Free Bound by J. Elizabeth Hill

in Rianza? I can't delay my trip to Harkol, but I really think you should go to the academy. When I'm done in Harkol, I thought I might continue on to Rianza and... well, I wanted to be able to make sure they let you in."
    He turned to face her, his smile bright again. "I guess I did all right, then?"
    Fay couldn't help it, she started to laugh again. The sense in his mind and tone of his voice was so much like a little boy wanting to impress someone but afraid to ask for praise. She laughed as hard at this as she had when he'd asked about using flint and lost contact with his mind as she collapsed sideways. It took her a minute to get herself back under control, and she only managed it so quickly because she realized he wasn't laughing with her this time.
    Wiping her eyes, she said, "I'm sorry. I keep laughing at you, and I shouldn't. But you did better than all right, Tavis."
    A strange look came into his face, a complex mix of hope and satisfaction she thought was because of his success with the fire and her compliment. He turned back to the fire, then stood up and went to his bag. As he rummaged for something, she thought she heard him say quietly, "I like it when you laugh."
    After a minute, he pulled a long, narrow box out of his bag, several inches in length. He returned to sit beside her, holding the box in his lap. She set herself back in contact with his mind again and found he was awash in conflicting feelings, anticipation, worry, hope and fear. It confused and unnerved her and she suddenly wanted to get the lesson over with, anything to escape the emotions she felt from him.
    "I need to open this box, but I don't know how. I think it has some kind of locking spell on it. I've tried to figure it out, but I can't. It just makes my hand tingle when I touch it and that's all I get. Can you teach me how to open it? Or, if you can't, can you open it for me? I- I really need to see what's inside," he said earnestly, his brilliant eyes locked with hers.
    She made herself look down at the box that he was now holding out to her. It was black, with red lacquer covering the top and it brought several memories to her mind. She had seen boxes like this often in her childhood, and at the academies later. It was designed to contain a scroll of parchment and could only be opened by the intended recipient. They were usually keyed so that the recipient didn't need magic to open the box, but she guessed that this one hadn't been. When she laid her fingers on it, they heated in warning and she withdrew her hand quickly. That he didn't experience the same sensation told her that it was indeed his to open.
    "I can't open this for you. The way these are designed, it will only open for you, but I think you'll need magic to unlock it." He sagged a little and laid it back in his lap. "The key here is to consider yourself and your right to open it, and lay those thoughts across the spellwork. Do you know how to see a constructed spell?"
    "Um, no," he said, and she could feel his embarrassment.
    "All right, then I'll teach you that first. It would be one of the earliest lessons you'd have at the academy anyway, because many spells require you to be able to see them to interact properly with them. Just let your mind go blank. I'll show you how to concentrate so that your senses will perceive the spell in a visual way." She felt him follow her instructions and was pleasantly surprised at how quickly and completely he managed it. She realized it must be something he had practiced before. Putting aside the questions that raised, she laid a very delicate touch across his mind, refocusing his senses and the way they fed information to his mind. His gasp told her when she had succeeded.
    "Are they always so beautiful?" he asked her, and it was such an echo of what she herself had said on first seeing a spell like this that she smiled.
    "Yes, I've always found them to be exquisite, even the dangerous ones I've seen. Especially those, to tell you the