“What have you got for a headache?” she asked Bekka, whom she’d found, as usual, with J’riz and Qinth.
“Him,” Bekka said, nodding toward J’riz.
“What?”
“Kneel down,” Bekka ordered her. Then she said to J’riz, “Can you reach?”
“I can reach,” the boy said, moving up behind Xhinna. As the blue rider started to turn her head to see what he was up to, Bekka snapped, “Stay still!” Adding, “Unless you want to keep that headache.”
Xhinna felt J’riz’s fingers on her head, moving gently, probing, moving and then—“Aaah!”
“Don’t stop,” Bekka urged J’riz, saying the words that Xhinna couldn’t because suddenly she was sighing in relief from the easing of the pain behind her eyes.
J’riz’s small hands, with their thin fingers, found knots in her neck and eased them, found tension behind her ears and eased that, rubbed her temples gloriously, and Xhinna found herself sighing once more, eyes closed in bliss.
“She’s really tight,” J’riz said to Bekka. To Xhinna he added, “You’re like one giant knot.”
“Sorry,” Xhinna apologized.
Bekka snorted. “Lie down,” she ordered. “J’riz, do that thing with your feet.”
“She’s pretty big,” J’riz said consideringly. He moved around in front of Xhinna. “If you’d lie over there,” he said, pointing, “I think it’ll work.” A moment later he added, “Otherwise, we’ll have to go to solid ground before it’d be safe to walk on her back.”
“Walk on my back?” Xhinna asked Bekka.
“Just be quiet and do what I say for once,” Bekka told her with the same tone of exasperation that Xhinna herself often used when her orders were questioned by the younger riders.
“Okay,” she said, throwing her hands up in surrender and moving to the indicated location. She lay down, aware of but barely feeling the broom tree leaves underneath the thick canvas they’d spread over them.
A moment later, she felt J’riz sit on her butt. The boy was light. He started running his hands down her back, on either side of her spine, and then under the shoulder blades, finding knots and easing them, soothing bunched muscles. A while later, she felt him rise and suppressed a sigh of disappointment.
“Don’t move,” Bekka growled. This time her tone held a clear reminder that this girl was not just a healer but a queen rider—and Xhinna obeyed.
Lying as still as she could, she felt J’riz stand carefully on her back, one foot on either side of the base of her spine. Gently he walked up, careful to keep his feet close to her spine. She heard a crack! and then felt an odd sensation, as though someone had suddenly stopped making an irritating noise or the world was suddenly clearer, cleaner—less painful.
“Oh,” Xhinna breathed in contentment.
“Shh,” Bekka said. “Breathe normally.”
As J’riz continued his work, Xhinna found it easier to relax, slipping almost into sleep. Bekka spoke.
“I’ve been looking for someone like him for ages now,” she said. “He’s small enough that he can massage babies without us having to worry, but compact enough that he can move your spine when needs be.”
“Move my spine?”
“A body gets out of kilter, some muscles work harder than others, and soon enough, your spine’s out of whack,” Bekka said. “I didn’t know all about this until I was at the Healer Hall.” She paused. “But my mother knew enough about massage to help the babies get to sleep—you know they’re all out of sorts when they’re born, squished as they are—so the massage helps them relax enough to get their spines, and their skulls, back in alignment.”
“Skulls?”
“Only in babies,” Bekka said. Xhinna could hear her shrug echoed in the tone of her voice.
J’riz got another crack out of her and then Xhinna realized what Bekka had been saying. “You’re training him to be a healer?”
“Can never have too many,” Bekka said, agreeing. “And a journeyman’s allowed an apprentice.”
“A helper,” J’riz corrected, stepping off Xhinna’s back. “A master’s allowed an apprentice.”
“Means nothing to a midwife,” Bekka said dismissively. To Xhinna she said, “You can get up now.”
“That was wonderful, green rider,” Xhinna said, glancing down at the boy’s brilliant green eyes. He truly was beautiful, and he was growing quickly into an incredibly handsome young man.
In many respects, he reminded her of Fiona: They both thrived on attention. That was probably just as well, Xhinna thought, for a boy—nearly man—as pretty as he was would garner lots of attention whether he wanted it or not.
And, Xhinna realized, with Bekka to watch out for him, he’d be safe. She realized that he needed to be safe, that he needed someone who was like Bekka: not just big sister, but something more.
“Thank you,” J’riz said, unaware of her thinking. His voice cracked between the first word and the second and Xhinna laughed, chucking a hand at his ribs, as she said, “Now I know why Bekka does the talking for you!”
“She’s not that different,” J’riz said, again losing control of his voice, this time on the third word. “Her voice changed, too.”
“Of course,” Xhinna agreed.
“But she’s not that bad,” J’riz said, glancing up at her, his green eyes flashing as he gave Bekka a sideways look, “for a girl!”
“You’re still ticklish, green rider,” Bekka said, raising her hands menacingly.
“But I’m faster than you!” J’riz laughed and darted away.
“I’ll leave you to it,” Xhinna said, smiling at Bekka. Then she looked at J’riz, who continued to keep just out of Bekka’s reach, and said with a nod, “Thank you, green rider.”
“No prob-lem!” J’riz squeaked as Bekka caught him with a tickling hand on the far end of her lunge. “Bekka, you’ll wake Qinth and then we’ll be oiling again.”
Xhinna left them even as she heard Bekka’s Pinorth rouse from her nap and send a demanding plea toward the two riders.
“Oh, no, see what you did!” Bekka cried. “You woke the bigger dragon, you fool!”
That evening Xhinna was surprised when she didn’t see Taria at the cooking fires for dinner.
“She’s eating by the Meeyus,” an exhausted-looking Jirana said. She yawned widely. “I was watching them all day, and Taria and J’keran volunteered to relieve me.”
“Actually, only Taria volunteered,” X’lerin put in as he moved over to seat himself by Xhinna. “J’keran has extra duties.”
“Extra duties?” K’dan asked, joining them. “Does this have anything to do with our missing supplies?”
“Missing supplies?” Javissa turned her sharp eyes to the group and moved briskly toward them. She gave her daughter a sharp look. “Go to bed.”
“I’m not tired!” Jirana protested, her exclamation belied by the huge yawn that followed.
“Now!” Javissa said, waving toward the rope ladder that led to the tops of the broom trees. “And mind you go carefully!”
“Taria says that she’s been excellent with the Meeyus,” X’lerin said approvingly as Jirana headed up the rope ladder.
“If she’d slack up on her chores, then I could fault her for it,” Javissa said. She turned to cast a fond look in the direction of her youngest. “She’s been doing them perfectly. But …”
“The Meeyus are giving her a chance to be grown up,” K’dan said.
“She’s so eager,” Javissa said wistfully. “It’s not enough that she’ll have the Sight—she wants it immediately.”