“Their Gifts—some of them—enable them to mess about with people’s minds.” He hesitated as he realized he was repeating what his father had always said. Were these truly his own opinions? “They can torment their enemies with nightmares, for example.”

She smiled faintly. “Have you ever heard of a Dreamweaver doing so?”

He hesitated again. “No,” he admitted. “But then there are so few now. I don’t think they’d dare.”

Auraya’s smile widened. “Have you ever heard of a Dreamweaver doing something to earn them the label ‘untrustworthy’?”

He nodded. “Some years ago a Dreamweaver poisoned a patient.”

The smile vanished and she looked away. “Yes, I studied that case.”

He looked at her in surprise. “As part of your training?”

“No.” She shook her head. “I’ve always taken an interest in crimes that involve Dreamweavers.”

“What…what did you make of it?”

She grimaced. “That the Dreamweaver was guilty. She confessed to it, but I wanted to be sure she wasn’t blackmailed or beaten into doing so. I looked to the reaction of other Dreamweavers for clues. They turned from her. I found that to be the most convincing evidence of her guilt.”

Danjin was intrigued. “They might have turned from her to protect themselves.”

“No. I think Dreamweavers know when another is guilty of a crime. When one is falsely accused—and some of the trials have been disgustingly transparent—they defend them in their own way. The accused is calm, even when they know they are to be executed. But when the accused is guilty, not a word is spoken in their defense. This woman was frantic,” Auraya shook her head slowly, “and angry. She raged against her own people.”

“I heard that she asked for garpa so she could avoid sleeping.” Danjin shuddered. “If they are willing to torment one of their own, what might they do to an enemy?”

“Why do you assume they were tormenting her? She might have wanted to avoid her own dreams.”

“She was a Dreamweaver. Surely she had control of her own dreams.”

“Again, you can only assume so.” Auraya smiled. “You judge them untrustworthy because they have the ability to harm others. Just because they can, doesn’t mean they will. I could snuff out your life with a thought, but you trust me not to.”

He stared at her, disturbed at her casual mention of her gods-given powers. She held his gaze. He looked down at the table. “I know you wouldn’t.”

“So perhaps you should reserve your judgment of each Dreamweaver until you know him or her personally.”

He nodded. “You’re right, of course. But I cannot trust them any more than I would trust a stranger.”