Arrows of Time by Kim Falconer Read Free Book Online Page B

came.’ She turned to walk away.
    ‘Kali, wait! You didn’t let me finish.’ He kissed the hilt of the sword before sheathing it.
    ‘You have more to say?’
    ‘I do.’ He cleared his throat. ‘I don’t like it here without my students. You brought me to teach, and I’m restless to get on with it.’
    ‘You are?’
    ‘I am, and I’m thinking this would be the perfect place to establish a new temple school. There are enough stragglers at Half Moon Bay to keep Zero busy, and since meeting that young woman Merriam he’s showing no desire to return to Treeon any time soon. I can work with the apprentices that are coming over from there, as well as the Bay. The gods know they’ll need training and there are enough of them.’
    She tilted her head. ‘So you do want to stay.’
    ‘If this is to be a temple ground, I do.’
    ‘But not Half Moon Bay?’
    ‘I don’t know what your attraction is to that place. It’s a rubbish heap.’
    ‘It’s my home, my birthplace.’
    ‘Yours and the sewer rats, and whatever those grotesque knobbly things are that grow to be the size of small cats.’
    ‘Cane toads?’
    ‘Come on, Kali. This place is vast, productive, and more important, it’s been protected. You can’t tell me you don’t want to make a temple of it. It’ll breathe new life into Earth.’
    ‘I have no argument, save for the Lupins.’
    He grizzled.
    ‘Rowan, you know that’s why I’ve considered asking Zero to master here. He’s not opposed to the Lupins. He welcomes them in his ranks, open to their ways.’
    ‘I’m open.’
    ‘Since when?’
    ‘Since I decided I was.’
    She laughed. ‘Rowan, the Lupins belong here. They were bred here, after all, and…’
    ‘Save your speech, Kali. I know it by heart, and yes, the Lupins have a right to be here. Of course. You’ll get no argument from me.’
    ‘Really? I thought that was all I got.’ She stared at him for a moment and went back to her notes, then scanned the night sky for Jupiter. It was in the sign of Virgo now, halfway between Regulus and Spica, a little north. She spotted the bright planet and checked it with the sextant. Wonderful. Just where he should be. Her calculations were accurate. ‘You’re like a child, Rowan,’ she said.
    He didn’t respond for some time. Finally he came out with, ‘Don’t you want me to stay now?’
    Was he trying to antagonise her? ‘It’s not about what I want, Rowan. It’s about what needs to happen for people to survive on this planet. It’s not about us. Not a personal thing. Never has been.’
    ‘I see.’
    She lowered the sextant. ‘I didn’t mean it that way,’ she said.
    ‘How then, if not personal?’
    She smoothed her dress. ‘It’s not completely impersonal.’
    ‘That must be refreshing for you,’ he whispered, though she heard him loud and clear. He was looking towards the stables rooftop. His long legs were stretched out in front of him, a stack of swords polished and oiled by his side.
    ‘Rowan,’ she said, unsure how to finish.
    He got up, brushing dust from his leggings. ‘I’m going to check the horses,’ he said, shaking his head to forestall anything she might say. He scooped up the swords and carried them to the stairwell.
    ‘Rowan, wait.’
    She stopped him with her voice, closing the distance between them. He kept his back to her, though he waited. She stepped near, rising up on tiptoe to speak softly in his ear. ‘Stay.’
    He turned, brushing his lips across her cheek. ‘Are you certain?’
    ‘I think it’s a great idea.’
    ‘And my students?’
    ‘Bring your core group from the Bay, and any apprentices from Treeon that want the experience. They’d be invaluable with the horsemanship.’
    ‘They’d want to be.’
    ‘Rowan, most on Earth had never seen a picture of an equestrian team, let alone a live horse, until we brought these over. You can’t expect them to have any horse sense yet.’
    ‘We’d need to introduce school horses to start