Priestess of the White

arrived. Had these people charmed her that much?

Yes, she thought. I feel like I belong here. I keep forgetting how different I am, and when I do I almost wish I could shrink to half my size and grow wings.

She looked up at the enormous trees, but caught a sliver of thought and quickly looked away. Someone was up there. A boy, waiting anxiously for his moment to appear. Auraya had already glimpsed enough of Sirri’s thoughts to know the Siyee leader was planning a surprise for later in the Gathering.

Some sort of demonstration, Auraya thought. Something she believes will convince the Siyee to agree to an alliance.

She resisted the temptation to read the boy’s mind, instead concentrating on the Siyee. Time passed and gradually the Speakers left their tribes and flew back to their former positions. When the last of them had returned, Sirri came back to the outcrop and the Siyee quietened.

One by one the Speakers talked, expressing the opinions of their tribe. Most of the tribes were in favor of the alliance, but a few were not.

“All tribes must agree on this,” Speaker Sirri stated. “And we have not. Before I call an end to this Gathering, I ask you to listen to me. I believe our reluctance to open our lands to the landwalkers stems from our inability to fight them. Why should we risk our own lives in war when we cannot harm our enemies? Why should we allow landwalkers into our land when we can’t drive them out if their intentions prove to be malicious?”

Auraya regarded the Speaker thoughtfully. She knew Sirri wanted the alliance, but these two points would only dissuade the Siyee from agreeing to it.

Sirri raised her arms. “We can fight. We can defend ourselves. How? Let me show you.”

She looked up at the tree the boy was waiting in, then into the edge of the forest, and nodded.

From high in the tree, Tryss could hear the voices of the people below, but he could not make out their words. He had given up trying to and instead had searched the crowd for Drilli. He found her standing with her parents.

He hadn’t spoken to her for over a week. Her father had sought Tryss out and ordered him to stay away from her. She was not going to marry a boy from another tribe, he had declared, and certainly not one with strange ideas who spent his time in idle daydreams. She could do better.

His cousins had made it clear who had revealed his and Drilli’s liking for each other, but they could be lying just to annoy him. Anyone watching Tryss and Drilli at the trei-trei would have had to suspect they were growing close. They had flown together for most of the night.

He looked down at his invention. Would Drilli’s parents change their minds about him if he abandoned inventing and started acting more like other Siyee boys? Would he give it up if that was the only way he could see Drilli?

The question bothered him. He pushed it away, but kept finding himself considering it. He looked at Drilli. She was beautiful and smart. Surely he would do anything...

Hearing Speaker Sirri’s voice again, he dragged his attention away from Drilli. The Speaker looked up at him, then down at the Siyee holding the cages of breem, and nodded.

The signal. Tryss’s heart leapt and started to pound. He searched the ground, looking for movement. There!

He dived. Pushing thoughts of the watching crowd out of his mind, he thought only of the small creature that he had spotted. He had to concentrate. His harness was new and a bit stiff, he had only lamplight by which to see the animals and breem were fast.

Leaves whipped past his ears. He spread his arms and swooped out from between the branches of the tree. Drawing a dart into his blowpipe, he took aim and blew.

The breem squeaked as the dart hit its leg. It continued limping on but the poison would soon finish it. Tryss had spotted a second breem and turned to follow it. This time the dart sank into the center of the creature’s back. He felt a surge of triumph and flapped his wings to gain a little height, looking for more of them.

Two darted out of the crowd from the other side of the Flat. He missed the first one, but hit the second. Curving around, he blew a dart at the first again, but it swerved at the last moment and the dart bounced off the ground harmlessly. The creature disappeared between the legs of the watching Siyee.

Frustrated, Tryss gained altitude again. He saw the last two breem scamper into the Open and turned quickly. Diving toward them, he tightened his grip on the thumb straps of the new addition he’d included with this harness. He’d only had a few hours to practice with it and it was much harder to aim.

The two breem stopped in the middle of the Open, aware only of the Siyee that surrounded them. Tryss took aim, flexed his thumbs and felt the springs snap open, realizing too late that he’d unintentionally released both. Small arrows shot forward. One speared a breem, the other skittered over the ground and wedged itself into the wall of the outcrop...

Which he was about to fly into. He arched his back and felt rock brush his hip as he barely managed to avoid a collision. The maneuver had lost him height, however, and he was forced to land abruptly, in a way he hoped looked intentional.

The Siyee were utterly silent. Then someone in the crowd began to whistle enthusiastically, as the crowd did during the aerobatic contests of the trei-trei. Others joined in and Tryss found himself grinning as the Open echoed with the sound. He looked up at Speaker Sirri. She smiled and nodded with approval.

The Speaker raised her arms and the whistling subsided.

“People of the mountains. Tribes of the Siyee. I believe you, like me, can see the potential in what Tryss has shown you tonight. What he has invented is a weapon. Not the kind of weapon suited to landwalkers, like those we discarded long ago. One made for us. Not only is it an excellent hunting tool, but it is a weapon that will allow us to fight with pride and effectiveness, whether that be in our own defense or that of our allies.

“It is late, tonight, for us to discuss the potential of this weapon and how it may alter our views of the White’s proposal of alliance. I suggest we do so in another seven days, when we gather to make our decision. Are you in favor of this?”

A shout of assent came from the Siyee. Sirri looked at her fellow Speakers. All nodded.

“Then it will be so. This Gathering is ended. May you return safely to your homes.”

The Siyee erupted into excited conversation. Tryss looked up at the priestess, suddenly curious to see what her reaction was. She was looking at Sirri, however, wearing a thoughtful frown that soon disappeared as one of the other Speakers turned to address her.

He felt a tug on his arm and turned to find Sreil grinning at him.

“That was fantastic! Why don’t you ever join the aerobatic team each trei-trei?”

“I, um...”

Someone saved him from answering by shaking his arm. “Is it heavy? What’s it made of?”

He found himself standing in the center of a crowd of Siyee who wanted to examine the harness. Their questions were endless, and often repeated, but he made himself stay and answer them.

It’s not just about demonstrating it, he told himself. I have to convince them to try it themselves.

But he longed to get away from them and find Drilli. Whenever a gap formed around him, he searched for her, but in vain. She and her family had gone.

24

Not long after Danjin entered Auraya’s room there was a knock at the door. Mischief was asleep on his lap, his usual energy suppressed by a bout of a common veez illness. Putting the creature aside, he went to answer the door. To his surprise, Rian was standing outside.

“Adviser Danjin Spear,” the White said. “I wish to speak to you.”

Danjin made the gesture of the circle. “Would you like to speak to me here, or somewhere else, Rian of the