Branches of Time, The by Luca Rossi

waiting for him. When he noticed your projection, how did he react?”
    “Well, I got the feeling he was curious. I did what you taught me to do and I emanated a flow of positive energy. It was very tiring, but I think he felt the effect.”
    If only I could have been there! Obolil regretted no longer having the strength needed for such long astral voyages.
    “If you get another chance to meet him, you need to attract him down to a lower point along the coast. Move slowly, so he'll come and follow you. Try to bring him to a place where you can read his thoughts. Once you manage to do that, don't go overboard. Use a very light touch, he shouldn't pick up on what you're doing. Read everything you can. No more than a few minutes. Send out a sensation of warmth towards him, and then come immediately back and report to me. We need to make him come back as much as possible, hopefully every day. Once we thoroughly understand his thoughts and what his soul longs for, we'll figure out how to manipulate him.”
    Maybe he really is impressed but doesn't want me to know that, the apprentice consoled himself.
 

26
    Sitting at the table in the large kitchen, Lil gulped down her husband's words. Bashinoir had told them about everything he had done that day. He had explored the island, looking for evidence of any changes, but didn't notice anything in particular. He had gone to the village. The houses were cold and abandoned. Everything had stayed the way it was on the day the stone shards rained down. He had taken care of the animals which, although starving, had all survived in their stables. And he had started to build a new structure close to the Temple. From the way he was talking, it seemed as if Bashinoir were anxious to finish the job. Maybe he just doesn't want to go back to the village again.
    As Lil listened to him talk about his time outside of the Temple, she felt a lump in her throat. She looked at Miril, thankful that the priestess didn't seem to notice her emotions.
    Bashinoir didn't say anything about their old house and she didn't have the courage to ask about it.
    “Good,” Miril said with a slight smile. “It's very comforting to know that the animals are in good health.”
    Those words caught Bashinoir and Lil by surprise. When had a priestess ever cared about the health of a bunch of animals?
    Lil felt slightly embarrassed. She wished she could find a way to lighten up the evening. After all, they were alive, so they had the duty to try to be at least a little bit cheerful. However, Bashinoir and Miril, despite his respectful attitude and her smiles, seemed to belong to a far away world. “Want to listen to a song?” Lil asked them.
    Bashinoir and the priestess turned towards her; he was surprised, and she was serene.
    “Of course, why not?” Miril responded.
    Lil stood up, moved towards the hearth, made a quick curtsy and started to sing a melody she had learned from her mother.
    It was a legend about her people, narrating how their ancestors, once they had landed on Turios after escaping from Isk by sea, had started building houses and the Temple. As they built new houses to keep them warm, the first nucleus of the Temple—nothing more than a circle of stones laid out in a meadow—had protected them enough that they could live in peace.
    It was a beautiful melody, imbued with hopeful emotions and dreams for the future.
    As she sang, Lil observed Bashinoir, who appeared to be moved. The music touched him. Once she finished, Lil made another curtsy.
    “They were an entire tribe. They were escaping from their land and they chose to settle down here. But there are only three of us,” Bashinoir thought aloud.
    He was the first to be surprised by his own words. He never would have imagined he could express himself so freely in the presence of the priestess.
    “Bashinoir, what do you think we can do?” she asked.
    He understood that he couldn't back down from expressing his point of view. “Perhaps,