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"You know perfectly well what. You actually made yourself cry." "So? Bryntelle does it all the time."
He laughed. "You mean to say you learned it from her?"
"Not entirely, no." She held up her hand-the one on which she'd balanced the flame when she showed the guards that she possessed fire magic. Her palm was red and had a small blister on it.
"Crese
"It's all right. I just let my healing magic fade a moment before I extinguished the flame. It hurt enough to bring tears to my eyes, but it's nothing I can't heal."
"You're mad!"
She raised an eyebrow. "It worked, didn't it?"
He could only nod. "Yes, it worked."
"Then stop complaining."
"Yes, my lady."
She smiled, sunshine lighting her face.
Leaving the city proved to be far easier than entering it had been. They dismounted before the west gate, expecting to be questioned again. But though the guards at the city wall eyed them warily as they walked past, the men didn't stop them or ask them any questions.
Grinsa and Crese
"It's beautiful," Crese
"It is."
She turned to look at him. "Do you wish we'd stayed on the Fortune Seeker?"
"No. You told me yourself that Bryntelle wasn't eating well while we were aboard the ship. And I like your face better without that pale shade of green it always seemed to have when we were on the water."
Crese
He reached for her hand and held it to his lips. "There's nowhere I'd rather be than here, with the two of you. I swear it." He faced the plain and mountains again. "This is home now. And as you say, it's beautiful."
He took Bryntelle from her and held the child while Crese
"This is home now," he whispered again.
Bryntelle gave a squeal and grabbed at his finger. He kissed her forehead and handed her up to Crese
Chapter 8
Not far from the lake, along one of the many streams that meandered through the pale, golden fields surrounding their village, stood a tight cluster of low, gnarled trees. It was in a shallow dale, a place sheltered from the cold winds that swept across the highlands during the snowy turns. Yet, during the Growing season, when the sun's heat grew unbearable in the fields, the shade and the cool dampness of the stream and grasses kept it cool. And at this time of year, as the first hint of the Harvest breezes began to touch the crops, whispering softly that their time had almost come, the skies above the dale turned deepest blue, and the leaves of those misshapen old trees shaded to gold and rust.
Jy
On this morning, she had risen early with her father and followed him into the fields to check the grain and feed crops. In another half a turn, when both moons were full again, they would begin the harvest.
Her lessons at the small sanctuary were to begin at midday-their teacher was to be married this morning-and so after she had fed the cows and Papa's plow horses, she had nothing more to do. Of course she went to the dale.
She looked for the lion as she followed the stream toward the trees, but she saw nothing save a plump, brown grouse that watched her approach and flew away on whistling wings as she drew near.
Sometimes she stayed by the stream, just beyond the trees, but the sun was warm today and she made her way toward the shade. As she drew closer to the wood, though, she saw something that made her falter. There was someone hunched over within the copse.
Jy
When at last Jy
The woman looked up sharply, her dark eyes finding Jy
"Who are you?" she demanded.
Jy
"Wait!" the woman called. "I'm sorry! You startled me!"
Still the girl ran.
"My name is Licaldi!"
She nearly stumbled on a tussock of grass, but she righted herself, and kept ru
"I can show you magic! That's what I was doing!"
Jy
She turned and took a tentative step back toward the trees. As she did, the old woman emerged from the shadows. Jy