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Chapter 7

Having given up the pretence that Jestia wasn't going to get cold or scared and order her to her bed Ufalla had gotten three good nights sleep in a row which was why she was more than a little perturbed when she was shaken violently and Jestia with her hand slapped soundly over Ufalla's mouth was whispering in her ear, "Get up and come with me."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Ufalla said, but it didn't really come out because of Jestia's hand.

"What?" Jestia asked in a whisper, removing her hand.

Ufalla rolled on the tiny cot to face her and her breasts were pressed right against Jestia's so she took a moment to still her heart and quiet her breathing before she said in what sounded more to her ears like a husky admission of her love than any thing else, "I said what the hell is wrong with you?"

"Come on I'll tell you when we get outside," Jestia said. "Grab your cloak, your sword and your boots."

"Dammit Jestia . . . " She could just make out her face in the moonlight and anything else she was going to say died on her lips as she quickly got out of bed before she did something that would be hard to explain in the light of day. She grabbed her boots, sword and her cloak and actually beat Jestia out the door. They sat down together on the front stoop and donned their cloaks armed themselves and pulled on their boots. "What is it?" Ufalla asked in a whisper.

"I have to practice my spells," Jestia explained, "and you have to be my look out."

"Why me? Why not Jabone? He can see in the dark and his senses are better."

"Because of all that," Jestia said. "I'm still new to this and I'm having trouble with this spell. It's harder to cast magic in the presence of the Katabull."

Ufalla knew that. She hit herself in the forehead with her palm and nodded. "But he'll be with us, Jestia."

"Once I've built myself up, perfected the spell, it shouldn't be a problem. So I figured you can go with me and Tarius can go the next night." She got up and started walking and Ufalla followed. "That way you can both get enough sleep."

"But what about you Jestia?"

"I won't be able to sleep well 'til I have perfected the spell anyway. The dream wakes me every night, Ufalla, and then I can't go back to sleep."

Ufalla nodded. It wasn't something she hadn't figured out already. "I won't let anything happen to you Jestia, not while I still draw a breath."

Jestia walked in front of her, stopped looked up at her and whispered angrily, "It isn't your place to protect me. Of the two of us I am more dispensable than you are. You worry about yourself and I will protect myself. I don't need you to protect me." She turned on her heel and started walking again and Ufalla followed.

"I will protect you anyway," Ufalla said in a whisper in her ear. Jestia made an angry sound and walked faster and Ufalla smiled. Jestia didn't want to think she needed anyone much less a commoner like Ufalla.

She led Ufalla to a small, empty building even further back in the compound than their own barracks. "I found this the other day. It apparently used to be a quarantine barracks." Ufalla slapped a hand on Jestia's shoulder.

"If that's the case it will be filled with disease."

"Gods, Ufalla, do you ever listen to the stupid things you say? What do you think that disease has become corporeal and is sitting in wait for us?"

"No smart ass, but I have had medic's training and disease can imbed itself in walls and cloth."

"You act as if I know nothing of disease. I'd dare say I know more than you, Ufalldown. It's been cleaned I'm sure."

"By the people who throw their shit in the street."

"You just stand here and keep watch," she ordered hotly

"Yes your royal hindass," Ufalla said sarcastically, saluting her.

Jestia seemed to actually look chastised and said, "If it will make you feel better I'll do a cleansing spell." Ufalla just nodded her head and Jestia walked in and closed the door behind her.

Ufalla looked out at the darkness of the camp all around her. No light came through the windows and no sound came through the door at her back so she knew Jestia was already casting spells. She pulled her cloak back until the handle of her sword was sticking out where she could easily grab it and she leaned back against the door wondering if she was ever going to be warm again. Her mind went back to being in bed with Jestia their bodies pressed together so tightly on that tiny cot that they might as well have been one body and suddenly she wasn't so cold.

* * *

Jestia cast a cleansing spell, then darken windows, then cone of silence, and then witch light. She sat down on the floor and spread her books, stones and bones before her. She studied the spell, called up energy from the earth, and throwing her hands before her body said, "Invisible shield." There was a crackling of energy in front of her and then nothing. Even though the spell was supposed to make an invisible shield she didn't have to feel for it to know it wasn't there.

