The globes,Keth said grimly. She sounded unmoved and level-headed, but Keth knew her a little better now. He could see the quiver at the corners of her mouth. She was as upset as he was. It startled him to realize that, even though he knew she was upset, her braids remained where they were, without movement, without sparks. For the very first time he wondered at the amount of emotional control it took, for her hair not to give her feelings away.
The globes,agreed Tris as she swept up glass. said you have a fallback plan. When does it go into action?she asked Dema.
night at the earliest,he replied, inspecting his honeycake as if hed forgotten what it was for. arurimati h ave to rearrange schedules. The women, some of them, have families to be looked after. At least Mother isnt screaming over the expense. She knows how close I am - we are - to disgrace. He took a bite of the cake and chewed as though it were made of wood. wish I could explain how maddening this is!he cried when he had swallowed his bite. times out of ten - no, better than that ninety-four times in a hundred, the victim knows her killer, his killer, whoever. We question the family, the neigh bours, fellow workers, and usually it s one of them. But how do we handle a thing like this? We question those who knew the dead, who saw them before they were taken, but all of the possibilities have turned to lead. Weve found no one who knew all of the vi ctims, no one at all. And no one who saw anyone suspicious around even two of the yaskedasi.
Carrying broken glass to the cullet barrel inside the door, Tris saw a prathmun pick up the rubbish from Antonous house and carry it to his wagon in the alley. Have you questioned the pmthmun?. she asked, turning to Dema. they saw something.
course weve picked up and questioned a number of them already,Dema replied, suddenly uncomfortable as well as unhappy.
They have anything to do with Khapik, or the victims?Keth wanted to know.
Dema shrugged. re Khapik prathmuni. And they havent admitted anything so far.
re torturing them,Tris accused.
s how we handle prathmuni replied Dema. knows a prathmun lies as easily as he breathes. Since the arurim prathmuni bring them in anyway, its easiest to go right to it. If you were Tharian, you wouldnt even ask about it.
you get the torture out of the way, whether there is reason to suspect the prathmuni you arrest or not,Tris said angrily.
s how things are done here,replied Dema. ways arent yours. Could we change the subject? Its not exactly a decent one, particularly in front of a child. He got to his feet, half of his honeycake still in one hand. you create another globe today?
Ll let you know,Keth said.
Tris, Keth and Glaki watched Dema trudge out of the courtyard. Only when he was well out of sight did Keth hear Tris mutter, She looked at Glaki and scowled. s fine to talk about torture in front of a child, but gods forbid we talk about the people who get tortured.
When Glakis eyes went wide with fright, Tris smiled crookedly. m not angry with you,she assured the little girl. even a bit.Glaki relaxed slightly and returned to playing with her ragged doll.
customs,murmured Keth, though he understood Triss feelings. re only guests here.
is more honest,she retorted. least the only thing anyone ever blames slavery on is bad luck, not impurity.
Keth nodded. d better start. I want to get some ordinary pieces done for Antonou today besides the other things. Hes been very good about me using up his supplies.
Tris settled Glaki with her toys and placed her magical protections around the workshop. Once more she and Kethlun settled into meditation. That morning, at her direction, Keth worked on letting his magic fill just his skin without going outside his body. Tris barely said a word apart from letting him know that his efforts were successful.
Once they finished pure meditation, Keth blew glass. Working slowly, taking pains, he produced three glass balls. None of them held lightning; all had lightning that flickered over their surfaces, but only in bursts that did nothing to hide the glass underneath.
Glaki was placing the third globe where the others sat the lightning on these globes didnt sting when someone outside the barrier cleared his throat. It was Antonou. Keth? Cousin? Might I have a word?
Tris lowered her magical barrier. an eye on Glaki,she told Keth, walking past Antonou into the centre of the courtyard. ll be right here, but dont disturb me.
Standing beside the well, Tris took off her spectacles and tucked them in her sash, then closed her eyes and began to meditate. The men s voices and the sound of Glaki as she played with her doll, Little Bear and Chime, faded from her attention, along with the street noise. Once Tris was ready, she opened her eyes.
The days breezes slid before her sight: they were clear in her vision, though nothing else was. She saw the air s eddies and pools, the change in currents where heat from the kitchen flowed through cooler air. Chime soared past her nose. Triss eyes picked out the curling and parting of the air as the dragon cut through it, as water parted around a boat.
Whispering a magical formula, Tris drew signs first on her left temple, then on her right: the crescent for magical vision, the seven-pointed star for the strength to manage what she would see, and the four small waves of the winds. Then she clasped her hands before her, and waited for her sight to improve.
A wisp of colour shone on a current of air, like the glint in the depths of an opal. Another wisp. Another. The air streamed with flares in many hues, th reads of fast-moving colour. The wisps grew infrequent, then rare. At last they stopped appearing to Triss eyes at all.
She sighed. Her first try was over. Using a counter-clockwise motion, she wiped the signs from her temples, and lurched. A strong arm caught her. She looked up into Keths face. are you mauling me? she demanded, struggling weakly. She felt as wrung out as a sheet on laundry day.