"I'm gonna read a little bit from "Shadow and Bone," which I haven't
read from in a while. So be patient with me.
"On the day the Grisha examiner's came the boy and the girl were
perched in the window seat of a dusty upstairs bedroom hoping to catch
a glimpse of the male coach. Instead they saw a sleigh, a troika pulled
by three black horses passed through the white stone gates on to the estate.
They watched its silent progress through the snow to the Dukes front door.
Three figures emerged in elegant fur hats, and heavy wool coats.
One in crimson, one in darkest blue, and one in vibrant purple.
"Grisha," the girl whispered. "Quick" said the boy.
In an instant they had shaken off their shoes and were running silently
down the the hall, slipping through the empty music room, and darting
behind a column in the gallery that overlooked the sitting room were
Anna Kouya like to receive guests.
Anna Kouyate was already there. Bird-like in her black dress pouring
tea from the samovar. Her large key ring jangling at her waist.
"There are just the two this year then," said a woman's low voice.
They peered through the railing of the balcony to the room below.
Two of the Grishas sat by the fire. A handsome man in blue, and
a woman in red robes with a haughty refined air. The third a young
blond man ambled about the room stretching his legs.
"Yes" said Anna Kouyate. "A boy and a girl. The youngest here by quite
a bit. Both around eight we think."
"You think," asked the man in blue. "When the parents are deceased
we understand," said the woman. "We are, of course, great admirers of your institution.
We only wish more of the nobility took an interest in the common people.
Our Duke is a very great man," said Anna Kouyate.
Up in the balcony the boy and the girl nodded sagely to each other their.
Their benefactor Duke Karensoft was a celebrated war hero and a friend to the people.
When he had returned from the front-lines he converted his estate into an
orphanage and home for war widows. They were told to keep him
nightly in their prayers.
"And what are they like these children,'" asked the woman?
"The girl has some talent for drawing. The boy is mostly at home
in the meadow in the wood.
But what are they like?" repeated the woman.
Anna Kouyate pursed her withered. "What are they like? They are undisciplined.
Contrary, far too attached to each other. They they are listening to every
word we say," said the young man in purple.
The boy and the girl jumped in surprise. He was staring directly at their hiding spot.
They shrank behind the column, but it was too late. Anna Kouyate's voice
lashed out like a whip. "Alina's Starkov, Malian arete Zev come down here at once!"
Reluctantly Alina and Mal made their way down the narrow spiral staircase
at the end of the gallery. When they reached the bottom the
woman in red rose from her chair and gestured them forward.
"Do you know who we are" the woman asked? Her hair was steel gray.
Her face lined, but beautiful. You're witches" flirted Mal.
"Witches," she snarled. She whirled on Anna Kouyate.
"Is that what you teach in the school superstition and lies?"
Anna Kouyate flushed with embarrassment.
The woman in red turned back to Mal and Alena. Her dark eyes blazing.
"We are not witches. We are practitioners of the small science.
We keep this country and this kingdom safe. As it is the first army,"
said quietly. An unmistakable edge to her voice. The woman in red
stiffened, but after a moment she conceded, "As does the king's army."
The young man in purple smiled and knelt before the children.
He said gently, "When the leaves change color do you call it magic?
What about when you cut your hand, and it heals, and when you
put a pot of water on the stove and it boils. Is it magic then?"
Mal shook his head, his eyes wide, but Alina frowned and said,
"Anyone can boil water." Anna Kouyate signed in exasperation.
But the woman in red laughed, "You are very right. Anyone can boil water, but not
but not just anyone can master the small science. That's why we've come to test you.
She turned to Anna Kouyate, "Leave us now."
"Wait" exclaimed Mal. "What happens if we're Grisha? What happens to us?"
The woman in red looked down at them. "If by some small chance one of
you is Grisha, then that lucky child will go to a special school.
They shall learn to use their talents. You will have the finest clothes,
the finest food, whatever your heart desires," said the man in purple.
"Would you like that? It is the greatest way that you may serve your King
satanically. Still hovering by the door, "That is very true," said the
woman in red, pleased and willing to make peace.
The boy and the girl glanced at each other, and because the
adults were not paying close attention they did not see the girl reached
out to clasp the boy's hand or the look that passed between them.
The Duke would have recognized that look. He had spent long
years on the ravaged northern borders where the villages were constantly
under siege, and the peasants fought their battles with little aid from
the King or anyone else. He had seen a woman barefoot
and unflinching in her doorway. Faced down a row of bayonets.
He knew the look of a man defending his home with nothing, but a rock in his hand."