say anything, but simply bowed and retreated.
    “Now, stand straight, Lady Clariel, and we shall talk,” said Ader.
    Clariel thought she was standing up straight, but she pushed her shoulder blades back a little and moved her feet apart a few inches. Ader sat down in her chair, though her back remained completely straight and she did not relax at all.
    “This Academy prepares the young of the notable families of the Kingdom to move in polite society,” she said. “Before a student takes their place in it, Lady Clariel, I like to discuss with them the path they intend to take, for this may shape some elements of our teaching.”
    “The path?” asked Clariel.
    “Your plans for the future,” said Ader. “Do you wish to be married soon? No? Many of the young ladies here do, and if that is so, then they have more lessons concerned with the supervision of a household, selection of a doctor, on childbirth, on setting up a nursery, and so forth.”
    “I have no desire to be married,” said Clariel firmly. “Or to have children.”
    “You do not?” asked Mistress Ader. “You prefer some more unconventional arrangements?”
    “No,” said Clariel firmly. Her forehead wrinkled as she tried to think of the best way to explain. “I . . . I like to go my own way, without needing anyone else.”
    “Very few people need no one else,” said Ader.
    “I mean I don’t need to be with someone, married, or tied down,” said Clariel.
    “Marriage need not be a shackling together of the unwilling,” said Mistress Ader. “But it is not impossible that you are a natural singleton. You are not apprenticed, I believe? You do not wish to follow in your parents’ footsteps? Or is it that you have no ability?”
    There appeared to be no insult in Ader’s voice. Just calm curiosity. Clariel felt as if she was an object, being weighed up and examined, and, once identified, to be put in the appropriate place, just as she herself had often sorted coins by type and weight and mint, and placed them in the correct niche within the great chest in her father’s office.
    “I have done some work with my mother, but not to her satisfaction, so it seems that I lack the native talent to be a goldsmith,” said Clariel, not bothering to mention that she had deliberately sabotaged her own work, because she did not want to be like her mother, did not want to be trapped inside by forge and workbench. “Though I do assist my father in the exchange of monies, lending, the keeping of accounts, and so forth.”
    “That is good,” said Ader. “If you did not already know how to read a book of accounts, we would have to teach you. But tell me, is there no other craft you wish to follow? Your parents could surely have you indentured wherever you would choose.”
    “No trade,” muttered Clariel.
    “Please, you must open your mouth and speak clearly,” said Ader. “At all times. This is a rule of the Academy, but also a good guide in life. Speak clearly and you will never be misunderstood.”
    “I do not wish to be apprenticed to any trade,” said Clariel, quite loudly. “I do not want to belong to any guild.”
    “You are fortunate to be of the Goldsmith’s Guild, by blood,” said Ader. “Much more fortunate than you seem to be aware. I shall ensure that you are taken on a tour of the Flat, where the day laborers live. But the question remains, if we are to teach you most effectively, we need to know your intentions for the future. Do you, for example, wish to become a guard?”
    “No,” said Clariel. “I can fight, if need be, with sword and dagger, and I am considered an able archer. But I have no desire to march about, and