Sharon Shinn - Reader And Raelynx

Jase gamely stabbed his own hands toward a few burning buildings, and the fires went cold. But for every one he put out, Senneth started two more. He waved his arms and scrambled around her, but he could not keep up. Another house consumed by fire-another. She made one broad sweeping gesture, and every structure in the town suddenly burst into flame.

This audience knew magic, but even they were beginning to grow fearful. And she wasn’t done yet. Make it spectacular, Tayse had said. So Senneth reached out-not laying her hand on a soul-and one by one set spectators on fire. Jase. Ward. Eddie. Sosie. Anyone who stepped too close.

Then she raised her voice over the excited consternation of the crowd. “You must realize by now that anything I touch with sorcerous flame will only burn if I want it to,” she said. Indeed, Sosie and a young man at the front of the crowd both appeared utterly delighted, lifting up their incendiary hands and turning them this way and that. “Yet I hope you will believe me when I say I could bring this whole town down in a matter of minutes and no one-not even this talented boy-could stop me.”

Abruptly she lowered her arms and all the fires vanished, except the small one twinkling in the brazier and an uneven halo glittering around her own fair head. “I truly possess a great deal of power, and I have the absolute confidence of the king. Anyone who wants to travel to Ghosenhall would be welcome to leave with us when we return. We would be glad to have you in our army. We know just how formidable a weapon magic can be.”

Of course, that unleashed a maelstrom of conversation as everyone in the crowd began speaking at once-though most of them were talking to their neighbors about the extraordinary sights they had just seen. A few pressed closer to speak with Senneth herself, but she turned first to Jase, who had darted to her side the minute fire fell away from his body.

“I hope you aren’t too disappointed,” she began, but he was skipping in place.

“I want to learn that!” he exclaimed. “Can you show me? How do you make it burn without burning? Without hurting?”

She laughed but had no time to explain before others pushed between them. “Come see me tomorrow,” she called to Jase. “I’ll show you some basic exercises.”

Then she was swallowed by the people of Carrebos, who seemed, for the most part, to be thrilled by her exhibition and suddenly willing to share with her their own tricks and abilities. Even the hostile Ward came up to clap her on the back and express his admiration. It doesn’t make sense to me, she thought as she smiled and nodded. When I want to be convinced a person is worthwhile, I want to listen to his arguments and understand his mind. I don’t suddenly trust him because he’s put on a gaudy display of power and might . But Tayse had counseled her correctly, and it was just such a gaudy display that had won her friends throughout the town of Carrebos.

THEnext day Senneth and Kirra spoke to even more mystics, all of them suddenly eager to hear about the opportunities in Ghosenhall.

“I’m jealous,” Kirra said. “Perhaps I should challenge a shape-shifter to see who can take the most forms in the shortest amount of time.”

“You’d lose that one,” Senneth observed. “Donnal’s faster than you are. Maybe he should run that competition.”

Kirra pretended to be insulted. “Well, then, I’ll see who else can transform another human to animal shape,” she said. “I’ll bet I’m the only mystic who can do that .”

“I’ll bet you are. And tolerant of magic though the townspeople seem to be, perhaps that’s not a skill you should put on display, since it’s generally considered an abomination,” Senneth said. “You might have the distinction of being the first mystic stoned to death in Carrebos.”

“I live to earn such distinctions,” Kirra replied.

But Kirra was just as popular as Senneth was with a party that visited Eddie’s right before lunch. The group consisted of an attractive young woman, her squirming toddler, and a fair-haired man with dreamy eyes. Kirra recognized the woman first and jumped up to give her a hug.

“Annie!” she said. “Look at you! The last time I saw you, you were on the threshold of death. Oh, and this must be Kinnon. What a troublesome boy you were the night you were born.”

Annie laughed, introduced her husband, and thanked them as earnestly as Sosie had for saving both her baby and herself. “We were glad to do it,” Kirra said merrily. “Always delighted to show off our magic to a town full of people who hate mystics! And Senneth got to set a bunch of people on fire, so that made her especially happy. So tell me about the little one! He seemed awfully willful as he was coming into the world. Is it too much to hope that he’s gotten easier to handle?”

They only chatted a few minutes before more strangers showed up, looking for an audience with Senneth. It was late before there was a break in the stream of visitors, and by then, Senneth and Kirra were starving. Tayse and Donnal had joined them, so Sosie brought meals to all of them, putting a bowl of stew on the floor for Donnal. They’d just finished eating when Sosie returned, wrapping a towel around her hands and glancing back toward the kitchen door.

“Would you be willing to go to the kitchen a moment?” she asked in a diffident voice. “There’s someone you might want to meet, but she’s shy and she’s strange and I don’t think she’ll come to the front room.”

Senneth and Kirra exchanged glances and quickly rose to their feet. Tayse and Donnal followed them through the door, too curious to stay behind.

A young woman was moving through the small kitchen as if she didn’t really see the layout of table and oven and baker’s rack. Her muddy green eyes were focused on something invisible to the rest of them; her hands were half lifted as if to catch something that might be tossed her way. Her hair was tangled, her face was none too clean, and Senneth noted with astonishment that her feet were bare. Yet a faint fragrance clung to her of roses or lilies or irises. Kirra caught it, too, for Senneth saw her sniff and look around as if trying to locate an unseasonal bouquet.

Sosie touched the woman’s arm to catch her attention. “Lara,” she said, and then repeated the name. “Lara, remember I wanted you to meet Senneth.”

Lara’s strange eyes passed unseeingly over Senneth’s face and went to Kirra. She nodded silently and then turned her gaze toward the window.

“Are you a mystic?” Senneth tried.

Lara said nothing, so Sosie answered for her. “She is, though I don’t really understand her power. She’s a healer of some kind. I’ve seen her bring people back from the brink of death, but it’s not the kind of power that Kirra has. And she can make anything grow-she can touch a tree and ripen fruit two months out of season. It’s as if her power was spring, or maybe life itself.” Sosie smiled, as if that sounded foolish. “Or maybe her power is hope.”

Kirra’s voice sounded behind her, quiet and unalarming. “Surely there must be a goddess of growing things,” Kirra said. “Such a one would claim a woman like this.”

“Can she hear us?” Senneth said.

“I don’t know. Sometimes she participates in conversations, but I’m never sure of what she does and doesn’t hear. She’s only here rarely-I think she just wanders barefoot around Gillengaria most of the year.”

“Well, Lara, I hope you wander to Ghosenhall someday soon,” Senneth said in a friendly way. “I’m sure we will need all the healers we can accumulate if war really does descend on us.”

For a moment, it seemed as though Senneth’s voice penetrated the other woman’s abstraction. Lara’s eyes rested on Senneth’s face. “War,” she repeated.