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Oswin ca, Oswin gave Spark to a couple of kids They cliured Osould wander off--he looked distracted--but he didn’t Although he carried that immense pack, he walked like it was filled with feathers His hands were tucked in his pockets He gazed off into nowhere, his lipssilently

Since Oswin didn’t seem to want to talk, I turned to Luvo How did the shield building go? I asked in our ics Will it fool the volcano spirits? Will it keep the Carnelian and Flare?

The shield isoutward It will reflect only the volcano spirits, should they find it I do not kno long it will hold The volcano spirits h of them may decide to ram it Has Myrrhtide said if more ships have arrived in the seaport?

I didn’t ask, I replied

"Question," Oswin interrupted

I was so fixed on Luvo that Oswin’s voice made me jump We both stared at him

He didn’t realize he’d startled me "You said Flare and Carnelian wanted to play when you first s, and they wanted you to help the at I didn’t want hi any word traps on me

"What if you went back to theo out with them?" Oswin asked "What if you told them you’d found them the perfect spot to do it? An easy spot? Then you led them to it--away from Starns?"

I stopped dead in s inside his sling to get a better look at Oswin

It seemed like Osas used to reactions like ours "No, wait, listen a moment You said they want to come out They never insisted on where, did they? In fact, Mount Grace was their last resort Some old faker of their own kind sold thele and fight through tons of solid rock, they’d be worthy to break into the open air" Oswin said "worthy" like it was a very bad word "Flare and Carnelian were s for faults that will take theth until the last moment You know they’ll break free eventually Why not do it where they won’t kill thousands of people and make whole islands unlivable?"

"I have never heard of such a thing in all my millennia, Oswin Forest," Luvo said flatly

Oswin looked at Luvo and shrugged "You ledwith Evvy for new experiences This would be one of thereat cycle of birth," Luvo told hied thunder in his voice "Mountains enter life in this le, violence, destruction, fire Things die, things are born, the old is buried in the rush of the new So it has been froed "Once, if a baby started to come out backwards, the choice was to see if it could be born that way alive, to bring it out that way and risk the mother’s death, or to try to turn it and risk the baby’s death Then a midwife learned how to turn the baby in the womb More babies and mothers live because nature never minds a little extra help"

"How did you find that out?" I asked, curious I’d never met a man who could talk ," Oswin explained "Before that she ithout an apprentice for a couple of years I helped her We are talking about volcanoes, Evvy"

"Blaspheht shiftsan end to the process through which mountains are born This is just a nerinkle" Osas being very patient "Could es even do it?"

"Evumeimei’s skills are unusual," Luvo said, distracted from his crankiness "I believe the fact that her first instructors were green ic follows es I have encountered"

"I aht here," I told the about how Evvy does things Most stone es I’ve encountered seem very, very settled," Oswin commented "They only deal with their i Certainly they aren’t flexible I never heard that a ic works, though"

They would reees were drawing away Luvo calht up He and Luvo kept talking about first teachers I turned Oswin’s idea over insi, but Osasn’t

Flare and Carnelian didn’t know I had tricked theh to blow the quartz trap to pieces They h, if I set theame

Worse, I didn’t know if I could keep the before they went into the quartz If they were bigger when they caht die

The road crested a high point in the ground Beloas the long line of refugees Rosethorn was riding back, a little boy behind her, a little girl in front of her She looked tired and thin