But I also have more blackberries.
“Can you take this back with you?” I ask her.
Nomi blinks, then her eyes sharpen. “You want to start an ice cream business?”
I hadn’t even gotten that far yet. “Maybe? I want... to see what might be possible.”
For me as a person, and not just as a sage.
And maybe—maybe to prove that a sage can be more than our power.
“People will ask where it came from,” Nomi warns.
Teren speaks up. “For now we can just tell them someone lucked into some extra ice. We’ll take care of it, Yora.”
My chest eases.
Maybe something will be easy.
And maybe I don’t have to let the Order ruin everything.
I will keep pursuing what I wantdespitethem.
And there’s one thing I want besides ice cream.
“Where did Zan go?” I ask as we leave the ice house behind.
“He said he was going for a walk,” Nomi said. “I’m sure he’ll be back soon—he won’t have gone far, with the priests having been here so recently. Even if they can’t come back yet, I’ve never known him to waste time.”
A kernel of unease grows in my gut.
He already went for a walk with me. Did he have more worries that he felt like he couldn’t share with me?
But I smile and we say our goodbyes and soon they’re on their way down the mountain.
And only then do I cast my senses out.
I can sense so much less now that I’m bound to my body again, but Zan I can always sense sooner than anyone else.
To my surprise, he’s not actually far after all. I start to take a breath as I turn in the direction of his magic and see the temple.
Why would he be in the place he thinks of as a prison—
And then I notice just how low the ember of his magic feels.
I run.
I dash through the field of wildflowers in no time, surging to the doors and ramming into them.
But they don’t budge—locked.
Did he want privacy? But—
“Zan, it’s me!” I yell. “Can I come in?”
Nothing.
My dread grows.
