The Fight for Peace (37 page)

Alone again, Sinika returned his attention to the growing night, realizing there was one benefit from Misshal’s visit. He’d left the wine.

He wasn’t used to so much. When morning came and with it, Matylda’s daily visit, Sinika was groggy. It took him a minute to realize that Matylda hadn’t stopped in the doorway, but entered and placed the tray of food by the window before bustling about straightening the room. Sinika watched her warily.

“They need to let in someone to clean in here. Are you comfortable? Do you need anything else?”

Matylda prattled on for a few minutes, more words than he’d gotten from her in the week since his mind had returned. After a decanter of wine, the change was disconcerting. A memory of Minna rose to the surface, though Matylda wore her age far better.

Sinika made his way to the table, downing a glass of water and pouring another in an effort to clear his head. Matylda fell silent, turning sorrowful eyes on him. “You need to eat something, Sinika. High Priest Misshal... he told me you grieve for Elantha. I didn’t realize.”

Sinika glanced away out of instinct. It brought Matylda to the chair opposite him. “Yes,” he answered hoarsely, pleased now for the wine and grogginess.

“She was very special. Even for one with magic. Of everyone that has come to Solaire since the war ended, none have her ability.”

Sinika’s heart jumped in his chest. This, at last, was news. “Really? Have there been many?” he asked.

“Not as many as the to the other Temples. The history of the Church killing them is... difficult to overcome. But I have learned so much from the healers! If I weren’t so old, I’d ask to go to the Temple of Rain in Rah Hahsessah. They turned it into a place to learn healing in honor of Tohkef and... well, it made sense. The Fifth Order needs a home too.”

Sinika stared at her, unable to hide his consternation. “Fifth Order?”

“There is so much you’ve missed,” she sighed. “I would have thought Misshal would have told you. Magic is related to the elements. It is an element of life, of spirit. Elantha’s gift to speak to spirits was unique. Most control living things. We just never realized it before... all those centuries of persecution.” Matylda shook her head, tears in her blue flecked eyes. “But they are equal to us now: the Fifth Order of Spirit.”

Sinika stared unseeing out the window, too shocked to react and too groggy to know what to think.

“I’m sorry,” Matylda said, touching his arm with warm fingers. She pulled her hand back hurriedly when he turned back to her. “Here you are missing Elantha, this morning more than most by the look of you, and I’m talking of Spirit Elementals. She would have had such a place here now... if things had been different. If we’d seen the truth earlier.”

“I... I wish she had known,” he whispered, blinking away moisture. He cleared his throat, thoughts swirling out of order. He caught something benign that he could process. “You are not so old, Matylda. You could go learn more of healing. You’ve always been gifted.”

The old woman blushed a soft pink over her smooth cheeks, lines around her eyes deepening. “Perhaps. But I am still needed here.”

“Patients? Still from the war? High Priest Misshal said that prisoners were returned.”

“Oh the prisoners were in good enough shape, I’m happy to say. No. I am needed here for other things,” she said. Sinika realized she meant to watch him.

“That is good. I know you spent a lot of time healing Garam from the damage caused by the vines the Erowok held him with. I’d hate to think all of that had been undone.”

“Huh, there were a few new marks on him, I would say. Whatever happened to him on the beach did not improve his disposition toward the Kith or Erowok. He does not speak of it. I’ve stayed long enough. There are other things to attend to today.”

Matylda bustled out. Sinika barely noticed. He’d learned more than he expected some of which he could not sort out without more information. He needed someone he could ask questions of without games, someone he could trust. Sinika paced across the room, breakfast forgotten. He had endeavored not to be impatient but with so many unfilled hours left to his thoughts, the day passed in frustrating slowness. He’d set plans in motion, small ones, but it would take time for have fruition.

In the mid-afternoon a knock preceded the door opening. Startled, Sinika glanced up from where he sat at the window. Besides Matylda and Misshal, no one came to his chamber. Framed by the open doorway stood Garam, arms full of books. Both plans apparently had hatched in record time.

“I brought you something,” Garam said, closing the door behind him.

Chapter 3

WARNINGS

“I can’t let them do this to her!” Zhao railed as he paced the narrow floor of the pagoda. “I cannot let my niece grow up thinking her gifts are a curse... And worse that she is a child born out of wedlock, Laireag. You cannot imagine the stain that carries with the Tiak.”

Laireag watched Zhao from the edge of a seat, gaze somber with thoughts. “What do you want to do?”

The question rooted Zhao to the floor. He wanted to hit something in his frustration of not knowing. The only reason he hadn’t yet was because Laireag had dragged him back into the pagoda before the shock of seeing Yihn’s infant daughter had worn off. If Phet had thought learning Zhao had a niece who was an Air Elemental would make Zhao obey, he’d found the truth far different. Part of Zhao wanted to fling the tiny village if Xiazhing into the bay. Sanity and Laireag’s calm kept Zhao from actions he knew he’d regret later.

“I shouldn’t do any of the things I’m thinking of,” Zhao admitted. “What do you think?”

“We could leave and take Yihn. She and her child will be welcome among the Kith.”

“No,” Zhao answered, brushing his fingers through his long, dark hair. “You saw her. She is listening to everything they say and doing what they want. If she were going to leave or fight back, you think she’d do it for her daughter.”

“You aren’t much alike then?” Laireag asked.

“No,” Zhao puffed, realizing Laireag was joking after he said the word. He sighed more than laughed. It helped. “Yihn never listened to me. After our parents died on the bay, she didn’t talk to me for weeks. When she did it was to say ‘What use is being an Air Elemental if you couldn’t save our parents?’ Our culture binds us more than love.” Zhao fell silent, staring at the interlocking stones of the floor.

