Flecks of Gold (11 page)

I didn’t have to wait long, however. He was soon showing me several patterns of the things around us and projecting what I could do to them by tweaking certain strands of each lacing. It was amazing. Breeohan showed me how to make a twig unbreakable, how to turn sand into glass or rock. I was starting to see what kind of things were possible with this lacing magic, but the pure scope of possibilities boggled and frightened me. I had to stop after awhile. Changing patterns took energy, and by noon I was spent.

Breeohan sat calmly on a rock while I wheezed next to him. I glared. “Why aren’t you worn out?”

Breeohan took out some rations while I stared at his graceful poise jealously. “I have been practicing for years and have built up endurance.”

“Show off,” I mumbled. He smiled serenely.

By late evening Breeohan and I reached the next village. I was glad to see that it was smaller than Cibar. There was no chance of getting lost, even if I was separated from Breeohan. The inn we found was as clean as I supposed any place in this primitive country could be, and I didn’t choke too badly on the food. At least it wasn’t slimy, which was a big plus. There was an awkward moment when the innkeeper looked at us slyly, flashed this icky, knowing grin, and asked if we wanted a nice room with a big bed.

“Do you see a ring on this finger? No! So you shouldn’t assume—”

Breeohan broke into my speech since I guess he saw that the innkeeper was confused. “We need two separate rooms,” he said.

“What does a ring mean?” he asked after the innkeeper stalked away in an offended huff.

“Oh, I didn’t think of that,” I said, embarrassed. “In my country, a ring on the left hand’s third finger means that you’re married.”

“In our country one shows that he is wedded by wearing a band on the left wrist. I wondered myself if you were married.” He looked pointedly at my watch that I still wore despite its uselessness. I blushed deeply, quickly unclasped the watch, and stuffed it in my backpack. It was disorienting, not knowing anyone’s cultural system, and I was getting tired of always being confused.

The next morning we headed out before the sun had risen fully. The air whispered with a cool breeze, but I knew it would soon change to a hot wind that would squeeze the moisture from my skin.

“So, wristbands show if you’re married. Is there anything else I should know about before I go and stick my foot in my mouth again?”

“What does that mean, ‘stick my foot in my mouth’? It sounds painful.” I glanced toward him to see his brows drawn together. He looked frustrated and confused.

“It just means that I made a mistake, spoke without knowing what was going on. I’ll try to steer clear, I mean, stay away from colloquial phrases, but I’m not sure if I’ll manage it very well.”

“I would not wish to point out things of which you might already be aware, but I did notice that you do not observe the going down of the sun in the evening, nor do you thank the sun in the morning.”

“Is that what you were doing when you touched your forehead and swept your arm up before? Is that a cultural or a religious thing?”

“Both. The sun is God’s banner, reminding us of his daily presence in our lives. That is one reason why it is better to travel during the day, for God’s presence in the night is much dimmer. Day is a time of bright truth where dark things cannot hide.” He spoke simply, with no trace of doubt.

“So if I don’t salute the sun will I get in trouble?”

Breeohan ran his hand over the strap of his bag, back and forth before answering. “In a way, you may have trouble. You could be labeled as a blasphemer. That would not be too bad. But if you are accused of being a worshiper of Baleel, the dark one, that would be serious. Worshipers of Baleel are hanged, and the citizens may not bother to give you a trial before they kill you for fear of a curse.”

I shivered, though the sun was now high and the air was like a fiery blanket. “I guess I’ll salute the sun from now on. Thanks for the tip.”

For the rest of the day, Breeohan taught me new lacings. The patterns were starting to get a little jumbled in my head, so he quizzed me until I wanted to scream and had to ask him to stop before I bit his head off.

That night we slept in the open, and the next morning I saluted the sun with Breeohan as it rose.

The following day saw us walking resolutely in the baking sun as Breeohan taught me new lacings and what to do with them. I started to guess which strand could be tweaked before Breeohan showed me, and he’d tell me if I’d guessed correctly or if I would have blown us up. It seemed I was gaining endurance in walking and manipulating lacings at the same rate. My legs were less sore, and I was able to change about twenty lacings before I had to call it quits.

Breeohan admitted he was shocked at my progress.

“What can I say? I’m an A student,” I said.

Breeohan didn’t ask what I meant. He just shook his head, and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, “Why even try . . . crazy ranting.”

I grinned slyly. “It’s killing you, isn’t it?”

“Of course not,” he said stubbornly, gaze fixed on the road.

“You don’t want to know what an A student is?”

He kept striding forward, looking down the road, and I just waited.

“Oh, very well! What is an A student?” His breath whooshed out, and he glared at me before his twitching lips gave him away and he smiled.

I told him all about my school and classes, changing the words if they didn’t translate so that he could understand.

“I’m tired of talking about me. Tell me about you. Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

“I have no siblings, and my mother lives near the palace. The wind flew over my father many years ago.”

It was my turn to be confused. “What does that mean?”

“He is gone.” He seemed to struggle with trying to explain, as if he had been perfectly clear in the first place.

“Did he leave you? My father left my mom and me too. Just up and vanished without even telling her he was running off.”

“I’m sorry, but that’s not what I meant. He has gone with the wind.”

