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disappointment.
    “If they will take it, I will offer the opportunity to teach them.”
    Tolman swallowed. “ You will teach, my Utu Tonah?”
    Tan glanced over at Amia. She watched him with an unreadable expression, one shielded from him through their connection to spirit.
    “Only those who would allow me. But I will not be the only instructor. There will be others. And they will need someone to oversee them. I would have that person be you, Tolman.”
    He nodded slowly. “And the others?”
    “Return them to their parents.”
    Asgar approached and landed behind him, coming down harder and faster than Tan would have expected, but then he saw the look on Fasha’s face, the wide-eyed excitement that she wore openly.
    She climbed from Asgar’s back and bowed to him before returning to stand with the others, who began asking her questions immediately.
    Thank you, Asgar.
    She has known fire, Maelen.
    It was a forced bond to saa.
    Asgar snorted before speaking. Do you think you can change them?
    Tan turned and looked at the children. Tolman stood near them, like a shepherd watching over them. I hope I can change their thinking.
    I cannot fly with each of them.
    You’re not strong enough? Tan asked.
    Asgar growled softly. There are limits to even my patience, Maelen. And some will not be able to listen to fire long enough.
    Tan thought about the way that Fasha had embraced the opportunity, the quick way that she had jumped onto Asgar, and decided that he needed to help as many as he could convince to come around to seeing the elementals in a way that benefited all.
    I intend to stay longer than I planned, he told Asgar.
    I see that.
    What of you?
    I will remain. This place interests me. And there is something else about it that I do not understand yet.
    What?
    Later, Maelen. When I have answers.
    The draasin leapt to the air on a flap of wings and disappeared into the clouds.
    Tan nodded to Tolman and took Amia’s hand, then shaped himself away from the garden.

4
    A Time Before
    “ W hy have you come to me, my Utu Tonah?” Marin asked him.
    Tan stood near the edge of the city. It had taken some time to find Marin, but he was interested in understanding her role as Mistress of Souls. Many of the titles Tolman had explained to him made sense, but this one did not.
    “I came to understand.”
    Marin leaned over a bucket and dropped it into a well. It splashed far below. Tan could offer to be helpful and shape the water out of the well, but doing that would only frighten Marin. From what he had seen of her, she had a timid nature and seemed to scare easily, in spite of the title she carried.
    Somehow, he would have to get through to each of the people who led in Par-shon. Tan didn’t know how he would be able to do that, or even if he could, but if he didn’t, his rule would be defined by control. There was no hope of a lasting change if that was how he served as Utu Tonah.
    “What is there to understand, my Utu Tonah?” Marin asked. She pulled the rope, and the bucket began ascending from the well.
    “What it is that you do. How you have come to sit among the councilors of Par-shon. These are things I don’t understand as an outsider,” he said, realizing at once that he should not have reminded her. Her back stiffened and her fingers clenched along the rope. “I want to know how to help Par-shon succeed.”
    Marin remained quiet as she finished pulling the bucket out of the water. She set it to the side and then dipped three ceramic pots into the water, murmuring something softly. Tan couldn’t hear the words, and those that he did hear, he didn’t understand.
    She stood and gently lifted the bucket and sent it back down into the well. “You want Par-shon to succeed, but you have taken away the ability to do so.”
    “You mean the elementals.”
    Marin tipped her head. She still hadn’t met his eyes, preferring to keep them focused on the ground. The belt she had worn with the runes on them had been replaced