“What matter what they think? All that matters is where Chepiś think to venture, their Matwau pets roam. And Matwau aren’t constrained by truce.” This from one of deerClans. “All tall ones are dangerous. Matwau routed People like to us from overSea, long ago; as many of us are descendants of those who escaped here as we are of People who’ve lived here since Grandmother birthed us all. The tall ones would take thisLand if they could, yet there are those of us who trade with them? Have we learned nothing?”
“Matwau have come before, from upLands. We put aside our own differences, banded together to rout the invaders and sent them back to their own places.” Inhya’s voice was quiet, but carried nonetheless. “This very den was burrowed so our alliance could meet. All who sit to this Council are descendants of that alliance, and nearly all of us have traded, hearthed and espoused beneath the wings of our cooperative. Together we drove Matwau from our Lands, and together we will again, should there be need. Matwau are unkempt cowards. It is the Chepiś sorcery and Shaping we should worry about.”
Tokela winced. Shaping. Chepiś sorcery.
“—does not kill as many as Matwau eirn!” challenged Grass Weaver.
There was a small buzz of murmurs, some obviously taken aback by not only her bold talk, but to whom it had been directed.
Curious, to see the struggle—respect for her age versus the fact of her outcast status. Yet open Council meant all could plainly speak.
Madoc gave Tokela a sudden nudge. Tokela did his best not to startle, wasn’t sure he succeeded as Madoc gave him a piercing look and signed, Should we go? This is boring.
I told you. Tokela wasn’t bored. In any fashion, unfortunately. Go if you want. Quietly.
You’re not?
Tokela shrugged, kept listening. Madoc gave a sigh, more with his body than his voice, but stayed. He bent once again to winding the thread about his fingertips.
“The secret of metal-that-burns was given to Matwau by Chepiś sorcery,” Inhya answered, hard and even.
“Metal working is no sorcery, hearth-chieftain,” Galenu spoke up. “A skill, nothing more. A science.”
A strange, harsh word, and one Tokela had not yet heard; he leaned forwards, hoping someone would speak it again.
“Hunh!” This from Nechtoun. “You make too free with talk about this šai’ens of tall ones.” He didn’t stumble over the strange word, but it sounded different upon his tongue. “We have our own ways, more accurate than any outLand sorceries. Matwau or Chepiś, we have seen enough doings of tall ones here, and none of them good!”
Again, Tokela felt the sear and backlash as Nechtoun continued.
“Galenu. I love you. We were once playmates, will ever be oathbrothers, but I will never agree with you on this. We shouldn’t even be trading with ones arrogant enough to manipulate the sacred Elementals! Big water-bronzes or fancy forge work are not worth the corruption such things bring! So much of their work is torn by force from Grandmother. It burns not only our skin, but our Spirits! It is unfit for us to even look upon!”
“Father.” Sarinak’s voice had changed, from inflexible to soft and placatory.
Tokela’s own nerves crawled uneasy. Beside him, Madoc’s fingers stilled, his breath gone shallow. They both knew the signs. Nechtoun bided unwell, some Suns. It was why he no longer held Mound-chieftain’s staff.
“Nechtoun, what’s gotten into you?” Galenu didn’t seem to see what was happening. “You sound hidebound as your sire at his worst!”
It wasn’t naming the dead, not exactly, but close enough that several including Nechtoun made the quick, placatory gesture before he retorted, “You say hidebound? I say tradition! If we have no tradition, we have nothing, and deserve to be overrun by Shapers!”
Tokela knew he was watching Našobok overmuch. But it was puzzling how Našobok’s hands, large-jointed and relaxed where they were resting upon crossed knees, began clenching into slow fists. His eyes, gleaming from where the hair had fallen into his face, slid over to where Aylaniś and Palatan sat.
Aylaniś returned Našobok’s glance. She seemed sad, concerned. Palatan’s expression alone gave no purchase whatsoever into his thoughts, slick and unyielding as wet rock.
Not that Tokela truly had any idea of what thoughts Našobok and Aylaniś were exchanging, either.
“Do you suggest if we just latch our doors and put our heads into the body-soil trenches”—Galenu’s voice had begun to rise—“nothing will happen in thisLand just because we don’t want it to?”
“While you suggest we invite it in?” Nechtoun half rose.
“Yeka.” Sarinak again, gentle. The den’s murmurs had subsided, everyone peering at Nechtoun with varying shades of pity and disquiet.
“I will not be silenced on this!” Nechtoun retorted. “I am… was… Mound-chieftain! Galenu, you mightn’t hold in your heart the love you once bore for our Lands, but—”
“Nechtoun, there’s much my heart holds to in thisLand. I’ve never said there wasn’t. But there is more than thisLand, and I well know because I’ve seen it!”
Madoc had crept closer to Tokela, snuggling close, curving along his back as if wanting every fibre of touch-comfort to permeate them both. Tokela reached back, tangled fingers in Madoc’s hair, and silently implored under his breath: Galenu, please. You don’t understand. If you were oathbrothers once, surely you must see what is happening.
But Galenu didn’t stop. “I’ve walked the stony outcrop past the Omrikasten and seen ša’s Fire. I’ve witnessed wonders past imaginings in Chepiś glitter and ebon glašg.”
Aum-ree-khas’n? Another word Tokela had never heard, but he recognised glašg: the smooth, shining and translucent not-metal made far downRiver in Matwau holts. Like, but unlike, the t’rešalt with its reflections of dark and Stars.
More, a strange, wild enchantment—a recognition—rose at Galenu’s talk. It sang in Tokela’s ears like River’s soft melody, drowning apprehension.
“I’ve also seen horrors, in strange villages reeking of Matwau, their valleys tamed past bearing and smoke hanging thick over clear-cut Forests. Warnings, as sure as the beauty. For the more we think thisLand is the only place in existence, the more our comfort will be
