Shatterglass

The Ghost had taken that from Keth, just as hed taken a loving mother and a foster-mother from Glaki. What else would he take?

Settling the globe on his knees, Keth tried again.

Late in the afternoon Tris roused herself from her reading and proclaimed that Keth had worked enough today. Plagued with a savage headache, Keth didnt argue. Instead they cleaned up the shop, bid Antonou and his family goodbye, and left for Khapik. Headache or not, Keth took Triss pack, though it seemed to get heavier as he walked. By the time they s aw the yellow pillars of the Khapik gate, he felt as if someone had worked on him with hammers. Every bone in his body hurt.

As they passed through the gate, strong hands removed the pack from his grip. need a bath,said Tris, her eyes sharp and knowing. She hung the pack on her own shoulders. re exhausted. It happens when you aren t used to working magic for hours, I should have remembered. Make sure the bath attendants know to wake you up and send you home. Do you cook in your rooms?

Keth wiped his forehead, trying to think. he said at last. buy food cooked at the Lotus Street skodi. It s cheap, and not bad. Instead of turning into Chamberpot Alley, you turn right and follow Peacock Street to the wall. The Lotus Street skodi is right there.He fumbled in his pocket.

mind,Tris said testily. sold some of those pendants you made for me. ve money enough. Go wash.

Keth stood there, staring down at the plump girl who looked up at him. If he hadnt been drunk with exhaustion, he never would have said what he did: re actually a nice person, arent you?

She went beet-red. she retorted. Steering Glaki ahead of her, she walked away, disappearing into the crowd of early visitors to Khapik.

They were eating the supper Tris had bought when Xantha stuck her head into Yalis old room. s a Farewell for Yali at the Thanion,she said. you want to go, Keth. And you,she added with a glance at Tris.

Tris looked at Glaki. The little girl had been fine for most of the day, until they returned to this room. Now she was silent, eating little, burying her face from time to time in her battered rag doll.

you,she told Xantha, Ill stay with Glaki. Its been a long day.

Keth lurched to his feet, tired as he was. ll drop the globe at Elya Street with Dema,he told Tris. think its starting to clear.

She nodded. Keth had placed it on the table, where it sparked and flashed. She had watched when he tried to clear it once he returned from his bath, but as before, he d used up his magical resources. Now the surface lightnings were growing thin, showing the bolts that still shone thick inside the globe. If it cleared as the last one had, it would be another hour before they could see anything. Since Keth wa s exhausted, it was better that Dema get the thing before the lightning was gone.

Xanthas blue eyes widened. did you do that? You did magic!

Any thatll be of use,Keth said bitterly. He picked up the globe and ushered her outside.

As the door closed behind them Tris heard Xantha say, you do anything with com plexions? Mine chaps so easily these days.

Tris shook her head. Then she looked at Glaki, who sat on the floor with her back to Tris. Here was another problem, one she needed to sort out. you make a picture in fire? She picked up the table lamp and walked around in front of the child, then sat on the floor and placed the lamp between them. you show me a picture in the flame?she asked gently. s not much of a fire, but I bet you can do it. What do you see there?

Glaki frowned at the lamp, her fine black brows knit, her deep brown eyes intent. Slowly the lamps flame rose, then spread until it formed an oval the size of Glakis hand. A face appeared in it, that of a woman with Glaki s large, heavily lashed brown eyes, glossy black curls and olive complexion. whispered the child. The image dissolved: the lamp was out of oil. Glaki began to weep.

This time she didnt fight when Tris dragged her into her lap. Softly she cried into the front of Tris s sensible pale blue dress. Tris patted her back and crooned softly, letting her weep. Now she was certain. Glaki had shown two of the three signs of academic magic: moving things and producing images in fire.

As if my life weren t complicated enough already, Tris thought, grouchy, though she was already making plans. Glaki would not be pushed from household to household as Tris had been. She would have a proper home and all the things a child needed to hold her head up in the world. Tris would take her to Lark, Rosethorn and Discipline Cottage when she and Niko returned to Emelan. Glaki would become part of the household that was rooted there.

Chimes flames would help. They had to pay Keths cousin Antonou for the sands, scrap glass and colouring agents that Keth used to study his magic, but part of the money to be made from Chime s flames would go to Glaki, to give her the things that little girl-mages needed. Tris nodded, her mind made up. She would not leave Glaki to scrabble for a living in Tharios.

Outside Tris saw that the sky was growing dark. In the street under the window she could hear the chime of dancers bells, chatter and laughter, test notes played on musical instruments. Khapik was coming to life, which m eant the Ghost would be stirring, too.

Glaki had dozed off on Triss lap. Carefully the older girl got to her feet. Glaki protested sleepily, just as she grumbled while Iris got her into her night clothes; but once tucked into bed, with Chime on one side a nd Little Bear on the other, she slept. Tris suspected that, like Keth, Glaki was probably exhausted from her first deliberate use of magic.

She went to the window and leaned out, summoning breezes. As she had the night before, she sent them out to bring her word of violence done with silk and a womans stolen breath. Then she refilled the lamp, lit it, and sat down with Winds Path. She had little hope for what her breezes might learn tonight, but she wanted them to get used to searching. They might find s omething and take her to its source, and they would be practised at exploration when Tris learned enough to scry what they had touched. She didn t care about seeing the future, as Niko did. She just wanted to catch the Ghost before any more little girls were left motherless.