“I’m sorry for your loss,” Ana said.
Kye waved her sympathy away. “I think about them every day, and their memory still guides me, but it is long past. The emperor has rewarded my service, and I’m glad to continue offering it.”
With that, Kye summoned the maps and offered them to the monks. “I wish you the best in your endeavor. Please, if you find anything, let me know. I vowed to protect Landow at all costs, and I take that vow seriously.”
Brandt and Ana bowed and said their farewells. He was saddened he hadn’t learned more, but he had more important problems to worry about.
Tomorrow they would begin their journey to the coast to see if the emperor’s fears were justified.
44
Travelers could see the city from a long ways away. It rested on a rise in the land, providing a commanding view of the surrounding plains. For all the traveling she had done, Alena had never seen another city like it.
The Etari called it Cardon, and it was the closest thing to a city or capital they possessed.
Today marked Alena’s third visit. Each of her previous ones had proven to be unique experiences, and this third promised much the same. Even from a distance, Alena guessed the city had swelled to over twice its normal size.
Sooni had told them to expect as much. News had traveled back and forth between the families about the odd events happening throughout the northern end of Etar. Most of the largest clans were gathering at Cardon to discuss what they might do. Sooni and her family were part of the influx of visitors.
They reached the outskirts of Cardon as the sun reached its peak.
Calling Cardon a city wasn’t quite accurate. The location was permanent, but still consisted almost entirely of tents. It shrank or grew depending on circumstance, but it served as a central meeting place for all the clans. At least one clan always lived there, even though the responsibility shifted between clans.
Sooni guided her family to their larger clan’s tents without problem, and her family joined with the others of the clan with shouts and embraces.
Alena wasn’t left out. Though her acceptance into the clan had been a gradual process, she was now largely treated as one of their own. She embraced friends and caught up on news in a flurry of conversations and hand signs.
A few of her friends were pregnant, and one looked as though she might give birth any day. The women were congratulated by all. The size of their clan had diminished in the past few months. The strange events sweeping the land had killed a few, and the typical dangers of the world, including disease and age, had taken a number of the older members. Giving birth was a woman’s choice, but even Alena, usually exempt from such matters, had been feeling pressure from her family to conceive.
Behind her, Azaleth followed. If given half the chance, she knew he would leap to the task. He’d made his affections public three years ago, but Alena hadn’t bedded anyone since her arrival, a quirk that was frowned upon by most of the family.
It was the one step she couldn’t allow herself to take, though. Most days, she now considered herself Etari. At night, however, alone, she couldn’t bring herself to invite another into her bed. Bedding another, or worse, conceiving a child for the clan, felt like giving up on her past, like admitting that she would never return to the land of her birth. Despite her desire, she held strong.
And Azaleth suffered in silence. He bedded other women, and was considered quite a find by many. But his eyes were always fixed on her. He knew if he pushed too hard, she would push him away. So he contented himself with her companionship, a stalemate that left them both feeling uneasy.
She pushed thoughts of him aside. These reunions weren’t about her, but her friends. She listened to their stories of pregnancy with as much grace as she could manage. Questions about partners were exchanged, and Alena noted how none of the questions were directed her way. She was Etari, and yet not.
Unfortunately, the reunions were cut short when Sooni found them and gestured for her and Azaleth to follow. As they fell in beside her, she explained. “Some of the elders are gathering to discuss the events of the past few weeks. It’s nothing official, yet, but I’ve been asked to bring you two to the elders to tell the story of the wolf.”
“Including me?” Alena asked. Her own clan was welcoming enough, but there were some who viewed the adoption of an imperial girl to be an offense to the rest of the Etari. The empire was a trading partner, but it was still an acrimonious relationship.
Sooni signed an affirmative. “You need to stop acting like you don’t belong, Alena. The others seize on it and use it to drive a wedge between us. You’re just as Etari as those of us born here.”
Alena acknowledged, but wished she felt as confident as Sooni. Sooni didn’t understand the sideways glances, the whispers and hand signs that passed between others when they thought Alena didn’t notice. Just like a few moments ago, Alena was Etari, except she wasn’t. She had no home.
Several large tents stood in the middle of Cardon, where all the elders of the present clans held council together. Sooni arrived with her charges in the middle of another clan’s testimony. They stopped near the outer ring of observers to listen.
“The birds attacked us!” the man in the center said. Alena’s sharp eyes didn’t miss the fading claw
