As I watched, Mistress Maurielle brought strings of magic around the edges of the cloud, outlining it. She brought more, and there were diaphanous clouds of power between the strings as they rose from the ground.
The magic spun and looped lazily around her, creating almost a fog of colors and powers.
It was entrancing.
And then she nailed me right in the chest with it.
My feet left the ground, and I sailed through the air, backward. The wall I was going to hit would hurt my back all over again.
Time seemed to stop mid-flight.
They had just shown me how they used the magic. They had shown me a cloud around them.
If I could do the same thing with the magic behind me, pillow it out, I wouldn’t hit the wall and might actually be able to stick my landing.
The magic was there on instinct, and I pulled two threads apart. The power floated between them and pushed on it.
It didn’t have time to pillow as much as I had wanted, but it was enough to keep me from slamming my entire spine against the brick.
I felt the bricks, but the hit was soft. I slipped down to gravel and managed to stand up and step away from the wall.
“Well.” Mistress Sona folded her arms, satisfied.
“Well done,” Mistress Ophelia said, not looking up.
Something about all this bothered me. “Are all women who have power taught in Triium?”
“If they are strong,” Lunella said.
“And if they are dedicated to the temple.” Mistress Sona added.
“I’m not strong, though.”
“You are a temple master now,” Mistress Carolee said. “You are also the Breaker of the Spine. You need to know.”
I walked over to a bench and sat down. “That doesn’t make sense.”
The five women in the garden exchanged looks.
“Think about it,” I offered. “I’m not strong, but I’ve been tutored by males and women who were trained by males. I never thought to approach magic differently.”
Mistress Maurielle raised her eyebrows. “Huh.”
“Isn’t it possible that all these women we have dismissed as weak are victims of the male way of teaching?” I shuffled my foot against the ground. “I know we try to keep men and women equal, but you’ve just said yourselves, we don’t think the same.”
Mistress Carolee stroked a thoughtful finger over her bottom lip. “This makes sense. It would account for the large disparity in the magic wielders.”
I twisted my lip. “Wait. No one thought of this before?”
“The Triium is kept as a legend for a reason, my dear.” Lunella sat next to me.
“But how is that fair to us? We’ve been assumed the weaker magic wielders for all these years. Centuries.”
Mistress Sona raked a look over the side of the dormitory building. I felt a brush of her magic over us and knew no one could hear the words that followed. “There are eyes everywhere. Let’s adjourn somewhere the ears that go with them cannot hear us.”
The others nodded. I was lost.
Lunella took my hand. “Come. We will go on horseback. It’s time for some riding. It’s healthy for us to go for a ride in the countryside.”
