At first Aislin thought Liv was going to yell at the old woman. She opened her mouth and raised one finger. Anelda leaned forward, her eyes glittering.
“Come on. Out with it, child. Let’s hear what you’ve got.” To Aislin it looked like she wanted Liv to yell at her.
Instead, Liv lowered her hand. “My friend needs a dress made for my party.”
Anelda’s gaze turned to Aislin for the first time. “This little wisp of a thing?”
Aislin took a step back. Liv reached for her arm and clamped on.
“Please, Anelda,” Liv said, giving the old lady a smile Aislin had seen before. It was a smile Liv used when she wanted people to do things for her. It pretty much always worked.
But Anelda waved her off. “First you order, then when that doesn’t work, you simper. I’ve seen it all, child, and I’m not impressed.”
Liv’s temper showed up quickly. “This is my father’s palace. You have to do what he says when you’re here,” she snapped.
“So, we’re back to ordering again, are we? Run out of ploys already, have you?”
Now Liv looked perplexed. Anelda wasn’t doing this right at all. “What’s wrong with you?”
The old lady rubbed her hands. Her knuckles were swollen, her fingers bent at odd angles. “My hands hurt, for one. So’s my back. There’s a pain in my foot I’m certain is gout. But I’m used to all those. I pay them no more mind than I would a fly. But right now, I have a new pain, one a lot worse than all the rest. It’s right here, and it’s really getting to me.” She pointed to her rear. “It’s caused by spoiled, bossy children, if you want to know.”
Liv stared at the old woman with utter confusion. “You can’t…but…”
Anelda smiled, showing yellow teeth. “Not quite sure how to take that, are you? Never had anyone really tug on your reins, have you?”
“Why are you so mean?” Liv asked.
“Why are you so rude?”
“I’m not rude.”
“Yes, you are. You come barging in, not so much as a good day from you, start tossing demands around. What else should I label that but rude? Go on, tell me.”
For once Liv’s natural confidence seemed to desert her. “I never thought about it like that,” she said quietly.
“You’re thinking now. That’s progress, I suppose.” The old lady’s eyes were very bright, and Aislin got the feeling she was enjoying this, though she couldn’t imagine why.
“I only wanted to have you make a dress for my friend for the party,” Liv said, looking down. “The one you made me is so pretty, and I want her to have one just as nice.” Then she added something Aislin had never heard her say before. “I’m sorry.”
“Now then, was that so difficult?” Anelda asked. “Did the words hurt your throat?” Liv shook her head. The old lady took the fabric from Liv and held it up to the light. “It’s a lovely weave, that’s for sure. I’m sure I can tease something out of it.”
Liv looked up hopefully. “Then you’ll…you’ll make Aislin a dress?”
“I’ll make her a dress.”
“Yay!” Liv said, clapping her hands, her exuberance returning instantly. “Thank you, thank you.”
Anelda made an irritated noise. “You’re doing it again, raising my pain levels.”
“Oh, sorry.”
Anelda made a shooing motion at Liv. “Go on with you, then.”
“What?”
“I said, go on with you. Leave.”
“Can’t I stay and watch?”
“A chatterbox like you? Definitely not. Now scoot before I change my mind about this dress.”
“Okay.” Liv looked at Aislin. “I’ll wait out in the hall for you.”
Aislin began to feel alarmed. “You can’t go. You can’t leave me here alone.”
“What’s wrong?” Anelda asked Aislin. “Afraid I’ll bite?” She bared her teeth and chuckled.
“I’ll be outside,” Liv said. With a last, backward look, she left the room.
Aislin turned back to Anelda. The old woman was grinning evilly. “All mine now, aren’t you?” She chuckled. Aislin took a step back, only a heartbeat away from running after her friend.
“Come, child,” Anelda said, the evil grin disappearing. “I’m only having a bit of fun with you. Don’t go all rabbit on me.” She sounded completely different than moments ago. Her voice was gentler, the look in her eyes softer.
