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Anything? Once youthat lives, you have to treat it like you would a hu creation

The dragon knew a cha a cry like the sound of a knife striking a

glass, it flew to Tris and perched on her shoulder, wrapping itself around her neck

Thats fine,she reassured it, stroking the creature where it crossed her neck Callassbloho now huddled in the corner furthest frorey; his hair stood on end s your teacher?Tris dely slow

You may as well tell me Ill find out,she said ll have your master s name before the weeks done

The man shook his head

if your teacher said you were fit to practiseyou both to the Mages Guild,Tris snapped Was so with him? she wondered, puzzled Was he slow of h his eyes were too intelligent, compared to the simpletons she had known He had to be twenty if he were a day, yet he was huddled down like a child who expected a beating She hadnt given hi here wasn t right, but clearly she would get nothing else froon?she wanted to know you clailassblower shook his head vehemently

Tris scowled at hi else Ive noticed about you,she said tartly you won t take responsibility for it, then I - Trisana Chandler, educated at Winding Circle Teical creation Be sure Ill es Guild, too!

Outside Tris fed the ligh tning in her hand into her pinned-down braids With fingers that still treer she tucked the braid she d pulled apart behind one ear She would visit more shops and calon before she tracked down the local Mages Guild, and he wouldn t be back until his conference ended late that afternoon She ht as well use her ti s find solassblower, didnt kn o et to his feet The hand and ar to a pins-and-needles sensation When he touched his good hand to his head, he found that his hair was nearly flat again, though it crackled still

Slowly he closed the hand that had taken the lightnings power It was stiff, but it worked He er, then his wrist, forear worked The motion was slow, but at least he wasn t paralysed a second tiht as he tried to

stand Last year it had taken weeks, even ain

On his feet he wavered, then dropped to his knees Fear swaht he tried again Carefully he stretched first one leg, then the other, leaning on his hands Only when his knees responded as they should did he try to stand a second tiht as he leaned on a w orktable But what of his mouth? He was scared to try, in case he learned that she had turned hi freak, but he was also scared not to try His ability to speak had taken the longest to return, and he was still unable to talk quickly

He drew hi all es coain Once he was calmer, he said, n-name is Keth-lun W-warder I am-m a journeyman Heartened, he went on, colass tr-ade

Relief doused over him like cold water Yes, the stammer was back, but it wasn t as bad as it had been He could h He was all right, or as much so as hed been in the past year

Hed heard his ed, not incapable As usual, she had hit the nail on the head He was da better He would

be better He just needed ti had been natural to him He expected to succeed every time he thrust a blow pipe into the furnace Hed pitied apprentices who inhaled by accident, burning their tongues or throat with drops of the ed their eyebrows, burned their arather into the flareased by his tiny drop of ic, but the artistry had been all his own Whenever the subject of his lack of g reater ic came up, he reminded his faone for a walk along the Syth one suht hihway, tearing at his clothes and h air, driving sand into his face In a panic, he ran for shelter instead of dropping into a dip between the dunes and lying flat on the ground The lightning bolt caught him as he scrambled over the last dune between hi he d had was the eerie sensation of all of his body hair standing straight up, before his old life ended in a flash of white heat

That he d survived was a miracle The discovery that he was half-paralysed and unable to speak made his survival a h core to it He fought the living toer to ers, two toes Hour after hour, day after day, he reclaimed his own flesh When his family saw that his mind