Free Destiny by Sharon Green Page B

"We seem to be borrowing each other's attitudes and talents, and we can't figure out why it's happening - or how."
    "If we live through all this, I just may take a trip to Astinda to visit our former nobles," Vallant said, his anger too overshadowed by weariness for the emotion to really be in control. "Beatin' up some chosen few of those people may not accomplish anythin' to speak of, but it will sure as chaos make me feel better."
    "I know I don't need to say that you won't make the journey alone, but I'll say it anyway," Rion pronounced. "Now, however, I believe it's time we retired. If we end up being bested, I would really dislike being too tired to appreciate the manner in which it's done. Where would we be best off putting our privacy areas?"
    Rather than pointing out the oddness in Rion's being sarcastic, Jovvi joined the others in looking around. They were much too close to the far side of the village, an area that almost everyone would be leaving through.
    "I think we ought to set up near the Gracelian High Blendings," Lorand said after a moment. "That's close enough to the other side of the village that we shouldn't be in anyone's way, and we'll also be closer to the road that the invaders will arrive on."
    Everyone agreed with that, so they trooped on back to the place they'd come from. Going back also let them reclaim their sleeping pads, and once they'd positioned the pads in pairs with a discreet distance between the pairs, the rest of them stood back while Rion stepped forward. Jovvi expected it to take Rion at least a short while to produce their privacy areas, but an instant after Rion stepped forward there were three dark oblongs blocking sight of the sleeping pads.
    "Shouldn't we have been on the inside before you did that?" Vallant asked as he stared at the oblongs. "Gettin' in and out without your help might be a problem."
    "I didn't harden the air, I merely made it opaque," Rion answered with a smile. "We all have blankets to protect us from the cool of the night air, and maintaining simple opacity will be easier for the others as well as for us. If for some reason any of us needs to leave the sleeping area for a brief time, leaving won't require the aid of someone with Air magic."
    "Good thinking, Rion," Lorand told him with a smile, and then he turned to Jovvi. "Come on, love, let's get you bedded down."
    Jovvi had no need to be asked that twice, so she went along with Lorand while Tamma went with Vallant and Naran with Rion. They were finally back to their original pairings, with Naran and Rion no longer separated by misunderstanding. The arrangement was a relief to Jovvi, but one other thing wasn't: Lorand and Vallant were still showing faint traces of jealousy, and Jovvi was very much afraid that those feelings would bring trouble at the very worst of times…
    "Why are you just sitting there?" Lorand asked, and Jovvi came back to awareness to realize that they were in their privacy area and she was sitting on her sleeping pad. The fact that she didn't remember walking in and sitting down would have been upsetting under other circumstances, but with everything that had been going on it was a miracle that she even remembered her name.
    "I was just appreciating how nicely dim and private it is in here," Jovvi temporized as she looked around, not in the mood to explain the truth. "We don't have as much room as we did in the tents, but we do have privacy enough for me to get out of these clothes. I'll enjoy sleeping a lot more without them."
    "Yes, that's a good idea," Lorand agreed, and then he began to undress the way she was already doing. Jovvi merely folded her clothing in a pile near her sleeping pad, and once she put herself under her blanket she became aware that Lorand's shadowy face was turned in her direction.
    "Is something wrong?" she asked, reaching out to touch the face that seemed to be studying her even though they were nothing but shadows to each other.
    "No, it's nothing," Lorand