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But a clatter made me look up. Saval had dropped her pen, letting it slip from loose fingers. Her mouth hung open in shock, and Amerlee's eyes were wide. Both of them were looking at me. I glanced down, and the first thing I saw was black. From shoulder to shoulder, around the front of my chest, just beneath my collarbones was a line of lace no more than two fingers thick, but it widened across the center of my chest, looking like some elaborate lace necklace - or collar.
Beneath that was more. Branches of swirls spanned my pelvis, arching up across my ribs and down to my thighs. It was dramatic and yet beautiful, being neither too much nor too little. The overall look was strong in a feminine way. Now curious, I leaned over to see my legs weren't bare. A piece on my calf curled around the back of my leg to stop behind my knee. Checking the other side, I saw it was the same. A different pattern of swirls, but in the same overall shape.
Then Jamik traced lines across my back, making a Y between my shoulder blades that went all the way down my spine. "The Path of Protection," he breathed.
"And Word, Body, Action, and technically Obligation," Amerlee said.
"What?" he asked, stepping around me to look at my skin. His eyes jumped across me in confusion before returning to my face. "All the Paths?"
"He said I belong on the Path of Temptation," I tried to explain. "I told him I couldn't choose, so he asked why, and then said he'd find a Path that was right for me."
"What was the price?" Amerlee asked.
"Surrender," I said, looking over at Saval. "I wasn't asleep."
"Not with those marks," she agreed. "I think the ones on your arms are mostly the same, but if you can turn so I can see your back? I'm making note of the general size and shape, but we'll document the exact pattern later, ok? There's no need for you to stand here for a few hours."
"And there are two young men waiting outside for you," Jamik told me.
"But..." I glanced back at him. "I thought they'd take Wraythe away."
"His markings are... unique," Saval said. "I had to ask for a second opinion on them."
"Like mine?"
She nodded. "Ok, Jamik. Give her the robe, let her wrap herself up, and you can help her outside. I need to post the list of results."
"All the Paths," Amerlee said, moving beside me to hook a supportive arm around my waist. "I have no idea how they will train you."
"I'm mentoring her," Jamik said. "For the Path of Protection, I mean. She's supposed to get an advanced mentor, and I'm claiming that right."
"Then I'll help you," Amerlee told him, "because she has the Body too."
I felt tears well in my eyes. Not just because they were so adamant about staying in my life, but because Zeal had been right. He'd told me he'd keep us together. Now I just had to see what Eladehl and Wraythe had been given.
I was barely through the door when my personal giant stepped in. "Nari? You ok? What happened?"
"She got all the Paths!" Amerlee bragged for me.
"What about you two?" I asked.
"I got Body," Eladehl said proudly.
"And I got Protection," Wraythe assured me. "And Obligation, evidently. My marks go from finger to finger, all the way across my back."
"Like, hisentireback," Eladehl said. "But they're trying to say his marks need to get a second interpretation."
"It's kinda the only reason I got to see you before..." Wraythe made a face and glanced down.
"Wait," Eladehl said, looking at me quickly. "Since you have Protection, do you get a ring?"
"She also has Body," Amerlee pointed out. "Would be hard to perform that duty with the rings."
Eladehl was nodding. "So then who has the marks that match yours? Or are you your own protector?"
"That will be very interesting to see," Amerlee said. "But, Nari? Before they make any decisions for you, I need to know how you want this to work. Which of these Paths will be your main one? Since I'm about to argue that you should get to choose."
"Body," I said without needing to think about it. "I want to follow the Path of the Body and be trained in the others. I'll be Eladehl's partner."
