Priestess of the White

surety in the way the woman climbed that suggested she was well practiced at this. It reminded Yzzi of a boy in her tribe who had been born without a membrane between his arms and body. He could not fly, but he could walk further and leap higher than any normal Siyee. At first his efforts had been comical and pitiful, but she and the other children came to respect him for his determination to be as mobile as possible.

The woman had reached the bottom of the slope and paused at a thin stream to drink. She would have to be familiar with climbing, Yzzi decided, since she must have crossed plenty of terrain like this to get so far into Siyee lands.

Yzzi shifted her weight from one leg to another, keeping her balance easily on the branch. The woman rose, then looked up... directly into Yzzi’s eyes. A chill ran down Yzzi’s spine, but she did not move. It was possible the woman hadn’t seen her. She might be hidden by the foliage.

“Hello,” the stranger called.

Yzzi’s heart stopped. She’s seen me! What do I do?

“Don’t be afraid,” the woman said. “I will not hurt you.”

It took a moment before Yzzi made sense of the words. The woman spoke the Siyee language haltingly and the pitch of her whistles was a little, off. Yzzi considered the stranger. Should she talk to the woman? Her father had told her that landwalkers could not be trusted, but he had changed his mind when the White priestess visited their tribe this morning.

“Will you come down and talk to me?”

Yzzi shifted her weight again, then came to a decision. She would talk, but she would do so from where she was.

“I’m Yzzi. Who are you?”

The woman’s smile widened. “I’m Genza.”

“Why are you in Si?”

“To see what’s here. Why don’t you come down? I can barely see you.”

Once again, Yzzi hesitated. The landwalker was so large. She cast about, looking for a place she might perch that was closer to the woman, but from which she could fly away easily. A ledge on the steep slope the woman had just climbed down looked good enough. Diving from the branch, she swooped down and landed neatly on her new perch.

She turned to regard the landwalker. The woman was still smiling.

“You’re so pretty,” she murmured.

Yzzi felt a flush of pleasure.

“You’re strange,” she blurted. “But in a good way.”

The woman laughed.

“Would you pass on a message from me to your leader?”

Yzzi straightened. Passing on messages was important, and children weren’t often given important messages to deliver. “All right.”

The woman took a few steps closer and looked deep into Yzzi’s eyes.

“I want you to tell them that I am sorry about the harm the birds did. It was not meant to happen. They were trying to protect me and I did not realize what was happening until it was too late. I came here to see if we could be friends. Will you remember all of that, Yzzi?”

Yzzi nodded.

“Then repeat it back to me now, so I can see how well you’ll—”

A distant whistle snatched Yzzi’s attention away. She looked up and exclaimed as a large group of Siyee flew overhead. At the center was a white-clad figure conspicuous among the rest for its size and winglessness.

The White priestess, Yzzi thought. She turned back to see Genza crouching beneath the fronds of a large felfea tree. The woman’s expression was terrible - wavering between anger and fear.

“How long has she been here?” she snarled.

“A few days,” Yzzi replied. “She’s nice. You should come and meet her. She’ll want to be your friend, too.”

Genza straightened and her expression softened as she looked at Yzzi. She muttered a few strange words Yzzi didn’t understand, then sighed. “Can you tell your tribe leader one more thing, Yzzi?”

Yzzi nodded.

“Tell your leader that if the Siyee ally themselves with the heretic Circlians, they will gain an enemy more powerful. Now I know she is here, I will not stay.”

“You don’t want to meet the Speakers?”

“Not while she is here.”

“But you came so far! It can’t have been easy.”

Genza grimaced. “No.” She sighed, then looked at Yzzi hopefully. “You wouldn’t happen to know of an easy way back to the coast?”

Yzzi grinned. “I haven’t been that far, but I’ll help you as much as I can.”

Genza smiled with warm gratitude. “Thank you, Yzzi. I hope one day we’ll meet again and I can return the favor.”

As Danjin entered Auraya’s rooms, he heard a shrill cry of joy.

“Daaaa-nin!”

He immediately ducked and looked up. The ceiling was bare. He cast about, searching for the owner of the voice. A gray blur streaked across the room and leapt up into his arms.

“Hello, Mischief,” he replied.

The veez gazed up at Danjin, blinking adoringly. Mischief had taken quite a liking to Danjin now that the adviser, Auraya’s servants and the occasional visit from Mairae and Stardust were the only company he had. Auraya’s pet also found it amusing to drop onto Danjin’s head from the ceiling, a trick that was only slightly less unnerving than the view from the windows.

Danjin scratched the veez’s head and spoke to it for a while, but soon his thoughts returned to the discoveries he had made over the last few days. He had visited friends and acquaintances all over the city, in high and low places. What he’d heard had confirmed his worst fears. The Pentadrians of the southern continent were raising an army.

Military training was a part of their cult and he had hoped his brother and father had come to the wrong conclusions about the trade in weapons. However, both the retired sailor Danjin had befriended during his early years of travelling and the Dunwayan ambassador had told him of active recruitment of soldiers and smiths within Mur, Avven and Dekkar, the lands of the southern continent.

Mischief squirmed out of Danjin’s arms, clearly dissatisfied with the amount of attention he was getting. He jumped up onto a chair and watched as Danjin began pacing, the veez’s small, pointy head moving back and forth.

Was Northern Ithania the Pentadrians’ target? Of course it is. Other landmasses lay to the northeast and west, but they were so far away as to be almost regarded as legend. If the Pentadrians had their sights set on conquering some other place, the closest was the continent to their north.

:What’s wrong, Danjin?

He let out a gasp of relief.

:Auraya! At last!

:It’s nice to be missed, but that’s clearly not what’s bothering you. What is this about Pentadrians conquering Ithania?

He quickly related what he had learned.

:I see. So this is what people are saying. I don’t think the possibility of war will remain a secret much longer.

:You knew all this?

:Yes and no. We’ve only just begun receiving reliable reports of what’s going on in the south. They’re the observations of people who are being careful not to be noticed. The sort of information you have unearthed - purchases of materials and a change in their military behavior - are new to me. Tell Juran what you