Free Eyes of the Alchemist by Janet Woods

troopers to go with it? Fine gowns and servants, food brought on platters and people at her beck and call? She laughed as her thoughts conjured up a wide river with her own personal barge on it. It would be decked out with satin fringes and tessellated hangings to keep her shaded from the sun. There would be a company of musicians and storytellers on board to keep her amused as she reclined on soft cushions eating grapes and other delicacies.
    Her stomach rattled. Right now a bowl of hearty broth with a chunk of bread to sop up the juices would not go amiss.
    Her foot nudged against the box and her smile faded. Such devices should not to be used for power or self-comfort, but for the good of those in need.
    She sent the Pitilan off to hunt and settled herself for the night, tying one end of the rope she’d woven to her wrist, the other end to the sapling. She wrapped herself in Kavan’s cloak, her head pillowed on her arms. By harnessing her sub-thoughts, this time she knew the exact moment when she rose from the ground.
    Laughter trickled from her mouth as she drifted over the rock pool. She gently rotated, and saw herself reflected in the water. Her hair was filled with moonlight and floated around her in luminous strands.
    “It’s good to hear my lady laugh,” Kavan said against her ear.
      Her breath left her body as she turned again, but she could not see him. Totally relaxed, her eyelids wouldn’t open. “My eyes are heavy with sleep, I must be dreaming.”
    “You are denying them the sight of what your heart wants to see. You can lighten them if you would but try Tiana mine.”
    She did as her lord asked and found herself floating high over the land. Her body tensed. She gasped and was about to fall when Kavan’s hand curved warmly around hers.
    When he smiled at her, his eyes were bright with laughter. “Why do you feel fear when you know you’ve secured yourself to the sapling? This is only a dream. Look below you Tiana. What do you see?”
    “A land so rich in beauty it hurts my eyes to gaze upon it.” She was self-conscious under his scrutiny. Her earth-colored gown was shabby, and her smile reflected her shame in her appearance. Kavan was splendid in a black tunic with a silver crescent emblazoned on his chest. Her heart quickened. “There’s a harmony of water and land on Cabrilan. It gladdens the eye and gives solace to the heart.”
    “It’s a gift I offer you, Tiana.”
     The gift was symbolic, such riches not his to give. “I’ll treasure only the thought behind the gift. The land belongs to all those who see and rejoice in its beauty. It belonged to others before we inhabited it, and will delight the eye of others long after we are gone.”
    “Wise words, lady.” He gently caressed the side of her face with the back of his hand. “All Cabrilan cherish life.”
     How could one so beloved by his people utter such untruths? “Your lies are designed to seduce me,” she murmured, turning her face away. “Do not treat me like a fool. Your troopers are highly trained; they do not hesitate to kill or main. Even defenceless old women are not immune to their blood lust. This I have witnessed with my own eyes.”
    He took her by the chin and turned her face back towards him. His eyes were intent on hers; his smile melted her bones. “You choose to close your mind to the ferocity of the Pitilan you brought with you. Its purpose was to kill the Cabrilan people, and that urge is uppermost in its genetic makeup. Did you not order it to kill?”
    “I . . . I did not give the order with malice, it was a gut reaction to your attack, a matter of survival.”
    “From that action sprang knowledge and new insight. You gave the order to kill, and you learned a new healing skill that day, did you not?”
    “Someone paid for that skill with their pain, another with his life. The High Mother was not your enemy, and the Pitilan is my personal protector. The trooper would not have died had he not