“Come over here into the light, child, so I can get a better look at you.” Aislin hesitantly moved closer to the window. Anelda followed and held the fabric up to her cheek. She nodded approvingly. “I don’t see this often. Most people have all the color sense of a pig in a pottery barn, but this is exactly the right color for you. You’re going to shine like a sunbeam in your new dress.”
“Like a…sunbeam?” Aislin was still having trouble grasping how quickly the woman had changed. She seemed almost like a different person. Anelda must have grasped her confusion because she patted Aislin on the shoulder and smiled.
“You thought I was all piss and vinegar, didn’t you? No surprise, I guess, after what you witnessed with your friend. See, I need my teeth now and then. Most of them who come in here looking for a dress are all full of themselves. Think they’re the most important person in the world. Think they can run over old Anelda to get wherever it is they’re in such a hurry to go. I have to chew on them a little to put them back on their heels.” She patted Aislin again. “But you’re not like them, are you? Not even a little bit.”
“I don’t live in the palace,” Aislin said.
“No, it’s clear you don’t. Spend a lot of your time down at the sea, don’t you?”
“How did you know?”
“Even in here I hear things. People like to talk about the wild child who swims in the sea all day.”
“They do?”
“Aye. They’ve never seen your like before. I think you scare them a little.”
“No.”
“Yes. Myself, I can’t imagine why anyone would want to go into the sea. If the gods wanted us swimming around out there they’d have given us fins, and they didn’t. But I like that you upset them. It’s good for them. Makes them question things.”
Despite herself, Aislin found that she was relaxing around the old woman. “I don’t really understand what you’re saying.”
“No, you wouldn’t. You’re quite young still.”
“I’ll be twelve soon.”
“And only slightly less young. Now stand up here and let me get my measuring tape or we’ll be yammering here all day. Won’t that upset all the little pretties dying for their dresses?”
Aislin went where Anelda pointed, stepping up onto a low pedestal made of wood that stood near the big windows. Anelda rummaged around on a table and returned with her measuring tape. “Hold still now,” she muttered, and began measuring Aislin.
After she was done she stepped back, looping the measuring tape around her shoulders.
“Is that it?” Aislin asked, relieved. That didn’t seem to be too bad. “I can go now?”
“Sure, if what you want is for me to make you a sack,” Anelda replied.
“A sack?”
“That’s what a dress with no flair is, a sack.”
Aislin looked down at the dress she was wearing and wondered if it was a sack.
“There are other decisions to be made first,” Anelda added. “The things that make a sack into a dress.”
“There are?”
“Come with me.” Aislin followed the old woman back into the outer room. “Sleeves, for one,” she said, plucking at the sleeve on a long, red velvet dress. “Will yours be short or long? Puffy? Lacy? Which do you prefer?” She swept her hand to encompass the room. Aislin realized that the sleeves on every dress in there were different. The choices were overwhelming.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I never thought about sleeves before. I don’t get cold very often.”
“This isn’t about getting cold, chi
ld. It’s about making a statement. It’s about what to show and what to hide.”
“I don’t want to make a statement.”
“Then you’ll go elsewhere, because I do not make sacks.”
“It’s confusing.”
“Not really,” Anelda said. “It’s all about what you’re trying to say with your dress.” She leaned closer and winked. “It’s all about who you’re trying to catch.”
Aislin felt her cheeks grow hot, and she stepped back. “I’m not trying to catch anyone.”
“Sure, you’re not.”
“I’m not.”
“You said you’re almost twelve. It’s been more years than I care to admit since I was twelve, but I seem to remember it was right about then I began to notice a certain stable boy with the most beautiful eyes.”
When she said that Aislin suddenly got a picture of Brecken’s eyes. Her confusion and embarrassment doubled instantly.
“Oho, I was right!” the old woman chortled. “There is a boy.”
“No, there isn’t,” Aislin said weakly.
