Melting Stones - By Tamora Pierce Page 0,23

"Luvo, were they discussing the midday meal?"

"I was inattentive, Dedicate Rosethorn." Luvo's head knob was pointed toward the cliffs to the west. "My thoughts were on the fine-grained volcanic gabbro and quartz crystals higher on the mountain. Some of the crystals have a pleasing violet-pink color which I have never seen."

Jayat looked awed. Rosethorn could tell something was not right, but she could never bring herself to call Luvo a liar. Not that he was lying. Luvo's thinking is funny. It works like the rope of clear crystals that runs through his body. Each crystal is a little mind. Luvo has thoughts in all of them going on at once. He probably was thinking of gabbro and quartz, in part of him.

"Let's move on." Rosethorn mounted her horse. "Myrrhtide, you will ride beside me, if you please."

Off we went. Luvo sat in front of me and didn't move for a long time. Jayat rode ahead of Rosethorn and Myrrhtide, thinking about something. I tried to sit quietly, but it got harder as the morning wore on. I swear, even the sunlight made my blood itch to move faster. My flesh throbbed inside my skin.

Is this how Luvo feels when he watches us? I wondered. Birds and small creatures dashed past and around the trail, living their real lives at a real pace, not crawling along. Does Luvo feel as if life is passing him by? Or does he like being sllllloooowww?

I ground my teeth.

At yet another halt, Luvo looked at me. I don't know how, because he didn't have to turn his head to do it, but I felt his eyes on me. "You tremble. You give off heat. Are you ill?"

"Just restless. I feel fine," I retorted. "I feel better than fine. I just want to ride, not trudge along like a snail. I'm not hot. I don't feel the ground trembling one bit. I'm not trembling."

But I looked at my hands on the reins. They shook, as if I had a fever. I didn't feel sick.

I felt it then, far below the stone and earth under us. The little hairs on my arms stirred as I called the warning: "Shake coming!"

We all dismounted. I held Luvo with one arm as I clutched my horse's reins with the other. Now everyone else had the sense of it. The birds and little creatures were silent. Our horses stamped and yanked at the bits. We hung on as the earth rattled the loose leaves from the trees and the stones from their places. When the shock struck us, I felt like a thousand fingers were tickling me. I giggled. Then the power was gone. Life got slow and boring again.

As we rode on, those neglected stone markers started to vex me. What if they didn't show the local mages where strength could be drawn from the earth anymore? That was no reason to leave them untended. They had done generations of service. Some of them had fallen over. Some were just tilted, which made them look undignified.

When I found moss covering most of one granite marker, flaking its carvings away, I couldn't bear it anymore. "Rosethorn!"

"Evvy, I'm thinking," she said.

"It's moss on a rock, and the rock doesn't want to be changed. It likes being all neat and carved." I was jittery and aggravated. "If you won't clear it away, I will, Rosethorn, you know I will. I have followed like a good dog all morning. Now I would like to tend this marker."

She sighed and dismounted.

"I can't believe you're doing this." Fusspot turned his horse around in the road. "We're going about important work, looking at serious problems. Why do you cater to that spoiled brat you insisted on burdening us with?"

Jayat rode a little way up the trail, to get away from us.

Rosethorn glared at Fusspot. "Evvy and I have an understanding. There are plenty of reasons for doing things as we do them. She is no burden to me. Since I am senior and in charge, I will thank you to hold your tongue!" She came over to me and muttered, "Don't make me have to defend your behavior to him again."

I didn't tell her I could defend myself. I was eager and nervous and vexed, but I was not ready to die. It was one thing to snap at Fusspot. I had learned early on, a person who snapped at Rosethorn had best be armed for war and prepared to take casualties.

"What is the matter with you,