Page 27 of A Fractured Song

“We also learned the basic categories,” Marieke said, troubled. “And I don’t remember any mention of sifting song, or anything that sounds like it.”

“From memory, it’s one of the aptitude songcrafts,” Veronica said. “One which only a few singers actually have the right ability to pursue. I believe it’s quite rare. I’m pretty sure no one in my year level identified it in testing.”

“Aptitude songcrafts sometimes happen without training, right?” Marieke said. “The singers with the relevant aptitude can sometimes do it without meaning to or even realizing it?”

Veronica shrugged. “So I’ve been told, if the aptitude is strong enough. I’ve never experienced it myself.”

Marieke said no more. A short time ago she would have said the same, but now she wasn’t so sure. She certainly had plenty to think about. If she came out of Sundering Canyon in one piece, maybe she should see if the storytelling instructor at the Aeltan Academy of Song would be willing to meet with her. Maybe even let her take the aptitude test. She hated to thinkthat Instructor Oriana might have been dishonest about her results, but…it hadn’t escaped her notice that there was an irony in her having been constantly ribbed by her instructors for asking too many questions.

Ribbing that had been perfectly amicable until she started asking the wrong type of questions. Or the right type of questions, depending how one looked at it.

How would Jade look at it, she wondered soberly. If she’d known it might cost her life, would she still have pursued her questions?

Marieke pushed these troubling thoughts aside with a sigh. She stood, and Veronica did the same.

“I suppose we’d best get moving,” she said. “You need to get back to the academy, and I need to make the most of the daylight. I think I’ll try to catch a public coach toward the bridge, if they still run. Apparently there’s a message station there where I can send a letter to my parents.”

“Yes, I believe there is,” Veronica confirmed, leading the way back toward the academy.

Marieke nodded. It would be a good place to start her exploration of the canyon. After all, it was the precise area where she’d encountered the monarchists last time. She didn’t voice all this to Veronica. The other girl seemed to have been distracted from Marieke’s purpose by the subsequent conversation about Zev and sifting song. No need to remind her.

They parted ways at the academy door, Marieke intending to hurry to the coach house Veronica had told her about. But her steps faltered slightly as she crossed back through the open yard of the council building. The line at the new message station was smaller now.

For a moment, she wrestled with herself. She wasn’t any more excited about going into Sundering Canyon alone thanVeronica had been on her behalf. But Zev had been clear that he wanted no part of her fight to save Oleand.

She straightened her back. He might have been clear on his course of action, but she’d been clear on hers, too. Hadn’t she promised herself when he left that it wouldn’t be the last time she saw him? Hadn’t she promised herself that she knew what she was willing to fight for, even if he didn’t?

With a purposeful motion, she redirected her steps toward the bustling little stand. If nothing came of it all, it wouldn’t be because she hadn’t tried.

Chapter

Eight

Zev strode between the trees, his mind on the supper waiting for him inside the house. Even his orchard, usually a reliable haven, had no comfort to offer him. Not in light of the air of anxiety that had settled over the household since he told his family what he’d discovered about the survey. His father had ridden to Zev’s uncle’s farm to discuss the development, and Zev knew the whole family was on high alert. Opinion seemed to be split as to whether it was a good thing that the land turned back the questing enchantment, or whether it put them in greater danger. If the council had ordered the surveying team to start in their region specifically because of Zev’s earlier encounter with the council member, then surely the anomaly of their property being missed from the survey would be noticed.

If his connection with Marieke caused them to be exposed after all these generations of successfully hiding in plain sight, what would he do?

What could he do? It wasn’t as though he could change the past. It wasn’t even as though he wanted to.

He cleared the copse of uncultivated trees that stoodbetween the orchard and the house, rounding the corner of the building with heavy steps. As he lifted his eyes to scan the darkening farmyard, a jolt went through him. Another survey parchment? And this one had managed to get past the land’s defenses!

But another look showed that the paper wafting through the air was much smaller than the last one had been, and it wasn’t dancing about like a kite on a string. It was moving steadily toward the house, and as he watched, it coasted to a stop outside the front door.

Zev picked up his pace. He was just starting up the porch steps when the front door opened and his mother appeared.

“Zev,” she said, stopping at the sight of him. “I was just getting a pitcher from the parlor, and I thought I saw—”

“This.” Zev cut her off, leaning down to pick up the parchment. “I saw it, too, from across the yard.”

“Is that what the last one looked like?”

Zev shook his head. “No.” He turned the small, white envelope over in his hand. “No, this is something different. I think it’s a…”

He trailed off, his eyebrows rising as he caught sight of what was written on the other side of the envelope.

“A what?” his mother asked, her voice sharp. “Is it recording information somehow?”

“A letter,” Zev finished belatedly. “I don’t think it’s enchanted like the last one. It looks like an ordinary letter…and it’s addressed to me.”

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