Read Online Intrigues by Sharon Green - Free Book Online
Authors: Sharon Green
Tags: Speculative Fiction
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able to learn the real lesson,” Vallant said, sending me a smile that seemed to be filled with fond pride. “The only one a person has to be in control of is him or herself, not the entire world. Bein’ in control of yourself lets you say no to the ones who take advantage, and also lets you find a way to make the decision stick. But if you let fear take control instead… “
“Then you have to run the world in order to feel safe,” I finished for him, following him through a doorway. Inside was a large and beautiful room with a marble bath rather than one made of wood, and the room even had windows. There were also a number of wide lounges and a few chairs that seemed to be made of cotton webbing, not to mention a bar, a place for a tea service, and a table probably meant for snacks.
“Those cabinets over there have towels and heavy cotton robes,” Vallant said, pointing to our left. “Those things that look like vases at the edge of the bath are filled with soap, and there’s only one thing missin’ right now: nicely warmed water. The servants with Fire magic have been workin’ on it, but they must be Lows because they haven’t gotten very far. Tepid is all you have, but that’s better than nothin’.”
“It is better than nothing, but there’s no reason to settle,” I said while walking closer to the bath and Vallant closed the door behind us. “I should be able to give the servants a hand… “
There was an awful lot of water in that very large bath, and warming it posed something of a problem. Once the water was already warm it could be kept like that with only a small amount of effort from above it, but the original warming needed to be done from below. I’d once forced bathing water to be warm with the help of other Highs in Fire magic, but right now there was just me and a lot of barely heated water. But there ought to be a way…
“Maybe that will do it,” I muttered as an idea came to me. Those woven patterns we’d done so much with… One of them seemed to suggest that if it was changed just a little and spread out at the bottom of the bath beneath the water…
“Whoa!” Vallant exclaimed as heavy steam suddenly began to rise from the water. “Whatever you did, I’m guessin’ it was a little too much. That water’s hot enough now to boil us like potatoes.”
“But I put barely any strength into it!” I protested, seeing that he wasn’t joking. “I never expected it to get that hot that quickly, which has to mean the pattern variation I used is a lot more powerful than I thought.”
“You varied one of the patterns you learned?” Vallant asked, now studying me rather than the water. “In what way did you vary it?”
“I … altered the method of braiding,” I said, trying to put a new action into words. “Here, let me show you instead. This is the way the pattern was originally braided, and this is the way I changed it.”
I used lengths of fire to illustrate what I meant, and when Vallant saw the altered pattern his brows rose high.
“If I’m followin’ that correctly, I think I can alter one of my own patterns in the same way,” he told me slowly. “The only thing I can’t figure out is what I’d use the new pattern for.”
“There’s still so much we don’t know that sometimes it makes me want to scream,” I said, letting the fires I’d used to show the patterns disappear. “And now I can’t even take a bath until that water cools down again. Me and my big ideas.”
“I believe I can be a small amount of help with that,” Vallant told my exasperation with a chuckle. “The situation just needs a bit of exchangin’.”
I was about to ask what he was talking about when the steam rising from the water suddenly turned into ordinary eddies in the air. That meant the water was still not, but not so hot that we’d be boiled.
“Judgin’ how much ice to bring down from the upper air was the hard part,” Vallant said with a smile when I made a sound
“Then you have to run the world in order to feel safe,” I finished for him, following him through a doorway. Inside was a large and beautiful room with a marble bath rather than one made of wood, and the room even had windows. There were also a number of wide lounges and a few chairs that seemed to be made of cotton webbing, not to mention a bar, a place for a tea service, and a table probably meant for snacks.
“Those cabinets over there have towels and heavy cotton robes,” Vallant said, pointing to our left. “Those things that look like vases at the edge of the bath are filled with soap, and there’s only one thing missin’ right now: nicely warmed water. The servants with Fire magic have been workin’ on it, but they must be Lows because they haven’t gotten very far. Tepid is all you have, but that’s better than nothin’.”
“It is better than nothing, but there’s no reason to settle,” I said while walking closer to the bath and Vallant closed the door behind us. “I should be able to give the servants a hand… “
There was an awful lot of water in that very large bath, and warming it posed something of a problem. Once the water was already warm it could be kept like that with only a small amount of effort from above it, but the original warming needed to be done from below. I’d once forced bathing water to be warm with the help of other Highs in Fire magic, but right now there was just me and a lot of barely heated water. But there ought to be a way…
“Maybe that will do it,” I muttered as an idea came to me. Those woven patterns we’d done so much with… One of them seemed to suggest that if it was changed just a little and spread out at the bottom of the bath beneath the water…
“Whoa!” Vallant exclaimed as heavy steam suddenly began to rise from the water. “Whatever you did, I’m guessin’ it was a little too much. That water’s hot enough now to boil us like potatoes.”
“But I put barely any strength into it!” I protested, seeing that he wasn’t joking. “I never expected it to get that hot that quickly, which has to mean the pattern variation I used is a lot more powerful than I thought.”
“You varied one of the patterns you learned?” Vallant asked, now studying me rather than the water. “In what way did you vary it?”
“I … altered the method of braiding,” I said, trying to put a new action into words. “Here, let me show you instead. This is the way the pattern was originally braided, and this is the way I changed it.”
I used lengths of fire to illustrate what I meant, and when Vallant saw the altered pattern his brows rose high.
“If I’m followin’ that correctly, I think I can alter one of my own patterns in the same way,” he told me slowly. “The only thing I can’t figure out is what I’d use the new pattern for.”
“There’s still so much we don’t know that sometimes it makes me want to scream,” I said, letting the fires I’d used to show the patterns disappear. “And now I can’t even take a bath until that water cools down again. Me and my big ideas.”
“I believe I can be a small amount of help with that,” Vallant told my exasperation with a chuckle. “The situation just needs a bit of exchangin’.”
I was about to ask what he was talking about when the steam rising from the water suddenly turned into ordinary eddies in the air. That meant the water was still not, but not so hot that we’d be boiled.
“Judgin’ how much ice to bring down from the upper air was the hard part,” Vallant said with a smile when I made a sound
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