Shatterglass

Keth flapped his hand at her in gloomy resignation and walked out of the shop, smack into the barrier around the outside. what I needed,he moaned as she retrieved its magic. knock on the head.

its not like it hurt anything important, is it?Tris asked tartly.

Keth turned, expecting to see that disgusted expression on her face. Instead she grinned at him. arent you one of those teachers who believes in coddling students?he demanded.

couldnt,she said, straight-faced. would be bad for your character.

He fled, before she could think of another joke to make at his expense.

The globe began to clear as their afternoons work, getting rid of the mess of molten glass and charcoal, came to an end. They were packing to leave Touchstone for the day when Dema arrived. Under the shade of the courtyard trees he told them .of the fruitless search the night before, then took charge of the globe.

Keth had recovered after his midday, enough to help clean up and to blow the small globes that Antonou liked to sell. Tris wasnt sure that he ought to go with Dema after the previous nights collapse, but Keth didn t give her the chance to debate it. He simply followed Dema out into the street.

With Keth gone, Tris turned to Glaki. you ever been up on the wall?she asked. wall around the city?

replied the girl. She had begged a scrap of cloth from Antonous wife and fashioned it into a sling like the one Tris used to carry Chime. Into it she had tucked her dolls. Little Bear carried his ball. All afternoon he and Glaki had played with it, until it was covered with dirt and dog drool.

you like to climb the wall, Glaki?Tris wanted to know. want to try something. Im always better at new things when Im up somewhere high.

s go,the four-year-old said eagerly, grabbing Triss hand. She towed the older girl down to the citys gate.

As Tris had expected, Tharioss wall was a favourite with visitors: the guards waved them straight to the stair. When they reached the top, they found a broad walkway, ten metres above the ground. From there they could see the roads that led around the city, the river bridges, and the road that led south-east to the seaport o f Piraki. To their left, a, tumble of huts and hovels clung to the rocky hillside between Tharios and the Kurchal River. A number of huge pipes dotted the same rocky ground, pipes that emitted streams of brown, clotted water that flowed into the river: the city s sewer outlets. Swarming over the hillside, hanging out washing, minding goats and chickens, talking, grinding grain, playing and cooking, were prathmuni, recognizable even from this height by their clothes and haircuts. Tris felt cold, seeing their dwelling place. She knew the mages at Heskalifos had to be aware of the connection between sewage and disease, yet they allowed people to live where the night soil of Tharios was dumped. How many prathmuni children lived even to Glakis age, let alone her own? Tris wondered. How many old prathmuni were there?

please dont,whispered Glaki, tugging Tris by the sleeve. dont.

She glanced at the little girl. t what?she asked, her voice clipped.

Glaki actually backed up a step. She still found the courage to say, dont thunder inside. Its scary.

Remorse flooded Tris at the fear in Glakis eyes. She knelt and held her arms out. s not about you, Glaki,she said, deliberately gentling her voice. could never make me angry.

Glaki clung to her, even with a doll in each hand. Tris soothed her until she was sure the little girl was calm. This too was something she knew all too well. The anger of adults almost always had meant packing her bags and moving on to a new home. An adult in a temper meant new relatives with new rules and new places where she was not welcome.

When Glaki was calm, Tris sat her on a bench with Little Bear and Chime, and gave the child her spectacles to hold. Closing her eyes, she entered the trance she ne eded to scry the winds. When she opened her eyes, colours and half-images assaulted her, flashing by so quickly she couldnt track them. Time after time she tried to seize an image and hold it, but by the time she d picked one, it was gone. Grimly she persisted until her eyes began to water and ache.

Once more, she thought, biting her lower lip. One, just one. . . She imagined hooks magically tethered to her eyes, and sank them into a flash of crimson. Then she fought to keep her eyes in one position. They wanted to flick aside to capture another of the images that raced by like a river in flood. She widened her eyelids and refused to let them jitter, staring instead at what she had caught. Slowly the image cleared as the fight to keep her eyes steady got h arder.

Suddenly she realized what she saw. Excitement surged through her, cutting the vision free of her grip, but Tris didnt care. Her eyes began to dance again as eyestrain tears streamed down her cheeks.

She had seen something real.

ship, Glaki!she said, reclaiming her spectacles. saw a ship on the wind! A ship with a crimson sail and a sun emblem on it!

you did,the little girl replied, for all the world as if she were Tris herself. s all kinds of ships down in Piraki harbour.

It took some time for Triss vision to clear. When she could actually see, she asked Glaki, me the ships?

The girl pointed. Far below, through a gap in the rocky hills between Tharios and Piraki, Tris saw the ant-like shapes of vessels anchored in the harbour. Above one was a dot of red: the red-sailed ship Tris had seen life-size on the wind.

now?Glaki pleaded, tugging her skirt.

Tris hugged the child to her side. supper.She looked around for Chime and saw the glass dragon on the wall a few metres away, inspecting the guards and tourists as they inspected her. come, Tris called. The dragon took flight and returned to her, while the tourists clapped. Tris murmured as Chime wrapped herself around Triss neck.