even like it if we hang curtains at the windows.” She stared into the distance for a moment, then asked shyly. “Is there anything magic you could do? Just a little thing? I love magic.”
Tris hesitated, then pointed to a dusty patch of courtyard and twirled a finger. The dust began to rise and spin, until she had a miniature cyclone no bigger than her hand. Moving her index finger, she guided the cyclone through the dust, until she had written Yali’s name in the packed earth at their feet.
The yaskedasu laughed and clapped her hands, then looked at the gateway to the street. “And here’s Keth, before I impose on you any more. Thank you so much!”
“You’re welcome,” Tris said, ushering the cyclone over towards Glaki. Little Bear backed away, growling — he didn’t care for Tris’s displays. Chime showed no interest whatsoever. Glaki waited until the cyclone was within reach, then set her palm on it and pressed the cyclone flat against the ground. When she raised her hand, it was gone.
Keth walked over to them with a smile for Yali and a frown for Tris. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be home?”
“I have to change,” Yali said, getting to her feet.
“But the rain,” Tris protested.
“There are covered walkways where I can sing,” Yali told her. “And Glaki needs shoes for winter. Ferouze says she’ll watch her,” she added, looking at Keth. “Make sure she feeds her more than dates and stale cheese. I paid her five biks.”
“I’ll keep an eye on Ferouze,” Keth promised. When Yali passed him, he stopped her with a hand on her arm. “Be watchful,” he told her, blue eyes serious. “Stay off Falsedice Way, even if you do get customers that pay well there. It’s too far back from the travelled streets.”
“I’ve been taking care of myself for years.” replied Yali. She kissed him on the cheek. “But you’re sweet to worry.”
Tris pretended not to watch this exchange. Instead she showed Glaki the spot behind the dog’s ears where he most liked to be scratched. Only when Yali had vanished into her upstairs room and Keth had turned to Tris did she say, “Perhaps I should have mentioned your lessons aren’t done for today.”
Xantha and Poppy ran down the steps, both in their gaudiest clothes, Poppy carrying a cape painted with peacock feathers. They waved goodbye to Keth and blew kisses to Glaki, who blew them back. For Tris Poppy had a scowl. Xantha only fluttered her fingers in a wave and called, “So long, Koria Respectability.”
Tris watched them run out to the street. “She says that like it’s an insult,” she commented.
“From her, it is. What lessons haven’t we done?” demanded Keth.
Tris looked up at the sky. “I thought we might talk about lightning a bit.”
Keth too looked up. The clouds were lower, fatter and the dark grey of thunderheads.
“Oh, no,” said Keth, turning pale. “Oh, no. No, no, no, no.”
“No?” asked Glaki.
“Suppertime,” Keth told her. He gently removed Chime from the girl’s fingers, setting the dragon on the lip of the well. Then he swung Glaki up on to his shoulders as the child whooped with glee. To Tris he said again, “No.” To Glaki he said, “Let’s see Aunt Ferouze and find out what’s for supper.” He trotted Glaki to the door in the passageway to the street. Opening it, he called, “Ferouze, I’ve got Glaki.” He looked at Tris, repeated, “No,” and disappeared inside.
By the time Keth left Ferouze, the sky was covered with heavy masses of fast-moving grey clouds. He had delayed going to his room as long as he could, first by helping the old woman to feed Glaki, then by telling the girl a story until she fell asleep. Only after that did he gather his courage and go out into the courtyard. There was no sign of Tris, Little Bear, or Chime. Keth knew he should be relieved that she was gone; instead he was puzzled. He was starting to get some idea of what she was like. She wasn’t the sort to just go away.
He was also dissatisfied with himself. Why hadn’t she made him face the storm? He thrust that idea clean out of his mind. It was just another of the bits of folly that had entered his thoughts after he’d been struck by lightning. Instead he told himself that Tris had finally seen it was futile to argue with him.