Ventus by Karl Schroeder

what you could not."
Karl Schroeder / Ventus / Page 296
"I said, hello."
Jordan looked up. Suneil’s niece Tamsin stood in front
of him, arms crossed, her head cocked to one side.
He was annoyed at the interruption, and almost told her
to go away―but he was a guest of these people, after all. "I
was meditating."
"Uh, huh. Looked more like sleeping with your mouth
open."
Jordan opened his mouth, closed it again, and then said,
"Did you want something?"
"Uncle wants a good supply of firewood in the wagon
before we get to the border. Isn’t that why you’re here, to do
that stuff for us?"
Jordan stood and stretched. "It is indeed." He saw no
need to say anything more to this shrew.
"Well good," she said as she followed him into the grass.
"We wouldn’t want any freeloaders on this trip."
Jordan noticed that Suneil was watching this exchange
from the vicinity of the wagon. "I’ll work my keep," said
Jordan, as he increased his stride to outdistance her.
"See that you do!" she hollered. Then, apparently
satisfied, she limped back to the wagon and began arguing with
her uncle about something.
As soon as he was out of sight of the camp, Jordan sat
down and tried to re-establish his link with Armiger. This
time, it took all his concentration to bring the voices to him;
Tamsin seemed to be a bad influence on his concentration.
When the voices did return, he found that Armiger and the
queen were now discussing military logistics. The terms meant
nothing to Jordan, so he stood up with a sigh, and went to