Shatterglass

youre repaying him with those globes,Tris said. all works out.

D like to work the Ghost out,Keth muttered. he orphans another child.

While Glaki napped and Tris read in the shade to escape the hottest part of the day, Keth went to visit other glassmakers. He found enough journeymen at work while their masters rested to buy three crates of cullet glass to replace what h e had destroyed. As he filled the new barrel that Antonou had provided, he felt the first twinges of a globe coming on. The feeling was distant, not the roaring pressure it would be soon. When he finished with the barrel, he doused himself with a bucket o f well water to cool off and hunkered down by Tris.

The lightning back yesterday helped some, but I didnt pay for more cullet just to explode it again,he announced when the girl put down her book. can I do, O wise mistress of all knowledge?

She made a face at him. I such a mistress, Id have this killer in a lightning cage, she informed Keth. She looked up. Grey clouds rolled over the sky above, a promise of more rain now that Tris had put an end to the blockage overseas. The normal summer storms flowed over Tharios as they should. I think I can, um, redistribute your lightning,she said, grey eyes as distant as the clouds overhead.

Keth looked up. There?he asked, startled.

not?she wanted to know. s already brewing some of its own. A little more wont hurt.

girls your age worry about husbands, not the redistribution of lightning,he pointed out, getting to his feet.

She grinned up at him, showing teeth. girls arent me,she reminded him.

And thank Vrohain for that, he thought, paying tribute to the Namornese god of justice. I hope I never meet those sisters of hers, or that brother, he told himself as he checked the crucible in the furnace. Id probably have nightmares for weeks.

That afternoon he blew globe after globe to hurry along the one he wanted, but he might as well have blown smoke. Antonou was pleased to have more trinkets to sell, but Keth thought he would put his own head through the wall in frustration. Tris helped as she did that first time, shaping the glass with heat drawn from the heart of the earth, but even that produced no visions of death.

Taking a break, Keth worked on an idea hed had. He blew a handful of tiny glass bubbles as fragile as a butterflys wing, almost lighter than air. That alone was enough to make him glow with pride: since he d begun to master his power, his old skill and control were slowly returning.

He didnt stop there. With Tris to advise him, he infused each bubble with a dab of his lightning-laced magic. They sprang to life like a swarm of fireflies, darting around the workshop, then the courtyard, as Glaki and Little Bear chased them.

Flares,Keth told Tris as he tucked them very gently into his belt-purse. tracking aids, Im not sure which.

She smiled at him proudly. good. Youre learning the most important thing an ambient mage can learn. Your power shapes itself to your need, if you put some thought into it.

Keths need to create a globe with a new image of a murder blossomed at last, shortly before they would have stopped for the day. Keth worked the glass with care. When it was done, he and Tris went outside. There he drew the lightning out of the globe, imagining his hand as a pair of tongs and the lightning itself as glass that he pulled into a new shape. Once he worked part of the lightning free of the globe, he sent it streaming to Tris. She guided it up into the sky, where it slithered into thunderheads that had already begun to voice the odd rumble or two.

A white mist remained inside the globe, hiding whatever image was there. Keth gritted his teeth in frustration, so hard that he heard them creak, and closed down the workshop for the day. He, Glaki, Tris, Chime and the dog were on their way to Elya Street when Glaki pointed to the globe in his hands. It was clearing.

The sky opened up. Instantly Tris did some thing. The rain that drenched their surround ings slid around them. Under that invisible umbrella they walked up to the steps of the Elya Street arurimat, where a soaked Dema waited for them. Tris instantly spread her rain protection to include the arurim dhaskoi. When she was close enough that she could speak quietly and be heard, she told him what she d heard the yaskedasi say the night before about the disguised arurim.

Dema said, glancing at Keths globe. never realized. . .

your people not to be so grim,advised Tris. yaskedasi smile and laugh all the time, even if they dont want to. They know they have to be pleasing and pleasant for the custom ers, and never show what they really think.

Keth raised his eyebrows. ve learned a lot,he pointed out as he passed the globe to Dema.

Tris shrugged. you going to try to hunt the Ghost again tonight?

Keth hung his head. know Ill probably go all weak in the knees and have to come home before we even get a whiff of him, but I have to try,he confessed. hate sitting about doing nothing while he s out there.

From the way Tris looked at him, he suspected that she felt much the same way. I cant keep Glaki out until all hours,she replied, confirming his suspicion. ll see you later.

Dema ushered Keth and his globe into the arurimat. The outer chamber was crammed with arurimi, both those in standard uniform and the ones disguised as yaskedasi. They gathered around eagerly as Keth and Dema inspected the globe. It showed a Khapik stream bank. A lone yaskedasu took shelter from the rain under a huge willow there. Keth turned the globe, but no matter how they shifted it, no one could s ee behind the tree or into the shadows behind a shrine in the background. All they could tell was that it was one of many dedicated to the gods of entertainment.

stick to the streams, then,Dema ordered. women, keep your eyes open and your whistles handy. If you even suspect something, dont play the hero, whistle for your team. I don t want to lose any people to this human malipi, you understand? My command post will be at the Sign of the Winking Eye on Fortunate Street.He looked at each of them. questions?