Sky Woman: Book One of The Empress Saga

CHAPTER THIRTY

Enfri chewed on the vex sprouts Deebee brought in from the garden. They were a marginal help, but she still felt groggy and weak as a kitten. Having been more or less dead for several hours was funny like that. Enfri resolved to keep an eye on herself for some time yet. There was no way that could have been healthy.

She was wearing clean clothes again. Deebee had helped her to the stream, and Enfri had a wonderfully long bath. Enough dust and grime had been scrubbed from her body that she could have filled a flower pot with it.

In truth, she was shocked that she was recovering as well as she was. When Enfri drank the anesthetic, she had been convinced that the best case scenario would involve spending weeks in recovery. Dragon bonds weren't to be underestimated, it seemed. Even the cut on her hand was gone. Perhaps Jin had a point when she said that these bonds were powerful enough to be dangerous.

It took most of Enfri's willpower to keep herself from sighing. Thinking of Jin wasn't helping. She was out there somewhere, likely still in the desert. Maya, Gain, and the rest were probably taking her back to the capital. She wouldn't be fully recovered yet. Unlike Enfri, she would have a long and hard road ahead of her before she was well.

Enfri missed her. She owed Jin a great deal, for her use of osteomancy and for her tender words. Enfri couldn't stop thinking about her. She held her hands in her lap and did her best not to cry over it. Enfri may never see Jin again, but she'd think fondly of her for the rest of her days and dream of what they might have had were things different.

I can hardly believe it, Enfri thought in wonder. Of all the ways I thought things might go, I never considered that I would feel like this for Jin. If only I could have had more time to tell her.

Jin had felt the same, Enfri was certain. The painfully brief moment in which they kissed told her that. Enfri felt herself blushing.

I kissed her. Winds, she kissed me back. Deebee, I could throttle you for interrupting when you did.

Oblivious to Enfri's ire, Deebee continued on with her one-sided conversation. She had moved off of the Ethereum and was now explaining just what an imprint was exactly. Something about the presence a thing had in the Weave of magic.

Enfri should have been paying more attention, but focus was difficult to come by. She'd have asked Deebee to hold off on the instruction, but the dragon appeared to need this to take her mind off of what had happened. Enfri regretted putting such a scare into her, but it wasn't as if there had been much of a choice.

"Any questions, love?" Deebee asked.

Enfri blinked as she came back into the moment. "No, I think I understand. Magic comes from the Ethereum, where spirits dwell. The Weave is composed of magic interspersed throughout the physical world, and imprints are where physical things press against the Weave."

Deebee was beaming as she busied about the house making tea. "Quite so. I'm giving you an oversimplified version, but that's the basic idea."

"I'm not quite so clear on the Law of Five. Isn't it just that a person can be a scrivener or a wizard, and not both?"

"That's part of it. Whether by design or quirk of nature, the number five manifests in all things related to magic. Why, I could go on for hours about..."

Enfri did her best to be attentive while Deebee handed her some tea. The lecture went on, and Deebee straightened up the house as she spoke.

"One other thing," Enfri interjected before Deebee could get into full swing. "My... bloodline. Being descended from the Dragon Emperors and all that. How was it that the arcanist knights were also bonded to dragons? Is that part of the elder magic?"