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Lia took a deep breath, trying to keep it calm and even So s, it was jealousy that torirl, who had once been a wretched, had been found She had been allowed the privilege of enjoying Colvin’s couages and practice the Mediuiven to have had that opportunity! It was a petty feeling, and she crushed it in herto let it fester or take root

"What about your other pro down as she twisted the apple stem and plucked it out

"The other promise?"

"The one you whispered insmile crossed his ainst the trunk of a tree, and folded his arms "Well, I never said which Whitsunday I would ask you to dance"

"So you were going to ask me to dance? That was your intention?"

"You had said it was to be your first year to dance around the maypole It was also an opportunity to meet you It did not come to pass as I wished But patience is the companion of wisdom It is also a trait you need to practice, Lia"

"If I were not so patient," she said, tearing another bite from her apple with her teeth "I would have broken your foot when you surprised ht"

"Breakwith you this year"

"You were very kind aher "A year past, you could scarcely speak ten words without insultingto fall back to your bad ways"

He gave her a self- yourself But I have been working onme She will undoubtedly solicit your help She would like to ed "It is probably a hopeless quest, but we ed that much, really I am still as filthy as e left the Bearden Muir My dress was in tatters fro the hills so I wear these clothes now My skin is falling off like a leper because of a dangerous plant sap I stuo My clothes were blotched with it, which is why I screaht I am even taller now, if that is possible, and it can hardly be called an i tosmile "If you were too ashaht-maston from Winterrowd and an earl no less"

His smile faded "I have three earldoms now, actually But I do not care what anyone else thinks, Lia I had not even noticed any of those things To ine, if you will, that the su scale The thoughts of a powerful maston, one enabled by the Mediuold coin on one side Ihts have the weight of chaff and try to tip the scales The world is a granary of ill-bred thoughts There is enough to weigh down the world, to bury each one of us alive Yet if we have enough of the good, it balances it out or keeps it firine then, scales the size of a kingdoh – just enough There is enough weight and enough strength to keep the scales balanced But if you begin to reold coins, one by one? Then every seed of evilas the scales are balanced to the side of the mastons, the Mediuood But if the balance is altered, if the weight of the wrong begins to exceed the weight of the right, it triggers the Blight to purge the chaff It is a warning from the Medium There are curses that follow"

- Gideon Penman of Muirwood Abbey

CHAPTER SEVEN:

Marciana Price

Lia’s curiosity about Colvin’s sister was intense Since he had told Lia that she would ht in the Aldermaston’s kitchen, as she went about her duties that day, she wondered what Marciana would be like Wondering made her worry Most learners ealthy and spoiled, and only the rare ones like Duerden treated wretcheds with any respect Each year, only a dozen or so new learners joined the Abbey and even feho fully co Fewer still who earned the rank of maston Was Marciana selfish and spiteful, like Reome? Was she timid like Sowe? Was she like Colvin when she had firstto mask his contempt? She hoped not But still, she worried