“That’s all right,” she said, perhaps a bit sharper than she meant to.

“But I’m making the worst impression,” said Devon, and he sighed. “Let’s start over. Would you be so kind as to explain the nature of that exquisite rune on your torso?”

“It is a rune for protection,” Yenni said, even as Devon felt around his desk—his eyes never leaving her middle—for paper and something to write with. “It alerts me to threats against my life.”

“Extraordinary,” he muttered as he wrote. “How so?”

“Theoretically, if my life is threatened it will burn.”

“Really,” he murmured, and looked up. “Theoretically? You’ve never used it?”

“No. It was given to me for the first time by the Masters before I left my island.”

“What is the hymn? Which strokes are drawn first? Is it native to the Yirba tribe?”

“I don’t know,” Yenni said, slightly overwhelmed. “It took three Masters to draw it. Only they know the way to create it.”

Devon hummed his disappointment. Looking sheepish, he made a lifting gesture with his hand. “Would you mind terribly . . .”

“Not at all,” Yenni said. She lifted her shirt to the top of her stomach, exposing the rune. It was so nice to finally find people in Cresh who shared her enthusiasm for runelore. Besides, he would never be able to replicate it. Not without the rune hymn, the stroke order, and the sheer wisdom and instinct of the Masters.

Professor Devon made a quick frantic sketch and told her she could lower her shirt.

“Professor,” Yenni said, before he could ask any more questions. “I actually came to ask you about Creshen magic.”

“En? Creshen magic?”

“Yes, I’ve been struggling in my other classes. My spells don’t come out as strong as they should, or too strong, or sometimes not at all.”

“Hmm, well that usually points to a lack of conviction when it comes to the rules and principles.”

They spent a few minutes going over the spells that gave her the most trouble until he said, “Forgive me, but I have one more question about the protection rune. The paint is still quite vivid. I take it you haven’t had any threats to your life?”

“No, none.”

“Byen be praised. But if you did, would the rune fade or disappear entirely? How many attempts on your life would it take to use it up?”

“I don’t know.”

“Ah, of course not. And with any luck you never will, en?”

This led them on a tangent about runelore until Yenni steered the conversation back to Creshen magic. Professor Devon gave her a few more tips, nothing she hadn’t already heard, before he said again, “Just one more question: You said three Masters together created the rune. Did they sing together, or one after the other? Oh, and how long is the hymn, longer than most?”