Shatterglass

Something on Keths face looked suspiciously like a smile. Tris gave up her fight and groped in her sash for her spectacles.

had to stop you from falling into Antonous well,he explained, his voice quivering. d never get the taste of mage out of the water.

Tris shoved her glasses on to her nose and glared at him. He was smiling. s so funny?she growled.

Did you know its almost midday?Keth set Tris on her feet.

She swayed as she looked around. There was the lip of the well, just thirty centimetres away. Little Bear, Chime and Glaki sat on the ground nearby, staring at her in fascination.

On, great teacher,Keth said, wrapping an arm around Triss waist to steady her as she tottered over to a bench. your weary bones.

cant be nearly midday,Tris argued, though her magical senses told her it was. happened to the morning?

passed while you gazed into the air,Keth replied, easing her on to the bench. didnt even twitch when the Bear chased a cat in the garden. We owe Antonou basil plants, by the way.

Dont know why that dog bothers,muttered Tris. time he corners a cat, it beats the fur off him. I should get our midday.Her head swam. Odd sparks flared in her sight as she moved her head.

is bringing it,Keth assured her.

Tris looked at him sharply. Hes under no obligation to feed me or Glaki.

Keth grinned and sat beside her. s been a change in our arrangements,he explained. likes having a glass mage in the shop -thats why hes left us alone. And he really likes those globes.He pointed to his mornings creations, which continued to glitter and spark, pale copies of his lightning globes. he sells anything I create that I dont need to keep, I ll get half the price. It solves a lot of problems, Tris. He says what he can make just from the globes will pay for my time and materials, and well have plenty left over. I thought you d approve, since you sold those pendants I made of Chimes flames.

she is back with us.Antonou approached from the kitchen wing of the house, a tray of dishes in his broad, scarred hands. Dhasku Tris, does Keth need these globes? As mementoes, or for study? I can get a very good price for these. People love magical novelties that dont carry unpleasant consequences. He set the tray down on a table near the kitchen garden and took another tray from his wife, who had followed him.

I wont always be making magical devices, will I?asked Keth, placing benches around the table. ll be able to do plain glass again?

can do whatever you like, when your magic is completely under control,replied Tris. those globes are your work. Theyre yours to dispose of. Just let me test them this afternoon, to be sure they dont hold any surprises. She looked for Glaki, and saw that the girl was now hiding behind Little Bear. Both she and the dog stared at the good-smelling dishes with yearning.

you are too skinny,Antonous wife said, putting things on a plate for the child.

While Keth tried to blow another lightning globe that afternoon, secure inside Triss protec tive circle and working on his magical control, Tris inspected the new globes, exploring them with her power. They held not a nicker of true lightning, or of anything else. When she put the last one down, she noticed that Keth watched her. re empty,she said. Antonou wants them, and you want him to sell them, go ahead.

He nodded. Khapik is safe for tonight,he said, inspecting the globe he had just, finished. It glittered like a round piece of ice in his hands. far as we know.

Far as we know,Tris repeated with a sigh. should tell Dema.She was tired.

Keth finished his work, cleaned the shop, and told Antonou the globes were there for him to sell.

At last he, Tris, Glaki, Little Bear and Chime set off towards Khapik. s business?he asked the guard who stood at the district gate.

good,the man replied, disgusted. yaskedasi are scared. Some are leaving. And the guests are falling off, too. I suppose they think theres a chance this madman will mistake them for o ne of us.

bad is business off?inquired Keth.

quarter,the guard replied.

Keth winced as they passed through the gate. will hurt everyone,he told Tris. ve got to catch him.

Tris looked up at him and saw lightning flash in his eyes. calm down,she ordered. and count. Youre sparking.

m what?he asked. Tris pointed to his eyes. Keth said sheepishly. never happened before,he pointed out, breathing slowly and carefully. The lightnings in his eyes faded.

The lightning found a path through you it likes, so it will keep following it. Youll have to learn to control your temper,Tris said firmly.

He grinned unexpectedly down at her. youre going to teach me?Though he knew she kept a tight hold on her deepest feelings, he d also got enough of the tart edge of her tongue to find the idea funny.

Tris drew herself up. can lose my temper because my power is under control,she said in her primmest voice. In a return to her normal, dry speech she added, quite a fight it is.

At Ferouzes, Xantha, Poppy, Ferouze and the four musicians were in the courtyard, talking. Keth went to his room. Tris and Chime settled on a step, watching Glaki and Little Bear stretch their legs in a game of chase.

Xantha, relaxing as Poppy combed her long gold hair, began to hum, then to sing, her voice a sweet soprano. Poppy joined in to sing the counterpart in her lower voice. From overhead they heard the sound of a Namornese balaka, a plaintive, sharper version of a lute: Keth des cended the stairs playing it. Ferouze and one of the men fetched common lutes to play. One musician brought a recorder, another a set of graduated wooden pipes, while the fourth backed his deep bass voice with a harp. One song pass ed into another, as naturally as the late afternoon breeze flowed through the galleries around the courtyard.

It was the kind of time Tris had never expected to find in Khapik, like the evenings when her foster-mothers, -sisters, and -brother all sat in th e main room of their cottage, working on projects and singing, talking, or telling stories as the sounds of Winding Circle drifted through the windows.