“Huh,” Abi said, thinking about it. “That must make listening to or reading anything a bit distracting until you get used to it.”

“Which is why I am known for treating it,” Sanje said. “For some, especially those who are born with the condition, this is perfectly normal and enjoyable, and removing the ability would lessen their lives. For those who are older, for whom the condition has come on because of a head injury or illness, especially adults, it can be confusing and distressing to suddenly be able to taste shapes when you eat your food. I have had some success in removing the secondary sensations in people like that.” She glanced sideways at Abi and waited.

Well, they want me to get this Gift under complete control, not get rid of it. So . . . “So they think you can give me synesthesia?” she hazarded. “So I can see stress in objects instead of just feeling it?”

Sanje smiled broadly, a very catlike smile. “They told me you were clever. Good. I like clever people. Dull ones irritate me, especially those who expect to be told what to do, and if they are not told, do nothing, even when something that needs doing is right in front of them. Yes, that is what they would like me to do. I think it’s quite possible. I’d like to go farther than that, actually. I’m sure you realize that there is stress in anything that is not lying completely flat on the ground.”

“Actually, there’s stress even in something like that, but it’s so weak it doesn’t matter,” Abi corrected.

Sanje nodded. “I’d like to train you to the point where you can sense and see how and where that stress flows in everything rather than seeing only the intolerable stress that makes things break. But how do you feel about that?”

She didn’t answer right away. If she was actually going to become a full Artificer, and not just a mystical-damage-detector . . . such a Gift would be very useful. She would not just be able to correct and direct the repairs of things that were breaking down, she’d be able to help build them right in the first place. The more she thought about that, the better she liked that idea. These past few days of study and classes had been opening up new vistas in her mind. Until enrolling in Artificers, she’d had no interest in her entire life in building or designing things, but now . . . she’d changed her mind completely. Now whenever she looked at a building, she found herself imagining it if had been built differently. More pleasing. Stronger.