Kindling: Part 2

by Traci Chee
Kindlings were children trained as powerful, magic-wielding warriors…but the war is over. Now cast adrift and walking through meaningless lives traumatized, a small group is offered one last battle and must pull together to face their inner demons in hopes of a more peaceful future.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
15 words 8 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. scavenge
    collect discarded or refused material
    Packs are opened. Provisions are passed around. You tuck into a meal of millet cakes and pickled plums, supplemented by some currants Tana scavenged, chalky and sweet.
  2. brazier
    large metal container in which coal or charcoal is burned
    During the war, Amerandine assassins were known for dispatching guards and stealing over your defenses, where they’d dust the braziers with poppy powder to slow your reactions and sow confusion among your ranks.
  3. quaff
    swallow hurriedly or greedily or in one draught
    She doesn’t thank you. (Of course she doesn’t.) But she quaffs the first cup and holds it out for more, and coming from Leum, that’s thanks enough.
  4. avert
    turn away or aside
    Siddie averts her gaze, kicking moodily at a tussock of grass, though you don’t know why.
  5. tussock
    a bunch of hair, feathers, or growing grass
    Siddie averts her gaze, kicking moodily at a tussock of grass, though you don’t know why.
  6. fritter away
    spend frivolously and unwisely
    You thought you were going to fritter away all the weeks you could have spent searching for the next wrap, the next Chenyaran wrap, some sign of your family and what happened to them during the obliteration of the Vedran Empire.
  7. sidle
    move unobtrusively or furtively
    While she attempts the lunge again, you sidle up to Ben. “You sure you want to help with this, Knifey? What if I’m turning her into a monster, eh?”
  8. renege
    fail to fulfill a promise or obligation
    “Why? So you could kick us out?” You can’t keep the bitterness out of your voice. “You didn’t want us here in the first place; this would’ve given you the excuse to renege.”
  9. pomposity
    lack of elegance from being puffed up with vanity
    You want to say it was none of their business, but you’re so tired now of your own posturing, your own arrogance and pomposity.
  10. kinship
    a close connection marked by common interests or character
    “Except the old ways were bad.”
    “What?”
    “The honor you like to talk about? The kinship? The glory? It was all lies.”
  11. plaintively
    in a manner expressing sorrow
    They look up at you, plaintively, like they’re begging you to understand. “We were kids, Leum. We’re still kids, or at least we’re supposed to be, but they made us into something else.”
  12. encampment
    a site where people can pitch a tent
    That’s when you hear it—
    The telltale clang clang clang clang of the alarm—
    Siddie’s in the encampment.
  13. barbaric
    without civilizing influences
    The Queen Commander (Long May She Reign) had need of your talents. To the public, kindlings were history, barbaric relics of a barbaric past, but the Great and Harmonious Reunification was new and tenuous. Its success required vigilance.
  14. tenuous
    lacking substance or significance
    The Queen Commander (Long May She Reign) had need of your talents. To the public, kindlings were history, barbaric relics of a barbaric past, but the Great and Harmonious Reunification was new and tenuous. Its success required vigilance.
  15. vigilance
    the process of paying close and continuous attention
    The Queen Commander (Long May She Reign) had need of your talents. To the public, kindlings were history, barbaric relics of a barbaric past, but the Great and Harmonious Reunification was new and tenuous. Its success required vigilance.
Created on Tue Aug 25 18:25:50 EDT 2026 (updated Mon Sep 14 22:12:50 EDT 2026)

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