Chapter 6
Eppie spoke hardly at all that autumn. Silence conserved her energy: the training was hard even on the days when Garren and Raina did not come. On those days, Sovara forgot to eat, leaving Eppie to forage her own food as she had when she was a scrappling. Silence let her watch, and imitate the movements of the sword. Silence saved her from awkward excuses when she could not match those movements. Besides, there was no one to talk to most of the time. Sovara stayed mostly in her small room at the back of the training hall, muttering to herself or tinkering with bits of metal. She seemed almost wary of her new apprentice, as if unsure that Eppie would last beyond the season.
Still, when they all gathered, it felt too good to be real, bowing together before they began training. In
