"Naomi Kritzer - Eliena 1 - Fires Of The Faithful" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kritzer Naomi)

conservatory with a bad musician could be almost unbearable.

Having retrieved the flint and steel, Mira held them out to me. тАЬPlease,
would you show me how to use these?тАЭ

I took the flint and steel out of her hands and set them on her bed, then
scraped some lint off my robes. тАЬYou need something that lights easily to


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FIRES OF THE FAITHFUL - NAOMI KRITZER


catch the spark. These robes they make us wear must be good for
something, right?тАЭ I glanced up and she smiled cooperatively. I put the lint
in the cupped edge of the candle holder and lit it with a spark from the
flint and steel, then lit the candle from the burning lint. тАЬThere you go.тАЭ

тАЬThank you,тАЭ Mira said, and set the candle in the windowsill. It would
blow out in a minute or two. She really had no idea how to deal with a
candle.

I studied Mira in the flickering light. She had some of the palest skin IтАЩd
ever seenтАФshe couldnтАЩt have come here from a farm. But she was well fedтАФ
given the famine, she couldnтАЩt have come from any town in Verdia. She
was clearly my age, too old to be just starting at a conservatory, but her
hair was freshly cutтАФshe couldnтАЩt have transferred from a conservatory in
another province. But it was the candle that really had me puzzled.

I was always reasonably adept at magery, probably because playing the
violin had honed my ability to concentrate. I couldnтАЩt draw magefire down
from the sky to melt stone, of courseтАФI wasnтАЩt Circle materialтАФbut I could
light a hearth fire from damp wood with a momentтАЩs effort, which
impressed most people well enough. Still, even a child could kindle
witchlight to light a dim roomтАФor, if she didnтАЩt want the distraction of
keeping the witchlight glowing, she could light a candle with her cupped
hand. Even my half-wit friend Giula could do that much. There were
people who couldnтАЩt use magery, but very fewтАФand they would have
already known how to light a candle the hard way. The only real reason I
could think of that Mira might avoid using magery would be if she were
trying to conceive a child. Using magic decreased fertility; thatтАЩs why my
mother had taught me how to use flint and steel, even though childbearing


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FIRES OF THE FAITHFUL - NAOMI KRITZER


was the farthest thing from my mind at the conservatory. I wondered why
MiraтАЩs mother hadnтАЩt taught her the same thing; maybe MiraтАЩs mother was