the House of Jade.
This part of the City was devoted to lotus ponds. The calm water seemed to rebuke Nisha for her worry. Tiny green-and-black frogs hopped from glossy leaf to glossy leaf, croaking to one another.
After a few minutes of walking silently, Nisha couldn’t contain her questions anymore.
“Why?” she demanded, not caring if it was rude. “Why do you care what happens to me?”
Josei stopped on the path and held up one brown hand for Nisha to see. “Because I am also an outsider,” she said. Her hand began to shimmer like a rock when seen through river water. It wavered and blurred into a paw with brown fur and dull black claws.
Nisha breath caught with awe. Carefully she reached out and touched the paw. The dark pads were dry and rough under her fingers.
Josei’s eyes shone gold for a moment, and a fierce, wild pride crossed her face. Then her eyes darkened to gold-flecked brown, and her paw became a calloused hand again.
It was a moment before Nisha’s tongue could form words. “You’re Sune?”
In those days—before the Ending, before the Barrier—magic was everywhere. It was in the land, making it fertile. It was in the water, keeping it clear and full of fish. And it was in the people. Most people had some form of magic, even if it was only an awareness of the power that flowed through the world. But only a few people were powerful enough and driven enough to actually use it. The old magicians said controlling the magic was like trying to change the course of a cascading waterfall. One slip and the magic would break loose and spray everywhere.
From the scrolls of Naveen ka’Lyer, Jade caste historian
13
“HALF SUNE,” JOSEI said, starting to walk again. “My mother belonged to the Shrilah-Sune, the fox clans. My father was a scout for the Imperial soldiers. They met in the forests of the south, on the slopes of the Mountains of the Dead. They might have stayed together, but he was killed when he stumbled on a nest of bandits.”
The path turned to a wooden bridge over the largest of the lotus ponds. Josei stopped and leaned on the railing, looking out over the flower-spotted water.
Nisha copied her, studying Josei out of the corner of her eye. Now that she was looking for it, she noticed the Combat Mistress’s’s faint musky scent that lay under her normal smells of dirt and sweat.
“Well,” she said finally. “No wonder you’re so fast.”
Josei threw her head back and laughed. “Sune are faster and stronger than humans, it is true. The magic makes our senses sharper and we heal more quickly. But I have trained hard as well. And I do know what it is like to be on the outskirts of every place you go, to have to choose your own future because no one else will choose it for you. Half Sune don’t develop the power to change to animal form until they’re fully grown. My mother was one of the wild Sune, and she didn’t know what to do with a human child. When I was old enough to care for myself, she left.”
There was no sadness in Josei’s words, just acceptance. For a moment, she looked very animal.
Nisha thought about her own parents leaving her in the City. She hadn’t been old enough to care for herself, so why had they abandoned her? And why couldn’t she remember more about them?
“I wish I were Sune,” Nisha said, looking down at the pond below. The lotuses’ sweet scent rose up to the bridge. “Then I could turn into a fox and get away from here.”
“It is a curse and a gift, just like anything,” Josei said. She paused. “How much do you know about how the Sune were made?”
“Just what everyone knows, I suppose,” Nisha said. She gestured at the unchanging gray sky. “The songs say that the Sune were formed five hundred years ago, when the Empire was cut off. The magic that made the Barrier splashed onto some of the animals.”
“Is that what they’re teaching these days?” Josei shook her head. “Interesting. You at least know how the
This part of the City was devoted to lotus ponds. The calm water seemed to rebuke Nisha for her worry. Tiny green-and-black frogs hopped from glossy leaf to glossy leaf, croaking to one another.
After a few minutes of walking silently, Nisha couldn’t contain her questions anymore.
“Why?” she demanded, not caring if it was rude. “Why do you care what happens to me?”
Josei stopped on the path and held up one brown hand for Nisha to see. “Because I am also an outsider,” she said. Her hand began to shimmer like a rock when seen through river water. It wavered and blurred into a paw with brown fur and dull black claws.
Nisha breath caught with awe. Carefully she reached out and touched the paw. The dark pads were dry and rough under her fingers.
Josei’s eyes shone gold for a moment, and a fierce, wild pride crossed her face. Then her eyes darkened to gold-flecked brown, and her paw became a calloused hand again.
It was a moment before Nisha’s tongue could form words. “You’re Sune?”
In those days—before the Ending, before the Barrier—magic was everywhere. It was in the land, making it fertile. It was in the water, keeping it clear and full of fish. And it was in the people. Most people had some form of magic, even if it was only an awareness of the power that flowed through the world. But only a few people were powerful enough and driven enough to actually use it. The old magicians said controlling the magic was like trying to change the course of a cascading waterfall. One slip and the magic would break loose and spray everywhere.
From the scrolls of Naveen ka’Lyer, Jade caste historian
13
“HALF SUNE,” JOSEI said, starting to walk again. “My mother belonged to the Shrilah-Sune, the fox clans. My father was a scout for the Imperial soldiers. They met in the forests of the south, on the slopes of the Mountains of the Dead. They might have stayed together, but he was killed when he stumbled on a nest of bandits.”
The path turned to a wooden bridge over the largest of the lotus ponds. Josei stopped and leaned on the railing, looking out over the flower-spotted water.
Nisha copied her, studying Josei out of the corner of her eye. Now that she was looking for it, she noticed the Combat Mistress’s’s faint musky scent that lay under her normal smells of dirt and sweat.
“Well,” she said finally. “No wonder you’re so fast.”
Josei threw her head back and laughed. “Sune are faster and stronger than humans, it is true. The magic makes our senses sharper and we heal more quickly. But I have trained hard as well. And I do know what it is like to be on the outskirts of every place you go, to have to choose your own future because no one else will choose it for you. Half Sune don’t develop the power to change to animal form until they’re fully grown. My mother was one of the wild Sune, and she didn’t know what to do with a human child. When I was old enough to care for myself, she left.”
There was no sadness in Josei’s words, just acceptance. For a moment, she looked very animal.
Nisha thought about her own parents leaving her in the City. She hadn’t been old enough to care for herself, so why had they abandoned her? And why couldn’t she remember more about them?
“I wish I were Sune,” Nisha said, looking down at the pond below. The lotuses’ sweet scent rose up to the bridge. “Then I could turn into a fox and get away from here.”
“It is a curse and a gift, just like anything,” Josei said. She paused. “How much do you know about how the Sune were made?”
“Just what everyone knows, I suppose,” Nisha said. She gestured at the unchanging gray sky. “The songs say that the Sune were formed five hundred years ago, when the Empire was cut off. The magic that made the Barrier splashed onto some of the animals.”
“Is that what they’re teaching these days?” Josei shook her head. “Interesting. You at least know how the
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