The Spirit Wilds: Magic of the Green Sage (Fall of the Sages Book 1), стр. 36

What the tall woman neglected to tell Tuni was that when those flowers shook violently—as they may when someone was chopping them down—they secreted a pungent, terrible odor like bad flatulence. When the first one went off, Tuni squealed and fell on her rear, coughing.

Shandi just laughed. It was the first time she’d made a sound that wasn’t in contempt. Tuni couldn’t help but smile at that. Besides, that was the type of prank she would have loved to pull off. Maybe we can get along after all, she thought as she picked herself up and continued chopping at the flowers. This time, Shandi was kind enough to give her a cloth to cover her nose and mouth with.

When they finished, they carried the bundle of pherasecca—as Shandi had called them—in baskets all the way back to the house. Shandi lectured her as they went.

“—and you should never, ever eat them.”

Tuni cocked her head. “Why’s that? Lethal?”

“No, they give you terrible indigestion.”

Teal-Eye burst out laughing and almost dropped all the flowers. Tears filled her eyes from giggling so hard. “Indigestion? I think I can handle a little bit of—”

“And then you’ll have such violently bloody discharge that you die.”

“Oh.”

“Mmhmm.”

Tuni stopped in her tracks. Shandi walked right on by while the girl had her mouth hung open in shock. “B-but you said it wasn’t lethal?”

“I lied.”

“You devious minx.” She couldn’t help her smile.

“Don’t dawdle, Tuni. Keep up.”

“Yes— Yes, ma’am!” Tuni raced after the assistant, who’d managed to put more space between them with her long strides.

“Don’t call me ma’am.”

“Right.”

They returned the rest of the way in silence, which wasn’t too long, just up another hill and over a stream where they got fresh water and then back at the house. When they arrived, wisps of smoke rose from the baked clay chimney. Shandi set her teeth and strode ahead of Tuni, probably concerned that a stranger was in the house. But Tuni wasn’t worried. She just assumed it was the sage.

And it was. They entered the hut and found Gayla sitting by the hearth while she stirred a large black kettle. A delicious smell wafted through the air that made Tuni hungry. The sage smiled brightly and hummed as she cooked.

“Good afternoon, you two. Such a lovely day isn’t it?”

Shandi softened and dropped her bundle of pherasecca on the floor. She undid her cloth bandana and ran her slender fingers through her inky black hair. “It’s a perfect day, Gayla.”

Gayla’s eyes flitted between the two assistants. “Finally gathering those stink flowers, I see.”

“Yes, we cleared about a quarter of the fields.”

Her smile grew wide with mischief. “Did you tell our friend here about the pherasecca’s defense mechanisms?”

Shandi giggled. She actually giggled. “I may have neglected to mention it. She got a right good surprise.”

“I’m glad you two can have fun at my expense,” Tuni said, crossing her arms and pouting. But it wasn’t sincere.

“It’s only fair,” Gayla admitted as she grabbed a handful of herbs and added them to the kettle. “I did play the same trick on you when you first started out with me.”

“Yes, and I cried!”

“I felt so bad.”

The two women broke into laughter, sentimental and soft. Tuni leaned against the wall, folded her arms over her chest, and watched. The bond between them was clear and nice to see. Shandi was cold at times, short-tempered, and easily annoyed by Tuni, but it was obvious that she had a soft side, and Tuni was determined to crack it, as Gayla had. She didn’t know how long it would take, but she would succeed.

Once the laughter died down, Shandi gathered up the bundles of stink flowers and stored them in an empty barrel. “How went your trip?” she asked.

The sage had gone west past the mountains to the greater Spirit Wilds. Some spirits, whom she communed with daily, had informed her of a massive forest fire on the southern part of the range. Forest fires were a regular part of nature, part of the cycle of destruction and rebirth, but the spirits had seemed troubled. Gayla had gone to investigate. Tuni had wanted to join, but she’d been told to stay put, since they didn’t know what they were dealing with.

The question made Gayla frown. “Not good, my dear. Not good.”

Shandi and Tuni shared a troubled glance. “What happened?” Tuni asked.

Gayla swallowed hard. She indicated for them to pull up a seat as she stirred her broth. They did so. “The forest fires weren’t natural. They were started by humans. By an Al-Sevaran mining company trying to clear land for a new mine and town.”

“Those little kevisks,” Shandi growled with a sneer. She spat on the floor in disgust. Tuni didn’t know what kevisk meant, but it didn’t sound polite at all. I’ll have to ask her about that later. Tuni liked to have a wide repertoire of curses.

Gayla didn’t answer immediately. She added a pinch of paprika and a sweet-smelling spice that Tuni didn’t have a name for. “They aren’t good people, that’s for sure,” she said in agreement.

“What— What did you do to them?” Tuni asked. This was an all-powerful sage, protector of nature and the earth and spirits. What would she do to protect it?

The sage must have sensed the true meaning of her question. She offered a reassuring smirk, though there was sadness in her eyes. “Don’t worry, I didn’t kill them.” She looked away, her gaze hard and distant. “Not this time.”

“Have you killed before?”

A long pause. Gayla’s face was blank, her lips pressed in a hard line. Shandi frowned at Tuni, as if to say, You shouldn’t have asked that.

Tuni did get an answer, though. Gayla let out a breath. “I have lived for a millennium in this body, Tuni, and millennia beyond that in my past lives. I’ve had to kill, yes. To protect myself, to protect humans, the innocent. To protect this world. Sometimes, diplomacy and smiles and pleasant words aren’t enough.”

Shandi suddenly flicked Tuni in the forehead.