"Dammit," Jestia said, instantly frustrated. She shook herself. She couldn't afford to be impatient and give up so easily. She had to focus, try to figure out what was going wrong.

Her mind went back to a day in Jazel's alchemy when she'd been distracted and thinking that all this wasn't nearly as much fun as she had thought it was going to be.

"Jestia, pay attention," Jazel ordered. Jestia had nodded and looked at Jazel, Jazel sighed no doubt seeing the wander lust in Jestia's eyes. "Girl don't you realize how lucky you are?"

"To have you as a teacher, yes I know, you tell me a dozen times daily."

Jezel had laughed. "Aye, you're right, that does make you lucky." She'd gotten serious then. "But maybe better than that," she stopped, looking thoughtful, "but probably not . . . Jestia you can interpret dreams with an accuracy I never accomplished. I'm a prophetic dreamer, as I know you are, and I always know what my dreams mean, but I was never good at interpreting another person's dream. I was in fact so bad at it that I just started telling people that I couldn't do it at all. But those things alone wouldn't make you an exceptional witch. Jestia you are a thought-caster. Do you even realize how rare that is?"

"I don't even know what that means," Jestia had said, not bored for the first time in days.

"It means you don't need fancy, silly incantations. All you have to do is think of the spell, invoke the mere name of the spell, and you cast it. With a little practice you could cast without saying a word. I sometimes fake it by whispering the bulk of my incantation but I can't cast a single spell without reciting an entire incantation, without putting all of myself into it. You do most spells with very little effort."

And that was of course a lot of the problem. It had all just come too easy for her. Jazel had been right. Once she connected to the power of the world she could do what she had just done and walk into the building and as fast as she could say cleanse room, darken windows, witch light it was done.

It's not so lucky to be able to interpret dreams, and right now I wish I'd never had the prophetic kind myself. And I can cast dozens of spells by just saying them and then I sit here and work at it and invisible shield becomes dancing energy against nothing. Maybe I just need to go for a full incantation.

She picked up her spell book and looked long and hard at the incantation she'd written down as Jazel had told it to her. Obviously it was hard to rhyme invisible shield.

She read the incantation, Shield of darkness, shield of light. Wow! They use that darkness light thing a lot in incantations. Gets a little stale doesn't it? Dammit Jestia focus! Shield of darkness, shield of light, shield that's hidden from my sight . . . And then what? That just says what it is, it doesn't order it to be made. It's like it's only half there. All those times I recited this over and over again and only now I realize that . . . Well it must be wrong. She turned the page but if there was more to the spell she hadn't written it down. She thought back to the exact day she'd written the spell. She'd been bored, staring out the window at a bright sunny day wishing she could just go outside and maybe go shopping. Oh gods I wasn't listening. Why was I never listening? There has to be more to the incantation; it doesn't make any sense this way.

She tried it anyway. "Shield of darkness, shield of light, shield that's hidden from my sight." This time there wasn't even a crackling of energy. This time there was nothing at all. And she knew why. I didn't believe it would work. The spell caster can't have any doubt that the spell will work, but that's not the whole incantation it can't be. And it would be just like Jazel to have me practice it over and over again the wrong way and fail just to teach me a lesson. But it didn't work because like a spoiled brat I just got frustrated and took off. I have to learn this spell, but how can I when I haven't written it down properly? I will have to rewrite the incantation, make it my own. That's what a real caster does anyway.

She started writing but several pages later she'd still found nothing that worked there was a gentle knocking on the door. "Douse witch light," she said and the light was gone. She got up walked over and opened the door, looking into Ufalla's tired face.

"Jestia you must have some sleep. We both must have some sleep."

Jestia nodded, went in and gathered up all her things. She closed the door and followed Ufalla back to their barracks.

"I'm sorry, Ufalla, I lost track of time."

Ufalla nodded silently. "It's all right. Did you get any closer to your goal?"

"Oh Ufalla." Jestia was near tears as she moved up alongside her friend. "You're all right about me. I'm a spoiled brat and now my selfish, flighty ways have come back to haunt me."