“Ah, child, but you already gave yourself away.”
“I don’t…” But Aislin had no idea what she meant to say and couldn’t finish the sentence.
Anelda grinned at her. “He’s older than you, isn’t he?”
“What?” Aislin said, horrified that the old woman seemed to be reading her mind. “No, he isn’t.”
“Yes, he is. Most likely tall. Dashing. Has he noticed you yet? I wonder.”
Aislin felt close to panicking. “It’s not true,” she said desperately.
“Who is he? The brother of a friend, maybe?”
“You don’t know anything,” Aislin blurted out. She headed for the door, pushing her way through the sightless dummies.
“Don’t worry, child,” Anelda called after her. “I’ll make you a dress he’ll be sure to notice!”
Aislin ran out into the hallway and nearly tripped over Liv, who was sitting right outside the door. Liv jumped to her feet.
“What’s wrong, Aislin? Are you okay?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” Aislin said, but she couldn’t meet her friend’s eyes.
“What did that old witch do to you?”
“Nothing. I don’t want to talk about it. Let’s go somewhere else.” Aislin hurried away and Liv followed.
Chapter Twenty-one
Aislin and Liv were sitting on the wall behind the palace overlooking the sea. They’d come here often enough that the height no longer bothered Aislin as much as it used to. She’d discovered that she liked watching the waves crash against the base of the cliffs far below.
“I know Anelda is—” Liv began, but Aislin cut her off.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Still?”
“Still.”
“Okay.” Liv tossed a pebble and watched it make its long fall. “How are your lessons going?”
That was something Aislin did like talking about. “I’ve gotten a lot better. Even Treylen says so.”
“What can you do now?” Liv asked. “Show me.”
“I don’t know. Treylen says I shouldn’t play with my power, that it’s not a toy.”
Liv looked around. There was no one in sight. The fruit trees shielded them from most people on the palace grounds, and there were no gardeners working in the gardens. “No one will know,” she whispered. “Can’t you show me a little of what you can do?”
Aislin hesitated. She really did want to show her friend what she could do. Maybe she didn’t know all about dresses and stuff like the other girls, but this was something they knew nothing about. “Well, I guess a little bit can’t hurt.”
“This is so exciting.” Liv’s eyes sparkled. “What are you going to do?”
“Watch.” It was easy to find the glow of Seaforce under and behind the waves. Aislin barely had to try. She held her hands out, palms down, and concentrated. She called Seaforce to her, and it began to rise. As it rose, she shaped it into an orb. Soon the glowing orb was hanging in the air in front of them. It wasn’t a large orb. Aislin was mindful of that part of Treylen’s warning.
Liv stared at it in awe. “Ooh,” she breathed. “It’s so pretty. What is it called?”
“It’s Seaforce.”
Liv frowned. “I never heard of that before.”
“It’s the power in the sea. It’s in all water actually.”
“In all water?”
“All water.”
“I drink water. Does that mean it’s in me too?”
Now it was Aislin’s turn to be perplexed. “I think so. I’ll have to ask Treylen to be sure.”
“What can you do with it?”
Aislin scowled. “I can hurt Lowellin with it, the next time he shows up.”
“How?”
“Like this.” Jutting out from the cliff below them was a long, narrow finger of rock. Aislin pointed at it. The orb shot at it, striking the finger near its base. There was a faint boom as the orb detonated. The finger shivered, then broke loose and fell into the sea.
Liv stared openmouthed. “That was incredible! Boy, is he going to be sorry he ever messed with you!”
Aislin looked down at the beach. She could see Treylen down there. As she watched, he got up from his seat and walked down to the shore. It was hard to tell from this distance, but she was sure he was looking up at her. She winced. He was going to say something about that when she saw him next.
“Do it again,” Liv said.
“I better not. I’m supposed to be careful with it.”
Liv got a crestfallen look on her face. Aislin cast about for something else she could do to impress her. Then it hit her.
