“It won’t,” I said, but the truth was that I hadn’t been trying to charm him, not really. The truth was that I was afraid I could, and I was afraid of what might happen if I did.

“You should try. No harm in trying,” he said, and I laughed. It was a brutal and loud laugh, disdainful. Dor raised his eyebrows.

“There would be harm in succeeding.”

“It’s just charms, Ariah.”

The train screeched. Switches clicked into place, and the train began to turn. My chair slid a few feet and landed against the window. Dor’s face went white; his jaw clenched. “That’s normal,” I said.

“Nothing about this blasted thing is normal.”

“Sure it is. It’s steam-run. What’s more normal than water?”

He held onto the table, white-knuckled, while the train turned south a little harder. “We’re going so fast,” he said quietly. “This great hunk of metal we’re in, it’s going so fast.” He stood up and held onto the window frame. “I’m sorry,” he said. He let out a shy, embarrassed laugh. “I’m sorry, I just…I’ll be glad when we’re out of this thing.”

“You should sit on the floor,” I said.

“What?”

“Sit on the floor. It feels more stable on the floor. You can feel the rail, and you don’t swing so much.”

“Oh.” Carefully, slowly, he moved along the wall until he found a spot clear of any furniture. He slid down the wall. There was an immediate look of relief on his face. “This is better.”

I watched him for a little while. A bowl of fruit slid across the table and into my lap. I ate a plum, soothed by the clatter of the train. “You said it didn’t burn?”

“Not then, no,” said Dor. “It’s burned before when you read me. Like back in Rabatha. But when I charmed you, I didn’t feel a thing.”

“Strange.” I sighed. “He’s right. I know nothing about myself. I have no idea what my gifts really are. How do you control something when you have no idea how it works?”

“You don’t,” Dor said. “And you’ve got to use it to learn how it works. You sure you don’t want to try?”

I put the bowl of fruit on the floor and made my way across the cabin. I sat in front of him. “How do I do this?”

“Vath told you.”

“No, how do I really do this?”

“Just feel me out. It’ll just click. Wait until there’s a tug, and you just coax me over. That’s it.”

“But how? How do I do it?”