Shatterglass

used to be able to do this!yelled Kethlun, furious. used to be able to do this in my sleep! How can it be so hard? Why does the magic fight me? Why do I fight me? This will never work! He flung the pipe into the corner and got to work to clean up the mess.

Tris leaned her chin on her pulled-up knees, watching him through s litted eyes as she thought. One day she, Briar, Daja and Sandry had been on the roof of their home, basking in the sun and talking. They had spoken of their first real experience with their crafts, the one they didn t actually associate with magic. Talking it over, Sandry and Daja could see how their teachers had used magic to teach them something about spinning with a hand spindle, in Sandrys case, and drawing thin wire from thick, in Daja s. Maybe what Keth needed was help with his craft.

She waited until Keth was ready again. Glaki moved into a corner with her doll as Tris got to her feet. she said, over to Keth. s try something. You re going to meditate like before, and blow like before, but youre going to close your eyes and let me help you.

Dont need help!Keth snapped, red-faced and out of patience with himself and the world. know perfectly well how to do this!

know perfectly well how to blow glass,she said. s what youre going to do. Youre not going to interrupt yourself by sticking it into the kiln to reheat, thats all. I ll keep the glass warm.

can you do that?demanded Keth. lightning will fry it.

wont use lightning.She walked her fingers through her braids until she found the loop s on either side of her head that she used to store warmth. She removed their pins, then undid two centimetres of each braid. Pulling her fingers through the freed hair, she collected two palmsful of that heat, drawn from the molten rock of the earth s cor e. She pressed her hands together to mix their contents, then drew them apart. Now she had a thirty-centimetre-square surface to use on the glass. She checked it against the furnace, making sure they were equally as hot, before she looked at Keth again. at right angles to the furnace once you have your gather,she told him. He looked green, as he always did when she fidgeted with her braids. start breathing.

Once he had his gather on the end of the blowpipe, he backed away from the furnace. Tris moved until she stood in front of the gather. dont think thats a good idea,Keth said. weren t you watching when the last two splattered?

breathe, and close your eyes, and blow, Keth.

He hesitated. cant shape it that way,he warned.

shaped itself the first time. Stop talking and get to work.

Counting, Keth twirled the pipe as Tris held her outstretched hands on either side of his gather. Closing his eyes, he exhaled into the blowpipe for the count, drew his mouth away without stopping the motion of the pipe, then blew again.

Tris kept the heat she had summoned just beyond the glass, watching sharply as the globe got bigger. Tiny lightnings, magic that Keth mixed with the air he breathed, darted along the glass surface like mi nnows in a pond. When the globe had reached the proper size, she grabbed a pair of cutting tongs and put them around the glass still attached to the pipe. she said quietly. He opened his eyes as she pinched with the tongs and twisted, freeing the globe.

Keth yanked the pipe back and caught the globe in one hand. It didn t burn him. He stared at it, awestruck. As the lightnings in the glass played, they grew to fill the inside of the globe and to run amok across its surface. By the time Keth had got the composure to set his blowpipe aside and cup the globe in both hands, it was a ball of miniature lightnings.

s pretty!cried Glaki. She clapped her hands and reached up. Before Tris or Keth realized what was happening, the globe left his hands and flew towards her.

Ll burn,Tris said quickly. glass is hot, Glaki. Only Keth can hold it.

Glaki pouted and sent the ball soaring back to its creator. The child had just confirmed a suspicion that Tris had held since the child stopped the cyclone Tris had used to write Yali s name in the courtyard dust.

Keth stared at Glaki. cant deal with this now,he said hurriedly. dont expect me to. I just cant.

wont have to,Tris replied with resignation. responsibility is mine. Find somewhere to put the globe.

Asked Keth. have to make it clear up, dont we?

we stop. You need a walk, and a breather, and food,Tris informed him.

Lets work on it now, get the lightning out. I can do it!

Tris sighed. He was dead white and covered in sweat, shaking so hard he could barely hold on to the globe. did you last eat?she asked.

Keth had to think.

Drink? And visit the privy? And sit down?she demanded.

Keth glared at her, his blue eyes reflecting the lightning on his globe. dont need any of that,he said, and swayed.

Tris propped her hands on her hips and glared back. ve been working all morning and part of the afternoon in this hotbox. If you dont eat, youll collapse, and if you co llapse with this thing, you might break it, so stop arguing with me!

Chime swooped over to land on Triss shoulder. She chinked worriedly at Keth, who wiped his forehead on his sleeve.

For a moment, perhaps,he admitted. He swayed again. Quickly he placed the ball on his workbench.

Tris began to say something rude but decided to hold her tongue. Keth needed to rest before he fainted, now that his excitement and the strength he had built up by repeated use of his newly gripped power had drained away. Rather than speak hastily, she first took down her magical barrier on the shop.

she ordered. m going to the skodi across the street for some food. Glaki, why dont you tell Uncle Keth what your doll did this morning?

As the child walked Keth to the bench by the well, Tris left Touchstone Glass. Only when she was three doors down did she stop to sag against a shops wall in relief. She hadnt been sure that her help would work.