Or a new pair of boots, or a painting.
Or ice cream.
If Crystal Hollow doesn’t have to be isolated anymore, many of its limitations go away.
At the same time, I remember what Zan made me realize before: that welcomingeveryone, including bad actors, makes it less safe for those who are vulnerable.
So some limits, some boundaries, are necessary. But without a magical field shielding Crystal Hollow from the Order, how can I keep them out? What else do I have to offer?
I look at Zan, who can offer knowledge of the ice line—
Oh, of course.
Knowledge.
Bothof us have that, in spades.
I open my mouth, but to my surprise, Teren elbows me.
“Wait,” he says quietly, gaze intent. “We’re already pushing their comfort levels hard. Too much too soon and you’ll lose them.”
Or push them too far, like I had with the Order.
I nod and bring my thoughts back to the situation at hand, not the realm of ideas and ambitions.
The habits of five hundred years of meditation are hard to break, but Icanread people, and Teren is right.
So it’s too soon to offer them free access to magical knowledge. We do still need a boundary of some kind, though, or else the priests will be all up in our business.
And they’re not going to like it, but it’s still a sticking point that I think we need to hit head-on lest they claim later that I’m trying to be underhanded.
I look at Zan, and this time I think he knows what I’m considering because he looks resigned.
He doesn’t believe even I can do this.
And that pisses me off, not least because I’m worried he’s right, but I can’t let it go.
I take a breath, but this time it isn’t a calming one.
“Before we go any further,” I say, “I think it’s important to note that we will only share our knowledge of and access to the ice line as long as the Order is not invited to help. We will pay our taxes to the empire, but this effort must be by Crystal Hollow, for Crystal Hollow.”
Thatgets a reaction.
“Excuse me,” Romasa says, “You want to go against theOrder?”
Waten snorts. “Good luck makingthatstick.”
Here we go.
“Crystal Hollow has been without the Order for centuries,” I say. “I don’t know all your reasons, but everyone is here on purpose, aren’t you? You don’t just choose to live somewhere this isolated from easy magic on accident. I’m saying that just because the Quiet has fallen, you don’t need to cede the island to them. They’re not the ones who made it what it is today: You are.”
“And when the priests try to force the issue, what are we supposed to do?” Waten snaps.
I’m losing them. I know it, but I can’t lose this fight without losing everything—Teren’s safety, my freedom, Zan’slife.
Ican’t.
“There are more laypeople than priests,” I say. “We keep this sanctuary by countering their narrative, by showing people on the mainland what’s possible without them—”
