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Lucky for ns Jayat rolled round, not the boulders I started to puke

That went on for a ti up Luvo cah, kneading out the bunched knots When I finished vo, Jayat and Luvo worked on , then till I could stand I rinsed s as Jayat ate the the horses "Your whole body was as hard as a rock You didn’t even move when I slapped you or jostled you I waved stinkweed under your nose Nory fainted a year ago I used stinkweed on her and when she caood punch, but then, her uess she coive you some water, at least?"

I turned facedown on the basalt to let Luvo walk up and down ht pressedthe bones crackle His feet worked , and lay like they were supposed to again

"I would like to have a little water poured over me, thank you, Jayatin" Luvo stepped down from my back

As Jayat fumbled with the stopper on his water skin, I whispered to Luvo, "You were afraid I could feel you, very far back in ic You were afraid"

"Do you knohere you were, Evumeimei? You were below Not in the place where all rocks are her chamber to that place I do not understand how so many spirits of molten stone have come so close to our world, but they should not be here Their touch on our kind--yours and mine alike--is death"

"But Evvy’s still here She’s alive" Jayat carefully poured a trickle of water over Luvo "Tell h"

"Thank you, Jayatin," said Luvo "I am not a creature of fancies, yet I cannot rid myself of the idea that ood, and also sufficient Evuic Because she is not from that world, she can shield herself I cannot"

"It cost ain My hair fell all aroundabout it The stuff was down toeverywhere since Jayat removed my headcloth I tried to lift my arms to see if I could wrap the cloth, butto work

"Had you been stone, it would not have cost you, Evumeimei It would have killed you"

"Instead it ic I have" I couldn’t even braid my hair

Jayat saw "My master has arthritis And I have little sisters Now, shall you have a turban like Azaze Yopali, or a band and braids, or a wrap like your old one?"

"Anything, as long as it’s out of my way" I rested my face on my hands Jayat wrapped my hair in my cloth, and coiled and tied it as I would do it I said, "You didn’t have to stay here You ave athered soarnets around here I can sell down in Sustree, for extra cash Once you were back in your body, Master Luvo told s you have done since you met Your friend Briar sounds like quite the fellow"

"He’s usually the first to tell you so, too" I sat up and round, which was a start "Are we ever going toto say about it Her attitude is that it’s bad enough the people who live here knoho she is and bother her" Jayat frowned, then said, "You know, Master Luvo could s"

"What?" Maybe the tiround had slowedabout

"There are hot springs on the far shore of the lake froet hen the winter’s really cold My master says they draw their heat from deep within the earth That’s probably what you found" Jayat hung the lantern on a tree branch and looked at et really cold, and you have to face her sole you into Oswin’s house, or the barn behind the inn, if you’d rather face her to on to the rocks for balance "No If she has to wait to tell you what she thinks of you, she just gets worse And she’s right to be angry I don’t knohat possessed hosts"

"It was the heat fever" Luvo shifted on his feet "The exciteth, so close to the air I felt it in the closed-off sources of the power you had once used, Jayatin, but I did not recognize it, at first, because it was so faint I knew it a little better in the dead trees canyon, because it was so fresh there By then it had moved into Evumeimei’s blood When I saw it in her, host of power like that can’t hurt you, Master Luvo Can it?" Jayat levered runt I nearly slid off the other side Then I tangled one arrabbed the saddle horn with the other The horse looked back at ht