Chapter 27
Twenty-Seven
Practice
Fresh air blew through the carriage as we opened the windows wide. The rain had finally sputtered out, and I stuck my head out to breathe in the wet leaves and gentle scent of rain-soaked earth.
“We’ll be through the gates soon. They’ll want to stop and check us since we have a carriage, but it shouldn’t take long,” Schula said.
“You two all right in there?” Eberon asked as we slowed to a stop.
“We’ll be fine,” Schula answered. She stood and pulled our windows closed, shooing Puko out. He knew his way home by now, or he could ride on top until we got there.
“I’ll be ready.” I sat, anxious to get moving. I fidgeted, done with being stuck in the little carriage.
The guards at the gate peeked into the carriage and then waved us through. Eberon steered Boxfield through the streets, and I could tell from his constant grumbling that we were garnering a lot of attention. I was glad to be inside with the curtains drawn.
We rode to Schula’s apartment in silence, ignoring the feeling of fae outside watching us. When the carriage pulled to a stop, I barely had the door opened when it was pulled out of my hands and thrown wide.
“Wren, did you get thinner? Come, Mama Flori has lunch upstairs. You will come eat now.” The wrinkled gray face of Mama Flori beamed up at me as I was half dragged out of the carriage toward the stairs that led to the apartment.
“Mama Flori,” I protested, “I can walk on my own.”
But she didn’t really listen. She just turned to Schula and Eberon, who were both trying to contain smiles, and wagged a scolding finger at them. “You didn’t feed her on your trip, did you? Boys! Boys, come get their things and bring them up now.”
Her two sons, also wrinkled gray mole-like fae, emerged from the shop covered in flour. “Yes, Mama.”
“Mama Flori, we did feed her. It’s only been a couple weeks, and I promise the Spring Court did not starve us.” Schula was nearly in tears laughing as I was dragged up the stairs.
“You don’t try hard enough,” she insisted. “Wren, come.”
Through the door, I smelled her baking. Schula’s table was piled high with breads, pies, tarts, and other dishes that were still covered so I couldn’t see what they were yet.
“You eat, go ahead.” Mama Flori sat me in a chair and began unwrapping food and placing it in front of me.
“How did you know we were here?” Schula asked, coming in after us.
“The bird came, and I knew. Come and sit down, Schula. You need to eat too,” Mama Flori said.
Schula and I endured Mama Flori’s scrutiny, and all I could think was how good it was to be back in Thanantholl. I glanced out the window at a smug-looking Puko, who had somehow gotten a bowl of breadcrumbs and was gorging himself.
After her sons carried up our luggage, they helped calm their mother down enough that we could convince her to wrap up the rest of the food for later.
Eberon barely took one step through the door with our last bag when Mama Flori shoved two pies neatly tied up in a parcel into his arms. The boys finally dragged Mama Flori back down to the bakery, and we were left in peace.
Eberon set the pies on the table, folding his arms and looking out the window.
“Well, we’re back. Now we need to deal with .
. .” His words trailed off, but after a moment both Schula and Eberon were looking my way.
My eyes dipped down to the table, tracing the lines of the wood with my gaze instead of looking at them.
“I know,” I said quietly. “There’s no going back now. I have to face these marks so I can move forward.”
“So we can all move forward with our heads intact,” Eberon said, then he smiled. “I’ll go see what I can learn of Thain. He needs a good earful for not telling me about all this, anyway.”
Something in me numbed. Dwellonmar had made all the problems of Thanantholl feel so far away, but now that we were back, everything felt fresh again.
Thain and I arguing, my cowardice in hiding the markings from the others.
From him. I couldn’t blame myself for being afraid at first, but standing in those woods when I’d talked to Thain about the witches for the first time, I’d known this would be significant somehow.
I just hadn’t wanted to face it, and it had been foolish of me to think I could take care of it all by myself before anyone found out.
I’d lasted, what, two days? And then I’d dragged Schula into it.
“We can dwell on what’s done, or we can move forward.” Schula interrupted my spiraling thoughts. “Bath, stretch, take a look at that seal, hmm?”
“Well said,” Eberon mused, then he heaved out a breath and stretched out his shoulders. “I’m going to see what I can learn for now. I’ll send word as soon as I know where Thain is.”
