“Where do you get your tea?” Seregil asked.

Sabriel set the pot on the table in front of them and pulled a knitted cozy over it to keep the heat in. “From Aurënen, now. Before, it was shipped in from Plenimar.”

“They grow tea in Plenimar?” Alec said, surprised. “I assumed they got it by way of Virésse.”

Sabriel shrugged. “All I know’s that the chests used to be marked PLENIMAR and now they’re marked AURËNEN.”

“A change for the better, I hope,” said Seregil.

Sabriel gave them a fond look. “A lot of things are these days.”

Vhadä came in with the bread and a small haunch of bacon hanging from a loop of string. “Here you are, Sabriel.” He placed the bread and bacon on the table and looked at her expectantly. “Have you shown them yet?”

“Hush, child, and mind your manners,” she warned, and set about cutting thick slices of bacon to fry.

“Shown us what?” asked Seregil.

The cook hesitated, then set the knife aside. “I don’t suppose there’s any danger in it now.” Folding her hands against her apron, she closed her eyes and the mixing bowl rose off the table by itself, then settled back again with a soft thump.

“You’re a wizard?” said Alec.

“Oh, no, nothing so powerful, my—Alec, that is. If I was I wouldn’t have lived all those years with a collar around my neck.” Her hand stole to the high neck of her gown, which covered the worn-in scar of metal on flesh. “No, I can do a little trick here and there. Moving small things, mostly, but I can sometimes light the kindling when there’s no flint handy.”

“Did the man who enslaved you know?” asked Seregil.

“By the Light, no! During the Dark Times, before Kouros was rescued, the Plenimarans would kill any ’faie with so much as a hint of kitchen magic about them. Usually it was children, who didn’t know enough to be careful and got caught. Sometimes, though, a necromancer would come through and check households who paid him to ferret out any ’faie with the powers. I was lucky; he never came here. When one was found, though, we were all dragged off to the place of execution and made to watch.” She wiped her eyes on a corner of her apron, then took a skillet off a hook, threw in the bacon, and set it to fry on a grate over the hearth. Poking the strips straight with a fork, she shook her head and said softly, “It was horrible, what they did to them.”

“Weren’t any of them strong enough to fight back?” asked Alec.

“That sort didn’t end up as slaves.”

“I suppose not. I’m sorry.”

She looked back at him. “Nothing to be sorry for, my dear. That’s all behind us now, thanks to Princess Klia and those like her. Like you two, as well, with all your kindness. It truly is a new day for Kouros.”

“Are there many others with magic?” asked Seregil.