"She's not J'Balanar," said the young one. "She bears none of the markings."
"She's young to be marked."
"Not true. They start using the pigments at the end of the first four.
She's near to her second."
She was just done with her second, but she didn't bother to correct them.
"The A'Vahl then," the third one said.
"To what end, T'Kaar? The J'Balanar may want our land, but the feud with the A'Vahl has been over for nearly ten fours. They've grown weak, complacent. They wouldn't challenge us now."
"So you believe her?" T'Kaar asked. "You really think an Y'Qatt village would send a girl for aid from magic-using Qirsi?"
"That's not what she said," the older man broke in. "She said her father sent her here to get help. That I would believe." He looked down at her again. "What's your name, child?"
"Jynna. And I'm not lying."
The third man glared at her, but the other two smiled.
"Tell us what happened, Jynna."
She shrugged, and finally she was crying, her vision clouding. "They all just got sick," she told them. "First Mama and then Papa, and then Delon and Blayne. They're my brothers."
"Were they fevered?"
"I think so. They were… they got sick to their stomachs. All of them."
"The pestilence," the young man said, spitting out the word as if it were a curse.
"Then strange things started happening," Jynna said, the memories coming fast and hard now, forcing the words out through her tears and a sudden wave of panic. I'm alone! They're all gone!
"What strange things?" the third man demanded. He still sounded doubtful.
She took a long breath, trying to calm herself. "They started to use magic." She shook her head, knowing that wasn't quite right.
"You mean trying to heal themselves?"
"No, it wasn't like that. They couldn't help it." They stared at her.
"I don't understand," the older one finally said. "What do you mean, they couldn't help it?"
Jynna still shook her head, slowly now, trying to find the right words. "My mother has fire magic. She never uses it, though. Because we're Y'Qatt. But last night fire was flying from her hands. I don't think she wanted it to, but she couldn't stop herself. And my father. He-" She stopped, gagging on the memory.
"T'Noth," the oldest one said. "Get her some water."
The young one left the room, only to return a moment later with a cup of water. Jynna took it from him with a trembling hand and forced herself to drink. It helped.
"My father has healing magic," she began again, speaking slowly. "But last night it tore his skin open. I think he might have bled to death." "Could a fever do that, S'Doryn?" T'Noth asked.
The older man shook his head. "I've never heard of it before."
"But they're Y'Qatt," said T'Kaar. "They've hoarded their magic all their lives. Who knows what a fever might do to them? It may be that her mother and father-"
"It wasn't just them," Jynna said, glowering at the man. "It was everyone in the village. There was fire everywhere. I heard houses being destroyed by shaping power. The horses were making horrible noises, and I think it was because people with language of beasts were saying things to them. Things that made no sense."
For a long time, none of them spoke. The oldest of the three men was watching her, his face grim. The other two were eyeing each other. At last, the older man stood. "All right, Jynna," he said. "You rest here. We'll be back shortly." He smiled at her, though she could tell that it wasn't a real smile. "Are you hungry?"
"No."
The smile faded. He nodded once and patted her leg through the wool blanket that still covered her. "I wouldn't be either."
With that, he stood and led the other two men out of the room. The young one was the last to go, and he glanced back at her. But he didn't smile or say anything, and he made certain to close the door behind him.
Jynna was alone for what seemed a long time. She tried to sleep some more, but couldn't and eventually she climbed out of the bed and began to wander around the room. It reminded her of her parents' room in her old house. They're all dead! I have no one! Fear, loss, grief: She felt it all welling up inside her again. This time, though, she pushed the feelings back down. She'd made it to Lowna. She was getting help. What more could she do? It wasn't that she was being brave. She knew that. It was just that she couldn't bear the thought of being so sad again.
So she concentrated on the room and on the wardrobe that stood in the corner near the door. The clothes belonged to a man, someone taller than her father. Maybe they were the young man's; he was the tallest of the three men who had been speaking to her. T'Noth. She thought his name odd. In other ways though, this could easily have been a room in Tivston. The clothes looked similar to those she was accustomed to seeing. So were the blankets and bed cloths. Jynna wasn't certain what she'd expected, but she had thought that the clothes and homes of Qirsi would be different from those in her village. Particularly the Fal'Borna. They were supposed to be nomads, hunters. But this place seemed so much like home.
The door opened and T'Noth poked his head inside. Seeing the empty bed, he frowned. When he spotted Jynna standing near the wardrobe he stepped all the way into the room.
"What are you doing?"
"Nothing!" she said. "Just looking around."
“Why?”
She shrugged. "I don't know. I was bored."
Clearly, he hadn't expected that answer. "Well… you shouldn't look through other people's things."
"I'm sorry. Is this your room?"
He frowned again, but after a moment he nodded.
"Do you live here by yourself?"
"Now, what kind of-"
The door opened and S'Doryn walked in. Seeing that Jynna was out of bed, he smiled. "Are you feeling better?"
She shrugged again, her eyes flicking toward the younger man. He turned to T'Noth. "What's going on?"
"She was… she was looking at my things."
The older man raised an eyebrow. "And?"
T'Noth shook his head. "Never mind."
S'Doryn held out his hand to her. "Jynna, I want you to come with me. The leaders of our village have come. They have some questions for you."
"And then will you help me? Will you come back to Tivston with me?"
He faltered, though only briefly. "We'll go back with you. Some of us at least." He started to lead her out of the room, but then stopped and faced her again, placing his hands on her shoulders and looking her in the eye. "I don't know what we're going to find there, Jynna. If this was the pestilence, or something like it.." He trailed off, a pained expression on his round face.
She finished the sentence for him. "They'll all be dead."
"It's possible, yes."
"Then can I come here and live with you?" She started to cry again, though she tried hard not to. "I won't have anywhere else."
S'Doryn pulled her to him and held her as she sobbed. "Yes, Jynna. If they're all gone, you can come and live with us. With me and N'Tevva, if you like. All right?"
She was still crying, but she nodded.
He held her for a moment longer, then gently steered her out of the bedroom and into a small common room. There was a hearth in the far wall, though no fire burned there, and beside it a narrow space that must have served as T'Noth's kitchen, though Jynna's mother would have thought it far too small. In the center of the room stood a table and four chairs. Three women and a man were sitting there and three more men stood nearby. Like the men she'd already met, these Qirsi wore their hair tied back from their faces. They also had dark complexions, and they appeared stronger somehow, as if life on the plain had toughened them in ways it hadn't the men and women of Tivston. When Jynna and S'Doryn entered, all of the people turned to look at them, or more precisely, to look at her. Jynna sidled closer to S'Doryn, who placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"This is Jynna," S'Doryn said. "She comes from Tivston. She's Y'Qatt. She tells a most remarkable tale of what seems to be some strain of the pestilence that struck her village yesterday."