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carried the unconscious man out, but that was only because I still held to the power. Once I released it and my usual reactions took over again, I’d probably tremble like a hut in an earthquake. That screaming had been so horrible, so utterly lost and abandoned…
    “That was a marvelous exhibition you put on, Tamma,” Jovvi said very softly from beside me. “When those flames appeared, all I could picture was fire spreading and burning everything in reach, including us.”
    “That’s what I pictured, so I had to stop it,” I whispered back. “The man isn’t even a Middle talent so it wasn’t hard, but I can’t believe that no one else tried to do the same. There are supposed to be
how
many High practitioners in this room?”
    “I think you’ve just discovered that there’s a big difference between ‘supposed to be’ and ‘are,’” she murmured, letting her gaze move around the room. “Almost everyone in here was terrified, and their reaching for the power forced me to use my ability to protect myself rather than help even a little. But before I blocked everything out, I got a small look into that man’s mind. It was horribly painful but it was also strange, only I don’t know in what way. If I’d had even a minute or two longer…”
    “Everything in this place seems to be strange,” I said, joining Jovvi in gazing around. “The Five are leaving through a door other than the one the guardsmen carried that man through, and now everyone else looks to be getting ready to leave. What really bothers me, though, is that most of those people seemed to know the man who had the fit, but not one of them is following along to find out how he’ll be when he wakes up. Maybe they know where he’ll be taken and mean to follow after he’s taken there, but somehow I doubt it.”
    “You’re unusually perceptive,” Jovvi said with a nod of agreement, still studying people. “They’re all working very hard to forget what happened, and most of them even seem to have managed it. They’re treating it like a bad dream you’re best off not even discussing, but they can’t stay here and do it. That’s why they’re getting ready to leave, so they can put the incident out of their minds.”
    “Which means they’ll make no effort to find out why it happened,” I said, hearing the disgust in my voice. “They stroll around pretending to be so very superior to commoners, but they’re no better than my parents and their cronies. Why are decent human beings so rare in this empire?”
    “They’re rare because you usually have to be raised by decent human beings in order to become one yourself,” Jovvi answered, finally turning back to look at me. “Most of us in the group seem to be exceptions to that rule, but largely it came about after we all met. And now I think it’s just about time for us to leave, since Lady Eltrina is hurrying in this direction. Apparently there’s a benefit in having been one of the last groups to arrive.”
    “Please stay together, people,” Lady Eltrina said as she came up to us, again looking harried. “Your coaches will have to be moved in order to let the other guests’ carriages out, so you might as well be taken back to your residence. I’ll call you in just a few minutes, and when I do I’ll expect you all to come as quickly as possible.”
    With that she was off again, probably to keep one of us from saying something that would upset her even more. I thought about the fairly large amount of power I still held to, wondering if I should release it to be sure
I
wasn’t the one who said something which I’d certainly be sorry about later—but decided not to. I’d really been looking forward to seeing the palace, but now I felt that I’d be much happier if I held to the power until I was out of there.
    “Excuse me, Dama Domon, but I need to speak to you privately for a moment.”
    The male voice was so serious that I had to turn and look before I was completely certain