“I don’t want to be Firelord just because I can divine,” I said. “I want the power to change the laws, to make a better life for my people. I need the power of the Firelord’s word.”

He stared at me, astounded. “By God, Elsha! You want to change the world!” He breathed a Chosen oath, then walked across the room and sat in one of the chairs by the fire. For a while he sat in silence, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, his hands clasped, his eyes staring into the flames. I went and sat near him, on the other side of the fire.

“We will not refuse to mine for firestones,” I said, “but we will not work as slaves, or be treated any longer like animals We will live like human beings, equal with the Chosen.”

“What you are telling me,” he said, “is that you plan to tear down the very foundations of our way of life. The Firelord planned reforms, Elsha, and I know he had a deep and sincere love for the Quelled – but he knew Chosen minds, too, and how much he could change, and how fast. But you – you want to turn the world upside down.”

“No, I don’t,” I said, trying to sound calm. “What I want won’t change Chosen lives at all, much. But it will transform the lives of the Quelled. I want them to work reasonable hours. I want them to have time to call their own. I want their poverty eased.

“Have you ever lived with them, Amasai? Do you know how cold and drafty their tents are, how few blankets and cooking vessels they have, and how little food? You slept in the Firelord’s caves every now and again, and you thought that was hardship. But his caves had wine and furs and more firestones than were needed, and you Chosen wear more garments in a day than the Quelled wear in a lifetime. Have you ever got up at dawn and eaten one paltry wheat cake and drunk some hot water with a leaf in it, and then gone into the bowels of the earth, and slaved all day? And been cursed and whipped and driven, and then gone home at night with ice in your wet clothes and your boots falling apart, to a freezing tent and no fire going, and children weeping from hunger and exhaustion and cold? And then cooked a meal for a whole family with only a cup of corn and some mouldy flour and a few miserable vegetables? And then slept for a few hours, only to get up at dawn and start the whole round again?