Ufalla reached out took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "You know we only tease you as you tease us because we are the best of friends. If we truly believed you to be no more than a bit of fluff do you think any of us would have wanted you with us?"

"I didn't write the whole spell down," Jestia said in agony. "I can't thought cast it and I only wrote half the spell down. That's why I could never do it, because I don't know the incantation and I kept trying to rewrite it and . . . At one point I conjured a bat. I have no idea how I did it or where it came from, none at all, maybe the rafters. After all I can't make a bat it has to come from someplace." She didn't let go of Ufalla's hand, just walked after her feeling like she had let them all down.

"You will remember, Jestia," Ufalla said gently. She looked down and smiled at her. "And if not a bat in someone's face might do just as well."

Jestia laughed and then quickly stopped as she realized they had gotten to the barracks. They undressed on the steps again and then quietly snuck in and got back into bed. "Thanks," Jestia whispered in Ufalla's ear. Ufalla patted her arm and in a few minutes they were both asleep.

* * *

Kasiria woke to the sound of whispering just outside the door and a few minutes later Jestia and Ufalla walked in. She was about to roll over and go back to sleep when she noticed they were carrying their swords, boots, and cloaks.

Now what were you two up to in the dead middle of the night? Kasiria wondered. She'd seen them take privy trips before and while they'd on occasion put on their boots and grabbed their daggers she'd never seen them take their swords and cloaks with them. Maybe a tryst? No. I don't think Jestia would have given me permission to bed her friend if she was actually using her herself and I get the idea that if any of them wanted to do that they'd just do it right here. I don't think there is an ounce of modesty between them. So, what the hell were they doing? Well great, now I'm wide awake and I have to go to the privy. She sighed deeply, got out of bed, and wondered if she was ever going to get another good night's sleep. She grabbed her dagger, strapped it on, and headed for the outhouse, not bothering to put on her boots. She had never shared quarters before with anyone. As the king's daughter she'd had her own room in the castle then at the academy being the only woman she'd been housed in the head master's house with his wife Hanna ever vigilant to protect Kasiria's virtue. Hanna would just die if she knew I was sleeping in a room with two boys especially Kartik boys. A sudden thrill ran through her as she realized she had lived in the house that Jena and Tarius had lived and loved in. Maybe she had even been sleeping in Jena's room in the bed they'd expressed their love in. She probably would have gotten completely silly about the whole thing if she hadn't gotten to the privy then and with the stench of it all romantic thoughts left her head. She did her business and rushed back to her barracks and her bed. She tried to go back to sleep but couldn't because now she could hear them all breathing and could hear their cots' legs rapping on the floor as they tossed and turned—except the girls who were now so sound asleep they didn't move at all. Outside a bird was singing and the wind had kicked up and . . . Dammit, it's not so much their all bunking with me that's keeping me up, it's the Katabull hearing. It would happen now when I'm trying to sleep and not when I might have heard what Derek really said to Jabone. Gods! How do they exist like this? I can hear everything. She quit fighting it and just embraced it for a minute, how far could she take this? She really listened and shortly she could hear somewhere a door open and then close—somewhere near the front of the garrison one of the barracks she was sure. Then she could hear water running and the only water that could be running around here came in the bamboo pipes to the caldrons that warmed water for the showers and the water that ran out of the bathhouse into a drainage ditch. Someone was showering in the middle of the night. Why would anyone be showering in the middle of the night? The water would be cold they only heated it in the evenings.

Curiosity got the best of her and she found herself getting up again. This time she grabbed her knife and her boots and headed out the door. She had just gotten out side when Jabone joined her.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, and she noticed he had his sword.

"No I . . . "

"You just went to the outhouse so I figured well there must be something wrong for you to rise so soon afterwards and this time you took your boots." He sat down on the stoop with her and started putting his own boots on.

The water sounded loud to her, so loud she thought he might hear it, too. "Do you hear the water running?"

He listened carefully then nodded.

"It's the middle of the night. Why would anyone be showering?" she asked.

"It's a good question. You lead I'll follow."

Not too surprisingly their trek took them to the men's showers. "We will wait 'til they come out and see who it is," Kasiria said.

"Or I could just walk in and see," Jabone offered.

