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So it ith both wary tension and absolute elation that Tavi reached out to the furies spread about the world before his seething over and through the great gates, running like living things within the great constructs - fury-bound structures, as potent as gargoyles but locked into i that stasis absolutely Tavi had asthose furies to cease their function as he had of cohts down, beneath them Far, far below the surface, beneath the immeasurable mass of the furycrafted walls and towers of Riva, he felt the floater that sank into the rocks beneath the city, that had seeped through them year after slow, steady year, and pooled into a vast reservoir far below Originally intended as an eency cistern for the lonely little outpost of Riva, it had sunk beneath year after year of added construction as the city grew, until it had been forgotten by everyone but Alera herself

By now, the little cistern had becoion engineers, back in the days of the original Gaius Primus - had ever intended

Tavi focused his will upon that long-forgotten water and called out to it

At the same time, he reached out to the earth beneath his feet, to the soil and dust lying before the city's walls He felt through the soil, felt the grass growing beneath his horse's hooves He felt clover and other weeds and flowers, beginning to grow, not yet brought down by the groundskeepers of Riva There was a plethora of different plants there, and he knew therown up not far from Riva, he'd been ion He'd had to learn which the sheep could eat safely and which he should avoid: which plants ht be used to help support the animal's recovery from illness or injury He knew Rivan flora as only someone who had been raised there could

He reached out to all of thehts to the plants, the seeds, nuhts He focused his will and whispered, beneath his breath, "Grow"

And beneath hirass began to grow, to surge with green life Blades lengthened, and were suddenly outstripped by the quick-groeeds and flowers They opened in athe surface of the earth, and within a few seconds rass and flowers alike burst into seed

Joy and fierce pride assaulted hie, but Tavi let the erowth could not happen without plenty of water to nourish it, and as the sudden growth began to leach all the water froan to arrive, rising through the layers of earth and stone At an absententle streaates and towers beside it

Tavi opened his eyes long enough to see tiny seeds, soin to drift up through the air, to where a thin filates, the towers, courtesy of the cloud around the on those seeds This would be entle nourishain he reached out to the life before hihed fresh green growth Weeds and srass - and the walls of the great city began to flush a steady shade of green Bits of grass grew from cracks so tiny they could barely be seen Moss and lichen spread over the surface as quickly as if they had been spread by raindrops in a steady shower

He was breathing harder, but could not stop now "Grow," he whispered

Trees as tall as a rew heavier and heavier with a daan to cloud over with fine, cold ates and the walls alike Ivy wound up over the walls as rapidly as a snake could slither up a branch

Tavi clung to his saddle with one hand, refusing to sluates and walls of Riva erupted a chorus of snaps, cracks, of the snarl of tearing stone Green sed the walls, lapping up frorowth S froates More ivy wound everywhere, along with every other forine

Tavi nodded in satisfaction Then he lifted his fist and snarled, to the water co up from below, "Arise!"

There was the sound of an ocean wave crashing onto a rocky shore as the water leapt up and washed over the walls, over the green, sank into the minute cracks in the walls - and in that instant, Tavi reached out for fire, for the little warid water from far below, and yanked it clear of the water