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spells without waver or hesitation. The rest of her early training, in basic history and geography and the like, was deeply enough ingrained that she didn't need to go back over it.
    Miryo rose to her feet and went to the shelves, where she ran a finger down the stacks of notes from her Elemental studies. She had finished reviewing them a few days ago: the symbolic associations of each, the foci that could be used to channel them, the magical effects they were suited for, their reflections in human society, their philosophical meanings. All five Elements, even the Void; it might not have any magic associated with it, or any foci to channel that magic, but it had everything else. Endless floods of detail. Once she finished her essay, she would go over it again. And again, and again, until time ran out and they put her knowledge to the test.
    Scowling, Miryo went to her desk and glared at the sheets there. For a moment her own tight, slanted handwriting seemed hateful to her. She wanted to climb down the side of the students' hall and run away, down the mountainside, out into the night.
    But there would be no point to doing that. She was a student here, the daughter of a witch, and in a month's time, barring failure, she, too, would be a witch. There wasn't any other path to take, not that she would choose voluntarily.
    She kicked her chair abruptly. For the last year she'd gone through this cycle; every few months she would turn maudlin, questioning her purpose and her odds of success. It would pass before much longer; it always had before. Most of the time she enjoyed the challenge of her studies. Her mood would clear; she'd go to the tests with her determination restored and do just fine.
    And if I tell myself that often enough, I might even begin to believe it.
     
    "Oh! You surprised me, Narika-kai."
    The words were swallowed up almost immediately by the shelves that filled the library. Narika looked up from the book she was holding and smiled at Miryo. "Are you so jumpy today?"
    Miryo straightened from the bow she had dropped into when she rounded the corner and saw the witch. "I'm just a little tired, Kai."
    "I'm not surprised." Narika closed her book and eyed Miryo, who tried not to flinch. "I think every student begins shorting herself on sleep as her trial approaches. Tell me, what did you stay up to study last night?" Her eyes went to the book in Miryo's hands. "Plagues?"
    "Oh, no, Kai. This was for an essay I was writing for Yuri-mai."
    "But I bet you
were
studying," Narika said, smiling.
    "Yes, Kai. Healing spells."
    "Ah, a wonderful subject. Not one I have any particular knack for, which is one of the reasons I didn't choose Water, back when I was your age. They do more healing than any three of the rest of us. Does healing interest you?"
    "I'm… not certain, Kai."
    Narika nodded. "You have time before you must choose. Of course, I'm not supposed to be trying to encourage you in any direction yet, since you haven't been tested, but I don't think you're likely to fail. So I'll go ahead and say that I think you would be admirably suited to Air. You strike me as the sort of woman who would do well with variety and adventure. Of course, you wouldn't
have
to be a Hand—I myself enjoy keeping the Ray's records, which is a good deal more sedate—but I think you would enjoy it There, now I'm done proselytizing. Have I convinced you?" Narika smiled again, quite disconcertingly.
    "I will consider it, Kai. But to be quite honest, I have
no
idea what I want Air might work, but I'd have to travel first to see if it's what I want to do."
    "Very sensible of you." Narika put her book back on the shelf and held out a hand for Miryo's. She flipped through it rapidly before shaking her head. "Things like this are depressing to me. I would
not
have wanted to be Ashin two years ago, finding that outbreak of red cough in Razi." Snapping the book shut, she walked farther down the library aisle to shelve it. Miryo followed her