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"Re to see if you pass muster"

33

Once when Father and I were returning home after I had accompanied hiest tiation channels Shades of brilliant green stretching away to the horizon mark the richness of the soil of Efea, the land that nourishes us

To my astonishet over how different the fields look here"

"Father," I asked daringly, "why did you leave your home and come to Efea?"

He almost smiled "Funny you should ask in quite that way, Jessamy For when I told my family, kin, friends, and acquaintances that I had decided to take my chances and sail to the fabled land of Efea, that was the only question they asked ?’"

"What did you tell the to watch a falcon fly past When it was gone, he sat back and addressed me

"I told theest son in a poor household My older brothers would inherit the bakery My father could not afford me the bride-price for a wife, so I had no expectation that I would everbut foot soldiers with no rank in the army, because only men of wealth and connection can become officers But we had all heard the poets and sailors and merchants and tale-tellers They said that in Efea ahe wants"

He took esture he so rarely rave face made me think he was about to impart his most precious secret

"There will come a moment in your life where you find yourself confronted with two choices, and both are bad ones For me it was to stay in a place where I was choked and had nothing to look forward to and no way to prove my talents, or to leave everyone I knew and loved behind forever for a chance thatbefore us what seems to be a choice and yet is no choice at all When we come to that fork in our path dohich no road is clean, all we can control is hat dignity and honor we take our inevitable step"

34

The representatives of the Garon Stable enter the Royal Fives Court in procession, Tana in the lead, Kalliarkos behind her and after hi up the rear To walk into a building I have only ever glimpsed from the outside nu with painted silk tapestries depicting famous adversaries of the past The stairs down to the undercourt are swarmed by women and men who toss flowers at the feet of those of us who are entering Many call out Lord Thynos’s Fives name of Southwind

My feet tread on rose petals as I descend The scent floodsflowers fro back tears, I enter the attiring hall Everything is polished to a shine The benches have cushions Mats woven of soft reeds cover raised beds where trainers work stiffness out of theadversaries Ropes mark out private curtained chambers where the Illustrious await their trials in a privacy the rest of us have not earned I glimpse the faces ofinto my most cherished dream

That my father will sit in a place of honor on the royal balcony just makes me even more nervous and excited

I have to concentrate

Tana takes et distracted," she says

She leaves to go up top to the trainers’ balcony, from which she atch the trials Thynos retreats to the roped-off area to wait in privacy for the Illustrious rounds, which will come h a wareries

I haven’t spoken to Kalliarkos since Lord Gargaron told us ould both run trials in the victory games They have kept us apart, and I can’t help but watch hiraceful and precise as he les are a little off It’s i chin, straight nose, dark eyes, and short hair He flashes a glance at ood as a kiss, and I purse my lips and blow a kiss back Darios whaps me on the butt with his baton

When Darios tells us to pause so he can adjust loves and check et distracted"

"I don’t understand why I’ this ly motive Perhaps he hopes I’ll lose in front of ainst Kalliarkos "I’ve never co like this level"