"Modesitt, L E - Corean Chronicles 3 - Scepters v1.1" - читать интересную книгу автора (Modesitt L E)

When Alucius began to herd the flock back down Westridge, the
sun was almost touching the quarasote flats to the west, its green-
gold glare backlighting the stone-walled and slate-roofed buildings
of the stead so that the walls looked almost gray, rather than
reddish, and the roofs black, rather than the dark gray they truly
were. With his Talent, Alucius could sense the web of lifethreads,
the thin black-gray lines of the nightsheep, the yellow-gold of his
mount, and the scattered thin threads that were grayjays and
scrats. With a nod affirming that there were no disruptions in that
web of life, Alucius began moving the flock toward the main shed.

He finished settling the nightsheep into the shed for the night,
having closed and bolted the shed door, then stabled the gray. In
the second stall, he was finishing grooming the gray in the gloom
that was no hindrance, not when herders could see almost as well
in low light or night as in full sunlight. At that moment, Wendra
slipped into the stable.

"How was your day?" he asked, sensing the vital green lifethread
of her presence even before she stepped into sight at the end of
the stall.

"The spinnerets jammed twice. I only lost about a yard of thread
that couldn't be reprocessed. Your mother checked them. They
may last for the summer, but we'll need another set of the control
valves before harvest. If we'd known…"

"You could have had Grandsire order them while he was in town?"

Wendra nodded.

Alucius stepped out of the stall, closed the half door, and hugged
his wife for a long moment, feeling the slight bulge of her abdomen
as he did. "It's always good to see you. I'll be glad when the
spinning's done and you can come out on the stead with me."

"There's still the looming," she pointed out after they released
each other. "And I don't know how much longer I can ride for a full
day."

"Another season, according to Mother, and I can tell if there's a
problem." He laughed. "So can you, remember? And you can
certainly take a day from looming now and again. The fresh air
would be good for the two of you. I know you can't leave the
spinning. The thread's got to be watched all the time." He paused
as he waited for her to step outside the stable. Then he closed and
fastened the door. "How are we doing on the solvents?"

"We should have enough for this year."