"Oh yeah," Kasiria said, smiling at her own silliness. Of course Jabone could go into the men's showers.

He was, after all, a man. She motioned a hand towards the door and Jabone walked in. There was a stifled scream and then Jabone walked out laughing.

"Well?" Kasiria asked.

"Well . . . either Eric has had the oddest accident I've ever seen or he's no more male than you are."

"Eric!" Kasiria said in disbelief. "Why he gave me as much grief as any of the other men. When I think about it more than most. Are you sure?"

Jabone laughed again. "I know what a woman looks like, Kasiria."

"Well I'll be damned." Kasiria laughed too then.

"Eric" ran from the showers, so quickly dressed that even Kasiria could tell he was a she now. Of course it was just because she knew now and knowing could see feminine features where she hadn't before.

"Kasiria . . . sergeant I can explain," she said. "I was alone, the military it was my only choice . . . and I just thought it would be easier this way and . . . "

"I understand all that, but what I don't understand is why you would help them gang up on me," Kasiria said.

Jabone looked at Kasiria and answered her question. "What better way to hide who she was than by taunting you? They weren't likely to find out she was a woman as long as she was as upset by your presence at the academy as they were."

"What are you going to do with me?" Eric asked.

Kasiria actually wanted to stomp her into the ground for making her go through all the shit she'd gone through on her own instead of standing up and being counted. How much different her experience at the academy would have been if she'd had even one comrade to share it with.

When Kasiria was quiet too long, Eric asked, "Are you going to tell on me?"

Kasiria thought on it only a moment. "No, why should I? You want to live this useless lie to make life easier for yourself, then you do it. You want to continue to put me down, me and my unit, then go on if that helps you hide your true self. Come on, Jabone, it's late and we need sleep."

Jabone followed her away. "Tarius the Black hid as a man in the Jethrik army," he reminded.

"Tarius the Black had no choice. It is only because of her that the laws were changed so that me and that . . . that thing could join in our own right."

Jabone nodded, seeming to fully understand her anger. "Do you ever get mad at anyone Jabone, at anything?"

Jabone thought about it, then he smiled and nodded. "Oh yes. I was furious mad when my madra ordered me not to come here." Then his features turned dark suddenly and Kasiria knew he was capable of great rage. "My mother told a story of what a Jethrikian man had done to her that made my blood boil and I find I don't really trust any of them because of that. Where I come from . . . well men don't force themselves on women."

"It happens too often here, perhaps there is something to be said for not being so sexually repressed as we are here," Kasiria said. They had reached the barracks and she looked at the door with sudden loathing she was wide awake and she just wanted to stay up and talk to Jabone.

As if reading her mind he said, "I don't think I can go back to sleep right away."

"Me either, you want to go on a walk?"

He nodded and they just started walking around the garrison. They wound up in the stables where Jabone lavished attention on his horse instead of paying attention to her. They had lit the small oil lamp by the door as they came in but had she had normal human eyes she would have still been barely able to see. Kasiria took a perch on a gate and just watched Jabone.

"Lex isn't used to being pent up like this. He's used to running in pastures knee deep." He ran his hand over the horse's neck. Kasiria was riding an academy trained horse she had yet to get attached to. "He was glad to be ridden today."

"Perhaps in a few days we could go out again. I'm sure you also get tired of being pent up."

"Is it that obvious?" Jabone asked.

"It wasn't 'til I saw you all in the woods today. You just all took off without even looking back and I realized you must just spend most of your days running wild across the Kartik," Kasiria said.

"Is that a bad thing?" he asked.

"Not at all. In fact I'm a little envious. I have lived inside walls my whole life. I think that as much as anything else is why I wanted to join the Sword Masters so that I could just get outside the walls," she said in a far-away tone.

Jabone nodded that he understood and said, "There are all kinds of walls."

"Do you have a rank at home?" Kasiria asked, changing the subject.

"Rank?" Jabone asked, patting the horse on the nose one last time and then walking over to stand in front of her. He looked up at her and Kasiria almost forgot the question she had just asked wondering at how smooth his dark skin was. Kartik men had very little if any facial or body hair, Jabone had none that she could see. He didn't shave, of this she was sure. And I grow hair and fangs and claws and . . . my isn't that attractive.

