CHAPTER 7
“Not what you expected, is it?” Penrys said late that night, careful that her voice didn’t carry beyond their tent.
Her question met with silence, so she tried again. “Came home to be a master-wizard, and instead… I suppose this is just a different sort of mastership.”
She was curled up against his back, and in any case it was too dark to see his face. She left his mind in privacy, all in turmoil as it was, but she wanted to help, if she could.
“The zarawinnaj is a position of great responsibility,” he said, at last. “It’s either the clan leader or someone he appoints, and the man who undertakes it is much older than I am, very experienced, very respected. He holds the safety of the clan in his hands.”
He turned over to face her, in the dark.
“I am not qualified to do this,
