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While the porridge finished cooking, he brought his shakkan down fro roo with it soothed his last uneasiness over the sale of the larch He always needed ti with anotherit on its ledge in the lady’s house, he could feel contentiven it to a bad home, at least not for trees Still, the shakkan soothed him It reminded him that the trees were not simple creatures, but as complex in their ways as the humans who shaped them He wasn’t their creator, only their caretaker, one as expected to pass the dirt and tried fro Under one arm she still carried her stone alphabet Briar shook his head when he saw it "Are you going to bathe with that?" he wanted to know, pointing at the roll of cloth
Evvy sot the slate and chalk and carefully wrote out each letter they had studied, both in capital and s war that made him want to clap her on the back and take her out for an expensive breakfast
He was proud of her
"Pretty good," he said, not wanting to get all emotional "Can you match them to the stones?"
Evvy undid the ties and rolled her cloth out flat Starting with the top, left-hand pocket, she drew out the proper stone for each letter and recited its name She even listed its uses, with only one or two small errors
Briar corrected them, then ordered her to wash her face and hands and clean her teeth She’s se into bowls Where would she be right now if soo?
He didn’t know, but he would make up for that lost tiht to help her learn It orth an hour or two less of sleep, if he could teach her enough to keep that proud feeling inside They’d show Jebilu what a fine student he’d ether "See, I think about my lessons when I do chores," he explained as they scoured pots "Practice thes Be sure and ask questions Your teacher doesn’t know if you’re learning right unless you do ask"
Once her bed was made, Evvy went to the souk with a few coins for cat e, with mixed reactions They went out to the rear yard as Briar fetched soe shed He would start packing in the workroom
He walked into the barrier Rosethorn had laid on the roo she had put it there to keep Evvy out It was one he could pass, once he re his toes, he spoke them, and carried the boxes in
On Evvy’s return, Briar let her feed the cats, then took her up to the roof There he enclosed them in a protective circle of his own "Shohat you learned fro yesterday," he ordered
With the sa she wanted to learn, Evvy sat cross-legged and began the pattern of breathing Ilow that was her power, set loose frohold it was kept in Today it stayed inside her skin, which ih drawing her power in, co it to fill her skin again There were slips and escapes, but she seemed to understand better what he asked of her At last Briar settled into his ownout of it only when she stretched a cra
"More letters now," he said as they clattered downstairs, cats all around them Since she’d moved in, he felt as if he took every step in this house as part of a river of fur "At least a couple of stones beforeharder than I did at ing the cloth roll to her chest He’d made her leave it outside his protective circle when they’d rab it, as if she’d thought it ic?"
"I wasn’t sure why I was learning it, or what use all that sitting and thinking and breathing would be And the first plant thing I did, the first thing I thought ic, was triic is fun when clipping bits off a tree hurts" He s I liked the gardening, even if it was arden that Rosethorn works in is happy Well, except for the weeds We try to make it quick for the the ties to the cloth roll with eager fingers Briar got his sheet of notes and the book, pushing the slate and chalk over so Evvy could reach it "Hee and s It helps you concentrate on the real world," he began
They had gone as far as lapis lazuli, and Briar was planning lunch, when a flurry of knocks sounded at their door It was Ayasha, the diut She was flushed, tousled, and gasping for air, clutching her chest as she tried to slow her breathing Briar hesitated, not sure he wanted anything rabbed his arht Her thick lashes fluttered like butterflies as she sagged against hi room to sit, then fetched her a cup of water