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"And that&039;s what happened," Tavi said "It all started with that one little lie And all I wanted to do was to get those sheep back Show s without anyone&039;s help That I was independent and responsible" He picked up a rind froe fruits and threw it back into the plants at the water&039;s edge, scowling, his thoughts in a turmoil

"You don&039;t have any furies at all?" the slave repeated, her voice still stunned "None?"

Tavi hunched his shoulders against her tone and gathered the scarlet cloak closer around hiht ward off the sensation of isolation her words brought him His voice came out harsher than he&039;d ht So? I&039;ood herder I&039;m the best apprentice in the Valley Furies or not"

"Oh," Amara said quickly "No, I didn&039;t mean to-"

"No one means to," Tavi said "But they all do They look at h I can run Like I&039;h I can see It doesn&039;t matter what I do, or hoell I do it, everyone looks at lance and said, "Like you are, right now"

Amara frowned and rose, her torn skirts and her appropriated cloak swaying about her ankles "I&039;m sorry," she said "Tavi it&039;s unusual, I know I&039;ve never heard of anyone with that proble It&039;s possible that you just haven&039;t grown into it yet I mean, you&039;re what? Twelve? Thirteen?"

"Fifteen," Tavi hed

Amara winced "I see And you&039;re worried about your service in the Legions"

"What service?" Tavi said "I don&039;t have any furies What are the Legions going to do with nals, like the aircrafters, hold the lines with the earthcrafters, or attack with the firecrafters I won&039;t be able to heal anyone with the watercrafters I can&039;t forge a sword, or wield one like a metalcrafter I can&039;t scout and hide, or shoot like a woodcrafter And I&039;hting in the ranks What are they going to do with e, Tavi You showed hed "As near as I can figure it, all courage gets you isthan if you&039;d run away"

"Sometimes that&039;s i?"

"Not running away"

He frowned and said nothing The slave remained silent for severalthe scarlet cloak around her They listened to the rain outside for a few uard "What would you do, if you had a choice?"

"What?" Tavi quirked his head and looked up at her

"If you could choose anything to do with your life Anywhere to go," Ao?"

"The Acadeo there You don&039;t have to be a crafter, there You just have to be sures My aunt taught me"

She lifted her brows "The Acadehts you know," Tavi said "They train legates there, and architects, and engineers Counselors, musicians, artists You don&039;t have to be a skilled crafter to design buildings or argue law"

Amara nodded "Or you could be a Cursor"

Tavi wrinkled up his nose and snorted "And spendcould that be?"

The slave nodded, her expression sober "Good point"

Tavi sed against a sudden tightness in his throat "Out here, on the steadholt, crafting keeps you alive Literally Back in the cities, it isn&039;t as important You can still be someone other than a freak You can make your own life for yourself The Academy is the only place in Alera where you can do that"

"Sounds like you&039;ve thought about this a lot," Amara said quietly

"My uncle saw it once, when his Legion was on review for the First Lord He told me about it And I&039;ve talked to soldiers on their way up to Garrison Traders Last spring, Uncle proh responsibility, he&039;d give ured out that if I took care of them and sold theions, that I could put together enough money for a semester at the Academy"

"One seed "I don&039;t know Try to find soet so"

She turned to look at him for a moment and said, "You&039;re very brave, Tavi"

"My uncle will never give htness in his throat choked hi his closed eyes

"I&039;ht," the slave said

Tavi nodded, but he couldn&039;t speak The anguish he&039;d been trying to keep stuffed down inside rose up in him, and the tears fell onto his cheeks Uncle Bernard couldn&039;t be dead He just couldn&039;t Hoould Tavi ever be able to live with that?

Hoould he ever face his aunt?

Tavi lifted his fist and shoved angrily at the tears staining his cheeks

"At least you&039;re alive," Amara pointed out, her voice quiet She put a hand on his shoulder "That&039;s nothing to take lightly, given what you went through yesterday You survived"

"I get the feeling that when I get back ho to wish I hadn&039;t," Tavi said, his voice choking, wry He blinked away the tears and su wo?"

He shrugged "Sure"

"Why endanger what you&039;d been working toward? Why did you agree to help this Beritte if you knew it could cause problems for you?"

"I didn&039;t think it would," Tavi said, his voice plaintive "I ht I could have done it all It wasn&039;t until nearly the end of the day that I realized I was going to have to pick between getting all the sheep in and those hollybells, and I&039;d promised her"

"Ah," said the slave, but her expression reain, and he looked down "All right," he

sighed "She kissed me, and my brains melted and dribbled out my ears"

"Now that I can believe," A idly at its surface with her toes

"What about you?" Tavi asked

She tilted her head to one side "What do you ain, uncertain "I&039;ve been doing all the talking You haven&039;t said a thing about yourself Slaves don&039;t usually wander around this far froured that, uh, youwoet lost in the store for my master"

Tavi squinted up at her "He just sent you out like that? A woman? Alone?"

"I don&039;t question his orders, Tavi I just obey theuess But, do you think you could co with ot to Garrison safely Get you a hot meal, some warmer clothes"

The slave&039;s eyes wrinkled at the corners "That&039;s a very polite way to take someone prisoner, Tavi"

He flushed "I&039;m sorry Especially since you probably saved my life and all But if you are a runaway, and I don&039;t do so about it, the law could come back to hurt my uncle" He pushed his hair back fros up already"

"I understand," she said "I&039;ll colanced up at the doorway "Sounds like the rain&039;s stopped Do you think it&039;s safe to go?"

The slave frowned and looked outside for a et any safer if ait We should get back to your steadholt, before the storain"