“Because I am odd.”
“You’re not.You’re flippant.It’s entirely different.”
“Just watch,” he grumbled, closing his eyes as a flame flickered to life on the wick.He cupped his hands and held them above the flame, and very soon it jumped higher, then higher, then his eyes were open and dancing and he was playing with the flame like a pet dog that jumped at its owner’s command.
“Bravo!”She clapped.“Perfect.And so quickly.I thought you said you’ve achieved nothing so far.”
He shrugged.“I haven’t.It’s the teacher’s success, not mine.”
Her belly flipped.What a wonderful thing for him to say.She wrapped her arms around her belly because she felt like hugging someone, and it could not be him.
“Your turn, princess.”
“Yes.”She smoothed her skirts, suddenly nervous.“What shall I do?”
He stood before the roaring fire.“Are the metals in your pocket?”
She pulled them out.
“Good.Hold one in your palm.”
She slipped all but the silver inside her pocket and held that before the fire.“I’ve always liked silver.All my jewelry is silver.Like moonlight.”
“I would have thought you a gold sort of woman.”
She shook her head.“Now what?”
He cleared his throat.“Now look at the fire through the silver.Make your vision go… fuzzy.Until everything is wavy and the colors of the fire and the silver are bleeding together.”
She did.The metal warmed in her hand and everything her sight fell on bled together in an unfocused haze.
“Is it hotter?”
“No.”
“It should be hotter.Try again.”
She did.
“Now?”
“No!What is the purpose of this exercise?”
He shrugged.“Stone never said, and everyone but me knew how to do it.”
“It must be something they learn from their fathers first or see their fathers doing.This is impossible.”
“I hate to be the optimist between the two of us, but we can’t give up after one failure.”
“My failure, not yours.”
“Yes, well… are you… working with the flame instead of against it?I heard from a wonderfully talented teacher that’s the way to do it, and it seems to work for me.”One hand crept behind his neck as red blossomed across his cheeks.Without looking at her, he somehow found a curl laying against her neck, tweaked it.“Have faith, princess.”He seemed almost… shy, unsure.
She inhaled, exhaled.“You’re right.Let’s try it again.”
And she did try.
She tried.She did.Again and again and again.Not only with the silver but with the other metals, too.She did it with Apollo nearby giving instruction and with him off practicing with the candle.
