Fifth Quarter by Tanya Huff

round, stone building dominated the upper half of Temple Street, style and material both looking remarkably out of place beside the local architecture.
     
    As Karlene followed Gabris through the eastern doors and into the cool interior of the Center, she breathed a sigh of relief. Summers in the Empire were much hotter than summers back in Shkoder. She allowed a brief moment of pity for the prince's guards, now flanking each of the Center's four doors and undoubtedly baking in their armor, then hurried to catch up to the two men.
     
    They'd been unable to convince Prince Otavas to stay behind.
     
    " I was standing right beside you last night when the air spirits arrived ," he'd pointed out. " Nothing happened to me ."
     
    A startled priest emerged from behind the central altar, eyes wide as she recognized the three approaching.
     
    "If it isn't an inconvenience, Your Grace," Gabris began, bowing gracefully in spite of age and bulk. "My companion and I should like to use the Center for a few moments so that we might Sing fire and water in a protected setting."
     
    "An inconvenience?" The priest returned the bow. "You have only to ask, honored Bard." She bowed to Karlene. "Honored Bards." Then she remembered the prince and, slightly flustered, added a deeper bow, the wide, quartered sleeves of her robe sweeping against the stone floor. "Your Highness."
     
    Karlene nodded in turn, her opinion of Prince Otavas rising as he ignored the priest's unfortunate lapse. With only two bards in the Empire—even if there'd been two bards in the Empire off and on for the last twenty-two years—they were still a novelty, and for those who'd accepted the enclosure of the Circle, a bard actually Singing the kigh became a religious experience. "Unfortunately, Your Grace, we must also ask that you leave us." The priest looked so disappointed Karlene nearly relented but, remembering the buffeting she'd taken in the assembly room, stood firm. Bad enough that they'd be responsible for the prince's safety.
     
    With a final, reluctant bow, the priest sketched the sign of the Circle over her heart and left the building.
     
    Gabris indicated that the prince should be seated on one of the curved benches that filled the area between the walls and the altar, settled down beside him, and gestured for Karlene to go ahead.
     
    "Why aren't you Singing as well?" Otavas asked him in some surprise.
     
    "Two reasons, Highness. One of us needs to witness and Karlene's voice is considerably younger than mine."
     
    "She has a beautiful voice, doesn't she?"
     
    "Yes, Highness, she does."
     
    "Oh, great, encourage him," Karlene muttered under her breath as she stepped out into the open space surrounding the three-tiered altar. She drew in a deep breath of air heavy with the familiar scents of beeswax, water, and earth and found herself unexpectedly homesick. Shkoder and the Bardic Hall suddenly seemed a very long way away. And suppose we find out what's frightening the kigh. What then? There's only the two of us .
     
    Wiping damp palms on the front of her robe, she pushed the mood aside with a simple, two-octave scale, then focused on the nearest of the huge candles that crowded the highest tier of the altar and Sang the four notes to call fire.
     
    Almost immediately, kigh danced on a half-dozen wicks, barely defined features flickering and changing, tiny eyes of brilliant white the only constant. Still Singing, Karlene heard an admiring murmur from the prince and the rustle of fabric as Gabris leaned forward. A little surprised at both their size and number, she Sang calming and safety until the dance grew less frantic.
     
    " If fire and water have been frightened as well ," Gabris had said, " perhaps calling them into the Center will make them feel secure enough to tell us what's wrong ,"
     
    Although fire was the most self-absorbed of all the kigh, Karlene could feel them reaching out to her. She couldn't sense why. Apprehensions a subtle harmony