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The mehnta spoke, voice oddly fractured as it caled to understand, but soon realized she was speaking in the de?" I asked, feeling a strange and desperate need to know

He gave a low ru "She has bypassed all protocols and asked for your naratitude, then turned my attention back to her "I am Kara Gillian"

The ain Out of the corner of my eye I could see that Mzatal and Idris had stopped and were noatching our odd exchange

"She says her na to be asked The htly with her mouth tentacles--soft and warm, like a myriad of little kisses In any other situation I’d have probably freaked out, but instead, a thrill of delight and acceptance ran through ered for another few seconds, then the mehnta retreated and slipped noiselessly back into the trees

I exhaled and watched her go, then turned with Gestarove slid away as we exited into the open air, and I sed hard against the deep worry that settled back into ut

And then… We stood upon a clifftop, sea below on the left, dark stony ht A war the pleasant scent of sea and wet earth The sun hung high in the sky Midday here It had beenat Szerain’s

The ground dropped into a grassy, rock-strewn depression, then rose to the base of Mzatal’s palace The path, cut in the native stone, alternated flat and stairs The structure itself hugged the cliff face, long and narroo levels rising above andin tiers before the cliff Glass Lots and lots of glass Lots--likely the resinous de balconies that ran the length of each level and wrapped around the near end of the two above the cliff Whatever wasn’t glass was the ubiquitous dark basalt of the surrounding terrain A waterfall cascaded fro to the sea below On a verdant sward behind the palace, a thick, flat-topped column about three stories tall and of the sahly polished I’d obviously stopped and stared because it took a tug on ain

Ahead, Mzatal waited, eyes onas I approached "Your affinity for the grove deepens," he said, as casually as if he’d said, "your hair is brown" But there was a querying penetration to it, a hint that he fully intended to peel back the why of it

"Yeah, well…I like trees," I said, giving a shrug What the hell was I supposed to say?

He wasn’t buying my nonchalance His eyes remained hard on me for a moment, then he shifted his attention to Idris "Prepare a trancing diagram" He proceeded to rattle off parameters that I couldn’t understand but that apparentlysummoner Idris asked for a few clarifications that also sounded like gibberish to

Mzatal returned his shrewd gaze to " He lowered his head "Or anyone," he added, and there was nothe vehe or anyone," I shot back "It’s just bunch of da display of brilliance as I jerked h my hair "Look, you don’t have to dohad hurt enough

"You know--inti to unruffled calm as he pivoted away, clasped his hands behind his back, and headed up the path toward the palace "I do that which"You must do that?" Gesta but went still as Mzatal opened one hand behind his back

Cold sliced through esture I knew in that instant that he could pull power and strike before I’d ever sense it co

He faced me "What I do, I do with purpose" He stepped closer "Pain is at ti through his voice "And, at tireater purpose"