9
Like called to like the second I was outside the palace’s walls. The portion of my power that I’d left behind on the councilman’s servant as smoke – it pulled at me now, drawing the rest of me toward it.
I flew through the gray air, surprised that the city beneath me did not get any kinder. Rix-beasts moved on roads, but they didn’t interact with the people on the street, who appeared bent by the burdens they carried on their backs, haggling with one another frequently. No one smiled, there were no emotions at all, except for bouts of shouting when enemies met – and everyone seemed everyone else’s enemy.
I knew I was near her as the pulling sensation increased, but I was surprised that the area I was in wasn’t any nicer. Surely a councilman, of such power as I’d felt, would live somew
