why there aren’t woman Masters.’
‘Mistresses,’ Anne corrects. I wince, feel heat in my face, hotter than the day.
‘The women come out all crooked; it breaks them, burns ’em up. Girls is a bit different,
Dain says.’
Anne puts her glass down, brings her face close to mine. I swallow; try not breathe
her in. Try not to look like it anyway. My skin prickles, my head is light, like
I could just float into that blue sky.
‘You know what I think?’ she says.
‘I guess I will in a moment.’
‘I think they’re frightened of us. And…’ I look in her eyes, dark as the sky in the
middle of the night. ‘They should be.’
She smiles, touches my nose with a finger, swings back from me and picks up her drink.
The day’s slowed. My heart’s beating hardly at all, I reckon. I take a breath, and
another. I can feel her so close, a thousand miles away.
‘Nearly was killed last week,’ I say.
Anne frowns. ‘You been annoying Mr Dain again?’
‘Again?’
‘You’re trouble and everyone knows it,’ Anne says. ‘Only a matter of time till you’re
et, if not by him then one of the others.’
I laugh, low and easy. ‘Who says?’
‘No one.’ Anne’s lips thin. ‘Maybe Sally Dalton.’
‘Sally Dalton don’t even know me.’ Feel my cheeks go hot all over again.
‘Makes big enough eyes at you.’
‘Never seen that,’ I say, though I probably have. We’re Day Boys, we expect big eyes.
‘She’s most likely right, but…No, it weren’t Dain but a Hunter.’
‘From the city? You wandering where you shouldn’t be?’
‘Where else?’ I take another swig. Drag a finger across my neck. ‘He was going to
slit my throat.’
‘And you’re sitting here all calm.’
‘Dain saved me, but not that I needed him. Cool as this cider, I was.’
Anne snorts, and I know I’ve taken it one brag too far.
I pull out a smoke and offer her one, and her face falls. ‘That’ll kill ya just as
good as any Hunter.’
‘Nothing going to kill me,’ I say. ‘Not a Hunter, certainly not plain old smoke.’
‘You’re a damn fool,’ she says.
‘Maybe I am.’ But I put the smokes away.
‘There’s never any maybes with you,’ she says. ‘Sun and Sea take you!’
And I don’t know how to feel about her anger.
No time for reflection anyway, because just then the world thinks otherwise. A green
ant stings my arse; they’ve got a damn lot of venom in them, and I’m up and jigging
like a maniac trying to get the bloody thing out of my shorts. Not the way to impress
a lady. Not even close. Anne leaves me to my misery, her laughter stinging even more.
I didn’t even get a chance to thank her for her work. Just watch her leave with a
tightness in my belly, and my skin turning dull and tired.
Soon he’ll have to make a decision, and my thoughts don’t come into it.
Put me out into the town, or out of the town altogether and have me trained for other
work or draw me up to become what he is. Send me to the City in the Shadow of the
Mountain to learn my lessons, a year or two, then into the Change. But that’s a most unlikely settlement. I’m no Dav. Even I know my edges are too rough.
I’ve known what I was since I could know such things. And now I don’t. There’s a
deal of hurt in that.
I don’t know what I want. I guess I don’t want anything much. I would have nothing
change, but the older I get, the more I see it. Everything changes whether I want
it to or not.
Dain raised me. And he didn’t raise me stupid. It wasn’t just facts he hammered into
my skull.
CHAPTER
11
THERE’S A WIND blowing in after the night, hot from the west and whispering when
Certain comes to visit, Petri waiting outside like the good dog she is. Certain doesn’t
always spend his time on the farm and he’s good mates with Dain. He’s an Old Boy,
one of them who was once a Day Boy but didn’t take, wasn’t offered, the Change. Certain
was allowed to live on the edge of town, given land and an
‘Mistresses,’ Anne corrects. I wince, feel heat in my face, hotter than the day.
‘The women come out all crooked; it breaks them, burns ’em up. Girls is a bit different,
Dain says.’
Anne puts her glass down, brings her face close to mine. I swallow; try not breathe
her in. Try not to look like it anyway. My skin prickles, my head is light, like
I could just float into that blue sky.
‘You know what I think?’ she says.
‘I guess I will in a moment.’
‘I think they’re frightened of us. And…’ I look in her eyes, dark as the sky in the
middle of the night. ‘They should be.’
She smiles, touches my nose with a finger, swings back from me and picks up her drink.
The day’s slowed. My heart’s beating hardly at all, I reckon. I take a breath, and
another. I can feel her so close, a thousand miles away.
‘Nearly was killed last week,’ I say.
Anne frowns. ‘You been annoying Mr Dain again?’
‘Again?’
‘You’re trouble and everyone knows it,’ Anne says. ‘Only a matter of time till you’re
et, if not by him then one of the others.’
I laugh, low and easy. ‘Who says?’
‘No one.’ Anne’s lips thin. ‘Maybe Sally Dalton.’
‘Sally Dalton don’t even know me.’ Feel my cheeks go hot all over again.
‘Makes big enough eyes at you.’
‘Never seen that,’ I say, though I probably have. We’re Day Boys, we expect big eyes.
‘She’s most likely right, but…No, it weren’t Dain but a Hunter.’
‘From the city? You wandering where you shouldn’t be?’
‘Where else?’ I take another swig. Drag a finger across my neck. ‘He was going to
slit my throat.’
‘And you’re sitting here all calm.’
‘Dain saved me, but not that I needed him. Cool as this cider, I was.’
Anne snorts, and I know I’ve taken it one brag too far.
I pull out a smoke and offer her one, and her face falls. ‘That’ll kill ya just as
good as any Hunter.’
‘Nothing going to kill me,’ I say. ‘Not a Hunter, certainly not plain old smoke.’
‘You’re a damn fool,’ she says.
‘Maybe I am.’ But I put the smokes away.
‘There’s never any maybes with you,’ she says. ‘Sun and Sea take you!’
And I don’t know how to feel about her anger.
No time for reflection anyway, because just then the world thinks otherwise. A green
ant stings my arse; they’ve got a damn lot of venom in them, and I’m up and jigging
like a maniac trying to get the bloody thing out of my shorts. Not the way to impress
a lady. Not even close. Anne leaves me to my misery, her laughter stinging even more.
I didn’t even get a chance to thank her for her work. Just watch her leave with a
tightness in my belly, and my skin turning dull and tired.
Soon he’ll have to make a decision, and my thoughts don’t come into it.
Put me out into the town, or out of the town altogether and have me trained for other
work or draw me up to become what he is. Send me to the City in the Shadow of the
Mountain to learn my lessons, a year or two, then into the Change. But that’s a most unlikely settlement. I’m no Dav. Even I know my edges are too rough.
I’ve known what I was since I could know such things. And now I don’t. There’s a
deal of hurt in that.
I don’t know what I want. I guess I don’t want anything much. I would have nothing
change, but the older I get, the more I see it. Everything changes whether I want
it to or not.
Dain raised me. And he didn’t raise me stupid. It wasn’t just facts he hammered into
my skull.
CHAPTER
11
THERE’S A WIND blowing in after the night, hot from the west and whispering when
Certain comes to visit, Petri waiting outside like the good dog she is. Certain doesn’t
always spend his time on the farm and he’s good mates with Dain. He’s an Old Boy,
one of them who was once a Day Boy but didn’t take, wasn’t offered, the Change. Certain
was allowed to live on the edge of town, given land and an
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