Shadowkill

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“Chapa Tinoopa, send maids to the chalmistresses and chalmasters, I want a meeting in the West Reception Room; set the table up with pads and pencils, I want an urn of tea and those cheese straws Cook’s got packed away. Tell the maids to pass the word that the tumak base is taken and burnt to bedrock. People should still be careful, but the worst is over. I’ll need you here, too. We have to replant and rebuild or winter’s going to be murderous. Go now. The sooner we start on this, the sooner it will be done.”

When Tinoopa had bustled out, Matja Allina swung round to face Shadith. “Kizra Shaman, I’d like you to go back to the infirmary, the convalescent ward. Play your songs for them for an hour or so, brighten the day a little. It’s a dreary place, such a dreary place. The rest of the afternoon is yours to do what you want.”