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and took the step between here and there.
Glorianna had called it virgin ground. He remembered that much now that his
brain started thinking again. She just hadn't explained the significance of
virgin ground, which was going on the list of things he intended to discuss
with her.
"You've had a busy time, haven't you?"
Michael whirled around and saw Glorianna standing nearby, holding two market
baskets. Since he didn't think the Places of Light had markets, that meant
she'd gone somewhere besides where she said she was going. And that was
another something to discuss. They were going to have a plentiful amount to
discuss, and to his way of thinking, that discussion would be held at full
volume. The fact that she seemed amused by what she was looking at wasn't
doing anything for him either.
What what what?
And now the wild child was upset again.
He pointed to the ground in front of the new two-stone-high wall that formed a
border around the virgin ground. If it could still be called virgin ground.
"We need some stone there. A nice thick layer of pebbles, I'm thinking. In
different colors."
There. That should keep Ephemera busy for a while.
He watched the ground change with a speed that staggered him. And right before
he closed his eyes to shut it all out, he saw Glorianna set the baskets on the
ground, cross her arms, and tip her head to one side as she studied the
addition to her garden.
A lesson to him. That's what this was. If he ever had the luck to become a
father, he would never ever give a flippant response to a child without
considering the consequences of the child taking him at his word. No, he would
never ever give a flippant response.
Especially when the wife was standing right there and could hear him.
He listened to Glorianna move over to the changed ground, heard her sift
through the pebbles.
"Well," she said. "I'm not good at identifying uncut stones, but I think you
have some precious gems in here, along with a good haul of semiprecious
stones."
His eyes popped open. "Huh?"
She scooped up a handful of stones. "You asked for different colors. Here's
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ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
garnet and malachite. Lapis and citrine. Topaz. Oh, and here's a lovely
amethyst. And this might be an emerald."
He crouched beside her. "I was just trying to distract the world, give it
something safe to do."
"And you did a fine job. We can pick through these later. If you take them to
a gem dealer, you could get a good price for them."
"I didn't do this to line my pockets."
Her free hand brushed his hair back, stroked his head. "Magician, how do you
think we get by most of the time? Landscapers don't get paid directly for what
they do, so most gardens have a little 'treasure spot'  a place where you can
turn the earth and come up with the coins that were tossed in wish wells, or
gold or silver nuggets  or gems  that come from Ephemera."
So the story about a treasure hidden in Darling's Garden wasn't just a story.
Did Caitlin know about having a treasure spot? "Is it always this easy?"
"Well, for most it's not quite this simple. But the wild child is very
responsive to you."
Her lips touched his. Warmth rather than heat. Affection rather than lust. And
yet the promise of heat was there, simmering between them.
Friend. Lover. Both.
"Show me what you've done," Glorianna said. "Then let's get some breakfast and
put the rest of the food away."
"Ah." He cupped a hand under her elbow, helping her to her feet as he rose to
his. "Didn't know what I was doing. Still not sure what I did."
"You made a garden, Magician."
"I don't know anything about tending posies." And whether he was keen on it or
not, he had a feeling he was about to learn.
"Then let's see if you have any to tend."
For a man who didn't know what he was doing, he'd done well enough, Glorianna
decided as she studied the newly made garden within her garden. All right, two
rows of rectangles weren't the most interesting configuration, but he wasn't a
Landscaper as such, so all he really needed was a basic garden that provided
access points to his landscapes.
He had those. One rectangle was covered with fog over grass. Another looked
like ordinary grass but she recognized the resonance of Dunberry. Another was
cobblestones, but when she leaned in and sniffed the air, she smelled the sea.
He confirmed Foggy Downs, Dunberry, and Kendall, along with three other places
in Elandar that had made up his circuit of landscapes. She pointed to the last
two rectangles. "What are those?"
Michael shoved his hands in his pockets and mumbled, "Don't know
their songs."
"I beg your pardon?"
He winced. "Don't know those places. Never heard their songs before."
She stared at him as she considered a possibility. "But you hear their songs
now?"
He nodded warily. "Can you play those songs?"
Another wary nod. Then he pulled his whistle out of an inside coat pocket,
pointed to one rectangle, and began to play. After a minute, he pointed to the
other rectangle and played a different tune.
Not Elandar. It took on a little of the flavor of that land because he was
playing the tune, but those new landscapes weren't in the part of the world he
had known.
"Looks like Lee is going to have to create a couple of bridges," Glorianna
said.
Michael tucked the whistle back in his pocket. "Why?"
"A lot of Landscapers were lost when the Eater attacked the school. The
bedrock in the landscapes they tended has been crumbling. Those landscapes
have been crumbling, becoming mired in the manifestation of emotions without
any guidance. But Ephemera wants guidance, and landscapes, like people, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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