and placed it among her supplies, then turned to regard Auraya.
“I’m going to find us some dinner.”
After the woman had gone, the cave was oppressively silent. Auraya couldn’t help feeling she had let Jade down somehow. She is only disappointed that I don’t love Mirar, she thought. And there’s no reason I should feel guilty about that.
Looking around the cave, she sighed. I feel lonely, she realized. I wonder how Mischief is. She missed his company, his unquestioning loyalty. Why are veez like that? It’s not like attaching themselves to humans is good for their kind... except, I suppose, that they don’t have to hunt for food and have a good chance of a safe home and a warm bed... I think I just answered that question for myself.
He’d never liked it when she went away. If only she could communicate with him somehow.
I wonder... would I be able to find him through mind-skimming?
It was worth a try. Lying down on the bed, she closed her eyes and slowly settled into a dream trance. When she judged herself ready, she reached out in the direction of the Open.
Some time later she found the minds of three Siyee making their way back to their village after a successful hunt. Next she found a village, and paused to skim the mind of a female Siyee cooking a complicated meal. The woman’s hunger made Auraya notice her own.
She found several more Siyee and was relieved when she recognized the Open through a man’s eyes. Finding Mischief among the multitude of Siyee minds wouldn’t be easy. Eventually she saw her own bower through a Siyee child’s eyes and that gave her the clue she needed to find him.
Reaching toward the structure, she concentrated hard, expecting that the mind of a little creature like a veez would be somehow smaller and fainter. She sensed an animal mind focused intently on a task. Fascinated, she watched as he drew magic as easily as he drew breath, and used it to move a mechanism of some sort, then she felt the animal’s greedy satisfaction as he succeeded. He seized something edible, dragged it out of the container it had been sealed within, and began to eat.
I think Mischief may have just broken into some food container, she thought, amused. I’ve never watched him use magic...
Then something else caught at her attention. Something much closer. A voice spoke and she reeled as far stronger minds overwhelmed her senses and sent her rushing back to a place somewhere outside the cave.
:... send one of the Siyee Watchers with orders for her to meet me at the Temple. If Chaia is right, she won’t dare to disobey us.
:And if she does?
:We will all know Chaia is wrong.
The first speaker was Huan; the second took Auraya longer to recognize. As he spoke a second time she realized the voice was Saru’s.
:And he can’t stop us having her killed.
Auraya felt her blood go cold. Were they talking about her?
:He’ll still try, Huan said.
:Yes. Why do you think he’s so determined to keep her alive?
:Lust. She’s just another one of his little infatuations.
:If she was he wouldn’t think twice about casting her off as he did the others. This is different.
:In all the worst ways. She’s not some pretty doll he wants to play with, like the other girls. She’s too powerful. Huan’s voice darkened. He must have plans for her.
:Too powerful to kill?
:Not yet. Not while she is ignorant of her true strength. Which is why I do not like her vanishing into the void to treat this woman. If my suspicions are correct, that woman is no mere curer. Auraya could be learning everything we don’t want her to learn.
:You encouraged her by allowing her to learn to heal magically.
:That was meant to convince the others that she was too dangerous.
:It convinced me. What do you think would sway Lore and Yranna?
Huan was silent a moment.
:The confirmation of my suspicions. If she comes out of that void knowing what she shouldn’t, only Chaia will be opposed to her death.
:He will be outvoted at last.
:Yes.
:And if she comes out knowing nothing?
:We will find some other way to persuade them. Eventually Auraya will defy us again. It is only a matter of time.
:And her executors?
:Let’s check...
With dizzying speed, the two minds flashed away, leaving Auraya dazed by her brief contact with them. She roused herself into full consciousness. Lying on her bed, she heard the gods’ words repeating in her mind ... encouraged her by allowing her to learn to heal magically... meant to convince the others that she was too dangerous... only Chaia will be opposed to her death.
Huan wants me dead, Auraya thought. She has since before I refused to kill Mirar! She is so determined to kill me, she will even manipulate her fellow gods to achieve her aims.
She felt a wave of nausea. It doesn’t matter that Chaia opposes her. The others will eventually outvote him. Sitting up, she stared at the wall of the cave.
The knowledge made her head spin. They would outvote him soon, because the moment she left the void the gods would know she’d learned to hide her mind, whether she actually hid it or not. It didn’t matter that she had never intended to hide her mind from them. Just learning such a thing had damned her.
Why? She felt a surge of curiosity and bitterness. Because I’m too powerful? How powerful, I wonder?
Powerful enough to frighten the gods.
She felt a thrill, but it quickly faded. I may be powerful enough to worry them, but I doubt I’m powerful enough to survive if they decide I must be killed.
Except that Mirar and Jade had both survived. If they could, she could too.
Standing up, she paced around the void and considered this. I have two choices, she decided eventually. Either I submit to the gods’ judgment and let them kill me, or I resist them. I doubt Huan or the others would take my soul when I die, but Chaia will. Would he still take it if I resist the others, and fail? Surely he wouldn’t abandon it to fade out of existence. How much defiance would he be willing to forgive?
Could she fight Huan and the other gods, and not Chaia?
I don’t want to defy Chaia, she thought. Then I must put this decision in his hands. I will fight the others or submit to death, according to his will.
The decision brought relief, but it did not completely erase the fear. Could she really submit to execution if Chaia decided she must? He won’t. And that brought her to another question. Who were the executioners Saru and Huan had spoken of?
The answer was painfully obvious: the White.
A noise interrupted her thoughts. She looked up to find Jade entering the cave carrying two girri. The woman lifted the birds high.
“We eat well tonight,” she said.
Auraya managed a smile. She wasn’t hungry any more. Her stomach was twisted in knots. Jade gave her an odd look.
“You look as though you’ve just received bad news.”
