Keepers of the Flame (38 page)

She
met the Citymaster’s eyes. “I will do as much healing as I can of your sister
now, and finish later. I don’t want to burn out my Power, nor do I want my
control to deteriorate so far that the healing Power and Song could hurt your
sister.”

“Wise,”
said the woman lying before her in a raspy voice. She clutched her intertwined
hands over her heart, as if pressing against a hard ache.

Elizabeth
let out a quiet breath.
“Merci.”

The
sisters smiled at her. “We are not young and demanding.” The Citymaster’s lips
curved. “We are older and
sometimes
commanding, but not in this.”

Their
acceptance of her limitations—everyone’s limitations—eased Elizabeth’s mind.

She
shook out her arms and legs, drank more water and laid her hands on the woman.

Just
then, the alarm clanged. Elizabeth stiffened, but it wasn’t the call to battle.
Faucon grinned at her, turned and stepped into the courtyard, shaded his eyes.
“It’s the flying carriage. I believe your sister has returned.”

Bri
spoke to Elizabeth mentally.
I’ll be right there. We’ll land in the
courtyard.

Something
in her tone alerted Elizabeth.
You’ve slept with Sevair.

Amusement
and affection rode on the next wave of love.
Not quite. We’re considering
it. Lots of sexual tension adding a nice buzz to life. We’re both glad to be
back.

Then
the coach was there in the courtyard, hovering like a silent helicopter,
settling down without disturbing dust.

Bri
flung open the door, hopped out and hurried over. Though her step had as much
bounce in it as ever, faint lines etched around her eyes. Elizabeth stepped to
her and they hugged hard.

Energy
surged between them. Water and Fire, and though they should have clashed, they
mingled, providing strength to each other, as always.

Wow,
what zing! Something new?
Bri squeezed harder, and Elizabeth chuckled.

I
don’t do the healingstream. I do the starfire.

Ah!
The fire of the stars instead of the stream of energy from the space between
them.
Bri sounded pleased. Then images of the other cities and towns flowed to
Elizabeth—dark images of death and dying and helplessness. After one last
squeeze, she released Bri and they turned to scan the patient.

Usually
five a week here,
said Elizabeth.
I know that doesn’t sound like much…

Worse
and better elsewhere, depending on the location. Five fatalities a week is not
good. I tried to teach the medicas, but it didn’t work
. Bri’s smile
twisted.
Hell, I tried to teach anyone with a glimmer of silver or gold at
their temples.

We’ll
figure out a way,
Elizabeth said, and returned to her patient, whose hand was being held by
Sevair Masif. He was talking in a low-key way, distracting her. The patient’s
sister, a colleague of Sevair’s, had relaxed. Excellent.

“Let’s
get to it,” Bri said briskly and Elizabeth’s smile widened.

Bri
stepped into Sevair’s personal space, nudged him, teasing. He gave her an
intense look and slow smile. Elizabeth blinked. She hadn’t seen that particular
smile.

He
patted the sick woman’s hand, took her sister’s arm and led her a few paces
away, joining a clump of townspeople. Everyone appeared relieved to see him and
gathered around. Now that Elizabeth noticed, they no longer looked at her with
anything but approval. Inner tension eased. She was accustomed to being
approved. That these folk had doubted her skills and preferred Bri’s had been
like a splinter.

Elizabeth
joined Bri at the healing table. Bri had placed her hands on the woman’s head
and heart. Elizabeth put hers on the woman’s solar plexus—the energy that
corresponded with fire, and laid her hand over Bri’s on the heart.

They
all breathed together, though the patient’s was unsteady and cut short from
pain.

Then
Bri connected with her source and the river of energy opened. This time it
didn’t sweep Elizabeth away. This time she didn’t fight to stay afloat,
struggle to a calmer eddy to plant her feet and siphon off some of Bri’s energy
to heal. This time she watched it surge by.

One
deep inhalation, and she
reached
for her own source of Power, the
snapping, electric current of starfire. It whipped through her, to her fingers,
warmed their connection, penetrated the woman’s skin and bathed her in the
sweet cleansing of controlled fire—light and heat.

Bri
laughed.

Elizabeth’s
fire sank to the middle of Bri’s river, providing a tight core of energy.

“Hmm,”
Bri hummed, then narrowed her own stream of Power. It wasn’t quite as
controlled as Elizabeth’s and she smiled.

They
worked together to clear the patient’s heart, repair tears, revitalize it.
Elizabeth healed the circulatory system, Bri the nervous system. Reenergized
herself, Elizabeth was able to slide into detachment, watch the process. Bri’s
and her Power
didn’t
conflict as the ancient elements of water and fire
were supposed to. Because they were from the same source.

Both
she and Bri visualized the depths of space. They tapped into the underlying
pattern of the universe. Each built their own image of the energy. Bri thought
of and sought the energy of black holes, of the darkness between stars.
Elizabeth imagined the blaze of a solar flare, a starpoint.

What
would people of other “elements” see? Air: the solar wind? Earth: the
coalescence of mass into the formation of planets?

She
didn’t know. If she hadn’t been so awed by what was happening, she’d have been
amused at considering antique concepts rationally. As odd as the four old
“humors” the body was made of—blood, yellow bile, black bile and phlegm. Or the
four temperaments—choleric, melancholic, sanguine, phlegmatic. But concepts were
constructs for the human mind. She understood that now.

Then
Bri’s froth of enthusiasm at healing, doing her
destined
work, her joy
that Elizabeth had found her Power, had joined her fully as a partner, hooked
Elizabeth’s emotions. Once again, she was wholly
there
, experiencing the
heat and flaming of her hands, the flow of energy from
somewhere else
through her body, the destruction of evil that lived as a disease.

