FORBIDDEN TALENTS Read Online Free PDF Page B

now.
    Ragni supposed it was natural for Dahl to want Celia to attend only to him when he’d been gone so much, but in Ragni’s opinion that was exactly the problem. Dahl’s duties had kept him away too much. He’d overseen the closing of the Crystal Cavern and hunted down the last of Jorund’s Outcasts as well as seeing to his usual obligations as heir. And while he’d been gone, Celia had found her own way, settling into life here in Quartzholm, making her own friends and her own connections.
    Celia’s affection for Dahleven fizzed through Ragni’s brain. She was just the sort of woman Dahl needed. Independent, loving, and not always comfortable to live with.
    Thinking of love, Ragni’s glance strayed to Saeun, where she sat with his sister Kaidlin at the end of the table, too far away for his Empathy to sense her emotions. She smiled at something Kaidlin said. Saeun’s long hair flowed down her back, confined in a net of narrow braids. He wished he could work his fingers through it, loosening the strands until they flowed over her bare shoulders like a dark veil. He usually brushed her hair for her after their love-making. He hadn’t done that this afternoon. Instead, they’d argued about her fear.
    What had that been about? Why wouldn’t she share it with him?
    The entrance of Sangor pulled Ragni’s attention to the center of the room. The man sent by the Skald’s Guild to replace Eirik as the Kon’s skald was nothing like his skinny predecessor. Sangor was as round as an ale cask and his naturally resonant voice required no boost from Talent to command attention. His good nature had won him instant popularity, aided no doubt by his Long Watch Talent. He never tired of entertaining, and more than once he’d sung even the most die-hard of revelers to sleep. It’s amazing how much Sangor can learn from a tired drunk . He had quickly proved his worth, and his loyalty. Unlike the conniving Eirik.
    The skald bowed to Neven and Gudrun, then to their Tewakwe guests. “ Kon Neven, Lady Gudrun, Kikmongsowuhti Nai’awika and Kikmongwi Loloma, Lords and Ladies. We have broken bread together—and delicious bread it was. ” He rubbed his rounded belly as his audience laughed and shouted agreement. “ Thus, we again affirm our friendship and cooperation. ” He paused and assumed a more serious demeanor. “ But it was not always so. Once suspicion and misunderstanding brought us close to enmity. Only by the sacrifice of brave warriors and the wise council of the gods did we turn aside from that profitless evil. ”
    Sangor told the tale of how Tilskynde the Hasty attacked the first Tewakwe he saw and how he refused to honor the words of the priests who said the future depended on their friendship. It fell to his son Solmund to make peace with their neighbors. At first the Kikmongwi would not hear him, but eventually they met.
    “ Boldly Solmund declared, ‘Though my father’s honor is his own to guard, I would undo the wrong that was done by him.’
    “ The Kikmongwi shook his head. ‘The breath of those your father killed has flown upon the road to Maski. You can no more call them back than you can catch the wind in a basket.’
    “ Again, wise Solmund fell silent and considered the dark mask of the Kikmongwi’s face while the words of the priests prodded him. ‘And yet the gods have spoken,’ he said at last. ‘There must be peace between us.’
    “ ‘That is so,’ the Kikmongwi said. ‘But there is a debt between our peoples.’
    “ ‘I would pay it. I have brought all that the gods have given me to pay weregild .’
    “ The Kikmongwi looked at the thralls and the wealth Solmund had brought with him over the Great Wall and shook his head. ‘It is not enough.’ ”
    Ragni felt the stiffening of offended pride among the Nuvinlanders. This part of the story always brought the same reaction.
    “ ‘You have not yet seen the greatest part of my gift,’ the generous Solmund said, and he called