really needs the water. The wells are down everywhere, and the gardens are drying up.” She nodded towards a small patch of green: Ferouze’s herbs and vegetables hung limp.
Yali blinked at her. “Why are you sorry?”
Tris opened her mouth to reply, and thought better of it. Confessing that she would cause the yaskedasi to lose a night’s income seemed like a bad idea.
“Never mind. May I sit?” she asked Yali.
The woman nodded. “Glaki, don’t pull the dog’s ears,” she warned. “He won’t like it.”
“Sorry, doggie,” the child said. She looked at Tris. “What’s his name?”
“Little Bear,” Tris replied, easing Chime’s sling into her lap.
This made Glaki chuckle. “He’s not a bear!”
“He’s big enough to be one,” Yali remarked drily.
“Is she yours?” Tris asked Yali as she let Chime climb out of her sling. When the glass dragon unfurled her wings, the child gasped in awe.
“What?” asked Yali as Chime flew over to land on Little Bear’s back. “Glaki, mine? No. She was Iralima’s.” She lowered her voice so Glaki wouldn’t hear. “Our friend who was murdered.”
Tris watched Glaki run a careful hand over the edge of Chime’s left wing. Chime sang a low, soft note, stretching out her long neck to look directly into the little girl’s face.
“What will happen to her?” Tris wanted to know. “Her father—?”
Yali shook her head. “As far as we know, Iralima was alone in the world. No family — if she had a man, she never mentioned it.”
Tris frowned. For ten years her relatives had hammered into her mind how their generosity saved her from the fate that waited for a little girl cast on to the street. They had included details about just what that fate might be. “She has no one?”
Yali shrugged. “She’s got us. We’re keeping her — I am, mostly. Poppy and Xantha mean well, but they tend to get caught up in things. They forget that children must eat and go to bed at regular hours. But they chip in, and the men do, so there’s coin enough to provide.”
“And when you work?” Tris asked.
“Ferouze or Keth watches her.” Yali smiled. “Keth’s cheaper — I have to pay Ferouze to do it. But at least she hasn’t kicked Glaki out, or me for keeping her.” Yali propped her chin on her hands. “I can’t believe that Keth made that dragon without knowing about his magic.”
“It was a mad occurrence,” replied Tris. “The kind that doesn’t happen often. He accidentally called a lot of stray magics while he tried to make the glass do what he wanted. With those and his own power mixing, he got Chime.”
“And then he tried to break her, he told me,” Yali commented, and shook her head. “Men. They’re so excitable. Usually over things they can’t help.”
“I can’t exactly blame him for being upset,” Tris said. “From what he’s said, Chime was the first real clue to what had changed in him since he got hit by lightning. My experience is that adults don’t like surprises.”
“Oh, it is?” Yali asked, chuckling. “And you with vast experience, I take it?”
Tris smiled. She liked this woman. It also couldn’t hurt Keth if Yali understood a bit more about his new life. “Vast enough. Our kind of magic — Keth’s, mine, what my brother and sisters have — it’s tricky until you get to know it. And it’s different for everyone, because we’re all different inside. It helps if you’re younger when you start. You’re more used to being surprised as a kid.”
“But Keth’s going to be all right now?” asked Yali, worried. “He was so haunted when he first came here.”
“With a bit of work, he’ll be all right,” Tris assured the woman. “Right now he’s still getting used to the idea that he’s a mage.”
Chime took off, gliding here and there as Glaki and Little Bear chased her around the courtyard. Glaki was laughing so hard she nearly tripped. Both Tris and Yali started to their feet, then sat again as Chime turned to land on the little girl’s shoulder. Glaki carried the dragon over to them.
“Yes, she’s very pretty,” Yali told the child as she held Chime up for her to inspect. She glanced at Tris. “So yours is with the weather?”
Tris grinned. “The rain prediction gave me away, I take it.”
“Well, Keth said. And that’s how you became his teacher, because he’s got lightning.” Yali sighed. “Let’s hope he doesn’t try to work with it here, or Ferouze will pitch a fit. She doesn’t