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.The garment appeared to have been made all in one piece."Sure, you taught me," said Irina carelessly, and when he shook his head, she giggled."You're always joking," she observed."Marak," asked Kate plaintively that evening, untangling her elf cloth, which kept knitting itself into a ball, "if Irina's so bad at magic, how can she be so good at this?""Most magical people have a special talent," he replied from the checkers game he and Catspaw were playing."Almost all of Irina's magic is concentrated in this one talent.She has an astounding gift for textiles.Other elf women doubtless had it, too, but because of their upbringing, it never would have occurred to them to make cloth that wasn't green or brown.Irina's mind is open to new ideas, so she's trying all sorts of things.I can't wait to see her final project."Marak had asked them to make any item of cloth or clothing they would like as their final project.Kate glanced down unhappily.She was making a scarf.It was useless in the goblin kingdom, but it was the easiest thing she knew."I'm supposed to have all this magic," she said with a frown, "and Sable outdoes me about half the time.""It's a shame I can't teach you defense magic," murmured the goblin King."Your attack and dismemberment spells would astound the class." He made a motion with his hand, and his checker jumped one of Catspaw's checkers.Then it seized the unlucky checker and ate it."I don't want to dismember anyone!" exclaimed Kate in horror."You just think you don't," remarked her husband absently."But I'll bet you enjoyed beheading the sorcerer." Catspaw's checker jumped one of his.Then it jumped up and down on his checker until it was tiny bits.Kate thought about that, smoothing out her snarled brown cloth.Almost seven years before, when her husband and half the King's Guard had been enslaved by a human sorcerer, she had left the kingdom to rescue them, and while that sorcerer lay before her, helpless and paralyzed, she had beheaded him with one blow of a sword.She enjoyed thinking about how she had saved her little girl, Til, from that horrible man, and she enjoyed thinking about liberating the goblins.But she never, ever let herself think about the satisfaction she had felt when she saw the sorcerer's head roll across the floor.Ladies didn't enjoy doing such things.She felt supremely annoyed at Marak for bringing it up."What's your special talent?" she demanded."You never have a problem with any magic.""That's different," chuckled Marak."I'm a King.I have as much magic as about twenty of you, maybe more.Besides, not all magic is as easy for me as you think.I really have to concentrate on my dwarf spells.""I'm so sorry for you," said Kate bitterly.Her elf cloth rolled up and fused itself into a solid mass.Marak waved his hand, and one of his checkers reached the last row.It blossomed into a golden crown and did a small victory jig.Class time came again, and Kate produced her brown scarf.It looked as if it had already been worn for several years, perhaps by a cart horse."Very good," said the goblin King."Don't start," warned his wife.Sable produced a tunic and breeches that she had made for Tinsel.She had spent a humbling afternoon with Irina learning how to make black cloth and getting help on the seams."Beautiful!" commented Marak."Nice, even color, very well made.He has my permission to wear this on duty."Sable glowed with pleasure."But he doesn't have to," she protested modestly."I like Tinsel in black anyway.It goes with his coloring."They turned to Irina.She had been very secretive about her project, and not even Sable had managed to pry loose a clue.Now she reached into her bag and unrolled a tapestry about three feet square."This is the lake where we had our summer camp," she explained to her dumbfounded audience."It was always my favorite camp.I was born there.You see this little grove of birches here, but most of it is oak and ash.The full moon shows up twice because it's high enough to shine in the water, and I never really saw a stag on the hill like that, but I put him in because deer are just so pretty, don't you think?""This is an amazing achievement," said Marak, putting his arm around her."After lunch, I'd like to introduce you to two of our best weavers.You'll think they look funny, but they're very nice, and they're the strongest elf-cross weavers I have.I hope that you'll agree to work with them.""Oh, good," said the elf girl, beaming up at him."Are they going to teach me how to weave?""No, Irina," said the goblin King thoughtfully."I'm hoping that you can teach them."Chapter SixteenAs the months passed, all three of the marriages that came from the elf quest prospered.Marak was satisfied that the elf women were happy, and he wasn't surprised that his own wife was happier, too.Kate had found a real friend in Sable.The twowomen spent lots of time together, studying their lessons or just talking about life.Sable did have a moderate talent for healing, but she didn't pursue it.The suffering she had been through made her nervous and unhappy around those who were in pain, and it soon became apparent that her heart and a large share of her magic belonged to mathematics.Poring over the old texts in the King's library, she mastered all that was known of elvish math and went on to develop it in ways that no goblin had ever considered
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