Nine Thousand Hours

Title: Nine Thousand Hours
Author: Iona Sharma
Published in: Strange Horizons, 20 April 2015
Description, by Lois Tilton [Locus]: "A world in which magic users perform some but not all important functions, being divided into several different hereditary guilds. Amal’s family is Salt, and often refers to each other by this title, as if to remind them who they are. Salt involves “deep, wordless workings—heat and cold and calm and light”..... This is a work of guilt, redemption, and forgiveness. It centers around Amal’s relationship with her family, who have remained at home near the salt sea where they belong and seem to feel that her original sin was going to London."Category:Best Short Story