Valdemar (6) - Mage Storms 03 - Storm Breaking by Mercedes Lackey

Author:Mercedes Lackey [Lackey, Mercedes]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, General, Valdemar (Imaginary Place), Epic
ISBN: 9780886777555
Google: NHIffu0ey2gC
Amazon: 0886777550
Publisher: DAW
Published: 1996-01-02T05:00:00+00:00

Her Radiance was not a comfortable person to speak to, face-to-face. For that matter, she wasn’t a comfortable person to communicate with, letter to letter; he always had the feeling that he was reading something intended for an audience rather than a personal letter.

“First we have to duplicate it,” she pointed out, and smiled.

“You know, I’m very glad to see you again. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, Id wake up, and I’d wonder if you were-quite real.” Oddly enough, he knew exactly what she meant. “It’s hard to imagine someone being real who’s that far away,” he agreed. “It’s as if they never existed except in your mind.” She flushed a little, and looked away for a moment. “Anyway,” she continued awkwardly, “we’ve been busy, though it doesn’t have anything to do with the important things.” She sounded wistful. “There’s just nothing we can do right now to help with what you’re doing, so we’re back to the old projects like bridges and steam boilers.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that,” he countered. “Don’t these things have to be done no matter what disaster might be looming?” He managed a crooked grin. “If everything else falls apart, your bridges will be there to get people across rivers that can’t be ferried or forded. Surely that’s worth something.//

She shrugged but looked pleased. “At least what we’re doing is useful,” she admitted. “It’s odd, though. The folk around and about Haven have the funniest attitude; you can tell them and tell them that the protection we’ve given them from the magestorms is only temporary~ but they act as if it’s permanent. They aren’t doing anything to prepare themselves for the worst, they aren’t even thinking about it.” Now she sounded and looked very frustrated. “When you ask them why, they just shrug and can’t give you an answer, or they say something stupid, fatalistic, or both.”

“I think,” he said slowly, “that ordinary folk just can’t imagine anything awful happening to them. It always happens to someone else.”

“Well, you’d think after years of war and bandits and all they should know better,” she replied acidly. “At any rate, now that things have settled down, they aren’t at all interested in asking us about things they can do when the Storms come again, they just want to know how long it is going to take before a bridge will be up. Or if the steam boiler is likely to explode again.”

“I hope you’re on bridges,” he said, trying not to show alarm. “And not steam boilers.”

“Actually, I’m on metal stress,” she replied, running her hand through her hair absently. “I get to make some very interesting and loud noises. We’re trying to make tougher alloys, but I don’t want to bore you with what we’re doing. I spend some time in the forge, because at the moment, work on steam boilers is stalled until we can find a better way to make the boiler itself.” He sighed, resting his chin on his hands. “It wouldn’t bore me, but I’d be lost,” he admitted.

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