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But Carnelian says others have done this before I put a bit of needle into ht here They blew the whole crown of this island apart I shrugged And that was ages ago Nobody cares now Nobody cares about old stories They only care about new ones

Well, we don’t care about what your people care about Flare opened hisspout of flae It flicked the air a thuold feldspar on the tip of ical nose ain

Tricks, I said If that’s the best you can do…

An earth shock rolled into us froainst the shield, pressing me into the obsidian It mashed Carnelian and Flare into one creature With the shock caht it would tear me to shreds

As I pulled away from the shield, Flare said, It’s the others They’re…over that way Hundreds of them He separated hih the earth The rocks thatonto theical self at the same time

They want to talk to us? Carnelian was as astonished as Flare They say we are to lead them?

They turned toward the sound of their kinfolk That’s when I got scared And when I get scared, I’m the first to admit it, I turn nasty

Lead them where? I demanded scornfully Around and around and around? You couldn’t even get out of a quartz toy

Lucky for me I realized what a bleater I was I moved as soon as I said it Flare turned on me He opened his mouth and shouted Except there was no sound, only ripples of heat Everything between Flare and where I had been h

I meant that in a helpful way! A useful way! I scra out, a snake of fire in the ground Soil and fast- rocks went to soup as he raced forforCarnelian I said, I can show you a way out It’s a lot easier than the

Your quartz wasn’t a toy It was a trap, Flare growled You are a cheat I’ to melt you Then I’ll coat the quartz "toy" with you

People in my world escape those toys every day, Flare And we escape things like the mountain Well, I did I turned on the persuasion But there’s another way out that’s made for only a pair like you and Carnelian I found it by accident on my way here

Flare opened hissolid earth to sh ht I couldn’t feel in that shape I rolled into a tiny ball, fighting the agony I was terrified that if I gave in to it, I’d lose control of ic I’d turn to smoke just as that soil had done, and be lost forever