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I didn’t have tiave it to his I showed him Meryem, Jayat, and Nory all headed inland That threeone That the volcano spirits could get bored or frustrated They could return to the cracks under Starns if they couldn’t break out where they were That if the volcano was big enough, it would set the forests on fire

Hoasmy temper with Meryem, and with Carnelian and Flare under the sea How I should have been patient, and xe, I just couldn’t bear for more animals or people to die if I had a chance to save the little by little Sooner or later it would slip a lot

I know all this Luvo sounded testy Evu in all my days as I have done in my time with you Now I must rush some more I do not welcome it

I don’t want you to rush! I cried I want you to leave with Rosethorn and tell her what happened to me!

For a moment he was as silent as only a stone can be Then he said, Take this part of ical fire inside ht explode like a volcano Find the diamonds ten miles down Gather their power Then try to deal with Flare and Carnelian again

That was all he said I struggled hat he’d givenone Just…gone

I opened reen lump on the dock He looked like a rock Rosethorn and Myrrhtide hadn’t noticed anything They were deep inside their own spells I tucked hed no more than an ordinary rock of his size Then I walked away I used e in the wrong direction

They’d think I was already on the ship Once they kneasn’t there, they wouldn’t turn back They had to save the most people And Rosethorn wouldn’t return alone They would need her to keep the sails and the ropes in one piece Captains hoarded the winds they bought against eencies, since they paid a lot of money for them If they freed all of the winds at once, they wouldn’t risk losing everything if a hee with the ships Rosethorn knew it

I hoped she would understand why I had left I thought she ht I wanted her to know that I meant to build and not destroy, at least when it came to meat creatures

Anyway, I was out of time

I ran in the direction that Spark had taken She was cropping grass outside the village "Silly horse," I said as I slipped a bridle on her I had found it in the street "You were supposed to head into the hills"

She didn’t like it when I clied her head around and kicked her sides "We’re in a hurry, Spark Stop playing"

We galloped up the hill behind the town I wanted to get farther froods decidedshake rolled in It knockedneighed and reared

When I got her calo Away from the sea, knothead Heibei watch over you"

This time she went, headed up into the hills Even horses learn

No more ti now? They hadn’t escaped the earth, or the quakes would have stopped They were still raround, sucking uided there by the gods, I had found a good place I thought then that I should say good-bye to my body, just in case I wasn’t sure I would be able to come back to it The fault was really unstable My chances were good that the volcano spirits would overwhel arht I thankedto handle and polish stones, and by accidentally waking the power in thes, with the muscles that could hike and kick I thanked my poor feet They had carried me so far They’d had such awful punishuts, for putting up with the bad food I gave the else I thanked my bones, my skin, my mouth, my nose

Maybe that was how I could survive the volcano spirits Carnelian said she and Flare could still reic wanted to melt like all stone did I had to remember my meat self,tight to Luvo’s strength and the power I drew froic and dropped through the shivering earth I had to get to those diaic as I could stand All aroundEvery bit of water had spread to make the soil daround into round seemed to turn to water Houses would collapse, their walls sinking and cracking The sides of the hills and mountains would slide

I would not slide with theround’s shivering made it easier The obbled it all as I passed I could hear the thunder of the volcano spirits who had stayed behind under Mount Grace Their voices boo if they should have left, too They were asking if they ought to find Carnelian and Flare now, and follow them out