Several hours passed after he came back. He spent them in the mages museum, marvelling at the many objects they had created, and briefly in the library, flipping through books. For a moment he thought he d glimpsed braided red hair and the gleam of light along a long, curved glass edge passing by a stack of shelves on his right. Rather

Than see if it was the lightning girl or not, he went back to the museum.

At mid-afternoon his clerk-escort brought him to one of the university s mages, Vishaneh Amberglass. Keth felt better the moment he was ushered into her ground floor offices. Amberglasss office was a glassmakers workshop, stifling hot from the fire in the furnace.

The mage herself was a tiny creature in her sixties, perched on a high stool. She had icy grey-green eyes, olive skin and black hair worn in a coil ruthlessly pinned to her scalp. Instead of the Tharian

kyten and stole, she dressed in the long tunic coat and leggings of a Trader or Bihanese. am told that you are a journeyman glassmaker,she said, eyeing him through round spectacles.

Dhasku replied Kethlun.

is a crucible in the oven. Blowpipes over there.Amberglass pointed them out. Have you studied breath control through meditation?

course,he replied, startled by the question. dont get past your prenticeship without it.

you know that meditation is a form that mages use to get at their power?Her voice was crisp.

Dhasku. I learned from my uncles, who are glass mages.

blow me a round glass ball, meditating as you do so,the mage instructed. t take for ever about it.

He didnt take for ever. He did take his time, inspecting several blowpipes before he chose one

That suited him, then eyeing the crucible in the glory hole of the oven. Amberglass, you do understand that its blowing glass where I get into trouble. It s why Im here at all.

She inspected a thumbnail. you are a journeyman, or you are not,she said tartly. Which is it?

Kethlun sighed. Closing his eyes, he fell into the breathing rhythms he had learned years ago. Meditation and breath control were as much a part of his fami ly life as meals. Slowly he counted to seven as he inhaled, then held his breath to a count of seven, let it go for a count of seven, stopped for a count of seven, then began to inhale once more. Like magic his troubled mind instantly calmed. He could alm ost smell his mothers lavender sachet, his fathers spicy hair pomade, the scent of baking bread in the kitchen. Gently he slid his pipe into the crucible, into the mass of molten glass, and collected a glob of it at the pipe s end. Bringing it out, he began to spin the pipe as he blew into it carefully.

your mind drift,murmured that sharp voice, its edges blunted. your eyes I ll watch for you. Clouds go by, you smell spring rain

His mood shattered. He smelled hot metal and death. The hair s on his arms went stiff: lightning was here! He had enough sense to yank his mouth away from the pipe before he gasped in panic. The bubble at the end of the rod shimmered, then flashed with lightning. Miniature bolts rippled on

its surface and through the centre of the globe so thickly, it was impossible to see inside it.

Amberglass raised her hands and snapped her fingers. The bubble tore free of Kethlun s pipe and flew to her. She caught it in her palms. If the hot glass burned her, she gave no sign of it.

Trembling, Kethlun lowered the rod. did say

quiet,she snapped, eyes fixed on the ball.

He knew the voice of a master; he shut up. Quietly he cleaned the excess glass from the pipe, cleared the inside of the pipe, and put it away. When he fin ished, he glanced at the stool. Amberglass was gone. She soon returned, with his companion clerk who carried the lightning ball, tucked into a silk-lined basket. Keth noticed that the lightning that covered the outside of the ball seemed to have no effect on the silk.

is beyond my skills,Amberglass told him. Her gaze gentled slightly. m sending you to

Dhaskoi Rainspinner. He works on weather.

With anyone else Kethlun might have complained, but not with this woman. She had gone to some trouble to see precisely what was wrong with him. He bowed to her, resigned, and followed the clerk to the upper floors of Mages Hall.

By the end of the afternoon, Kethlun was more adrift than he had been that morning. He had seen two more mages after Rainspinner. Like Amberglass, they had sent him on to other glass mages or weather mages. Keth yearned to go

home. If he spent much more time up here, Yali would have left Ferouzes and gone to perform by the time he got home.

When the clock struck the fourth hour, his guide led him back to the area where the mages clerks sat, copying out schedules and lessons and reviewing correspondence. ll have to return tomorrow, the clerk said, wetting a reed pen in a pot of ink. He had placed the basket, with its sparking glass ball, at the farthest corner of his desk. The clerks at neighbouring desks inched away from it. yourself at

back? Keth asked, cursing his slow speech. What he wanted to do was scream, but he couldnt. If he didnt force himself to sp eak carefully, the stammer -would return. Then no one would be able to understand him. He leaned on the counter between him and the clerks, his head and feet aching. I have a debt to pay, work to do. I cannot spend my l-life h-here waiting like a pet dog. Arent y-you p-people sup-posed to help? There, he heard it: the stutter. He thrust the knuckle of his index finger into his mouth and bit down just hard enough to grab his attention, pulling it away from his fury. He did meditation breathing until he th ought he could continue. None of the clerks had budged since he started talking. charter says you are duty bound to instruct new mages,he said, letting each word finish its journey from his mouth before he tried the next sound. Well, here I am. All new and shiny, fresh from the lightning strike. I need help now. Who knows what I will make next, when I do not know what I am doing?