“Thanks, Eb,” Schula said, and she walked him to the front door and locked it behind him. Turning so her back was against the door, she let a slow smile spread across her lips.
“What?” I asked.
“I’m going to do so many things to your body you’ll think you sprouted new muscles to ache,” she teased.
“Why are you so cruel?” I whined, but she was already pulling me up off the chair. I groaned but let her push me toward the bathroom. She started the water running and popped out of the room. “You get in first, I’ll be right back.”
I didn’t wait for the water to finish filling the tub before I dropped my clothes to the floor and started cleaning myself. I was almost done when Schula came back in with fresh towels, setting them on the shelf before stripping off her own travel things.
“I put a couple of logs in the fire,” Schula said, tossing off her own clothes while I finished rinsing my hair and got into the steaming water.
Soon after, she sank into the water with a sigh, quietly sloshing the sides of the tub as she sat.
My eyes trailed down the scars on her back for a moment before I turned my attention away.
Someday I would be brave enough to ask what had happened. Someday.
She stretched her arms out in front of her. “So, you think you’re ready to release that seal?”
“I’ll have to be, won’t I? I just want a little training so I don’t, you know, catch on fire again.”
Schula snorted. “If you do, I’ll put you out.”
I huffed a laugh. “I’m glad you’ll be there.”
“Me too.” She yawned. “Everything has been brighter since I met you, so we can’t have you go burning yourself alive now.”
Clean and rested, we wrapped ourselves in towels, and I put a pot of tea on the fire. Once my hair was free of tangles, I braided it out of my way, and we drained our mugs.
“Here.” Schula handed me a cloak. “Pull it over your face a little. I hung it over the stove, so it should smell more like smoke than like you. It might help stop prying eyes until we get out of the city.”
“We’re leaving Thanantholl? We just got here.” I frowned, pulling the cloak around my shoulders.
“We’re going to run some of the dirt paths outside the gates,” she said. “No one is going to bother us there, and if you have any mishaps with your fire, you’ll be less likely to hurt anyone.”
“Oh.” I pulled the hood up and took off my smoky quartz. It was probably safer here, and I’d hate to lose it in the woods.
After that, Schula dragged me outside. A light breeze rustled the trees overhead, shaking fat leaves over us.
She’d been right about the cloak, it helped, and we were able to avoid attention as we slipped through back paths and lesser used roads until we reached the front gates.
The guards nodded us out, and Schula started us down a faint dirt path through the trees.
Admittedly, I was nervous to do anything with my magic, but I was frustrated and ready to do something about it.
Part of that must have shown on my face, because Schula was relentless in our workout.
She had me run with her along narrow paths, barely bigger than game trails.
But they did the job, and soon enough I was sweating despite the autumn chill.
Unfortunately, if you weren’t paying close attention, you’d get stuck by the thorns that covered the ground, requiring you to lift your feet higher and choose your steps wisely.
By the time we stopped, my lungs ached for air.
Schula handed me water, and we started stretches in a clearing outside of Thanantholl, not too far off the road.
At least the walk back wouldn’t be as long.
She then proceeded to contort my body and hers into some impressive shapes while describing how to control my magic.
My body was every bit as sore as the first day she’d had me stretch, and muscles I didn’t know I had screamed at me to stop, but Schula didn’t let me.
“I can’t stay standing like this much longer.” I was trying very hard not to whine, but I didn’t think it was working.
“Hold it for just a little more,” she said, pressing her knee into my back. “You’re going to know this stance in your sleep or die trying.”
“Great,” I grunted. Puko sat overhead watching us with casual raven amusement.
“All right, relax.” No sooner had the words left her lips than I fell to the ground. “You wanted this.”
“I know,” I said. “I’m ready, just tell me what’s next.”
“Well, I don’t know much about human bodies,” Schula admitted. “Maybe you do need a break. Next, we can meditate.”
“We can what?” I didn’t bother moving.
“We’re going to work on your calm and concentration. If you don’t have control of your mind, you won’t have control of your magic.”
“That makes sense. Magic is tied to strong emotion, right?” I asked.
“Yes, it is.” Schula pulled me into a sitting position and sat down beside me. “If you can keep calm, you can control magical outbursts. We start with this, and then when you’re ready, you can handle whatever releases with your seal.”
“Hopefully,” I mumbled.