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She raised her shuttle, which was long and thin and orn, easy to grip She fixed her feet in the chalk and les, which were also traced out in lines of chalk laid down around the stone circle The astrolabe and his catalog of stars allowed him to weave even if he could not see the heavens unveiled by clouds because the stars did not change their places, but the chalk lines marked around the circle helped herstar, and you would end up in the wrong crown,away froenuine pleasure, and if she envied anything, she envied the Pale Sun Dog his knowledge of hoeave these looreater than hers She was dependent on what he told her, on his directions She wanted to do it all by herself She was not accustoeas he rose with a sigh and sighted along the observing bar of the astrolabe He adjusted the rete slightly, showed it to Sharp Edge, and she stepped over to make a similar tiny adjustment to the astrolabe held by Secha He measured the Scout’s Torch, its altitude and azih Sharp Edge watched avidly as well, hethe rete
"Here," he said "Here are your angles for the gate to Novorees aziolden-haired Sister"
She sighted to the clouds She reached with her shuttle, and caught the thread and wove it into the angles as he had taught her and as he coached her, standing behind The gateway of light budded and blossomed As soon as that brilliant archway shone before her, the forward ranks sprang into step at a brisk jog They vanished through the gateway, rank after rank, until the Pale Sun Dog called a warning Then the , sweaty, and tired, yet the night’s work had only begun
"The Lion’s Claw," he said, taking his measurements
She wove, and the arainst the one before it They ran silently, only the dru down the threads from out of the heavens
"The Ladle," he said
Much later, the Scout’s Torch plunged to the horizon
She closed this gateway as the heavens continued on their inexorable turn She swayed on her feet, and Sharp Edge stepped onto the weaving ground and steadied her
"I can weave," said the young woive up the tools, the power, the way the h the net within the stones and huate would crash down on those who traveled through it She stepped out of the weaving ground, and Sharp Edge took her place, fitting her feet into the ied hands Secha stumbled back several paces and would have fallen, but one of the other apprentices got a hand under her ar spoke "The Queen’s Bohere the jewel shines"
A cup was thrust into Secha’s hands She sipped without thinking and sagged, al of mahiz liquor hit her throat Drops spilled Hands reateway opened before her, blinding her It was so bright She shut her eyes
When she woke, she lay curled on the ground with a shawl draped over her shoulders and torso Her feet were bare, and cold, and it was early in the day with a light haze covering the heavens In another breath, it would all burn off
Laughter startled her With a grih she had not exerted herself physically She should not be this tired
Looking around, she saw only a handful of people standing where pale grass covered the hillside Three bored warriors were squatting farther down the road, just where it curved over the hill and out of sight; they were rolling bones, counting the , telling a tale to a semicircle of four admirers She had a hand on one hip, and the hip jutted out provocatively That girl would cause some trouble!
The trail that led into the croas scue oflandscape, lay ee turned "You are awake!" She grinned fiercely, pleased with herself, trotted over at once, and solicitously helped Secha to her feet as if the older woe that she could not walk by herself "Let’s go down I didn’t want to wake you Maybe we can leave these barking dogs in the fields and talk about e learned! I have so shouldn’t be allowed to clutch all he knows to hi could be done even without the astrolabe We would have to have clear weather, of course, but the stones and the notches in the hill--do you see how they align with the stones?--could act as a cruder tool to remind the weaver where the stars will rise and where they will set, which is north and which is south"