  &quot;Are you sure the roof is the best place for this? Wouldn t the training room be better?&quot; Dmitri asks nervously once we reach the rooftop garden.
  &quot;This is where I ve done all my practising thus far. I d be most comfortable here,&quot; I insist.
  &quot;You ve been practising without my noticing? How?&quot;
  &quot;I ve gotten better at controlling my energy fields. The practise with you in the training room helped with that. Surely you noticed?&quot;
  &quot;I was generally too busy getting drenched. I wish you d spend more time learning to control the water.&quot;
  &quot;If I have to get better at all of it, does it really matter where I start? It s not like we re in a war or anything, or like my skill really matters all that much.&quot;
  &quot;Fair point. What else have you learned to do, then?&quot; he sighs. He s probably annoyed with me. Oh well. I draw a few de

  &quot;What do you mean?&quot; I inquire, voice trembling slightly for fear of the extreme reactions of the Berkeley men. &quot;Surely the assassination of one man, however awful for the family and the country, ought not to result in a war on the scale you expect.&quot;
  &quot;If all persons on Earth were rational, I could agree with you,&quot; Wesley replies wearily. &quot;But such is not the case. The Archduke was the heir to the throne of the Austrian Empire. Understandably, the Austrians are extremely upset. My sources in Austria say that they are demanding restitution from the Serbian government. The Serbs, meanwhile, claim that the perpetrator of this crime is a member of an extremist fringe group and has nothing to do with the Serbian government, and thus they view the Austrian demands for restitution from the Serbian government as nothing less than ridiculous.&quot;
  &quot;The

  &quot;The artists have brought me the new renderings of what the chapel will look like for the wedding, and some preliminary ideas for our costumes for that event. Would you care to see them?&quot; Dmitri inquires with disinterest I hope is feigned. Normally I hate to be disturbed while I m in the music room, but seeing how my ideas have been brought to life on paper is worth the interruption.
  	&quot;Yes, of course,&quot; I reply, gracefully ending my playing and scooting over on the piano bench so that he can sit comfortably beside me. He sits closer to me than I expected he would and wraps one arm around my waist as he drops the draft paintings in my lap. I hope that top one isn t indicative of the quality of the rest. &quot;Have you looked at them already? What do you think?&quot;
  	&quot;We can talk about it after you ve looked at them.&quot;
  	I flip through the renderings, ho

&quot;Are you sure the roof is the best place for this? Wouldn t the training room be better?&quot; Dmitri asks nervously once we reach the rooftop garden.
  &quot;This is where I ve done all my practising thus far. I d be most comfortable here,&quot; I insist.
  &quot;You ve been practising without my noticing? How?&quot;
  &quot;I ve gotten better at controlling my energy fields. The practise with you in the training room helped with that. Surely you noticed?&quot;
  &quot;I was generally too busy getting drenched. I wish you d spend more time learning to control the water.&quot;
  &quot;If I have to get better at all of it, does it really matter where I start? It s not like we re in a war or anything, or like my skill really matters all that much.&quot;
  &quot;Fair point. What else have you learned to do, then?&quot; he sighs. He s probably annoyed with me. Oh well. I draw a few deep breaths, getting myself into the proper mental state for this. I ll have to work on functioni

Chapter 32 New Tricks