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"I can help you," Jy
"You'd be surprised. But you're right: You can help me. We'll fill the baskets and then if you'll carry my travel sack, I'll carry the baskets. How does that sound?"
"All right," Jy
They worked wordlessly for some time, carefully returning the small baskets to the larger ones. By the time they were finished, the baskets were quite heavy, just as Licaldi had said they would be. Jy
"How old are you, Jy
"Only eight? I thought you were at least ten. You seem very mature for eight."
"Thank you," Jy
"Two brothers, but they're much older than I am. They're practically men. I had a third, but he died a few years ago."
"I'm sorry, my dear. What happened?"
"He got sick-a fever. And the healer couldn't save him. I don't remember it very well. I remember Mama and Papa crying, and lots of people being in our house. But that's all, really."
"I wonder if magic would have saved him."
Jy
"We're not allowed," Jy
"Not allowed?"
"The god doesn't want us to do magic. Qirsar, that is," she added, realizing that the Mettai probably prayed to a different god.
"But other Qirsi do."
Jy
"Well, we don't," she finally said, her voice low. She didn't want to talk about this. It made her feel strange, like there was something wrong with her and with her family, with everybody in Tivston. And the way Licaldi sounded made Jy
"I'm sorry, Jy
"It's all right." They were nearing the village now. Already they could see the peddlers' stalls in the marketplace, where the narrow lane they were on ended. "That's the market," Jy
"It looks very nice."
"It is. I have my own room now. I didn't used to. I had to share with my brothers for a long time. But Papa says that I'm becoming a young lady, and that young ladies need to have their own rooms."
"How very nice for you," Licaldi said. But she sounded distracted, the way adults did when they weren't really listening anymore.
Jy
As if reading her thoughts, the old woman suddenly halted, and when Jy
"You've been very helpful, Jy
Jy
"Thank you, my dear. You have your baskets?"
"Yes," Jy
"My pleasure," Licaldi said, shouldering her sack and picking up her baskets again. "I hope you and your family enjoy them."
She was already walking away as she said this last, leaving Jy
The day's lessons were boring, as they always were for her. She knew her numbers and letters better than did most of the other children, and so Teacher had her help the little ones while he worked with the others. But they didn't learn anything new; they never did. Jy
Bored as she was, Jy
"I thought you'd he back," he said, when she ran into the small room they used, panting, sweat ru
He was about the same age as Delon, her oldest brother, although he seemed much older to her. He wore his white hair long and tied back, and his eyes were an even brighter shade of yellow than her own. The older girls always talked about how handsome he was; many of them had been sad to hear that he was to marry. Once, when Jy
"I was almost to my house when I remembered them," she said, crossing to her chair and picking up the two baskets. The flowers Licaldi had conjured were already begi
"They're lovely," Teacher said. "Where did you get them?"
"A peddler gave them to me, an old woman who was in my-" She stopped, feeling her face redden. Teacher was watching her closely, an odd smile on his lean face. "I met her as she was making her way into the village. I helped her carry her things, and she gave them to me."
"That was nice of her." He paused. Then, "Where did you find those flowers? It's a bit late for columbine and lupine to be blooming."
"I… I didn't find the flowers," she said.
"Oh? They were in the basket when she gave it to you?"
She wasn't certain why she didn't want to tell Teacher that the woman was Mettai. Perhaps she feared that she'd get in trouble for merely witnessing magic, even if that magic wasn't done by an Y'Qatt, or even by a Qirsi. And as it happened, the way he asked his question, she could answer honestly and still reveal nothing. "Yes, they were."
He raised an eyebrow and glanced at the blooms. "I wonder where she found them. They look like they opened this morning for the first time."
"Would you like them?" Jy
"What?"
"For you and your new wife." She stepped forward and put the basket on his table. "A wedding gift."
"Thank you, Jy