Jabone smiled and again asked, "Rank?"

"Yes . . . oh yes you know like I'm a sergeant."

Jabone sighed. "I have a title I don't much care for, and it would mean nothing to you here. What is rank or title really when all are the same? It's just like a name and I already have a good one."

"You're a follower of the Nameless God," Kasiria said, taking a guess. She hadn't listened much better to her theology lessons than she did in language class.

"Yes, as are Tarius and Ufalla. I don't know what gods Jestia follows if any. It doesn't matter. All is one, and one is all."

Kasiria tried to figure out what he meant and couldn't. She must have looked as confused as she felt because he laughed. "Everything is the Nameless One and nothing is the Nameless One and all things are part of the Nameless One but they aren't the Nameless One," he explained, and if possible she was even more confused. Jabone tried again seeming to have endless patience with her. "Is the king more important than you are?" he asked.

"Yes," Kasiria said.

"No he isn't. Are you better than the boy who cleans the stable?"

"Yes."

"No you aren't. Are men better than women?"

"No," she said without hesitation.

"Right because all are the same, all are part of the Nameless One, and how can any part be greater or lesser than any other part? If a stable boy is called king he is still a stable boy. If a king is called a stable boy he is still a king. But it doesn't matter because all are the same," Jabone said.

It obviously made perfect sense to Jabone and the fact that she had no idea what he was trying to say just drove home how foreign he actually was.

Still he obviously wasn't ready to give up on her. "Eric is a woman. If she pretends to be a man she will be treated differently but does that make her a man?"

"No."

"And if they give you a rank and people treat you differently because of it are you no longer Kasiria?"

"No, of course not."

"So why should anyone treat Eric differently or you differently? All are the same."

Kasiria's scalp tingled as she finally got it. They didn't believe in divisions by classes or sexes or rank or religion because to them everyone was the same. It was why they always made a point of saying that the Amalites' religion caused their wickedness, why they had tried to save them by separating them from that which caused them to do evil because the Amalites also were the same. It was only their hateful beliefs which made them different. She smiled and nodded at him. "I get it, what's more I like it, and it makes sense."

Jabone smiled big then. "So . . . we'd better try to get some sleep." He reached his hands up to help her down, lifting her at her waist and lowering her to the floor as if it was little or no effort. She shouldn't have allowed him to, should have explained that it wasn't proper, but she didn't and as her feet touched the floor she looked up at him and he was looking down at her and the last thing on her mind was what was proper.

Then he just kissed her. He didn't ask he just did it. She'd never actually been kissed before but that didn't stop her from trying to kiss him back. She was sure she was doing it all wrong but he obviously knew what he was doing because her whole body felt like it was on fire.

"We'd better get back," Jabone said as his lips left hers.

"Yes," she agreed, when she'd found her voice and thought. Yes we better get back before we break rules my country men haven't even made up yet.

He took her hand and started leading her out of the stables. He blew out the light as they passed it and just kept leading her by the hand back to their barracks.

"Jabone, why did you kiss me?" Kasiria asked carefully.

"Because I've wanted to since the first time I saw you," he said simply, and that was it all he said, all he was going to say.

"Jabone . . . No one can know about this," Kasiria said.

"I know," he said.

"Seriously, Jabone."

"I know," Jabone said.

"Jabone, I'm not . . . We need to go to bed . . . I mean, we need to get some sleep."

But she literally ached when they were back in their barracks and in their own beds. She looked at where the two girls were sleeping together and wondered if she could convince Jabone that she was cold. too.

* * *

When the horn blew in the morning only Tarius was already up and the rest of them weren't in any hurry to leave warm beds. In fact Kasiria went back to sleep and it was only Tarius calling out, "Hey, the horn blew," that got her out of her bed.

She looked at Jabone's sleepy face and he looked back and smiled at her, she smiled back. Then as she threw her gear on and joined the others in a dead run for the middle of the compound wondered just where the hell she was supposed to put her memory of that kiss and whether he was going to do it again or not.

