Chapter 4

The sun was bright even in the middle of winter, and the desert plateau looked only a little different now than it did during the summer. There was no snow on the ground, snow fell seldom on this dry land. The scrub oak had shed their leaves, and tangled bare branches reached only a little ways into the sky from their clumps, but the dry grass and the red dirt and the red-orange bluffs looming over the town looked the same as always. But there was a chill in the air, and Janus shivered as he made his way along the road. He was already among the fields, empty and fallow now, and ahead he could see his destination. Soon houses rose up on either side and only minutes later he came out into the spacious town square, where the Land's End Inn was the largest of the buildings that fronted on it, though it was small by the standards of other towns.

Inside the inn the public room was nearly full, crowded with farmers who had nothing better to do now than spend the money they'd earned during the year on drink. A short, dark-haired girl and a very tall blond woman were moving expertly through the crowd, serving drinks to the thirsty men. Janus blinked a bit in surprise. The woman could be no one but Serali, but she was only sixteen. She'd always looked older than her age, but it was a bit surprising to see a woman where he had been expecting a girl. She caught sight of him in the doorway and immediately set her tray down on the nearest table, somewhat to the surprise of its occupants. She threaded her way quickly through the crowd towards him.

"Janus! We thought you weren't coming this year!"

"Serali!" He smiled up at her. It was quite a ways up. "You've certainly grown since I last saw you."

She rolled her eyes. "Yes. Thank heavens I've stopped now. I was starting to worry I'd get too tall to fit through doors. But never mind that. Find yourself a chair, if there's one left, and tell me what you'd like to have. I can't stay and chat, this place is too busy."

"For now I'll just go up to my room. If you have one empty, that is."

"Oh yes, all these," she gestured to the crowd, "are from the village."

"Well in that case I think I can find my own way up. When you're not quite so busy you can bring me up something for dinner, but I'd rather not try to fuddle my head tonight."

"All right. I'll be up as soon as I can." And with that, she swept off back into the crowd to reclaim her misplaced drinks.

Janus watched her as she went, his face unreadable. Then he shook his head and began to make his own way through the crowd toward the stairs at the back of the room.

Some time later, as he was sitting in the room's only chair and thinking, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in."

Serali entered, holding a tray on which rested a bowl of stew and a half loaf of bread. "Here, most of the crowd has staggered off home, so Mama sent me up with this for you."

"Thank you." He took the tray and set it on the tiny table next to his chair. In between bites he said, "You've certainly grown up since I last saw you."

She sighed. "Yes. With particular emphasis on the up part. I'm the tallest person in the village now, and I feel like a stork in a hen house."

"Here, yes, but in the city you'd be only somewhat above average. Certainly there would be men as tall, if not taller."

"But I live here."

"You don't always need to live in this tiny place, Serali. There is a whole world out there, and you could go see it if you wanted."

"But what about my family? And the inn?"

"You have brothers and sisters. Your family would miss you, I'm certain, but they can also get along just fine without you." He pushed back the tray and pulled something out of a pocket. He held it out to Serali. "Do you recognize this?"

"It's the crystal, the one you showed me when you came the time before last."

"Yes. Serali, I've tried what you did with this crystal a thousand times, I've even taken it to other mages and asked them to try and get a chord out of it. One of the best bardic mages I have ever seen managed to coax two notes out of it after several tries. No one else could get anything more than the usual one. I think you have a talent for magic. I think that with training, you could become a great mage, perhaps one of the greatest ever."