Do you understand?" Yes, Sister." This afternoon you will practice walking. As I told you, you have quitelow heels at the moment but I expect to see y...ou walking in a reallyfeminine way very soon. That means every time and all the time. I willleave you to imagine the various methods we have to ensure that you do soif necessary and I promise you that some of them are, shall we say, lessthan enjoyable. Do as you are told and it will be easy."Somehow, I had the feeling that it wouldn't be easy at. Seen any strangers around here?" Not here. Haven't lost any stock either since they cleared that village. Lazy bastards, I don't know what else you can do with them?" True," the officer agreed, "how's your workers?" Stupid! Poles, what do you expect? No work ethic. You have to show them the smallest task and then stand over them, otherwise they just sit down and do nothing."The officer looked carefully around before nodding to the other men. The rear door of the carrier swung open with a groan. There was an almost palpable aura of magic surround her, which Gareth had seen before often enough. She had been dabbling in magics not meant for her. Pteri did it all the time, causing Gareth no end of concern.Bringing up the rear was Gareth's favorite tea and cake partner, the Dawn Shaman. He felt a tremendous attachment to the old lady, even though he didn't really know why. He even tried his own experiment with cross-training magic, by teaching the nearly deaf woman the Do 'Hear Footsteps'. She reached into the cupboard and grabbed two plates and two bowls. The food finished and she served. Finally she sat down and looked at me, still not speaking. It was maddening, but I wasn't going to go first. I took a bite of my sandwich. She grabbed the pepper shaker and began to talk."Brody, you can't kiss me anymore, not like that." Why not?" I asked while I dipped a piece of my sandwich in the soup and popped into my mouth.She just shook her head. She obviously decided to move to safer.