They lined up way after everyone else and looked half dressed. In fact Jabone and Ufalla were still trying to get their swords to hang right. Derek gave her a hard look and she looked at the ground afraid he'd see her guilty face and figure out what had happened and what she was thinking, everything that she was thinking.

She felt completely undone, like anyone looking at her could just guess everything she was feeling. Then she saw "Eric" looking as tired as she and all the rest of her unit—except Tarius—did and she felt some better. So . . . You left me to hang in the wind and then went out of your way to help Thomas make it impossible for me to command my unit and now look, after all your lies it seems we're in it together after all because you're hiding things and I'm hiding things but you have to sweat because I know your secrets, but you don't know mine.

She saw Ufalla and Jestia whispering to each other and tried to hear what they were saying. She did but it didn't help because they were of course speaking in Kartik. I have got to learn Kartik. Where were you two last night and what could you possibly have been up to in the middle of the night? She wondered if she should just confront them about it but then decided they'd probably just lie about it anyway.

Their day was busy with lessons and sword practice 'til they—who started the day tired—all just wanted to go to bed. They had showered and met in the mess hall for the evening meal. They were all quiet except Tarius who was talking a mile a minute about what she couldn't be bothered to listen long enough to know. She saw Eric covertly watching them and wondered for the twentieth time that day what her real name was. She looked up at Jabone and he smiled at her and then just went back to eating. So, was that it? He kissed me and now what? Is he going to do or say anything else about it? They had all told her he had a crush on her, and they all apparently knew she had a thing for him so what was going to happen now? And did she really want it to? She was scared of what she was feeling, she who had never been afraid of anything was scared to death of the feelings she had for this very strange man. Did she love him or was her body just ready to couple? An urge brought on by the beast inside her. That he was beautiful in a way no other man had ever seemed beautiful to her there was no doubt, but was that something special and if it wasn't could she just engage in casual love making and then just move on never looking back as the Kartik's seemed to do? Even if I'm feeling something more than just attraction there's no way of knowing that he is. I wonder . . . I don't even know how old he is. Didn't Ufalla say that and he and Jestia were the same age?

"Jestia how old are you?" she asked.

"Eighteen," Jestia said. "Why do you ask>"

"Just curious. You seemed older than the others," she lied.

"I'm the oldest," Tarius said, more than a little perturbed. "I'm twenty, Jabone and Jestia are eighteen and my sister is just seventeen."

Now this actually did surprise Kasiria because the truth was that because of the way they acted she would have thought that Ufalla was older than at least Jestia.

"How old are you?" Tarius asked.

"I'm twenty-three," she said, and immediately thought, He's only eighteen. I'm twenty-three, an old maid by Jethrikian standards and he's only eighteen. What am I thinking and can I make myself stop thinking it? My father would absolutely come apart at the seams if he knew what I was thinking. I'm coming completely apart because I know what I'm thinking.

* * *

Ufalla had just taken a beating from an inferior fighter and she walked over and landed in the dirt sitting next to Jestia making a little cloud as she did so. Jestia coughed and waved the dust away. She leaned over and whispered in Ufalla's ear. "Ufalla, you must let your brother go with me tonight. You need some real sleep."

"I've told you, Jestia, Tarius is already holding so many secrets he's about to bust." She then thought, Besides, I don't trust him to guard you as I do. "Jestia it's been over a week now and you're no closer are you?"

Jestia looked defeated. "No, not one bit, but I can't give up now, Ufalla, I won't," she said with conviction.

"I'm not saying you should Jestia, but a good night's sleep would do us both a lot of good. Maybe if you got some good rest you'd be closer to remembering the spell."

Jestia nodded and rested her head on Ufalla's shoulder. "You're right. I'll take some powders to help keep the nightmares away and try to get some real sleep."

* * *

Kasiria watched them. They were both on the brink of exhaustion as well they should be. She'd caught them coming in very late three of the last five nights. She didn't hear them leave because it was at the beginning of the night when she slept hardest and she was sure they didn't always wake her when they came back.

"So, is this the way it is with all swords women, are all of you queer?" Thomas asked at her shoulder. Shen she turned and saw Eric standing just behind him it was all she could do not to expose her.

"Yes, yes that's it exactly," Kasiria said. "We're all queer. Isn't that right, Eric? I mean you do always have to copy everything your stupid friend says." The other woman looked at her feet and said nothing.

