“I needed time for recovery,” Zera said. She didn’t owe them an explanation, but she felt it might go smoother if they had one. “I was told Grand Master Lorn wanted to see me?”
The three looked at one another. “Not precisely,” Master Pudone said carefully. “Master Lorn has resigned from his position as grand master, to spend more time with his son, he said. The council suggested it would be wise.”
Ahh... Sensible of everyone involved. Lorn had shown a stunning lack of good judgment, even beyond what one could blame on Eklor’s persuasion talisman. She hoped his replacement would be less susceptible to blackmail and, equally important, uninterested in Kreya’s forbidden knowledge. She prepared herself to deny any knowledge of her friend’s whereabouts. “Who is the new grand master?”
Master Sirelle said, “We were hoping that you would be.”
The other two nodded vigorously.
Zera laughed and then stopped. “Oh. You’re serious.”
All three of them assured her they were, piled compliments and guilt trips on her, and continued talking until she contemplated putting her hands over her ears like a toddler. She thought about the damage suffered by the city and the guild, wondered at the list of the dead, and then remembered that Guine had believed she’d need a bigger office.
“He knew,” she murmured.
The three masters stopped. “Excuse me?” Master Pudone asked.
Guine had known what they’d offer her.And he knew I’d say yes.“This was never my dream,” she informed them. “I never wanted this.”
“But the guild, the city,Vos itselfneeds this,” Master Sirelle said. “We need you. You have the bone knowledge, the business skills, the reputation, the brains, the charisma, and the compassion to be an excellent guild master.”
“And I am partial to flattery, so thank you for that.” She flashed a smile at them, but it faded quickly. Walking to the grand master’s desk, she touched it. She remembered Kreya’s coming to her all those weeks ago, reminding Zera that she’d always wanted to make the world a better place, and what had she done instead? Become rich? Become successful? Become someone who never left the fifth tier?That was before,she thought.Who am I now? Who do I want to be?
Unlike Kreya, she didn’t know how many years she had left ahead of her. It could be three or it could be thirty. She could spend them as a working bone wizard, making more talismans and making more money and basking in the victories of the past. She could spend them in semiretirement with her friendsat Stran and Amurra’s farmhouse or build her own place nearby. She could travel, see the world like Kreya and Jentt planned. She could even accompany them. Or she could stay right here, become a philanthropist, and pour her gold into rebuilding the city, starting with the first tier. Or she could try to do a little of all of it: Make time for herself, make time for her friends, make time to help those who needed her help. And possibly fail. But at least try.
How do I want to use the time I have?
The life she used to have... she knew she couldn’t go back to that. It wasn’t enough anymore. Maybe she’d outgrown it. It was funny to think she could still outgrow anything at her age. But everything she’d done since Kreya had come back into her life—Yeah, I don’t want to relive a lot of that—had meaning. What she’d done had mattered.Thatwas what she wanted out of her life. Meaning, and the power to keep her friends safe.
“I’ll be guild master,” Zera said.
Kreya and Jentt were ready after two more weeks at the farmhouse, but they waited a full three for Zera to return, at Kreya’s insistence. “I promised,” she’d told him.
She refused to think about what she’d do if Zera didn’t return.
She and Jentt had said they wouldn’t stay long. At night, they’d whisper their plans to see the world, to taste foods they’d never tasted, to see wonders they’d never imagined, to breathe air far different from that of home. But she wasn’t going to miss her chance to say goodbye to her oldest and best friend. Some things were worth any amount of time. Some were too precious to ever take for granted.
Kreya was outside sweeping a dusting of snow from thefront step when she saw a speed-enhanced horse trot across the sloping fields. Zera’s multicolored hair and coat were unmistakable, even from a distance. Wrapping her own coat tighter around her, Kreya headed across the field to meet her halfway.
Dismounting, Zera hugged her tightly. “Yay! You’re not dead!” She pulled back. “Yes, I’m going to greet you that way from now on. I think it should be how I greet everyone.”
Kreya smiled. “Not dead and actually feeling well rested. You?”
“I am not exactly well rested.” Zera unsaddled her horse and set him free to graze. She then hooked her arm through Kreya’s, and they proceeded to the farmhouse. “I seem to have become guild master, which comes with an alarming amount of work. I am delegating as much as humanly possible, and I’ve promoted Guine at least six times in as many days. Grand Master Lorn has ‘retired,’ and I do wish he’d been a lot better at his job before leaving me with his messes.” She went on to describe the heap of work, all the decisions, all the tests that had to be overseen for new bone makers, all the reviews of requests, all the meetings, all the paperwork.
Only when she paused for breath did Kreya call, “Zera’s back!”
Everyone came tumbling out of whatever part of the farmhouse they were in. Marso was already in the kitchen, an apron wrapped around his waist and cinnamon dotting his cheeks. Zera pronounced him delicious after she greeted him, and she told Stran he needed a bath—he’d been hauling wood for the stove and had worked up a sweat. “I brought you all more talismans,” Zera said. “Only a few. I haven’t had much time for carving them lately, but I thought they could be useful around the farm.” She dumped a handful of jeweled bones onto the table. “Unfortunately, I won’t be able to stay long. But I willvisit again. I’ll visit often. And I hope you can make trips to the city, too.”
They settled into talking, both reminiscing and sharing news. Marso served his cinnamon buns, which were drenched in sticky sugar—Amurra and Stran were teaching him how to bake. The two children managed to smear half the sugar on their cheeks and half on their chairs. Kreya wasn’t sure if any of it made it into their mouths.
As her ragtag family talked and laughed, Kreya looked at Jentt across the table. He smiled back, and she knew he felt the same thing she was feeling: full of cinnamon rolls, full of life, and full of love.
It’s time,she thought.
They spent the rest of the day and the evening all together, and then in the morning, shortly before dawn, Kreya gathered up all she’d need for journeying. Jentt packed his belongings as well, and he stuffed several extra cinnamon buns, wrapped in paper, into a side pocket of his bag. While he finished up, Kreya walked outside to check the weather. The sky was pale gray, with lemon predawn tinting the eastern mountains. Frost lay across the ground, but the wind was tame and she didn’t taste any rain or snow in the air.
She saw a blur out of the corner of her eye, and suddenly Zera was in front of her. “So your plan is to disappear from our lives for three years and then die without us?”
