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She nodded and dropped the dagger to her side. “I think I have it.”

“Keep that on you at all times.”

“I will.”

He was the first to move away. “What are your powers?”

“I harvest my magic from the sun. So light and heat mostly.”

Leif chuckled. “You mean you could burn down a city if you wanted to.”

She smiled back at him. “Well, I do not know. I have never even thought about that, and I would not dream of such a thing. I can clear a storm or turn night to day. I can light a fire with the snap of my fingers. I float using the sun’s energy to push against the ground.”

“But youcouldburn someone with your touch?” Thane asked.

She licked her lower lip and nodded. It would be easy. The heat generated in her palms could melt metal, turning it liquid. Flesh would be nothing. “I could.”

“That would be my first instruction then. Burn them with one hand and stab with the other.”

“Oh, yeah,” Leif said. “Go for the eyes, too. Burn them right out of the sockets.”

“That’s gruesome.” Piper scrunched her nose.

“And so is war,” Leif argued. “Burn ’em.”

“Can we get a demonstration?” Fennan asked.

“Oh, I would rather not.” Her cheeks warmed at the thought of it. She did not like violence.

“I agree.” The little gnome with her red hat and holey boots seemed to pop up out of nowhere. “Go for the eyes. Then they wouldn’t be able to see you and it would be that much easier to kill them. I cut off an elf’s ear once.”

Katana squatted down to Tif’s level. “You did? I can hardly imagine that from one so small.”

“I may be small, but I can slice and dice. I won best carver in my gnome colony the year before my mother kicked me out of the hole.”

“I didn’t know that about you, Tif,” Piper said. “You should whittle something.”

“I think I will. It’s been so long since I have. I doubt I’d be the best in the gnome colony anymore, but I’ll work on my skills. What should I carve? A bird or perhaps a fox? One time a fox tried to eat me, and Thane had to save my life. So, I think I’ll stick with a bird. I speak tweet, you know.” She pulled a berry out of her burlap sack. “Want one? They’re perfectly ripe and juicy. I picked the best ones myself. They must be the right color and firmness, soft but not mushy.”

Katana learned many things about the gnome in a few sentences and each one surprised her. It would be rude to refuse so Katana took it and popped it into her mouth. “It is very good. Excellent berry picking.”

Tifapine twirled a brown curl around her finger and blushed. “My, such a compliment coming from a goddess, I don’t know what to say.”

“I find it hard to believeyouare at a loss for words,” Thane grumbled.

“Are you saying I talk a lot?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“Well, I’m good at it.”

Thane chuckled. “I won’t argue that.”

“Where is Layala, or er—Valeen. It’s been a difficult adjustment for me. She still looks like her, talks like her, but wants to be called something else. Of course, she is with someone else too and maybe it’s better if we do call her by a different name now. Then I can make sense of her being with,” she lowered her voice to a whisper, “you know who. I call him the master of darkness.”

“They’re… out,” Thane answered.

It was interesting that Thane hadn’t told his friends they were in Calladira. He must not want them to know.