“There is something else I can do. I only learned it a little while ago.”
She drew more Seaforce from the sea—a much smaller amount this time—and lifted it up to their level. Soon there was a glowing orb of Seaforce about the size of her head floating a few feet away. She concentrated, and it split up into a half dozen smaller orbs. Biting her lip, she made them spin in the air.
Liv clapped her hands. “You’re like a juggler, but you aren’t even touching them. Is it hard to do?”
“Kind of,” Aislin admitted, staring fiercely at them. “They keep trying to get away from me.”
“If you let go of them what would happen?”
“They’d fly off in all directions, I guess.”
Liv turned to Aislin. “Use them on something.”
“I don’t know if I should…” Aislin said, thinking of Treylen.
“But they’re so small. Maybe he won’t even notice.” When Aislin still hesitated, Liv begged her, and finally Aislin relented.
“But this is the last time.” Aislin looked around, wondering what she could use them on. Her gaze fell on the tower standing near the edge of the cliff behind the palace. Only the top half was visible, the rest hidden behind the wall built around it. It was thickly covered in vines with huge leaves. Surely it wouldn’t hurt to blast that a little, would it? The vines were a bad thing after all.
She focused on one of the circling orbs and sent it speeding at the tower. It struck near the top, there was a small flash, a muted crump, and a section of vine was torn away and fell to the ground. A small fresh scar showed on the stone.
Liv jumped to her feet. “Take that, evil vines!” she yelled. “Do it again, do it again!”
Aislin beamed with pride, happy she’d been able to get such a response from her friend. In rapid succession she sent four more orbs flying at the tower and tore away four more patches of vines.
She had one orb of Seaforce left and was planning where, exactly, she wanted to place it—maybe where the vine mounded at the top of the tower—when there came a voice nearby.
“What are you doing?”
Aislin turned, saw that it was Brecken—she’d been so engrossed that she hadn’t noticed his approach—and lost control of the last orb.
It slipped out of her grasp, shot pas
t Brecken, and struck a rainwater barrel that was standing under a gutter against the back wall of the palace. The barrel exploded in a spray of splinters.
“Wow,” Liv said in a hushed voice. “That was so awesome. Did you see the way that barrel exploded?”
But Aislin wasn’t listening to her. She was staring at Brecken, her hand over her mouth, waiting in horrified fascination for his response. What would he think of her now? What would he say?
Brecken stared at the remains of the barrel for a couple of seconds, then turned to Aislin. One eyebrow rose.
Aislin froze inside.
Then he smiled. “Small, but mighty, aren’t you?”
Aislin felt her face grow instantly hot, and she looked away. She wasn’t sure whether she should be happy or mortified, but she wanted to be very far away right then.
Liv said something, but Aislin didn’t hear her.
“Father said you were strong, but I had no idea you were that strong,” Brecken added.
Aislin peeked at him from under her hair. It was hard to tell what he was thinking. He still had a little smile on his face, but that didn’t always mean something good. Was he standing further away now? Was he afraid of her? Did he think she was weird?
“I told you she was special,” Liv said. “She’s a real, live hero, like in the old stories, or like Daddy and Quyloc.”
Brecken looked back at the remains of the barrel, then up at the tower. He turned back to Aislin. “You should probably be more careful. Someone could get hurt.” With that he walked away.
Aislin felt herself shrivel at his words. He clearly thought she was some stupid little girl now. Why wasn’t she more careful? Why did she even come up here today? She should have gone to the sea. She wished she could jump off the cliff into the water and swim away.
“He’s so rude,” Liv said. “Don’t let him bother you.”
But Aislin could barely hear her. There was a rushing sound in her ears. The water that had spilled from the rain barrel began to steam and evaporate. A faint green glow was visible above it.
“Ow,” Liv said. “My head hurts.”
Aislin turned and saw Liv holding her head. “I’m…I’m sorry,” she said, her voice quavering.
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