“Come and eat.” Baluka held the door open. The smell of food set her stomach rumbling. Glad of a change of subject, she reached for her sandals.
“Don’t worry about those,” he told her impatiently. “The sand is clean and still warm from the sun.”
She inspected her soles. They were no longer red and tender. She shrugged and walked barefoot to the door, descending steep steps to the ground. A familiar chill surrounded her. The people under the canopy sat on small mats arranged in a circle. They had all turned to watch her approach. A group of children playing nearby ran over to her, eyes afire with curiosity, some shyly half-hiding behind the bolder ones. She smiled at them a little nervously, knowing that adults would be slower to accept anyone their children instinctively rejected.
“Join the circle, children,” a voice called out. Rielle grasped the words because she could still read Baluka’s mind. Knowing that she was watching, he told her in thoughts that he had been chosen to be her translator. The rest of the family would maintain their usual blocks.
The children took their places as Baluka led her into the circle. His floating flame joined many more under the canopy. A fire burned in the centre, giving off a welcome heat. An animal was roasting over it, slowly turning with no sign of anything cranking the spit. She wondered where they had found the wood in the desert, then learned from Baluka that they always brought some here with them from the last world they had visited.
“Welcome, Rielle Lazuli,” a man said, rising to his feet. He had a tidy beard peppered with as much grey as his hair. This was Baluka’s father. “I am Lejikh, and I am the leader of this family. I welcome you to our fire.”
She resisted glancing at Baluka as she read the appropriate response from him.
“Thank you for offering a space at your fire,” she replied. And thank you for saving my life and giving me food and clothing, she added, hoping they could all see the words in her mind. She saw smiles and nods and knew they had.
Yet at the same time she saw something else in Baluka’s mind. The greeting, “I welcome you to our fire” was spoken to guests who joined the Travellers for a meal, or a short stay. Not long enough to teach her to use magic, he was thinking. He thought this a shame and wanted to object. But she can’t stay with us longer. There is only one way an outsider can do that.
“Please sit,” Lejikh said, indicating two empty mats next to Ankari. Baluka led Rielle over to them.
As soon as they sat down the family burst into conversation. Metal plates rose from a stack beside the fire and floated out to each member. The roasting animal stopped turning, lifted up and off the stand and settled onto a platter. Smaller pots rose out of the coals and settled beside it, their lids sliding to one side. But nothing remained in place for long as meat peeled away from the roast and strange scoops–like ladles but with no handles–carried food to plates held with outstretched hands. Rielle watched it all with one hand pressed to her mouth, astonished and a little discomfited to see so much magic being used for such simple tasks.
She looked for Stain but only caught fleeting bursts of fine lines around the Travellers. These quickly disappeared as magic flowed in to fill them. Her plate slid out of her hands and floated in the air before her. She turned to see Baluka grinning at her.
“What would you like?”
“I… I don’t know.” Everything, her mind answered as her stomach vibrated with eagerness.
Ladles flew through the air. Only when her plate was full of more food than she thought she could possibly eat did he press it back into her hands. He handed her a utensil shaped like a spoon but sharpened on one side, with short prongs like a fork at the end. She took note of how it was being used by the other Travellers before copying them. It made eating while holding a plate in one hand much easier.