Ever (12 page)

OLUS

^“
I
MUST HOLD YOU
or you'll fall.”

Being held seems to her more dangerous than flying, or more against propriety. She looks away from me, then back, searching my face. I don't know whether I should smile or speak, but I do neither. Discover what you will, I think.

“Then hold me.” Her face is pink.

I send my wool basket sailing to my pasture, where my herding wind is minding my goats. I touch Kezi's shoulder, then cradle her in my arms. My strong wind lifts us. My wet wind drags some fog along for concealment.

I wonder what she's guessed about me. After the fire in the market, her hopes may be too high.

We rise slowly. Her cheek is against my chest. I can hardly think. I recite into her hair:

Kezi, I think, addressing her in my mind, love Akka. Love me. What I will tell you will seem impossible. Believe anyway. Do what I say to save yourself, to save us both.

My quick wind increases our pace. When we are far enough from Hyte, I disperse the fog.

KEZI

D
IZZY WITH FLIGH
t and the nearness of Olus, I shut my eyes, then open them. I don't want to miss anything.

How much closer to Admat's sun are we? An eagle flies by, not far above us.

Air streams across me. I feel a mighty swell of wind beneath me. My left arm is pressed against Olus, but I put out my right with my palm open to catch more of the wind. I spread my toes in my sandals and wish my feet were bare.

I'd love to see Hyte from the sky, but positioned as I am, I can only look up and out. “Olus?”

He says something.

“What?” I shout.

“Don't be afraid,” he shouts back.

“May I look down at Hyte?”

He turns me so my back is to him. I am tilted downward. We are stretched out against each other. I gulp in the rushing air and try to ignore the feel of him.

Hyte is just a thick smudge on the horizon, but the stepped outline of the temple is clear. I can even make out the triangle of the ramp that leads to the sanctuary.

The wind lifts us higher. The temple shrinks to a dot and the city to a shadow. When they disappear entirely, Olus turns me so I am facing in the direction of our flight.

I think, My love is thoughtful.

My love? Yes, my love.

I love the hairs on Olus's arm that catch the morning sun.

Admat, is this when you send me love, before I'm to die?

The low hills around Hyte are brown, speckled with green dots of shrubs and date palms.

As we fly higher, the hills rise too. After a while I grow hungry. The morning is passing. The morning of my twenty-seventh remaining day, if I'm still to die.

OLUS

T
HE AIR CHILLS.
I wrap us in a cocoon of my summer wind.

“Please don't.”

I take the cocoon away but fly lower. Although she may not care, I don't want her to suffer the acute cold. We are nearing my first destination, where I will tell her everything.

Here we are. I fly over it.

“Wait!” she cries. “Go back. It's . . .” She turns her head, and I see her excited face. “It's impossible!”

We circle. “Do you like it?” I'm grinning. This is what I hoped for.

“It's miraculous!”

“Does that mean you like it?”

“Very much.”

We circle three times. Then my gentle wind deposits us in a meadow a few yards from the base. “This is a waterfall, the falls of Zago. We're on the border of Hyte and Akka. The Zago River flows through Akka.”

From Enshi Rock, Hannu and Arduk can see us here. All the gods can if they like.

Kezi runs to the riverbank. In a moment she is wet with
spray. Laughing, she sticks out her tongue to taste the water. Then she pulls off her sandals and steps delicately onto the closest wet rock. She dances from rock to rock to the ledge behind the curtain of water.

“Everything is wavery!” she cries. “You should see it.”

I hesitate, although the ledge is hardly confining. Only water will separate me from open air.

“Come, my love!”

Love? Her love! Of course I join her.

In the dim light her face glows. She is blushing and her hand is over her mouth, but she doesn't take back the words. Although I'm uneasy in the small space, I lift away her hand and kiss her. I taste the water on her lips. Afterward she clings to me, a closeness I don't mind at all.

“What do you think?” She gestures at the water.

“Very wavery, my love.” I don't want her to be alone in saying
my love
.

She slides out of my arms and spreads her arms to embrace the rock wall. “I like Akka.”

This is not my favorite spot.

“Look!” She has found a narrow opening that leads into a cave.

I watch as she slips through the fissure. I imagine my
self being trapped inside, the fissure closing.

After a minute she emerges. “There's enough room for us both. In the cave, the falls boom. Do you want to hear it?”

“No!”

“Oh!”

I fly my quick wind back onto the grass, ashamed at the relief I feel.

After a short while she joins me. She gestures and asks, “Are these mountains?”

“Foothills. The mountains aren't far.”

“Olus! If these are the feet, how tall are the mountains?” Before I can answer, she sinks to her knees and runs her hands through the grass. “Smooth! Hyte grass is spiky.” She stands. “Was there something dangerous in the cave?”

“No.” I'm embarrassed to tell her about my fear.

She takes a deep breath. “I've never met a masma before.”

“I'm not a masma.”

“Please forgive me.” She touches my arm. “I was taught that masmas are evil, but you're good. I think you're Admat's masma.”

I decide to confess. “I was afraid to go in the cave.
Small spaces frighten me.”

She smiles. “I used to be afraid of pigeons.”

I smile back. “Why?”

“Their red eyes. I thought they killed people at night.”

“How did you stop fearing them?”

“I don't remember.” Her smile fades. “Now I'm afraid of the priest's knife.”

It is time. “I'm truly not a masma. I'm the Akkan god of the winds.”

KEZI

^“
D
ON'T SAY THAT
!” I want to run back into the cave for safety, although my love has boasted all safety away.

A minute passes. The sky is still blue. The forest that climbs the feet hills does not catch fire. Olus is not covered with boils.

He shouts, “I am the Akkan god of the winds.”

I shout, too. “Admat, you are the one, the all.”

“What can I show her?” he says to himself.