Shatterglass

Her mind busy, Tris strode up the Street of Glass. She stopped to quietly gather Little Bear and Chime from the Touchstone Glass courtyard, then resumed her walk up the long hill back to Heskalifos.

Tris was reading in the workroom when Niko found her. He and Jumshida had been out late, attending yet another party for the conference. On his way to bed, hed seen the light under the workroom door and looked in.

The moment he saw her, his black brows snapped together. ve been using your braids again,he remarked sourly.

Tris looked up from her book. with very good reason. I need to help Keth with his fear of lightning, and the closest storm on the path to Tharios was stuck in Aliput.

Niko crossed his arms. . .

s true!she protested. mage over there had things locked down, and I had to pry them loose.As he remained silent, she made a face. right, I used winds to lift myself to the top of Phakomathen first. But I m not joking about the storms, Niko, and I am careful, using the stronger powers I store.

Niko sighed. its true, you are. And I suppose were beyond the point where I can lecture you about such things. I do like to think youre too sensible to use them so often that they become a drug for you.

sick as Ill be once I can stop to rest? Thats not at all addictive. You dont have to worry,she replied. She inspected his face. s the matter? You look cross.

you know they magically cleanse the site where a dead person is found?Niko demanded. it of all traces of the events there?Tris nodded. s obscene!cried Niko. talked to the arurim officials in a position to allow me to raise a vision of the past, to help catch this beast, but they tell me the cleansing isnt just religious, its magical as well. How do they ever catch criminals here?

Tris shrugged. Demakos Nomasdina, the arurim dhaskoi you met - and Keth think Keths globes will do it.

you dont.The way Niko said it, it was not a question.

Ll be a while before Keth can do magic to order instead of by accident,Tris said frankly. seems to think that now he knows the problem, he can just get to work. And maybe he s too involved. He knew one of the women; he watched another of them perform. He wants it to work too badly. Its getting in his way.

Ll have to find a way to calm him down,Niko said, yawning. Suddenly he smiled. I would give a great deal to see, actually.

Hed lost Tris in his thinking. she asked. do you want to see?

Now he grinned outright. You, trying to calm someone down.

Tris smiled, but wryly. funny I forgot to laugh,she retorted.

Niko stretched. will laugh for us both, then.

Tris ran her fingers over her book.

you ever been to Khapik?she asked.

Times. Not since we came, but in my youth,he admitted. had the unfortunate effect of sucking all the coins from my purse, so I stopped going.His eyes were distant as he thought. rem ember it was very beautiful, particularly the area of streams and islands around the main gate.

s still there, and its still lovely,Tris informed him. would anyone want to ruin it? Maybe the yaskedasi arent as respectable as they could be, bu t they do such amazing things, and this Ghost is killing them.

Niko sighed, his dark eyes gentle as he looked at her. ve never known why anyone would destroy something beautiful, but such people exist.For a long moment there was silence between them. Tris regarded the book in her lap while Niko watched her. At last he said, you know that Lark used to work in Khapik?

Triss head jerked up at the sound of her foster-mothers name. she exclaimed. did?

Her teacher nodded. was a year when the performing troupe she was with decided to rest for a few seasons and create new material. They stayed and performed in Khapik.

wore that dreadful yellow veil?Tris asked, the hair on her arms prickling. She loved Lark. The thought that a killer like the Ghost might have gone anywhere near her was chilling.

I believe she wore it as a neck scarf,Niko replied, his eyes sombre. s a fright ening thought.

Tris made the sign of the Living Circle on her chest.

Niko sighed. s late. Im off to bed, unless theres something else you need?

To teach me to scry the wind,she said wryly. could send my breezes searching for the killer in Khapik, if I could see things in them.

Niko rubbed his temples. in some ways its very like seeing the future, you know,he pointed out. re showered with different images and events how do you sort one from another? That s why future seers are as rare as lightning mages. Most go mad from sheer confusion. Does it really mean so much to you?

Feel useless,Tris admitted. a brides attendant to Keth - I get to hold the basket of herbs, but hes the one who says the vows.

you think Im useless?asked Niko. Lark, or Frostpine, or Rosethorn, or Crane?Hed named the main people who had taught her and her friends at Winding Circle.

cried Tris, startled. re wonderful, all of you!

will produce wonders in Keth, Im sure of it,Niko said. again about scrying for something that will drown you in visions. The price you pay is every bit as high as what you ll pay when the strength of lightning and tides runs out of you.With a tired wave, he went off to bed.

Tris thought about what hed said for a long time.

DEMA

H

e d got a proper meal in to Keth. It seemed like the least he could do, when Keth had worked himself into numb silence trying to produce a vision of the next murder before it came to be. Dema knew that state of unblinking exhaustion all too well. Every student mage reached that p oint. He wished he had a bik for every time he had poured out all of his power over the course of a day, until he simply had nothing left.

He made sure an arurim saw Keth home, giving the arurim coins to buy Keth a honeycomb and good tea in one of the Khapik skodi along the way. Keth would need both in the morning. If he was like Dema, he would wake feeling as if someone had run a hot wire through his veins.