A/N: Part 2.
Disclaimer: Not invented by me.
9. Cheating
Sarralyn and Rikash know better than to cheat against less gifted playmates; but (despite many lectures on the subject) they do cheat, outrageously and inventively, against each other. Sarra, playing tag, finds herself frozen to the spot, unable to run from her brother; during a game of hide-and-seek, Rikash looks in vain for his sister, only to discover her an hour later when, in the shape of a mouse, she emerges from his belt pouch, runs up his shirt, and nips his ear. Sarra refuses to play chess again after the game during which Rikash's chessmen, cloaked by magic, disappear from their squares and reappear elsewhere to threaten her king and queen.
The most spectacular cheat of all (involving eagle wings, a not-quite-successful invisibility spell, a bloodhound, a goose, and a Sorcerer's Dance that calls cobbles from a nearby stream and builds them into a circular wall) is arrested at a crucial moment by the approach of heavy footsteps and a net of sparkling black fire that lifts both children, struggling indignantly, six feet into the air.
A golden eagle screeches overhead, circles, and lands on a nearby branch. It develops a human mouth, which seems to be laughing as it says, "It's your own fault, Numair. You should never have taught him to play that flute."
10. Exclusion
Daine has been away on some sort of mission for the King, and when she returns, Sarralyn sees her father's dark eyes glow, his broad shoulders straighten, his whole bearing relax as he runs to greet her and lifts her from her pony's back, swinging her into an embrace that, for a good few minutes, excludes everyone and everything else.
Rikash runs to them and tugs at his mother's boot-top (the highest part of her he can reach) to get her attention. Sarra hangs back, wondering whether any man will ever look at her the way her father looks at her mother.
11. Mice
The first time her parents let her fly with them as a hawk, Sarra is captivated by the weightless feeling of soaring on an updraft, the brilliant tapestry of the countryside around Pirate's Swoop laid out below her, the freedom of leaving her human self behind for a time.
But for hours afterward, she fights an urge to shriek and a gnawing appetite for raw mice.
12. Acceptance
When Rikash is ten and begins his first year at the Royal University, he finds that his reputation (not to mention his father's) has preceded him. The masters—especially old Master Lindhall and the head of the University, Master Harailt—are kind to him; they have known him all his life, but they are careful not to treat him too familiarly in front of his classmates. But only when Rikash, caught in the act of throwing small bursts of magical fire at the head of another boy who has dozed off at a nearby desk, is immediately and roundly upbraided by Master Salmalín for disrupting the lesson does he finally earn his yearmates' respect.
Later, he seeks his father out to thank him. Numair pretends not to understand, but the way he squeezes his son's shoulder tells Rikash a different story.
13. A Foot in My Face
"Ouch! She kicked me!"
Daine opens her eyes to see Numair rubbing his chin with one hand and holding their daughter's foot away from his face with the other, most of her leg hidden by his long fingers. Little Sarralyn, oblivious to the disruption she is causing, continues to snore.
Daine stifles a giggle. "It's only fair," she whispers, rubbing her large belly. "Her brother or sister is kicking the stuffing out of me."
14. Midwinter Gifts
The year she is nine, Sarralyn saves her pocket money for months and makes her Aunt Onua take her to the great market in Corus to buy her parents really good Midwinter gifts. For her mother she chooses an extravagant bracelet, all coloured beads and tinkly silvery bits; for her father, a set of ink-brushes "guaranteed to last forever."
The ink-brushes wear out within the year from constant use, but years later Sarra finds the bracelet in Daine's jewel-box, carefully wrapped in a silk handkerchief, next to the earbobs Numair gave her at Midwinter when she was fifteen.
15. Skin Deep
Rikash spends an afternoon studying the paintings in the Palace's portrait gallery. Later, as they lie in their beds in the dark, he asks Sarralyn if she thinks Princess Kalasin—Empress Kalasin, she is now—is as pretty as Ma.
"Prettier," she says immediately. "Ma's not such a beauty, you know, not compared to Queen Thayet or Princess Kally. But she can talk with animals and immortals, and shape-shift, and shoot better'n almost anybody, and that's better than being pretty."
"Well, I think she's prettier'n anybody," Rikash says, just before he falls asleep.
16. Sixteen
Daine looks at her daughter helplessly, trying to remember what it felt like to be sixteen. The trouble is, she was very little like any sixteen-year-old before or since, so even what she does remember doesn't seem likely to be of much use.
"You were living with Da when you were my age," Sarra accuses, "and not even married. You can't tell me I'm too young to be courting."
"That isn't what I said."
"You and Da just don't like him."
"Not particularly, no. I don't think he's very bright, and your Da thinks he's only trying to get you into his bed."
Sarra glares at her. "And what of it? I didn't say anything about wanting to marry him."
"In the Goddess's hands be it, then," Daine sighs. "And don't say I didn't warn you."