It took the rest of the week to get the switches right on their snow globes, but by their last Autun night at Faraday, both Mat and Tilli's could be turned on and off. He was tired when they had finished. He knew that physical exertion made magical work harder, but he had never realized that magical exertion could leave him feeling physically exhausted.
Fortunately, the rest of his midterms were less daunting. Algebra and physics would be fine as long as he studied, and he was halfway done with the paper for his literature class. Both his Shugbo and his channeling objects tests would be in groups, and he definitely didn't have to worry about the last history test.
Mat returned to his room, set the snow globe on his desk, and sat down on his bed. Reed was sitting on his own bed, reading his history book. He put a finger in it and turned to Mat. "Have you read this?"
"Oh, the chapter on the Pelan? Yeah, I read that," he lied.
"It says some people think the Thisaazhou and the Pelan are related."
Mat's stomach flipped. "Yeah, we have a lot of the same stories and songs that they do. Our languages are similar too."
"Aren't you from different continents though? I mean, originally?"
"Yeah, it doesn't make sense, but we still call them our sisters."
"Sisters?"
"Because both groups are matrilineal." Mat said.
His roommate turned back to the history book. "But it says the king of Nefrale turned them out because they upheld equality between genders. And that's why they went to Linakra. How do they believe in gender equality if they're matrilienal?"
"Well, that just means inheritance passed though the mother's line. But Pelan society is pretty democratic, and everyone over the age of eight has a vote." He paused, thinking of a visit he made to Mevi with his mother, "I guess the leaders are usually women, though."
"Where does it say that?" Reed flipped through the chapter.
Matsias swallowed. "Um... I don't remember."
Reed stopped flipping pages. "You said you used to live in Ethion, right? Did you go to school there?"
"A little."
Reed read aloud for a moment. "Unlike the Thisaazhou of the Southern Continent, the early Pelan nomads transitioned to a sedentary lifestyle in the hope of being accepted by local leaders, but no level of assimilation was ever considered enough. Yub leaders declared them balsphemous for their use of the purple ibi'an, in Feren, they were assumed to be cannibals for supporting Xurguwi death rites, and in Huef, arrested as spies for speaking the Epaluno language. Did you learn this?"
"Not in Ethion."
"In Suxad everyone said they had caused the Southern Fever, that they killed people and spread disease. There's nothing like that here." He paused. "What do the Thisaazhou say?"
"What?"
"You said you're sisters or something like that."
Mat's heart beat so hard he wondered if Reed could hear it. "Well, um... the Thisaazhou didn't always get along in the southern countries. Because we're nomadic. So, we're always outsiders. And the Pelan, well, they used to be nomadic, and... I guess we see a kinship there..."
"So you learned this growing up? Not in school, but from your family?"
Mat nodded without saying anything. He could hear Reed nervously flipping pages again, but he couldn't bring himself to look at the other boy.
"Well, that would explain why..." he trailed off.
Matsias waited. When Reed didn't continue, he looked up. Reed was staring at him. A chill went through him as he felt the other boy's eyes examine the embroidery on his shirt collar, the braid over his shoulder, even the leather boot peaking out from underneath his trousers. Reed turned back to the book and stared at it for a moment, and then looked at Mat again. Really looked. "You're not Thisaazhou," he said finally.
"What are you talking about?" Mat actually managed to laugh as he said it, though it was mostly nerves.
Reed had not taken his eyes off Matsias. "Your hair..." he muttered, "and the way you talk about them... Ethion..." He cleared his throat and spoke louder. "You're Pelan, aren't you?"
"What?" Now Mat couldn't laugh, though he tried to smile. "That's ridiculous."
"No, it explains everything." Reed's eyes were sweeping over him again, and Matsias wanted to shrink away.
"Except for Key? My sister?"
Matsias had hoped this comment would put Reed's sudden notion to rest, and for a moment, he did seem to consider it. Then he turned the book around. Staring back at him was a full color drawing of Tsia Xitano--the same drawing Miriam had shown him earlier that week. And Reed said the same thing Miriam did. "You look just like her."
Mat felt cold. He wanted to run from the room, but couldn't bring himself to move. It was as if his entire body was as heavy as his leg. He had always felt proud of his resemblance to the Grand Matriarch, but now, it felt like a burden. "I can't explain that." This, at least, was true. As much as Key swore she was his ancestor, he had no evidence of that.
"You have the same braid, and the purple ribbon. Purple is the Pelan holy color." He furrowed his brow. "And after what you said about the Thisaazhou... but that would mean..." His eyes danced back and forth, no longer reading the book, but something in his own mind.
Mat moved to the edge of the bed, preparing to stand. He could go to Key's room. Or even Tisheet's. But before he could stand up, Reed focused on him again, and he felt like a deer spotted by a hunter. "Mat, you..." Then he shook his head, grabbed his book and left. As the door slammed shut behind him, Mat should have felt comfortable to finally be alone. But if anything, he felt worse.
