Read The Magister (Earthkeep) for Free Online

objection.  "Yes.  I'd like to meet them."  She turned to Jez.  "As my momah would say, 'If it do not kill me outright, it will serve to make me stronger.'"  She smiled wanly.  "Then I will sleep."
    Jez rose in astonishment as three girls entered the room, one of them about four years old, the other two between ten and twelve.  Polite but curious, the youngs approached Dicken's bedside.  They were ordinary children, Jez noted, except for one startling aspect of their appearance: Their hair was as white as new-fallen snow.
    "Jezebel and Dicken," said Ola, "these are Luisa Maniboz, Taína Renananda Ko and Jida Wood Dancer.  Luisa, Taína and Jid, these are Calica Jezebel Stronglaces and Calica Bess Dicken." Jez knelt by the bed and reached across to touch the hands that stretched out to hers.  All three of those bright faces were excited and smiling; their touch was a shade past courtesy, full of what Jez could only term fervor.  When they turned to Dicken, their energies were even livelier.  Jid and Taína knelt by the narrow bed and held Dicken's arm.  Luisa, the smallest of the three, consulted Ola with a non-oral question and then sat on the bed by Dicken, laying her head on the patient's chest. 
    "Calica Bess," Jid said, "I'm so sorry."
    "You got hurt coming to see us," Taína added.
    Dicken did her best to rise to the occasion.  "Naw, it was my own foolishness," she whispered, "not your fault."  She patted them, hushing their apologies. 
    With kindly touches, Ola began suggesting that the children leave.  "Calica Bess has to rest.  But Jezebel, will you talk with them now?"
    "Yes.  If it's a good time for Taína?  Jid and Luisa?"
    Taína nodded.  "Oh, yes."  The three girls stroked Dicken in farewell, Luisa in particular kissing and squeezing her hand.
    "Whoa," Dicken croaked.  "Your hair, how come your. . ."
    Jid shook her long locks.  "Isn't it nice, Calica?  It just changed to gray.  Then to white."
    "And the others," Jez asked, faltering, "the others in your -- who are. . . "
    Taína beamed.  "Most have this color, but one still has brown."
    "I see," said Jez. 
    As Ola began herding the three out of the room, a large round woman, Dulma, came to sit by Dicken.
    "Dulma will be with you for a while," Jez whispered to her lover.  "She's the one who brought you back to us."  She kissed Dicken's closed eyes.
    "Wait!"  Dicken's eyes flew open.  She said something Jez could not hear.
    She bent closer.  "Again, love?"
    Dicken's voice was raspy.  "The Koran."
    "The Koran?"
    Dicken nodded and closed her eyes.
    Jez looked at the healer.  Dulma shrugged lightly.  Then with another kiss to Dicken's cheek and a handclasp with Dulma, Jez stole softly from the room.
    In the front area of the house, a company of women and children stood and sat in various poses of unease, talking with each other or holding and caressing Taína, Jida and Luisa.  Breden, another child with white hair, was sitting on the lap of a young woman whom Jez took to be her older sister.
    As she met the eyes of those gathered there, Jez’s heart sank, and for a fleeting moment she feared that they expected her to repair this awful damage, to turn back the clock somehow to weeks in days past when Chimney Corner had been normal, when the youngs still had their lives in front of them, when an awful announcement had not yet been made.
    Ola, bearing a steaming kettle and mugs, came to her rescue.  "If you will, Jezebel, sit with all of us for a bit before you speak with the youngs."  She set her burden on a low teapoy while an older man slid behind her to deposit bread and cakes on another table, returning immediately to an out-of-sight kitchen for more food. 
    Jez looked at Jid, who nodded vigorously, and then caught smiles from Taína and Luisa.  "Of course," she sighed, releasing breath she had not been aware of holding back.
    There was a stir as the group settled around the tables, on the floor and on stools, falling to the