happened rarely—only once in the last thirty years, when a large breach in the circle had occurred.
For those ten years of service, they were given a stipend for the rest of their lives. Joel didn’t know the exact numbers, but if Rithmatists needed more money, they could work for the springrail companies. Those had contracts from the government allowing them to use chalklings—drawn with the Glyph of Rending to let them affect the world, and not just chalk—to wind the enormous springs that powered the rail line.
Joel knew very little of this—it was one of those things Rithmatists didn’t discuss with others. He wasn’t even certain how chalklings could push. They did, though, and the work paid Rithmatists very, very well.
“The money seems like a pretty good reason to be a Rithmatist,” he said. “Easy income.”
“Yeah,” Melody said softly. “Easy.”
Joel finally took a bite of his ice cream. It was way better than the stuff the cooks at Armedius served. He found it difficult to enjoy, noting how Melody had begun stirring hers about disconsolately, eyes downcast.
What did I say? he thought. Had their discussion reminded her of her lack of skill? “Melody,” he said, “you really are good at Rithmatics. You’re a genius with chalklings.”
“Thanks,” she said, but didn’t perk up immediately. That didn’t seem to be what was bothering her.
Still, she soon began digging into her sundae again. “Chocolate,” she said, “is the greatest invention of all time.”
“What about springworks?” Joel said.
She waved indifferently. “Da Vinci was a total hack. Everyone knows that. Completely overrated.”
Joel smiled, enjoying his sundae. “How did you know what flavor to get for me?”
“Just felt right,” she said, taking another bite. “Joel … did you mean what you said about chalklings a bit ago? About my skill?”
“Of course,” Joel said, and took a sip of his soda. “I’ve snuck into a lot of lectures, and I’ve never seen a professor on campus create chalklings anywhere near as detailed as yours.”
“Then why can’t I get the other lines right?”
“So you do care?”
“Of course I do. It wouldn’t be nearly as much of a tragedy if I didn’t.”
“Maybe you just need more practice.”
“I’ve practiced a ton.”
“I don’t know, then. How did you keep your chalklings back behind your defenses? It didn’t seem tough to you at all, but it’s supposed to be very difficult.”
“Supposed to be?”
“I don’t know for certain,” Joel said, shoveling a bite into his mouth. He savored the sweet, creamy flavor, and then licked the spoon. “I haven’t studied much about chalkling theory. There isn’t a lot of material about them in the ordinary stacks, and Professor Fitch doesn’t teach chalkling classes—he’s the only one who would let me sneak in and listen on a regular basis.”
“That’s a shame. What do you want to know about them?”
“You’ll tell me?” Joel asked with surprise.
“I don’t see why not.”
“Because you flipped out when you realized that I was learning about inception ceremonies.”
“That’s way different,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Are you going to ask or not?”
“Well,” Joel said, “I know that sometimes, chalklings respond better to instructions than other times. Why?”
“I don’t know if anyone knows that. They usually do what I want them to, though others have more trouble.”
“So, you know the instruction glyphs better than others?”
“I wouldn’t say that,” Melody said. “Chalklings … they’re not quite like the other lines, Joel. A Line of Forbiddance only does one thing. You draw it, and it sits there. Chalklings, though … they’re versatile. They have a life of their own. If you don’t build them correctly, they won’t be able to do what they’re supposed to.”
Joel frowned. “But, what does ‘building them correctly’ even mean? I keep looking through the books, and what I can find says that detail will make a chalkling stronger. But … well, it’s just chalk. How can the chalkling tell if you drew it with a lot of detail or not?”
“Because it can,” Melody said. “A chalkling knows when it’s a good picture.”
“Is it the amount of chalk that’s important? A lot of chalk makes a ‘detailed’ drawing instead of a nondetailed one?”
Melody shook her head. “Some students my first year tried to simply draw circles and color them in as their chalklings. Those ones always died quickly—some just rolled away, not going where they were supposed to.”
Joel frowned. He’d always seen Rithmatics as … well, something scientific and measurable. A Line of Warding’s strength was proportionate to the degree of its curve. The height of a Line of