The three flame-cards that were finished glowed in the sunlight that came through the window, the colors seeming to vibrate with their own energy. / should be grateful, thought the limner. At least now I know that my hands still have power. But he did not understand what he had painted, and something ached in his belly at the anguish he saw in Illyra’s shut face. Carefully, quietly, fearing to disturb her, Lalo began to put his paints away.
“The cards are beautiful,” said Gilla. “So many of Lalo’s recent commissions have been murals, I’d forgotten how lovely his detail work can be.” She laid the root card of Wood carefully back atop the pile. The rich greens and browns of the “Forest Primeval” seemed to glow with their own light, like sunshine slanting through innumerable leaves. Molin Torchholder’s demand had for the moment given the marriage mural precedence over Kama’s commission for the cards, even though the deck was nearly finished now. Illyra was nearly well now too, in body. But she and Gilla had grown accustomed to each other’s company.
“I hate them,” said Illyra in a low voice.
Gilla looked back at the couch, an angry defense of Lalo’s work trembling on her tongue. The S’danzo’s eyes were closed, but the slow tears were welling from beneath her shut lids. Gilla stifled her anger and went to the other woman, took a damp cloth, and began to sponge her cheeks and brow.
“My dear, my dear, it’s all right now….” It was the instinctive murmur of a mother to a sick child.
“It is not all right!” said Illyra in a hard voice. “To See, I must open myself to the Great Pattern-become one with it and channel the part that relates to the question the querent has asked. But I do not believe in the Pattern anymore.”