He had come quiet as a cat, unheard through the snow.
He smiled. 'I didn't mean to frighten you.'
Elaine wanted to say he hadn't, but her heart was beating in her throat, and she didn't trust herself to speak.
'I've never heard a man move like that. Silent as a spy,' Blaine said.
The wizard shrugged. 'Live long enough and you learn a few useful tricks.'
'That was no trick,' Elaine said softly.
'Nor was it magic,' the wizard said.
She frowned at him. She didn't believe him.
'We all have inborn abilities, Elaine. I was called Gersalius Catpaw in my youth. I once thought of being a thief, but my mother said she'd cut off my ears if I disgraced the family.' He laughed. 'She was always threatening such dire things. I don't think she ever took a switch to any of us.'
The wizard sat down next to them. Thordin handed him food. 'I hope your old bones find this traveling easier than mine,' the fighter said.
The wizard nodded. 'It isn't only age, Thordin. I have hidden away in my own cottage for years. I haven't gone on a long journey for over a decade.'
'You don't complain much,' Thordin said.
'Complaining about hardship doesn't drive it away, though it does drive away one's companions.'
'True.'
Elaine leaned close to the wizard and whispered. 'Is there something different about the elf? I think there is, but I can't quite see it.'
Gersalius nodded, mouth too full to speak. He swallowed and said, 'Observant girl. His arm's longer.'
She sat very still, looking at him. 'What do you mean, his arm's longer?'
'The wounded arm is growing back.' He ate more sandwich, smiling and happy as if what he had just said were perfectly possible.
'But the arm was torn off, completely. It's gone.'
The wizard finished his sandwich, wiping his hands on his robe. 'You saw him call the dead back from the beyond. Why shouldn't the arm grow back?'
'I… don't know, but… but. .' She just stared at him. She wanted to sputter and say it was impossible. She had half convinced herself that the two men hadn't really been dead, just gravely injured, and he had healed them. That was miracle enough. But the elf's arm was longer. The arm had been missing above the elbow, now there was almost a whole joint there. It was a hand-span longer.
Was the skin still smooth and thick with flesh? Elaine had an almost overwhelming urge to unwrap the arm, to see it bare. Was bone poking through the skin? Did it bud like a flower?
Silvanus met her gaze. 'Do you have a question for me, Elaine?' His liquid-gold eyes were calm and smiling. There was about him an aura of peace that Elaine found intriguing.
'I didn't mean to stare.'
'It is all right to stare when your intentions are to learn. I see a question in your eyes. Ask it.'
She took a deep breath and asked the question quickly, as if it would sound less strange if she rushed through the words. 'Is your arm truly growing back?' No, even fast, the question seemed ridiculous. And yet. . she could see for herself that the arm was longer.
He smiled. 'Yes, it is growing back.'
'Does it hurt?'
'No, but it does itch abominably.' He gave a small laugh like the distant ringing of bells. Human throats did not sound like that.
'How does it grow back? I mean …' Elaine tried to think how to phrase the question.
'Elaine, just ask, the perfect words for such questions are never found,' Gersalius said.
'Is the arm growing back in stages? Is the bone growing first, then the flesh covering it, or does it grow all at once like a tree limb?' It sounded a very personal question, but she wanted to know. Her hands itched to touch the growing stump.
Elaine looked down at the ground, afraid he would see the eagerness in her eyes and mistake it for something else.
'Would you like to see it?' Silvanus asked.
She looked up at him, studying his face. Was he teasing her? No. His face was pleasant, but serious.
'Yes, very much.' Elaine was surprised by the eagerness in her own voice. She had to learn magic, for it would control her otherwise, but healing. . she wanted to learn healing, too.
Blaine was looking at her strangely. She had not told him she might be a healer, like Silvanus. It wasn't that she had tried to keep it from him. It was more that she herself didn't believe it yet. It was both too wonderful and too frightening to share, even with Blaine.
She touched his arm, leaning close to whisper. 'I'll explain all later. I don't want Jonathan to know.'
Blaine tipped back from her to see her face, then leaned in, breathing words against her skin. 'Is it another magic?'
She nodded.
He hugged her briefly. 'You must tell me everything later.' His face was very serious when he said it.
'Promise,' she said softly. She caught movement from the corner of her eyes. Jonathan was walking toward them, his cloak held close to his body against the cold. It was hard to see his expression with the hood up, but Elaine thought he was scowling.
Of course, that could have been her own insecurity. She hadn't realized she did anything differently, but Blaine touched her arm. 'What's wrong?'
What could she say-that Jonathan was afraid of her? That he hated what she was? Elaine shook her head. 'Jonathan is unhappy with me.'
'With the magic?'
She nodded.
Blaine squeezed her arm. 'It'll be all right. He'll come around.'
She looked into his face, trying to see if he were just saying something to comfort her, or if he believed what he was saying. His eyes, his face, his touch were utterly sincere. He believed. Elaine wished she did.
Silvanus's sleeve was tied up with string. He undid the string and began to push back the cloth.
'What are you doing?' Jonathan asked.
'Elaine wishes to see my arm. She is curious about how it grows,' the elf said. He said it as if it were an everyday occurrence.
Jonathan stared down at him. 'What do you mean, your arm is growing?'
'It is growing back,' Silvanus said.
Jonathan shook his head. 'I do not think I can face another miracle before breakfast.'
Silvanus smiled and continued to roll up his empty sleeve.
Jonathan put a hand outward as if to push something away. 'Please, I do not wish to look at your.. injured arm while I eat.'
Silence fell on the little group. An appalled silence. Thordin stood, spoon dripping stew on the ground. 'Jonathan, the cleric is a guest at our fire.'
'I have no problem with him as a guest, but surely it is rude even in your homeland to show wounds at a meal.'
Put like that, Jonathan might have a point. Yet he should have let it go. They were guests. You did not make a guest uncomfortable, not deliberately.
Silvanus gave a small bow from the neck. 'I have no desire to be offensive.' Averil had to help him refold his sleeve and tie it in place.
Elaine felt her face burn with shame. Silvanus didn't seem offended, but she didn't know him well enough to know if it were just a polite act.
She stood. 'I asked him to show me his arm.' She faced Jonathan across the fire, not flinching from the disapproval in his eyes.
'Then you should have gone to a tent. I do not see why you would want to see it.'
