Free DragonFire by Donita K. Paul Page B

Paladin, but it would be impossible without Wulder. If we manage to remain true to Wulder, then He will raise up another Paladin to guide us.”
    He gave her a squeeze. “Now, change into something beautiful. We sup tonight in the dining hall of Paladin’s palace. A very grand place, indeed.” He tilted her chin up with one finger and winked at her. “And I’m sure your mother is most anxious to see you.”

    Sir Kemry and Lady Lyll Allerion met Kale and Bardon in the reception room before the doors swung open to the dining hall. As the young couple approached the older, Kale mindspoke to her husband.
She’s so young-looking and striking. I wonder what I will look like at her age. So far, when I am idle, nothing much happens.
    “I find leaves on you all the time.”
    Only because you hide them on me to tease me. I know I don’t produce those flowers, and twigs, or even the ladybugs you pretend to find in my hair.
    “You are the bog wizard.”
    An inherited title from Fenworth. He was no blood relation. I could be anything.
    “My goodness,” said Lady Allerion with a small shake of her head. Several hairpins fell out, and her elegant coiffure began to droop. She snapped her fingers, the errant pins hopped back in her hand, and she deftly returned them to their places. “Such a scowl, Kale. What are you thinking about?”
    “What kind of wizard am I, Mother?”
    Her father kissed her on the cheek. “A bog wizard, my dear. Why the puzzlement?”
    “Oh, she doesn’t mean her title, Kem.” Lyll took her daughter’s hand and patted it. “She wants to know what her element is. As she ages, will she find herself waking from a nap with a stringy moss beard on her chin, or will she be dripping lake water from her elbows?”
    “Humph!” said her father. “A beard? Highly unlikely. As to your element, no one knows ahead of time. Your knowledge will evolve out of what you experience.”
    Kale cast a worried glance at Bardon and asked her father, “Then it doesn’t pass down according to your lineage?”
    “That belief is an old wives’ tale. Some people believe one’s element is determined by where you are raised. Your surroundings influence what you become. Some believe your destiny is in your heritage. I believe your element is what you choose more than anything. If you choose to appreciate lakes like Cam Ayronn, then naturally you are predisposed to drip.”
    A trumpeter announced the opening of the dining hall. Servants pushed seven carved panel doors into the walls. Across the huge room seven heavy wooden doors led to the area devoted to preparation of meals. These highly polished doors swung in and out as busy people brought in large trays and tureens. The closed doors blocked any clatter of pans from the kitchen.
    The crowd drifted toward the evening repast.
    Lady Allerion put her arm through her husband’s and started to stroll off. “I think it’s an interplay of all three aspects, Kem.”
    Bardon offered his wife his arm and winked. “You’re gorgeous when you’re flustered. I do plant the leaves and things to watch you react.”
    “I know. It’s hard with our bond to fool each other.” She grinned up at him. “But sometimes you nearly have me convinced.” She took in a deep breath, loving the smell of her husband and the very essence of his strength as he stood beside her. “You’ve gotten very good at tricking me.”
    He reached behind her ear and pulled out a small ivy leaf, one just like the plant that decorated the hallway. With a flourish, he presented it to her. “You put up with my pointed ears. I guess I can endure your elemental state, whether it be bog or mountain or sky or fire.”
    He jerked his chin toward an old female wizard who had nodded off. A page stood next to her, puzzling how to wake up the woman who had taken on the shape of a blue flame, although she did not burn the chair she sat in.
    “Thanks,” said Kale. “I hope in one way or another you always see me as