LITMIR.BIZ

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objections, Ada! You almost got killed! And then, when your things return, you can pay me back,” I reassured her.

      – Thank you!

      The Northern woman touched her forehead with two fingers and, with an unexpectedly graceful gesture, extended her open palm to me. A small ball flashed gold above her. He swam up to me and hovered, and suddenly pleasant shivers ran down my back, like when trying on a tailor.

      – What is this? – I asked quietly.

      – Oath of purity of intentions. If you accept it, just touch it.

      “Ada… Really, it’s not worth it…” I stopped short, catching the northern woman’s gaze, and realized that if I refused, I would offend her to the core.

      Sighing, she dipped her finger into the golden light, and her chest felt hot, as if she had sipped the cinnamon wine that we were treated to at the boarding house on New Year’s Eve.

      “We are now more connected than sisters.” “You are my kyari, my savior,” Ada explained.

      Her face suddenly blurred, and then I blinked, and two tears rolled down my cheeks.

      –What are you doing? Are you crying, or what? – The northern woman frowned.

      – No no! It's just… Everything is so unexpected. I lived alone for a long time, and just recently met my older sister. And now I have another sister.

      The northern woman burst into a smile and hugged me by the shoulders in a familiar way, but immediately shuddered and again took the “hook” pose.

      – Hurts?

      “Stronger than we would like,” Adalbjorg answered with a dark smile.

      Hearing her, Bathmore reined in his horse and began to choose a level road. We were just driving past the giant gas holder, and ahead there was already a station glowing with lights, where life was in full swing day and night.

      – Ada, forgive me for the indiscreet question, but why did you need to get involved with this dubious company? Where did you actually come across them? – Unable to bear it, I asked.

      – I arrived in Verlor this morning and decided to take a walk around the city. I haven’t been to the capital of Onyx Rocks before. Everything here is structured differently than here. And I accidentally encountered these children of a sick walrus on the street. They stuck to the sole worse than dog shit. No matter how many, it still stinks and stinks. I usually don’t let anyone off the hook, but here I endured it until the last moment. I didn't want any trouble with the locals. “I tried to be taller,” as my mentor punished me.

      Ada nodded and continued. “We were taught the same thing at the boarding school,” I interjected into her story.

      “By that time it was getting close to dinner, and I was pretty hungry. But in the center they didn’t let me into a single establishment, can you imagine? They said I looked inappropriate. I assured that I had something to pay, but they still did not agree! And those petrified mammoth feces kept trailing behind me. They neighed like sick horses at my shame. And then, as if on purpose, my stomach began to growl…

      The northern woman sighed heavily and, wincing, looked at me meaningfully.

      – Yeah. I can imagine what kind of food for ridicule this gave to the presumptuous idiots.

      – Right! Then I simply caught a cab and asked him to take me to some decent establishment not far from the South Station. The kind where you can eat delicious food and the prices aren’t too bad.

      “And he brought you to Rabochiy Gorodok,” Bathmore unexpectedly butted into the conversation.

      “I don’t know, but the food here really turned out to be good.” I like it. Everything was fine until Mikael’s company entered the same tavern. These degenerates of the rickety sperm whale began to mock me again. They laughed at me for being so tall. They made fun of my clothes, and then they stole my bag and began demanding insulting things from me for returning it. I am the daughter of Earl Hedwin and I couldn’t let them down! – The northern woman flashed with rage in her eyes.

      –Did you get into a fight?

      – No. She insulted them back, and they rushed into the fight. They turned out to be not as patient as me. “She grinned almost cheerfully.

      – Mother of All That Is! But these are the children of the capital's aristocrats. All elemental magicians…” I grimaced. – What a disgrace! What were they thinking, chasing a foreigner throughout the capital?

      “It’s a pack of mad dogs, not children.” People like them ought to have their teeth pulled out before they bite someone to death,” Bathmore opined, stopping the gig next to a large black stagecoach that bore the Wind and Storm Academy emblem on its side.

      And next to the stagecoach stood a man, at the sight of whom my mood immediately soared to heaven.

      “Uncle Al…” I screamed joyfully, but seeing that he was not alone, I corrected myself: “Eshsher Nett, how glad I am to see you!”

      Alan Nett, a teacher from my father’s department, who visited us more than once, saw me and also burst into a smile.

      – Mirre Blackrock! Meet girls, this is Mirre Blackrock from Teresa the Magnanimous boarding house. You will study at the academy together. Mirre, this is Lisel Konradine and Hvoyana Holtz,” he introduced them to me. – And Yumi Lo is hiding inside.

      – Nice to meet you! – Lisel answered politely.

      The Conradine family was rightfully one of the ten most influential in Onyx Rocks. Duke Conradine was the ruler's adviser, and in front of me stood his youngest daughter, about whom they gossiped even in our boarding house.

      Slender, tall. With a shock of light brown hair, braided in a loose braid. Her travel outfit fit perfectly and looked as if it had just come from the tailor shop. Lisel was a strong elemental who, according to rumors, had already mastered the control of lightning, and also the most enviable bride of Onyx Rocks. She was predicted to marry one of the dragons of the ruling family.

      – Hello! – Khvoyana waved to us.

      Judging by the unusual bright blue color of her eyes and the blue tint of her hair, which only remained ash-blond near her face, the girl preferred water to other elements. And her name was unusual – Khvoyana. It would be more suitable for a sorceress from the Old Forest. However, the girl looked so that I would not doubt that she was a native of those places.

      Khvoyana wore her long hair in two braids, and another one adorned her head like a wreath. She dressed in the traditional clothes of the peoples from the banks of the Struna. I must say, quite exotic to my eyes. Even more exotic than the northern woman was dressed.

      While I was looking at my future classmates, Uncle Alan looked at some list.

      – So. All we have to do is wait for Adalbjörg Hedvin, and…

      – Adalbjorg is already here, and… She needs the help of a healer! – I realized.

      – What's happened? – Lisel immediately looked into the gig.

      I quickly introduced Ada to everyone and retold a brief version of the attack, keeping silent only about the artifact that Grymza gave me. Ada did not say a word about him.

      – It’s incomprehensible! Where are the parents of these little kids looking? – Uncle Alan lamented. “Sit here, I’ll bring the healer.”

      Lanky and awkward, he rushed towards the building with a characteristic bowl and a “healing hand” stretched over it, emitting light.

      – Mirre, do you remember any of the attackers? Are you familiar with them? – asked Lisel.

      – No, but their leader was called Mikael. And another one, small and fussy, was teased with Splinter.

      I described the attackers as best I could, and Ada filled in the details I had missed, telling me what magic they used and what techniques they preferred in battle.

      “I

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