threading along the edge of one leaf on a dry tree, thin and potentially dangerous.
Segnbora said nothing. Respond to a threat, and an elemental will get the idea that you’re threatened. A bad idea to give it. But without warning the huge dark form in the cave at the bottom of her thoughts reared halfway up and breathed a withering blast of white fire at the little line of red.
Sunspark blinked and drew away, annoyed. (Not another one! It’s getting so there’s no one left around here to scare.)
Segnbora loosened her collar, feeling hot, and closed her eyes to “look” at Hasai. Through this day and the day before he had been stretched at ease in the seaside cave, looking out of her eyes, silent for the most part. He stayed out of her thoughts except to ask an occasional question. The rest of the time the rumble of his private thought blended with the bass chorus of the mdeihei, a sound Segnbora found she could now start to ignore, like the seashore when one lives nearby.
Hasai was presently sunning himself in the noon light burning down through the cave’s shaft. His wings were spread out flat like a butterfly’s, lying easy on the floor as he settled himself again. As Segnbora watched, he curled his neck around and slipped his head under the left wing in the position she’d tried to achieve before. “That one’s impudent,” Hasai said.
“ I could have handled it,” Segnbora said.
“ You did. Are we not mdaha and sdaha , and am I not you?”
In Dracon the question was rhetorical, and Segnbora had no answer for it. She turned away from Hasai without further thought and opened her eyes again on the evening, breathing in the sweet sharp hawthorn scent in the air. “‘Berend, did you hear me?” Freelorn said.
“ No, Lorn, I was talking to my lodger.” She reached out and picked a white blossom off the hedge past which they were riding, held it to her nose.
“ Oh. Sorry. What are you going to do tonight? Pass the purse?”
“ She can sing,” Herewiss said.
“ You can? Well, that’s news! You know many songs?”
“ A few,” Segnbora said. She reined Steelsheen back to ride abreast of Herewiss and Freelorn, suddenly feeling the need for company more normal than that she carried inside her. “I’m best with a kithara, but I’ll do all right with the lute.”
Herewiss was still being paced by that boulder. It was easily half Sunspark’s size, but Herewiss showed no sign of strain, and at the same time he was keeping Khávrinen from showing so much as a flicker of Fire. His control was improving rapidly.
“ You won’t have any trouble with your part of the act, that’s plain,” Segnbora said.
Herewiss shrugged, waving the rock away with one hand. It soared up over the hedge like a blown feather and dropped out of sight, hitting the ground in the field on the other side with an appalling thud.
“ It’s easy,” Herewiss said. “Even the ecstatic part of the Fireflow is under control since we climbed the Fane. Which is good; I was starting to have trouble with it.”
Freelorn shot Herewiss an ironic look. “No, really,” Herewiss said. “The body gets confused, mistakes one kind of pleasure for another… It’s distracting. That’s why, in group wreakings, usually the Rodmistresses tell off one of the group to handle all of that herself, so that the others are more free to concentrate as much as possible of their Power on the work at hand.”
“ Sounds like nice work if you can get it,” Freelorn said. “But now I wonder. Did the Goddess install that aspect of the Fire on purpose, to keep people from doing large wreakings casually? As a control?”
“ You could argue it both ways. It might just as easily be a reward, to make sure the Power’s used.” Herewiss shrugged. “Anyway, at the moment I’m as free of the ecstatic part of the flow as I need to be. But it’s a mixed blessing. The first time I picked up that rock, I had to be careful that the whole field didn’t
Segnbora said nothing. Respond to a threat, and an elemental will get the idea that you’re threatened. A bad idea to give it. But without warning the huge dark form in the cave at the bottom of her thoughts reared halfway up and breathed a withering blast of white fire at the little line of red.
Sunspark blinked and drew away, annoyed. (Not another one! It’s getting so there’s no one left around here to scare.)
Segnbora loosened her collar, feeling hot, and closed her eyes to “look” at Hasai. Through this day and the day before he had been stretched at ease in the seaside cave, looking out of her eyes, silent for the most part. He stayed out of her thoughts except to ask an occasional question. The rest of the time the rumble of his private thought blended with the bass chorus of the mdeihei, a sound Segnbora found she could now start to ignore, like the seashore when one lives nearby.
Hasai was presently sunning himself in the noon light burning down through the cave’s shaft. His wings were spread out flat like a butterfly’s, lying easy on the floor as he settled himself again. As Segnbora watched, he curled his neck around and slipped his head under the left wing in the position she’d tried to achieve before. “That one’s impudent,” Hasai said.
“ I could have handled it,” Segnbora said.
“ You did. Are we not mdaha and sdaha , and am I not you?”
In Dracon the question was rhetorical, and Segnbora had no answer for it. She turned away from Hasai without further thought and opened her eyes again on the evening, breathing in the sweet sharp hawthorn scent in the air. “‘Berend, did you hear me?” Freelorn said.
“ No, Lorn, I was talking to my lodger.” She reached out and picked a white blossom off the hedge past which they were riding, held it to her nose.
“ Oh. Sorry. What are you going to do tonight? Pass the purse?”
“ She can sing,” Herewiss said.
“ You can? Well, that’s news! You know many songs?”
“ A few,” Segnbora said. She reined Steelsheen back to ride abreast of Herewiss and Freelorn, suddenly feeling the need for company more normal than that she carried inside her. “I’m best with a kithara, but I’ll do all right with the lute.”
Herewiss was still being paced by that boulder. It was easily half Sunspark’s size, but Herewiss showed no sign of strain, and at the same time he was keeping Khávrinen from showing so much as a flicker of Fire. His control was improving rapidly.
“ You won’t have any trouble with your part of the act, that’s plain,” Segnbora said.
Herewiss shrugged, waving the rock away with one hand. It soared up over the hedge like a blown feather and dropped out of sight, hitting the ground in the field on the other side with an appalling thud.
“ It’s easy,” Herewiss said. “Even the ecstatic part of the Fireflow is under control since we climbed the Fane. Which is good; I was starting to have trouble with it.”
Freelorn shot Herewiss an ironic look. “No, really,” Herewiss said. “The body gets confused, mistakes one kind of pleasure for another… It’s distracting. That’s why, in group wreakings, usually the Rodmistresses tell off one of the group to handle all of that herself, so that the others are more free to concentrate as much as possible of their Power on the work at hand.”
“ Sounds like nice work if you can get it,” Freelorn said. “But now I wonder. Did the Goddess install that aspect of the Fire on purpose, to keep people from doing large wreakings casually? As a control?”
“ You could argue it both ways. It might just as easily be a reward, to make sure the Power’s used.” Herewiss shrugged. “Anyway, at the moment I’m as free of the ecstatic part of the flow as I need to be. But it’s a mixed blessing. The first time I picked up that rock, I had to be careful that the whole field didn’t
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