Magic Three of Solatia Read Online Free Page B

is not only women who are born to weep.”
    Sianna answered, “How can you say that? I do not want him to worry. Oh, sea mother, he is but a poor button maker. But if you take me home, he will make you buttons enough to fill the entire sea.”
    Mary reached out for the girl’s hand and held it to her breast. “Little songbird,” she said, “do you know what it is like to be lonely? I do not think I knew until you came how empty my life has been. You are here and here you shall stay.”
    Sianna began to weep. Till that very moment she had thought of Mary as her friend. She saw now that she was not the witch’s friend but her prisoner, for true friendship—like true love—does not seek to bind.
    The mermaid was upset by the tears and wanted to stop them. She said slyly, “When you know as much about magic as I do, then perhaps you will be able to find your own way home.”
    “Do you believe so?” asked the girl, hope in her heart again.
    “Oh, yes,” replied Dread Mary, “though it may take a long long time.” And only she knew that she lied.
    “Then it is a pact,” said Sianna. “And you will see, I will be a most apt pupil.”
    “Here is your first lesson. And it is the most important lesson of all,” said the witch. “Magic has consequences.”
    “Consequences?” asked Sianna.
    “Yes,” said the mermaid. “All of nature is in a delicate balance, the good with the evil, the soft with the hard, the weak with the strong. If through magic you create an imbalance, nature itself will right the scales. So whatever you do—for good or evil—it will be counterpoised. If you forget all else, forget not this.”
    Sianna nodded.
    The witch smiled. “Come then, little bird. Teach me that seamother song.”

9. A Year of Spells
    T HUS A YEAR MOVED slowly for Sian, far away on the Solatian shore. Never a word passed his lips, for never did a sign from Sianna come from the sea. And his eyes were as salty with tears as an ocean wave.
    On the Outermost Isle, the year moved swiftly for the girl and the witch. They traded song for spell and spell for song. And no one could say which had the best of the bargain. For each bit of magic that Sianna learned, she gave a song of love or sorrow in return.
    Sianna learned the language of seals and which weeds of the sea took away pain. She was taught how to make a poultice of sea mustard and how to draw out poison with a fishbone lance. She discovered that every living thing has two names, one it is called by the people and one it is called in a spell, and that the spell name is so powerful it could command even the sharp-toothed shark. The only thing she could not learn was to breathe under the sea.
    But mostly Sianna learned that magic has consequences. That every strong action leads to a strong reaction, that every up has its down, that there is no evil that does not have a balancing good, nor a good that does not sow some evil in its turn. And finally, what Sianna learned about magic was that it was best not to use it at all.
    True to her word, Sianna taught Dread Mary the old songs like “In the Meadow Green and Early” and “My Love Is an Apple of Sweet Delight.” Sianna’s young mind held the memory of every song she had ever heard. And though sometimes she added new words or whole verses to a tune, such was her kinship with each song that no one could tell where the old words left off and the new ones began.
    The seawitch and the girl sang the Seven Psalms of Waking with great gusto each morn. All the bold gypsies’ songs and devil-defeated songs were the mermaid’s special delight. But the seawitch learned more than just the songs, though she could not have said what.
    To learn all of Sianna’s songs, the witch taught her more than she had meant. Usually they sat side by side at the water’s edge, for it was easier for Dread Mary to stay in her fishtail. One day, as they sang by the water’s edge, the witch said, in exchange for a particularly lovely tune