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.Talia was extremely curious about these other Gifts and asked Ylsa about them as the last class broke up."The other two general groups have to do with moving things with thought alone, and seeing at a distance." Ylsa said."We tend to lump them under the names of 'Fetching' and 'Sight.' Oddly enough, the two Heralds best at both those skills happen to work together as a team; Dirk and Kris.Well, maybe it's not so odd.Gifts that are needed tend to appear just before they're needed.”The second name woke a vague feeling of recollection; after a moment of thought, Talia remembered that she'd met Kris before, her first night at the Collegium."Kris is the one that's too good-looking to be true, isn't he? she asked Ylsa with a half-smile."That's the one.The fact that Dirk and Kris are partners is one reason why we hold these classes particularly the latter two all at the same time and for more than one year-group; it makes more sense to wait for a time of several weeks when Dirk and Kris don't have to be out somewhere," Ylsa replied."Why are you asking?”"Insatiable curiosity," Talia confessed."I kind of wonder how their Gifts are related to my own.”"Seeing's probably the closest; emotions are powerful attractants for the mind's eye.In fact, you have more than a touch of that particular Gift yourself, as you've noticed.I've told you that no one ever has just one Gift with no hint of the others, haven't I? You've got enough thought-sensing and Sight to possibly be useful in an emergency maybe just a hint of Healing as well.Anyway, the difference between their Gifts and yours is that you will generally have to See things through the eyes of someone present unless there's a lot of emotional residuum to hold you, and then it will be very vague.They can See things as if they were observing them directly, even if there's nobody there.There isn't much to watch in that class, though; just the three of them sitting around in trance-states.Quite boring if you're not linked in with them.Dirk's class is something else altogether that's something to see! I know he won't mind; want to peek in on them?”"Could I?" Talia didn't even try to conceal her eagerness, "I don't see any reason why not.Queen's Own should probably see some of the other Gifts in action especially since it seems your year-mate Griffon has one of the rarer and potentially more dangerous of the 'Fetching' family.”"He does? What does he do?" Talia found it difficult to envision the good-natured Griffon as dangerous."He's a Firestarter.”Because of Griffon's Gift, Dirk was holding his classes outside, away from any building, and near the well just in case.Talia could see he had a bucket of water on the cobblestones beside him.He and his two pupils were sitting cross-legged on the bare paving, all three seeming to be too engrossed in what they were doing to notice any discomfort from the stone.He nodded agreeably to Visa and Talia as they approached, indicating with an eyebrow a safe place to stand and watch, and then turned his attention immediately back to his two pupils.Talia discovered to her surprise that she recognized Herald Dirk as the young Herald she'd encountered just outside the capital.She had been far too overcome with bashfulness and the fear that she'd been wrong-doing to take more than a cursory look at him then; she took the opportunity afforded by his deep involvement with his pupils to do so now.Her initial impression of homeliness was totally confirmed.His face looked like a clay model that had been constructed by someone with little or no talent at all.His nose was much too long for his face; his ears looked as if they'd just been stuck on by guess and then left there.His jaw was square and didn't match his rather high cheekbones; his teeth looked like they'd be more at home in his Companion's mouth than in his.His forehead didn't match any of the rest of his face; it was much too broad, and his overly generous mouth was lopsided.His straw-colored hair looked more like the thatched roof of a cottage provided that the thatcher hadn't had the least notion of what he'd been about.The only thing that redeemed him from being repulsive was the good-natured smile that always hovered around the corners of his mouth, a smile that demanded that the onlooker smile in response.That, and his eyes he had the most beautiful eyes Talia had ever seen; brimming with kindness and compassion.The only eyes she could compare them to were Rolan's and they were the same living sapphire blue as a Companion's.If she hadn't been so fascinated by what was transpiring, she might have paused to wonder at the strength of response she felt to the implied kindness of those eyes.As it was, though, Griffon was in the process of demonstrating his gift, and that drove any other thought from her head.He seemed to be working his way up through progressively less combustible materials; it was evident from some of the residue of this exercise that he'd already attained the control required to ignite normally volatile substances at will.In front of him were the remains of burned paper, shredded cloth, the tarry end of a bit of rope, and a charred piece of kindling-wood.Now Dirk placed in front of him an odd black rock."This stuff witt burn if you get it hot enough, I promise you," he was saying to Griffon."Smiths use it sometimes to get a really hot fire; they prefer it over charcoal.Give it a try.”Griffon stared at the bit of black stone, his face intent.After a tense moment, he sighed explosively."It's no use " he began."You're trying too hard again," Dirk admonished."Relax.It's no different than what you did with the wood; the stuff s just a bit more stubborn.Give it longer.”Once again Griffon stared at the lump.Then something extraordinary happened.His eyes suddenly unfocused, and Talia's stomach flipped over; she became disoriented for a moment the experience was something rather as if she'd been part of the mating of two dissimilar objects into a new whole.The black lump ignited with a preternatural and explosive fury."Whoa!" Dirk snouted, dousing the fire with the handy bucket of water [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]