I tried to pull a map together in my mind. Embarrassingly, I didn’t know where the Aleutians or Papua New Guinea were.

“He’s gifted with minerals and fire, and he’s strong. Some say he’s the strongest of the powers holding F-Em territories. He’s a real bad-ass — aggressive, irrational, maybe unstable. Not a good guy, not safe to be around.”

A fire- and mineral-worker. I thought back to the lava-man in the lawn chair. No wonder Williams and Callie had recognized him from my description.

Andy said, “We heard he was holding a strait open up near where you’re from.”

Dorf wasn’t the only place where gossip traveled fast.

“I don’t know that it was him.”

“Fine, be that way,” Andy said, looking annoyed.

“Give her a break,” Theo said. “She’s a newbie. She’s too nervous to gossip.”

“Don’t worry,” he said to me. “You’ll get a sense of who you can trust and what it’s safe to talk about. FYI, Andy and I are definitely on the trustworthy list.”

He winked at me and smiled. A lot of the tension drained away.

I rolled my eyes but smiled back. I didn’t know if Theo and Andy were trustworthy or not, but they were certainly likeable.

Just then, Gwen walked in. She joined us and immediately said, “Y’all hear about Lord Limu?”

The conversation that morning had a circular quality.

Cordus leaned forward, steepling his fingers.

I’d completed the day’s five fruitless attempts to sense the little heat-working hovering over his hand. I wondered if he was as sick of the exercise as I was. I’d never seen any annoyance in his manner, but that might just mean he had more self-control than I did.

Afraid to look at his face, I focused on his hands. They were as beautiful as the rest of him. Apprehension crawled over me. Just because he hadn’t done anything to me so far didn’t mean he wasn’t going to do something right now.

My nervousness quickly got the better of me, which led to babbling.

“How come I can’t tell if someone else is a Nolander by touching them?”

He glanced at me. “Your capacity is almost always dormant. It awakens only when you see a half-working. You would be able to identify another Nolander if you touched him or her during one of those brief moments of awakening.”

“Oh. Okay.”

Another minute or two of silence ensued. I somehow managed to keep quiet.

“Miss Ryder,” Cordus finally said, leaning back, “you will appear in my court this evening.”

Outwardly, I nodded. Inwardly, I groaned.

“We will be entertaining an important guest.”

“Lord Limu?”

“Yes.”

I hesitated, then plunged in. “I’m delighted to be there, of course, but why me? I mean, is there something you want me to do? Of all your people, I seem … uniquely incapable.”