I felt like giggling at his inadvertent Scarlet O’Hara reference, but then I finally got that he was saying his father was dead, which sobered me instantly. “Do you miss him?”

“I hardly knew him. I was at school, and meetings between us were formal.”

“I’ve often wondered what it’s like to have a father,” I said.

“You don’t remember your father then?”

“He left my mom before I was born. In fact, she says he didn’t even know she was pregnant with me. Don’t get me wrong, though. My parents were married. He just left before she found out about me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Oh, it’s okay. Mom and I do fine by ourselves. I take care of her.” I stopped, realizing that I had failed to protect her from Kelson. I had brought him into our home. If that was taking care of Mom, I should be fired.

Breeohan must have seen my face fall. “It is not for the child to take care of the parent, but the parent to care for the child until the child is young no longer. Then the role is reversed.”

“Hey, who’re you calling a child?”

“It’s an old saying.” There was a slight smile on his face which I regarded suspiciously. “I was simply trying to tell you that it wasn’t your fault, Mary.”

“But it
is
my fault. I was the one who fell for his enchantment trick and let him waltz right into our house. Ismaha said I could have stopped the enchantment any time if I’d really wanted to, but I was weak and foolish.”

“Enchantments are sly things. Even a fully trained mage could fall under the influence of one if the caster is subtle enough about it.”

I knew he was just trying to make me feel better, but I appreciated the effort. “I bet you’d never fall under an enchantment, or something similar, say . . . feeling befuddled over a girl.” I smiled playfully at him, thinking of Avana.

He blushed as I had intended. Really, he was just too easy.

We got to a town that night, and after a salute to the sun, we headed to our different rooms. The next morning’s salute creeped me out when I noticed several villagers scrutinizing my movements. I was glad Breeohan had instructed me.

Walking was easy today. My muscles bunched and slid without any soreness at all. I also noticed that my legs looked a little leaner, a bonus I was happy to observe. On top of all this good news, I was able to perform fifty lacings before I had to stop for the day. It was time for a little fun.

“So tell me about this Avana girl. Is she everything that is lovely and wonderful? Do you swoon at the sight of her? You do blush a lot, but somehow you don’t seem like the swooning type.”

Color flooded Breeohan’s neck and cheeks. “I do not swoon. Only feather-headed females swoon.”

“Well, well. I guess there are some attitudes that stay the same no matter where you go. It’s nice to know how you feel about women. Maybe I should go warn this Avana girl to keep her distance for her own good,” I softly mocked, though I felt a true twinge of misgiving.

Breeohan’s aloof pose crumpled. He raised his hands as if to ward me off. “That’s not what I meant. I was only talking about the silly girls who do it for attention. There really are women like that, believe me. I’ve had to catch them before.”

I couldn’t help the laugh that shot out of my mouth. “You really had to catch someone? I thought that only happened in romance novels.”

“More than one lady has fallen conveniently into my arms when I was trying to make an escape. In fact,” he turned to me with a wily curve on his lips. “I seem to remember you falling at my feet not too long ago.”

I stopped dead and folded my arms. “I did not swoon. My legs were wobbly, and I was resting them for a moment. I didn’t ask you to pick me up.”

Breeohan looked over his shoulder at me but kept walking. Finally, I had to drop my arms and run after him or be left behind.

“You never told me about Avana,” I panted when I’d caught up.

“There’s nothing to say.”

“Your flustered expression says otherwise,” I goaded.

“She’s just a family friend, as I said before. Show me the juno bush lacing.”

My eyebrow rose, but I flashed the lacing. “What made you decide to buy her soap as a gift?” I continued relentlessly.

“Mother told me to get her something. Can we please change the subject?”

“Okay. So is she younger or older than you are?” I looked up at him innocently. He scowled and strode ahead of me while I laughed.

T
he next morning
Breeohan announced that we were only three days away from the king’s city. We’d slept in a little canyon he called the Klio Wadi that reminded me of the Grand Canyon, but smaller. His words echoed as he spoke, and I had the silliest urge to call out “hello,” so I could hear how many times the greeting came back.

“Does water ever run through this place anymore?” I pretended to look interested in the dry stream bed, but really I was counting how many times I heard “anymore” repeat. Only four times. I searched my mind for a possible lacing that could create the echo. I found I couldn’t help but look for lacings in everything. It was like the time I became addicted to Tetris. When I was twelve years old, I’d played that game every waking moment. At night I’d dreamed about how to fit the blocks in place. Finding lacings was quickly becoming just as addictive, but I knew it would be much more useful.

“Hello,” I said quietly, trying to see the pattern. I thought of sound waves, and . . .
ah ha, there it is!
Breeohan raised his eyebrows at me.

“I just wanted to find the pattern,” I said defensively.

“And?”

I showed him. After our first day of lessons, we had both stopped doing the line-by-line thing. It was obvious to me that he didn’t need the slow method, so now we showed each other whole patterns to save time.

“I can’t wait until you meet the magician masters. They won’t know what to do with you.”

I felt troubled. “Breeohan, I’m not sure I want to meet your masters. In my country, all people are equal, despite one being the teacher and the other the student. The way you refer to your ‘masters’ makes me nervous. I’m already having enough trouble accepting the fact that I’ll have to deal with nobles and a king.”