"So, what's it like in your barracks, just a big orgy with all the queers just kissing and . . . "

"You ignorant savages act as if being queer is the worst thing a person can be." Jabone had been standing quietly at her side watching the fight and ignoring the exchange but apparently he'd heard enough and could hold his tongue no longer. "Among my people we do not worry so much about who other people love. We worry only about who we love and judge people only on how they treat other people. You are a man without honor who respects no one but himself. If you so much as look at my friends again, if I hear you so much as speak of them, if you even talk to my sergeant again, there will be none alive who will be able to find your bones." Then he turned on Eric and said, "And you are as bad as your friend because you condone everything he does with your silence or with your own hateful words. Now go before I grow any more tired of you." And then he growled.

To Kasiria's amazement, Thomas left without another word and Eric followed looking over her shoulder at them an unspoken apology in her eyes.

Kasiria looked up at Jabone and she smiled a smile that must have told everyone just exactly how she felt about him. In that moment she knew it was more than just lust and before she could stop herself she said, "I grow more fond of you by the day."

He smiled back, "Because I can strike fear into the heart of men with only my words?"

"And because I believed you when you said none alive would be able to find his bones," she said with a smile.

"You are if possible even more beautiful when you smile," he said, and then he was gone into the practice ring to fight.

* * *

Kasiria was bound and determined to find out what Jestia and Ufalla were up to so that night she pretended to be asleep 'til it was the middle of the night and the two girls were still in their beds and her faking sleep turned to her really sleeping.

The next night they woke her up again when they came back from wherever they'd been and whatever they'd been doing. So the next night she feigned sleep again and this time she caught them sneaking out, waited 'til they were well outside, then got up, put her boots on, and followed far enough back that she couldn't be detected. Being able to see in the dark and her increased hearing ability made the job of following them without being spotted easy and she began to really appreciate her Katabull senses.

The girls went to the old infirmary and since she half expected that they were meeting in secret away from the group to enjoy each other she was more than a little surprised to see Jestia go inside as Ufalla took up what was obviously a guard's stance. She even cleared her sword handle of her cloak.

What in hell's name are they doing? She moved in a little closer. She listened as hard as she could but could hear no sound coming from inside the building so she moved even closer and listened even harder and still no sound. It was then that she noticed that the windows were still dark. She's in there alone with no light and if she is meeting some boy for sex, well I would hear it. I can hear the creek running right now and that's a mile or more from here. But there is nothing. She moved still closer, but still saw no light and heard no sound. It just didn't make any sense. Then she started to remember things, like how much Jestia had known about plants, how she'd wound up pulling a medicinal plant that even Kasiria had to look up, how she seemed more educated than the others. She's a witch, there is no other explanation. What does that mean and is that what they're all hiding? The fact that Jestia is a witch? Jabone changes his family history daily, his mother is a Kartik fighter, his mother is Jethrikian. His mother is a smaller woman, his mother was a woman larger than me. His father is as big as he is, his father is a thin wiry man of average height. His father was Jethrikian. His parents had both fought in the war, but if his mother is a Jethrikian woman well that isn't bloody likely is it? Tarius . . . Well he is always telling things that make the others glare at him and then taking them back or stumbling over things and then saying that isn't what he means. And they are still speaking in Kartik all the time, and damn . . . Why didn't I listen more in my language classes? Why didn't I apply myself? Are all of these deceptions just to cover up the fact that Jestia's a witch? What are they really here for?

She kept watching the building for what she was sure was hours. Finally Jestia walked out looking like she'd been beaten and then they started back towards the barracks. Kasiria listened carefully as she followed them at a distance and for once they were actually speaking in her tongue so they were using their Jethrickian enough that it came as easy as their own tongue so when they were speaking in their language in front of her it really was to keep her out.

"You'll learn the spell, Jestia," Ufalla said. "I think you are trying too hard and worrying too much."

"And maybe all my life I've not tried hard enough and worried too little."

Kasiria couldn't stick around to hear more of their conversation. She knew now that she was right about Jestia and she had to beat them back to the barracks.

 

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Framed