Certain Symmetry Read Online Free Page B

so!"
    "Ah, very good!" Lute said unexpectedly.
"You have learned a basic truth of our trade: People make their own
magic."
    Moonhawk faltered, thinking of what had gone
forth last night. "Master Lute, the spell you made last night for
Veverain..."
    "An illustrative case," he said, refusing to
meet her eyes.
    "No," she said, and put a hand on his arm,
stopping him. Determined, she waited until he met her eyes, though
she did not compel him do so--indeed, she was not certain that she
could compel him to do so, Witch though she was.
    The black eyes were on hers.
    "I wanted you to know--the
spell you made for Veverain was true . I saw it building; I saw its
binding." She took a breath. "It was well done, Master
Lute."
    "So." He sighed, then
shrugged. "But that does not change the original
premise--people do make their own magic, just as many see only what they wish to
see. Now, about the disappearing counter...." He flipped his cloak
behind his shoulders and showed her his hands.
    "If you wish to make counters appear and
disappear, you would do well to supply yourself with several of the
same color and hide them about your person. I, for instance, keep
several green counters behind my belt--" A flourish, in the grand
style, and there they were--four green counters held between the
fingers of his left hand.
    "Your belt!" protested Moonhawk. "You
never--"
    "I also," Lute interrupted, implacable,
"keep several behind my collar." Another grand flourish and there
were four more--- yellow this time--between the fingers of his
right hand.
    "Master Lute--"
    "And when you are done with them, why, it's
a simple thing to put them away." A shake of both hands and the
counters were gone.
    Moonhawk drew a deep breath.
    "Of course," said Lute, "it is often wise to
keep a counter or two elsewhere than upon one's person. Like the
one I store behind your ear."
    "Behind my ear!" she cried, but there was
Lute's hand, brushing past her cheek, and then reappearing,
triumphantly displaying a red counter.
    Moonhawk sighed.
    "Master Lute?"
    "Yes, Lady Moonhawk?"
    "You're a dreadful master."
    "And you," Lute said, turning toward the
village, "are an impertinent apprentice. It is a good thing, don't
you think, that we are so very well matched?"
     
     

 
     
    Certain Symmetry
     
    THE MORNING OF the sixth and final day of
Little Festival dawned in pastel perfection, promising another
pellucid day of pleasure for festival-goers.
    Pat Rin yos'Phelium, Clan Korval, a faithful
five-day attendee, had failed through press of pleasure to greet
the dawn from the near side--and likewise failed of observing it
from the far side, as he was most soundly asleep, and remained so
for some hours beyond.
    When he did rise and betake himself to his
study, he found the day's letters and packets piled neatly to hand,
the screen displaying his preferred news service, and a pot of tea
gently steaming next to a porcelain cup.
    Pat Rin poured for himself and settled into
his chair, rapidly scanning the news summary.
    The results of yesterday's skimmer races at
Little Festival were, inevitably, top news. It could not be
otherwise, with both the thodelm of yos'Galan and the nadelm of
Korval entire in participation.

    Pat Rin sighed, gently, and sipped his tea.
One's mother was annoyed, however courteously she had accepted
one's cousin's instruction in the matter. He sipped again, savoring
the blend, and allowed his gaze to wander from the screen for a
moment.
    One's cousin had proven ...unanticipated.
One encountered an edge--and a precision of cut--which had not been
noted before cousin Val Con's departure for the Scouts. It might be
that Scout training had produced this surprising alteration in the
unassuming--even shy--halfling Pat Rin recalled. Or, as one's
mother contended, it might simply be that Val Con was coming into
his own, that genes would tell, and by the gods it had seemed for a
long and telling moment as if her brother Daav himself had stood
before her.
    Well.
    Pat