Elvenblood by Mercedes Lackey, Andre Norton Page A

bringing with them the scent of fresh air and river water.
    He surveyed his prizes with smug satisfaction. He had really only needed three bundles of that size for an adequate bed, but—
    But they can cut more. They're not even apprentices. And for once, I'm going to nave the comfort I deserve.
    After all, it was only what was rightfully due him.
    "So now we have water," Denelor told Shana, gesturing at the filling pool of spring water with a smile of tired satisfaction on his round, good-humored face. He was thinner than he had been; months of hiking across the wilderness had trimmed off the excess pounds he'd carried, and had tanned his skin to a warm brown, against which his thinning hair seemed whiter than ever. "I think I can even replicate some of the old magics with help, eventually, and we'll have real running water all over the Citadel, hot and cold, in a few years. When I was an apprentice, I used to have to work on the plumbing, so I'm partly familiar with it." A look of determination replaced the smile. "What the first wizards learned to do, surely we, too, can rediscover."
    Shana smiled back; her old mentor Denelor had done an amazing job of adapting to this new life. She would have expected him to throw in his lot with the "old whiners," but instead he had turned into one of the first to try and work out a solution to problems as they arose.
    "In the meantime," he was saying, "I can get water to a kitchen area and a bathing area next to it; tomorrow the dragons will be sculpting rubs with drains for baths, laundry, washing things, and the means to actually drain the dirty water away without contaminating our fresh water. They're already putting in chimneys and fireplaces today—for now, to heat the water, all we have to do is heat stones and drop them into a filled tub. We won't be able to cook a stew or a soup, or brew more than a cupful of tea, though, until we find a way to get big pots."
    "Food won't be a problem," she assured him. "There's plenty of game in the forest, plenty of edible plants down there, too, I suspect. You won't even have to actually
hunt
, just bring in the game magically, the way we used to steal supplies, and you know it'll arrive dead."
    Denelor chuckled; obviously he still remembered the way Shana had casually magicked in a huge buck elk when she first arrived, easily ten times the weight he, her master, had
thought
she would be able to handle. Shana had known better, of course, but he didn't believe her until she demonstrated her ability.
    "At least it won't be mutton," he replied comfortably. "That is one aspect of the old Citadel that I will not miss; it was convenient to have that flock of sheep there, but one grew very tired of everlasting mutton."
    He turned to go back up to the next level above this, the one where living quarters would now actually start, since this lowest level had been usurped by the water. The other two followed, their footsteps echoing up the slanting tunnel. "Does anyone here actually know how to
make
anything?" Mero asked. "You know, make pots, build things with their hands? You're going to need a lot of
things
, from bed frames to clothing, and you won't be able to get them from the elves anymore. Can you make things magically that will last? The elven lords can, some of them."
    Denelor shrugged, and eyed his rather worn tunic ruefully. "I don't know," he admitted. "I must admit that I had an idea that was very, very tempting, though. We're forbidden to steal from the elves—but is there any reason why we can't steal from ourselves?"
    Shana frowned. "I'm not sure I follow you," she said doubtfully, as they reached the place where the tunnel flattened out, and other cave mouths opened up on it.
    "Well, we don't think the elves looted the Citadel after we left it, correct?" her former master said. "We don't even know for certain if they actually found it, since they were really looking for us, and not our hiding place."
    Shana nodded. "They could have