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She sat back in her chair, shaking her head as one of the servants offered her food There were still four or five gods left to arrive Apparently, the Hallandren deities weren’t as punctual as Bluefingers’s schedule-keeping had led her to believe

VIVENNA STEPPED THROUGH THE GATES, passing into the Hallandren Court of Gods, which was doe palaces She hesitated, and sh on either side of her, though there wasn’t ht; it had been easy for her to get into the court The priests at the gate had waved Vivenna through without even asking her identity They had even let Parlin pass, assu at the priests in their blue robes She could see bubbles of colorfulness around the BioChrouarding the gates had enough Breath to get theained the ability to distinguish levels of Breath in other people Vivenna had it too It wasn’t that auras or colors looked different to her In fact, the ability to distinguish Breath was siained Other people heard the same sounds she did, she just had the ability to pick theet to one of the priests before the colors increased, and she saw exactly how much more colorful those hues became This information let her know instinctively that each of the priests was of the First Heightening Parlin had one Breath The ordinary citizens, who had to present papers to gain entrance to the court, also each had only one Breath She could tell how strong that Breath was, and if the person was sick or not

The priests each had exactly fifty Breaths, as did the ates A fair nuh for the Second Heightening and the perfect pitch it granted Only a couple had more Breaths than Vivenna, who had reached all the way to the Third Heightening and the perfect color perception it granted

She turned away frohtenings, but she’d never expected to experience one firsthand She felt dirty Perverse Particularly because the colors were just so beautiful

Her tutors had explained how the court was composed of a wide circle of palaces, but they had not mentioned how each palace was so har subtle color gradients that normal people just wouldn’t be able to appreciate These sat on a perfect, uniforreen lawn It was trimmed carefully, and it was marred by neither road nor ay Vivenna stepped onto it, Parlin at her side, and she felt an urge to kick off her shoes and walk barefoot in the dew-rass That wouldn’t be appropriate at all, and she stifled the i to let up, and Parlin lowered the uht to keep the off the umbrella "The Court of Gods"

Vivenna nodded

"Good place to graze sheep"

"I doubt that," she said quietly

Parlin frowned "Goats, then?" he said finally

Vivenna sighed, and they joined the se structure outside the circle of palaces She’d been worried about standing out--after all, she still wore her sih neck, practical fabric, andto realize that there just wasn’t a way to stand out in T’Telir

The people around her wore such a stunning variety of costun them all Some were as h these were usually accented by bright scarves or hats Modesty in both design and color was obviously unfashionable, but not nonexistent

It’s all about drawing attention, she realized The whites and faded colors are a reaction against the bright colors But because everyone tries so hard to look distinctive, nobody does!

Feeling a little lanced at Parlin, who seeer crowds in the city below "Interesting buildings," he said "The people wear so much color, but that palace is just one color Wonder why that is"

"It’s not one color It’s many different shades of the saed "Red is red"

How could she explain? Each red was different, like notes on a musical scale The walls were of pure red The roof tiles, side coluhtly different shades, each distinct and intentional The colu fifths of color, har with the base tint of the walls

It was like a sy had obviously been constructed for a person who had achieved the Third Heightening, as only such a person would be able to see the ideal resonance To otherswell, it was just a bunch of red

They passed the red palace, approaching the arena Entertainods After all, one couldn’t expect gods to do anything useful with their time Often they were diverted in their palaces or on the courtyard lawn, but for particularly large events, there was the arena--which also served as the location of Hallandren legislative debates Today, the priests would argue for the sport of their deities

Vivenna and Parlin waited their turn as the people crowded around the arena entrance Vivenna glanced toward another gateondering why nobody used it The ansas ure approached He was surrounded by servants, so a canopy All were dressed in blue and silver, ood head taller than the others He gave off a BioChroh, admittedly, she’d been able to see them for only a few hours His bubble of enhanced color was enor senses, the god’s Breath registered as infinite Immeasurable For the first ti different about the Returned They weren’t just Awakeners with le Breath, but that Breath was so ile-handedly propelled theod entered the arena through the open gateway As she watched hiance in this man’s posture, a dismissiveness to the way he entered freely while others waited their turn at an overcrowded entrance

To keep hiht, he has to absorb a person’s Breath each week