'Just hold me,' she said.
Chanter obliged, marvelling at her loyalty, so unlike any Lowman he had known before. When it seemed that she would never release him, he pried her away, smiling at her forlorn look. She sighed and rubbed her eyes while he inspected the barnacles that crusted him and the matted hair that was tangled around his neck. Plucking the knife from her belt, he hacked it off as short as he could. She watched him with shining eyes, making him a little self-conscious. He wondered how long she had lived alone on this shore next to Rashkar's ruins.
'How long have you been here?' he asked
'Too long.'
'Months?'
She nodded. 'Five or six, I think.'
Chanter looked at the matted hair he had just cut off and realised that he could have worked that out for himself. The coral and seaweed that grew on his skin and clothes gave off a nasty smell as it died. He picked barnacles off his elbows and threw them into the sea, where they might find new homes. The drying salt and slime itched, and he rose to walk down to the sea, where he used wet sand to scrub his skin in the foaming waves. Picking off the barnacles was no easy task. They sprouted in his ears and nose – a painful problem.
Talsy helped, aglow with happiness, and smiled whenever he glanced at her, absorbed in her task. When the barnacles and coral had been removed, he washed his hair with sand. He cut off the scraps and strings that dangled from his clothes, ending up with little more than a pair of shorts. Many marine creatures had taken up residence in his clothes, and he was forced to strip to evict them. Talsy turned away, making him smile at her strange Lowman prudery.
Looking a lot less like part of the sea bed, Chanter followed Talsy along the beach to her cave, where she cooked all her supplies in a stew. She could hardly bear to take her eyes off him. The miracle of his return was too amazing for her reeling mind to accept.
'I missed you,' she said.
'I noticed.'
She stirred the stew, smiling at his gentle mockery. 'Who was the silver sea man?'
'A sherlon. A creature of this world.'
She pondered that. 'Why did he save me when I swam out after him and the current swept me away?'
'Like all the creatures of this world, they revere life, although it is odd that he saved a Lowman. Perhaps he felt sorry for you.'
'Probably. Then he found you.'
'Yes.' Chanter took hold of her hands. 'If not for you, I would have stayed there until my life ended. You saved me.' He met her eyes, his gaze intense. 'Gratitude.'
Talsy grinned. 'A very big one, I suppose?'
'The biggest any Mujar has ever owed.'
'Bigger than releasing you in my father's house?'
He nodded. 'The fact that you and your father were the perpetrators reduced the gratitude immensely, but this time you saved me from others, so it's unsullied.'
She leant forward and kissed his cheek. 'You're welcome.'
He looked puzzled. 'Make a Wish.'
'No.'
'Why not?'
'I was to blame for what happened, and I want nothing except for you to be free.'
'You rescued me only for my sake?' he asked.
'Yes.'
'How would you feel if I chose to break clan bond now and leave?'
She looked away. 'Sad.'
'Not angry, or hateful?'
'No. I'd still be glad that you're free, and I freed you. I'd only be sad that you left me.'
Chanter stared at the sea, squinting in the glare. 'I offer you the Wish again. Anything you want. Anything at all.'
'I want nothing.'
'Why were you weeping when you took off the collar?'
She smiled. 'For joy.'
'That I had been returned to you.'
'That you were free.'
Chanter frowned, and she dished up the stew to distract him. He seemed to be deep in thought, and Talsy feared that he contemplated leaving. When she collected the empty bowls, he looked up at her again.
'You must accept the Wish. Name it now, for I'll not offer it again. I'll grant you anything, even to stay with you always, which I know you want.'
She looked away, ashamed of her selfish hope. 'Yes, I want that, but I won't ask you for it, no matter how many times you offer me a Wish. Your happiness is more important to me than my own. Don't you understand that?'
Chanter bowed his head, then raised it. 'Look at me.'
Talsy met his intense eyes, and he held her gaze. He jumped up, startling her, and she thought he was going to leave her lost and forlorn on this barren shore. Then he held out his hand and pulled her to her feet. He led her down the beach until the waves lapped at her toes, stopped and turned to her, releasing her hand. The urge to beg him to stay almost overwhelmed her, but the words stuck in her throat. She could not steal his freedom with a selfish wish. She loved him too much to trap him. The wind whipped his hair as he raised his head, spread his hands and addressed the sky in sonorous tones.
'Where one is worthy, so shall there be others. So say the laws of retribution you inflicted upon this world. You commanded, 'find me the one, and they shall be saved'. Antanar, God of Life, hear me. I, who am your eyes and ears, say you thus. I am your messenger of salvation, to whom you gave the power to choose or not to choose.'
The gravity of his demeanour confused Talsy, and she glanced around, wondering who he was talking to. His words held the sing-song quality of a ritual.
Chanter lowered his eyes to her face. 'Why?'
'Why what?'
'Why did you save me, when you want nothing in return?'
She looked away in embarrassment, not wanting to admit her feelings, which she had striven to hide for so long. Several flippant replies occurred to her, but she could not lie to him. 'Because… I love you.'
'Even though I can never be what you want? Even though I may break our bond and leave you? Would you still love me if I did?'
'Yes.'
'Then understand this; Mujar don't love as Truemen do. I will never love you like that.'
Her heart ached, but his hurtful words did not change her feelings. 'It doesn't matter.'
Chanter inclined his head, his mien expressionless. The air swelled, and the cold stillness of Dolana gripped her in its icy embrace. It vanished, and the screaming hellish visions of Crayash followed, vivid and frightening, then the soft mist and splashing of Shissar engulfed her, followed by the howling wind and beating wings of Ashmar.
His eyes rested on her. 'Are you afraid?'
'No.'
Chanter reached up and plucked what looked like a rainbow from the sky. The multi-coloured light swirled in his palm, and the misty radiance of water, a hard glitter of earth, and the soft sighing of wind joined it. She stared at the shimmering orb in wonder, then raised her eyes to his. He lifted it above his shoulder, holding her gaze as he clasped the back of her neck with his other hand.
He said, 'I have found one who is worthy. Hear me, Antanar! I have chosen!'
Chanter rammed the shimmering ball of light into her forehead. Radiance exploded in Talsy's mind, as if the sun had invaded it, along with a howling wind, a raging sea, and the darkness of deep within the earth. For an
