Read Online The Dream-Maker's Magic by Sharon Shinn - Free Book Online Page B

kirrenberry trees, and sit and wait for secrets to come to their doorsteps. I always thought it was more interesting to go looking for secrets. And then I carry them safely with me when I go.”
    â€œThere hasn’t been a Safe-Keeper living in Thrush Hollow since I was born.”
    He smiled. “Then I’ll have to come back more often.”
    I considered. “I wonder if Gryffin has any secrets.”
    â€œLet’s go ask him.”

    Gryffin was seated in the kitchen, his fingers flying as he chopped onions and grated carrots and split celery. His aunt shot us a harassed look as we came in, for she was attempting to stir a pot on the stove and check a dish in the oven while scolding a weeping young barmaid at the same time.
    â€œWhat do you want, Kellen?” she demanded. “We’re all too busy to talk right now.”
    â€œCan’t Gryffin come out just for a few minutes? I wanted him to talk with the Safe-Keeper.”
    Dora’s sharp eyes grew even sharper as she took in Ayler’s round face and abstracted expression. “That’s a Safe-Keeper?” she said in a slow voice. “What would he be doing in Thrush Hollow?”
    â€œCollecting secrets,” Ayler said amiably. “If you have any to share.”
    â€œI don’t have secrets,” she snapped. “Everyone knows my business.”
    â€œThen you have an easier life than many people,” Ayler said.
    â€œI’ll come out for a few minutes,” Gryffin said, drying his hands on the front of his shirt and reaching for his canes. “Just to say hello.”
    The heat outside was bearable if we sat in the shade the tavern threw over the back lawn. The kitchen garden was full of stalks and vines greedily soaking up sun; I could smell the pungent leaves of tomato plants and spot telltale signs of red and yellow on some of the ripening gourds. The bench beside the house was only long enough to accommodate two people, so I let Gryffin and Ayler have it while I settled to the ground before them.
    â€œIf you want to confide something in me,” Ayler said, his voice grave but his eyes twinkling, “we’d best be sending Kellen on her way.”
    â€œShe knows everything I might say to you,” Gryffin replied. Then he cut his eyes back toward Ayler. “You know she’s a girl?”
    â€œPeople tend to tell me things.”
    Gryffin leaned forward. “Here’s my secret wish,” he said. “I wish Kellen would come with me when I go to Wodenderry. I wish she would leave her mother’s house and go where she’s treated better.”
    â€œHow odd,” I said, “when you are not treated well yourself.”
    â€œYes, but I’ll be leaving.” Gryffin appealed to the Safe-Keeper. “I wish she was somewhere that she could live like a girl, and people wouldn’t think she was strange, and she could be happy.” He had never said this to me before. It seemed that Ayler’s presence did indeed induce people to expose their most hidden thoughts.
    â€œI think you’ve confused me with the Dream-Maker,” Ayler said gently. “I have no power to make wishes come true. Merely to hear what you hold in your heart, so that things too heavy to bear alone are shared.”
    Gryffin turned his head away. “I think it is my dreams that are too heavy to bear,” he said in a muffled voice. “I think it is my dreams I cannot speak out loud.”
    I had an inspiration. “You must know the Dream-Maker,” I said to Ayler. “Next time you’re in Wodenderry, seek her out. Tell her to come to Thrush Hollow, for there are all sorts of dreams here that need to come true.”
    â€œI do know Melinda, who is a lovely woman,” Ayler replied with a smile. “But these days she travels much less than she used to. She is more than seventy now, and I think she is growing tired.”
    â€œWell, tell her not to