Free Redoubt by Mercedes Lackey

and tied food up in them;
     now they untied their loot and spread the napkins out to share. He knew Bear very
     well, and could feel how his friend was trying to find some way of broaching something.
     There was unease, which Mags put down to Bear not knowing how Mags was going to react
     to what Bear said.
    “Well . . .” Bear picked at a bread roll for a moment. “Aye. Been something on my
     mind for a good long while, actually. If I can’t trust you, I might as well just throw
     myself in the river and have done. Lena and me, we’ve been talking. We’re thinking
     we ought to go talk to our Deans and see if they’ll let us get married.”
    For a moment, Mags was not sure he’d heard Bear correctly. “Wait, what? Married? Wouldn’t
     that—what about your studies and all?” There weren’t any
married
Trainees at any of the Collegia. Would the two of them be told they’d have to leave?
     “I mean . . . I ain’t never heard of that. I heard of people older than us, who came
     here as Trainees, an’ they had t’ leave their families behind until they was in Greens
     or Reds.” Not Whites, of course. He’d never heard of an adult with a family being
     Chosen.
    “But they weren’t
both
Trainees, the husband and wife, that is. We’re both Trainees. And if you choose to
     get your Healing training at one of the Houses outside of the Collegium, you can keep
     your family with you. I mean, that’s what my own father did. Aside from that, Lena
     can leave her room at Bardic, and my space is pretty big and private,” Bear pointed
     out. “More than big enough for two.”
    Mags nodded; Bear was in charge of the greenhouse, and his quarters, unlike those
     of the rest of the Healer Trainees, were those of the original greenhouse tender,
     who had been a full Healer. They had been meant for someone like one of the instructors
     permanently assigned to Haven, a Senior Healer who might very well have had a family,
     so they were actually more spacious than the quarters housing the King’s Own, making
     up in space what they probably lacked in luxury. Bear was there because Bear knew
     more about herbs and how to tend them than anyone at the Collegium, and he had been
     entrusted with the greenhouse almost since the time he had arrived here. He had a
     bedroom, a sitting room, another room he just used for storage,
plus
the greenhouse and a stillroom. There was plenty of privacy, and Lena could practice
     without bothering any of the other Healers or Healer Trainees.
    “Aye, but . . . will they let you keep studyin’?” That was the question. Would they
     insist that the distraction of being together could not possibly allow for concentration
     on work? That was ridiculous if you knew Bear and Lena; they’d likely be less distracted,
     if anything, but there was always going to be someone who would find something to
     object to.
    “Lena’s looking into that, seeing in the archives if there have
ever
been any Trainees that kept their families here, or at least, nearby.” Bear let out
     a breath, as if he had been afraid Mags would oppose the very idea. Mags didn’t, not
     outright . . . where he came from, among the virtual slaves at the mine, those who
     had energy left over at the end of the day for anything other than scrambling for
     a little more food just went ahead and did what they were going to do without thought
     of marriage. And his masters were perfectly prepared to marry off their youngsters
     in the cradle if that would get them some kind of advantage.
    On the other hand, here, Trainees were not exactly encouraged to think about things
     like getting married. After all, there was a lot of schooling to get through before
     they would go into full Reds, Greens, or Whites. Some of them had, in fact,
used
the very opportunity of being selected for the Collegia to avoid an unwelcome marriage.
    Mags considered all of this. “They’re gonna say you’re too young. You’re gonna say