reprimand.
Her hands slipped back to her sides. She remembered the time she had used the wishsong
on the old tree. She had still been a child, experimenting with the Elven magic. It had been
midsummer and she had used the wishsong to turn the tree's summer green to autumn crimson; in
her child's mind, it seemed perfectly all right to do so, since red was a far prettier color than
green. Her father had been furious; it had taken almost three years for the tree to come back again
after the shock to its system. That had been the last time either she or Jair had used the magic
when their parents were about.
"Brin come help me with the rest of the packing, please."
It was her mother calling. She gave the old maple a final pat and turned toward the house.
Her father had never fully trusted the Elven magic. A little more than twenty years earlier
he had used the Elfstones given him by the Druid Allanon in his efforts to protect the Elven
Chosen Amberle Elessedil in her quest for the Bloodfire. Use of the Elven magic had changed
him; he had known it even then, though not known how. It was only after Brin was born, and
later Jair, that it became apparent what had been done. It was not Wil Ohmsford who would
manifest the change the magic had wrought; it was his children. They were the ones who would
carry within them the visible effects of the magic-they, and perhaps generations of Ohmsfords to
come, although there was no way of ascertaining yet that they would carry within them the magic
of the wishsong.
Brin had named it the wishsong. Wish for it, sing for it, and it was yours. That was how it
had seemed to her when she had first discovered that she possessed the power. She learned early
that she could affect the behavior of living things with her song.. She could change that old
maple's leaves. She could soothe an angry dog. She could bring a wild bird to light on her wrist.
She could make herself a part of any living thing-or make it a part of her. She wasn't sure how
she did it; it simply happened. She would sing, the music and the words coming as they always
did, unplanned, unrehearsed-as if it were the most natural thing in the world. She was always
aware of what she was singing, yet at the same time heedless, her mind caught up in feelings of
indescribable sensation. They would sweep through her, drawing her in, making her somehow
new again, and the wish would come to pass.
It was the gift of the Elven magic-or its curse. The latter was how her father had viewed it
when he had discovered she possessed it. Brin knew that, deep inside, he was frightened of what
the Elfstones could do and what he had felt them do to him. After Brin had caused the family dog
to chase its tail until it nearly dropped and had wilted an entire garden of vegetables, her father
had been quick to reassert his decision that the Elfstones would never be used again by anyone.
He had hidden them, telling no one where they could be found, and hidden they had remained
ever since. At least, that was what her father thought. She was not altogether certain. One time,
not too many months earlier, when there was mention of the hidden Elfstones, Brin had caught
Jair smiling rather smugly. He would not admit to anything, of course, but she knew how
difficult it was to keep anything hidden from her brother, and she suspected he had found the
hiding place.
Rone Leah met her at the front door, tall and rangy, rust brown hair loose about his
shoulders and tied back with a broad headband. Mischievous gray eyes narrowed appraisingly.
"How about lending a hand, huh? I'm doing all the work and I'm not even a member of the
family, for cat's sake!"
"As much time as you spend here, you ought to be," she chided. "What's left to be done?"