In
tune, they examined the woman from crown to toes—and Elizabeth gained
admiration for Bri’s knowledge of anatomy.

Massage
therapists know the body as well as doctors, not to mention acupuncture,
acupressure points and chakra energies
, Bri said.

Elizabeth
nodded.

Now
to withdraw, watch
.
Instead of narrowing the conduit which would increase the force of the Power,
Bri widened her focus, letting her river gentle. Elizabeth followed suit,
letting her starfire dissipate into the huge surround of space.

Keep
some for yourself,
Bri said.
I gave you some of my energy to jump-start yours. Take some from
your own source now to keep you going, though I can see you’re through for the
day. We can only be vessels for the Power so long.

“Ayes,”
Elizabeth said. She let the last shower of starfire spark through her like
fading fireworks, then cut her connection.

They
turned to each other, hugged.

“You
were fantastic, Elizabeth.”

“Thank
you, Bri. I understand better now.”

Another
touch added when Faucon placed his hand on Elizabeth’s nape, another element
illuminated with aura and Song—air, Faucon was air, and his tenderness was
close to her heart.

Elizabeth
sensed when Sevair’s fingers twined with Bri’s, adding the last, slow rolling
of Earth. Her shoulders eased, lowered.

“Awe
full,” Sevair said thickly voiced. “To see you two work together.”

Dropping
her arms from Bri, Elizabeth blinked her eyes to see Sevair the staid kissing
Bri’s ear. Faucon nipped at her own and had a flick of passion zipping through
her.

Bri
smiled, put her hand on her abdomen. “I’m starving. Let’s eat.” She glanced at
Faucon. “In town. Sevair can tell you the best inn.”

“I
know
the best inn,” Faucon said.

The
watching medicas moved forward. A couple supported a swaying Jolie. Elizabeth
frowned. “Jolie, didn’t you take some Power from the healing energy?”

Jolie
slowly shook her head. “I could feel you’re the Power from both of you, but
could not link. We have never been able to do so. We can draw from Mother Amee,
but she is so stricken we do not like to use her Power.”

Elizabeth
met Bri’s eyes.
The medicas didn’t have a proper image or construct for
human minds of the pattern of the universe.

Hope
surged through her, matching Bri’s wonder. Now she
knew,
she could teach
them. She was sure of it.

They’d
teach the others how to find the energy. Then to cure the frink sickness.

She’d
done it, not
Bri with the healing hands, a mind more accepting of the Lladranan’s ways.
Elizabeth, who’d been scrambling hard to learn, pretending she knew what she
was doing. She with the medical training.

Pride
burst through her. She stood tall and looked around Temple Ward. People met her
eyes and ducked their heads in acknowledgment.

Bri
said,
We’ll talk later about teaching the medicas. I could NOT get images or
explanations through people’s heads. You can.
She didn’t sound resentful,
but grateful.

“We’ll
talk later,” Elizabeth said aloud. “I need to discuss this with my sister, but
we
can now train you to cure the frink sickness
!”

28

T
he news ran
through the audience like a shockwave. For a moment Elizabeth thought that they
might be mobbed.

“The
Exotique Medicas are tired.” Sevair stared at individuals who’d taken
involuntary steps forward.

With
feigned casualness, Faucon scanned the crowd, played with Elizabeth’s fingers.
“I’m hungry.”

People
broke into clumps to discuss Elizabeth’s announcement, Sevair moved to
supervise those tending the recovering sick, relatives from Castleton. From the
energy Elizabeth had sent through them, she thought they should be bouncing to
their feet, charging out of Temple ward.

“It
doesn’t work that way,” Bri said softly, though Elizabeth knew it from
observation. “My patients have told me their bodies feel different, but they
aren’t quite sure how. Their minds are used to their bodies feeling a certain
way and can’t process the information that they are different for a while.”

“Muscle
memory?”

Bri
shrugged. “Body and mind memory?”

“All
is under control,” Sevair said with satisfaction as he watched the former
patients helped from the courtyard to the next, and the gate beyond where
coaches waited to take them home.

“They
want their own beds,” Faucon said.

“We’ll
fly,” said Sevair, walking over to Mud.

“Ayes!”
Faucon said, and let out a piercing whistle.

Come
, Elizabeth
called to Starflower. She whinnied in delight, trotted from the stable and
joined Faucon’s volaran in the short hop from the Landing Field to Temple Ward.

“Guildhall
Inn,” Sevair said.

Bri
blinked. “Of course the best inn would be attached to the place where the
townmasters and guild masters congregate.”

“Of
course,” Sevair said. “And the chef has a new dish he is introducing tonight.”
He paused. “Called, I’m told, Fries of the Potato. Very simple: potato, hot oil
and salt.” His aura pulsed with a lighter, teasing hue. Then what he said sank
in and saliva pooled.

“Fries,”
she breathed.

The
word resonated through her mind, through Bri’s mind, then snagged the attention
of Marian and Alexa who were talking to Marshalls near the Temple.

“Fries!”
Alexa screamed. Her head swivelled. “Where?”

“Fries,”
Marian whispered reverently, swallowed.

I
like these fries
,
Tuckerinal said. He pranced in grayhound form to Sevair. With a doggy grin, he
assured Sinafinal, who trotted beside him,
You will like fries, too.

Alexa
had heard that. She shot from the group and only waved a hand at the protest,
ran up to Sevair, skidded to a stop and put her hands on her hips. Looking up
at him with narrowed eyes, she said, “Fries. From potatoes?”

His
gaze warmed with amusement. “Indeed. At Guildhall Inn.”

She
licked her lips. “I’m invited, right?”

He
raised his eyebrows. “Of course.” He bowed and raised his voice. “The Guildhall
Inn would be honored to have all the Exotiques dine. In fact, they are
expecting you.”