He asked her, rather timidly, to tell him what the Immanent Grove was, for when he had asked others they said, "Ember can tell you She refused his question, not arrogantly but definitely, saying, "You can learn about the Grove only in it and from it A few oakley lifestyle sunglasses days later she came down to the sands of Thwil Bay, where he was repairing a fishing boat. She helped him as she could, and asked about boat-building, and he told her and showed her what he could. It was a peaceful afternoon, but after it she went off in her abrupt way. He felt some awe of her; she was incalculable. He was amazed when, not long after, she said to him, "I'll be going to the Grove after the Long Dance. Come if you like It seemed that from Roke Knoll the whole extent of the Grove could be seen, yet if you walked in it you did not always come out into the fields again. You walked on under the trees. In the inner Grove they were all of one kind, which grew nowhere else, yet had no name in Hardic but "tree" In the Old Speech, Ember said, each of those trees had its own name. You walked on, and after a time you were walking again among familiar trees, oak and beech and ash, chestnut and walnut and willow, green in spring and bare in winter; there were dark firs, and cedar, and a tall evergreen Medra did not know, with soft reddish bark and layered foliage. You walked on, and the way through the trees was never twice the same. People in Thwil told him it was best not to go too far, since only by returning as you went could you be sure of coming out into the fieldsHow far does the forest go?" Medra asked, and Ember said, "As far as the mind goes The leaves of the trees spoke, she said, and the shadows oakley jawbone sunglasses could be readI am learning to read them," she said. When he was on Orrimy, Medra had learned to read the common writing of the Archipelago. Later, Highdrake of Pendor had taught him some of the runes of power. That was known lore. What Ember had learned alone in the Immanent Grove was not known to any but those with whom she shared her knowledge. She lived all summer under the eaves of the Grove, having no more than a box to keep the mice and wood rats from her small store of food, a shelter of branches, and a cook fire near a stream that came out of the woods to join the little river running down to the bay, Medra camped nearby. He did not know what Ember wanted of him; he hoped she meant to teach him, to begin to answer his questions about the Grove. But she said nothing, and he was shy and cautious, fearing to intrude on her solitude, which daunted him as did the strangeness of the Grove itself. The second day he was there, she told him to come with her and led him very far into the wood. They walked for hours in silence. In the summer midday the woods were silent. No bird sang. The leaves did not stir. The aisles of the trees were endlessly different and all the same. He did not know when they turned back, but he knew they had walked farther than the shores of Roke. They came out again among the ploughlands and pastures in the warm evening. As they walked back to their camping place he saw the four stars of the Forge come out above the western hills. Ember parted from him with only a "Good night The next day she said, "I'm going to sit under the trees Not sure what was expected of him, he followed her at a distance till they came to the inmost part of the Grove where all the trees were of the same kind, nameless yet each with its own name. When she sat down on the soft leaf mold between the roots of a big old tree, he found himself a place not far away to sit; and as she watched and listened and was still, he watched and oakley sunglasses outlet uk listened and was still. So they did for several days. Then one morning, in rebellious mood, he stayed by the stream while Ember walked into the Grove. She did not look back. Veil came from Thwil Town that morning, bringing them a basket of bread, cheese, milk curds, summer fruitsWhat have you learned?" she asked Medra in her cool, gentle way, and he answered, "That The tall woman smiled a littleMy sister has never taught a man before" she said. She glanced at him, and gazed away, over the summery fieldsShe's never looked at a man before," she said. Medra stood silent. His face felt hot. He looked downI thought," he said, and stopped. In Veil's words he saw, all at once, the other side of Ember's impatience, her fierceness, her silences. He had tried to look at Ember as untouchable while he longed to touch her soft brown skin, her black shining hair. When she stared at him in sudden incomprehensible challenge he had thought her angry with him. He feared to insult, to offend her. What did she fear? His desire? Her own?- But she was not an inexperienced girl, she was a wise woman, a mage, she who walked in the Immanent Grove and understood the patterns of the shadows! All this went rushing through his mind like a flood breaking through a dam, while he stood at the edge of the woods with VeilI thought mages kept themselves apart," he said at lastHigh-drake said that to make love is to unmake power "So some wise men say," said Veil mildly, and smiled again, and bade him goodbye. He spent the whole afternoon in confusion, angry. When Ember came out of the Grove to her leafy bower upstream, he went there, carrying Veil's basket as an excuseMay I talk to you?" he said. She nodded shortly, frowning her black brows. He said nothing. She squatted down to find out what was in the basketPeaches!" she said, and smiledMy master Highdrake said that wizards who make love unmake their power," he blurted out. She said nothing, laying out what was in the basket, dividing it for the two of themDo you think that's true?" he asked. She shruggedNo," she said. He stood tongue-tied. After a while oakley sunglasses outlet she looked up at himNo," she said in a soft, quiet voice, "I don't think it's true. I think all the true powers, all the old powers, at root are one He still stood there, and she said, "Look at the peaches! They're all ripe. We'll have to eat them right away "If I told you my name," he said, "my true nameI'd tell you mine," she saidIf that... if that's how we should begin They began, however, with the peaches. They were both shy. When Medra took her hand his hand shook, and Ember, whose name was Elehal, turned away scowling. Then she touched his hand very lightly. When he stroked the sleek black flow of her hair she seemed only to endure his touch, and he stopped. When he tried to embrace her she was stiff, rejecting him. Then she turned and, fierce, hasty, awkward, seized him in her arms. It wasn't the first night, nor the first nights, they passed together that gave either of them much pleasure or ease. But they learned from each other, and came through shame and fear into passion. Then their long days in the silence of the woods and their long, starl
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