The Wandering Dragon (Children of the Dragon Nimbus) Read Free Page B

mountains that nearly divided the continent and served as a barrier between Coronnan and their age-old enemy and sometimes ally, SeLennica.
    Away from the prying attention of the villagers, she listened more carefully to her twin.
    Is xhtmlhe teething?
He shouldn’t be, not this late. But everyone in the family of Jaylor and Brevelan did everything backward, or sideways, or too fast. Maybe it was Jule’s turn to be behind at something.
    As Lily was behind her brothers and sisters in magical talent. Her one and only skill seemed to be talking to her twin though separated by a thousand miles or more. And understanding the souls of plants and what they needed to grow best.
    Um . . . I don’t know. What are the symptoms of teething?
    Crying a lot. Drooling a lot. Gnawing on things he’s not supposed to.
    No. Other than the crying a lot.
    Is he constipated?
    How should
I
know
?
    Lily sighed again. She should be the one at home taking care of the younger children. Val had no empathy, training, or instincts when it came to nurturing children. She did have a magical talent that she probably thought was being wasted in her current situation.
    A journey was about learning. Val needed to learn to take care of others after a lifetime of being an invalid and cared for. Lily needed to learn . . . to live, when she should have died with the man she had murdered.
Executed,
she reminded herself. But it still felt as though she’d murdered the rogue magician Samlan when she’d slid a knife between his ribs.
    He’s out of nappies now so you can’t check the soiled ones. Have you taken him to the outhouse today?
Lily asked.
    I don’t usually . . .
    Then ask your charges, Lady Graciella and Ariiell
.
    They left for the University early this morning and haven’t come back.
    Then ask Sharl
. Their six-year-old sister had more of a sense of responsibility than Val, Gracie, or Ariiell.
    Give him some red fruit and a big glass of water, Val. Then make him sit for as long as necessary.
Lily closed down on the communication. Her mind and heart felt empty when the contact vanished. She’d done that too often these last few moons of wandering Coronnan. Grimly she planted her staff of plain hawthorn one step ahead of her and continued her solitary mission. “I should be the one who stayed home, Val. You’re the one who deserves a journeyman’s journey.”
    But you wouldn’t heal here at home,
Val reminded her, despite Lily’s barriers.
    “We both have a lot to learn, twin. That’s why we are both placed in positions that seem so opposite to our natural ways.”

    Lukan mingled with the crush of people trying to cross a bridge from the mainland over to the maze of islands that made up Coronnan City—five square miles of city with hundreds of islands and connecting bridges, many of them so badly damaged that people had to take longer, convoluted routes to get home. Had everyone still alive in the city trekked out to Battle Mound for the funeral and now returned all at the same time? All these people trying cross at once strained the raw wood of the newly built bridge. He eyed the hinges and latches at either end, freshly crafted but based on the old design, so that in case of invasion, or flood, the bridge could be collapsed as people retreated inward.
    He guessed the city had emptied gradually over the course of the day. They’d all lost loved ones. They needed to see the mass grave, sing the songs, pray the prayers, and mourn. Now they could put aside crippling emotions and begin to rebuild in earnest. A determination to survive had pulled them through the disaster, and now it kept the throng moving forward, despite the crowding.
    Skeller kept lagging behind, searching faces and postures and patches of newly cut lumber on every single building they passed. Many spaces between houses and shops lay empty, the gaps where buildings ripped from their foundations and now floating out to sea once stood. As crowded as this bridge was,