Wild Magic

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Faan was a small dark shadow huddled on the top step. Reyna sucked in a breath when he saw her, fear turning him cold. Anything could have happened to her out here; the Edge was dangerous after dark, more so than ever these days. He opened his mouth to scold her, then swallowed the words. She lmew everything he meant to say. What was the point of quarrelling one more time?

He sat on the step beside her. “Couldn’t sleep?” In the uncertain starlight, he saw the lines in her face soften, her. mouth curve in a smile that vanished between one breath and the next.

“Nayo,” she said. “Things…” She moved a hand in a shapeless gesture, let it drop.

It was only a few hours till dawn, but the night was hot, the air scarcely stirring. A cat yowled behind them somewhere. Someone screamed, the sound cut off quickly. Music, mostly the heavy throb of drums, drifted to them from the Jang.

“Not going to get better,” Reyna said. He touched Faan’s shoulder; she moved closer, leaning into him as she used to when she was a child. “Drought’s worse out on the farms.”

“That’s what he said?”

“Mm. He’s going to open the temple cisterns for the Edgers so they don’t have to pay Mal prices.”

“They’ll let him do that?”

Reyna chuckled. “He’s not going to ask.”

A lone dog came trotting down the Lane. His head turned as he passed them, but he didn’t stop and vanished round the bend a moment later. They heard some men start yelling and fighting down by the gatts; the guard horn sounded, the noise stopped a few moments later.

Faan stirred. “Sibyl’s been teaching me minors,” she said. She cupped her hands, muttered under her breath. “Look,” she said.

In the dark shimmer between her hands he could see a dozen guards marching four men along the Gatt Road, then the scene vanished.

“I can’t hold it long,” she said. “Not yet.”

“I suppose it takes practice like everything worth do-

_ing.”

“Mm. I went up on the roof tonight, tried to find my mother.”

Reyna stiffened; fear and jealousy made him sick. After all these years…

Faan caught hold of his hand. “Nayo, Rey. Not that. It’s just… I need to know who I am. I NEED to know.”

He let out the breath he’d been holding, hugged her. “Don’t mind me, Fa. I get stupid sometimes. It’s just. •. you haven’t said anything about her for a long time. I thought you’d forgot.”

“Nayo.” She sighed. “Unless you’ve bone for a brain, you can bang your head against a wall only so many times before you say forget it, it isn’t worth the aggravation.”

“What happened this time?”

“Nothing. There was a picture of a lock and the mirror went away. I was afraid I couldn’t do it again, I didn’t try till just now.”

He got to his feet, reached down, and pulled her up. “It’s time we were both in bed.”

Faan put her hand on the door; after a few muted clicks from the lock and the bar, it swung silently open.