Naamah's Kiss - Jacqueline Carey [118]
"No." My head felt like it weighed a hundred pounds. I laid it back down on his shoulder. "You do."
His voice rose. "Me?"
"You. The Circle." I yawned. "Raphael, you can swear all you like that you'd be content with one gift and you may even mean it, but they won't be."
"Well, they'll have to be." His arms came around me again, warm and strong and comforting. "Trust me."
I sighed, and slept.
The summoning had taken more out of me this time—or mayhap it was just that there was less of me from which to take. The next day,
I was still as weak as a day-old kitten, and had to send word to Master Lo Feng that I wouldn't be able to come. Daphne fed me hot beef broth and clucked over me.
"Just what is it his lordship puts you up to out there in the countryside?" she asked darkly. "There are rumors, you know."
"Oh?" I asked.
"They say that Denis de Toluard practices alchemy." She saw my blank look. "He's searching for the formula to turn lesser metals into gold."
I rubbed my eyes. "Well, if he is, it's naught to do with me." I doubted the words the moment I uttered them. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if that was one of the secrets the spirits held out as a taunting promise.
"They say there's all manner of nonsense involved." Daphne lowered her voice. "Virgin's milk and lizards and such."
I laughed. "No lizards—nor any virgins, either, I suspect."
She sniffed. "I mislike it. And now he's got you mucking about with that Ch'in fellow, too. I wish you'd all have the sense to leave well enough alone."
I shrugged. "I'd as soon you didn't speak ill of Master Lo Feng. He's been very kind to me."
Daphne eyed me. "To be sure, you're an odd one yourself, my lady."
The next day, I felt strong enough to resume my lessons with Master Lo Feng. My heart gave a leap of gladness at the sight of him—and even of surly Bao leaning on his staff. Daphne might disapprove all she liked, but the lessons made me happy and I felt a sense of rightness in Lo Feng's presence—even if he gave me a reproving look and chided me for failing to heed his advice.
"I'm heeding," I said. "I'm here, aren't I? Not washed away."
He merely shook his head. "Today I will teach you the Breath of Trees Growing. It's soon, but if we wait any longer, we may have to wait for spring for you to get the proper feel of it."
Bao spread our mats beneath a stand of graceful beech trees, sunlight streaming through their golden canopies.
"Trees breathe," Master Lo Feng said to us. "Standing in one place, they breathe. They breathe in water and sunlight, and they breathe out air. Breathe through your mouth deep into your lungs. As you breathe in energy, be mindful of how your blood carries it from your lungs throughout your body and to your limbs, even as a tree's energy flows upward from its roots and downward from its leaves, carrying it to every part."
This one came easier than the first two. I would have liked to think it was because I was gaining skill, but I suspect it was because I already had an affinity for trees. I sat and listened to the beech trees for a long while before I began, drinking in the sense of how energy flowed through them.
Then I emulated it.
It made me aware of my body in a new way—of my torso echoing the trunk of a tree, my limbs its branches, my fingers and toes its outermost twigs. I breathed inward, aware of the blood circulating to every part. I breathed outward, aware of my lungs expelling air that no longer nourished me.
"The energy of trees and all green, growing things complements our own," Master Lo Feng said in his tranquil voice. "The air that they exhale is depleted of energy they can use, but it is healthful to us. The air that we exhale is depleted of energy we can use, but it is healthful to them. Think about the beauty of this cycle."
I did.
Once again, I was sorry when the lesson ended. Master Lo Feng complimented me and said I'd done well.
"I suspect the Breath of Trees Growing lies nearest to your own natural gifts." He paused. "And I suspect your gifts should be used in the