“She came last night to speak to you, without Phet’s approval. She is more like you than even she realizes... and she does care, Zhao.”

Zhao blinked away the swell of tears Laireag’s words brought. “We have to help her and... I don’t even know my niece’s name. Heck, I’m assuming the child is a girl because of the color of trim on the pack holding her.” He started pacing again.

“Who would she listen too? Other then your village elder, of course.”

Zhao stopped again. “Gagee! We have to find her husband. She will listen to him.”

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go find him.”

“Tonight,” Zhao said. “They don’t know I, we, are more than Air Elementals. And they have that stupid seal on the door. The less they know about what we can really do, the happier I am.”

“I thought you came home to tell the elder’s of your people that their ways we cruel,” Laireag said.

“I did and I told Phet. They have enough power over the Tiak. They don’t need to know what more can be done.”

The day passed slowly. No one walked near the pagoda, not even to bring them food. “Khodan once said I would be an outcast of my people if I stayed away too long. At the time I didn’t care,” Zhao said as the hours trickled by.

“Do you now?” Laireag asked from where he dozed stretched out on a stone bench.

“Not so much,” Zhao said and laughed.

As dusk finally settled, nervousness won in Zhao over impatience. “Are you certain you do not want to see Yihn before we go? She may know where they sent her husband.”

“She might, but she’ll also tell us not to go and that it won’t do any good. Plus, when Phet realizes we are gone and asks her where we went, she won’t be able to answer.”

“Good point,” Laireag said. “Well then, where do we start?”

“There are only six Tiak villages along the fjords. Gagee was the best fisherman in Xiazhing. He could go farther up the Dhazoh river than anyone to find freshwater fish.”

“Which of the other towns have rivers?”

“All of them.”

Laireag frowned at Zhao’s answer. “Well, maybe we’ll be luck and he’ll be in the first one. So which way? East or west.”

“West.”

“Well then, after you!” Laireag said with a swipe of his arm toward the open window.

The relief at leaving behind the prison, even if it was one he could have left at any time, flooded through Zhao. He stepped forward and then called on an elemental ability he hadn’t been born with and that the Tiak elders would never have guessed was possible. Zhao transformed into a sea tern, his wings brushing the edges of the open window as he soared through. Laireag left as as a large raven.

Zhao couldn’t explain how he could control the powers of a Spirit Elemental such as Laireag and his good friend Ria. He was an Air Elemental by birth and that was it. But when he’d met Ria, Niri, and Darag, they had already discovered that abilities in one type of elemental power could mean latent gifts in another. Zhao had taught himself how to control air. Learning to control water and fire had been easy. But he hadn’t been able to touch the powers of earth without severe pain until he touched the Sphere of Earth. Once that had happened, and in a need to escape the dungeons of the Temple of Solaire, Laireag suggested Zhao try to transform. He’d figured why not. And he had.

Darag’s theory was that once an elemental not gifted in spirit gained abilities in fire, water, earth, and air that balance would open up the possibility to abilities in spirit. Niri having learned to sense spirit and even grow plants a bit lent support that idea. But she couldn’t transform, or at least hadn’t. While Zhao... after a few days of practice, abilities in spirit came as natural to him as any of the other elements.

The potential abilities of his niece and the future she might have, growing up without fear of her gifts and the options to go and learn in any of four Temples, filled Zhao’s head as he and Laireag winged westward. There was only one town to the west of Xiazhing. They landed in the small village of Benel where it perched on the edge of the forest of Yisha trees at dawn.

It only took a few hours for Zhao to determine Gagee wasn’t there. To be sure, they flew along the river winding northward, gazing at the few fishing boats navigating the small waterway. None held Zhao’s brother-by-marriage. By afternoon, they were heading eastward toward Xiazhing. They avoided the town, knowing their absence would have been noticed by now. Even if they couldn’t be recognized as birds, it was better not to risk running into unforeseen problems.

The next town east of Xiazhing offered no sign of Gagee. Zhao nearly skipped Himil, as it was where the Tiak elders often met and spent time together. But Laireag insisted. They flew through the town on wings growing more tired. But there were worse things than exhaustion they could face. Staying transformed too long could make even a Spirit Elemental forget they were anything other than the creature they had become.

They flew north of Himil and camped, recovering from days spent flying and thoughts that belonged to birds.

“There are only two more towns to search,” Zhao said to Laireag as they sat before a fire along the banks of the river that flowed to Himil. The setting reminded him of the journey along the Dhazoh to reach the Temple of Winds. Gagee had been with him then, that first time he had left home, acting as a guide to take him, Ria, Niri, Darag, Lavinia, and Ty north.

“I wonder how everyone is doing,” Zhao said, missing the friends he hadn’t seen since they’d parted ways in Finndale after traveling together to the Coast of Storms and to the Temple in the Clouds hidden deep in the Mountains of Night. “I bet Ria has grown a house above Finndale by now.”

“Maybe, but she’ll have to make it bigger if Mina is going to stay with her and Ci’erra!” Laireag said, laughing. The fire reflected in his light gray eyes as he sobered. “Darag and Lavinia should have made it to the Temple of Stone by now. Maybe they’ve gone to find the Ashanti already.”

“I almost wish I’d gone with him. I’d love to see Ekhaba!” Only Darag and Lavinia had been to the desert city of the Ashanti. Besides them, only Niri and Khodan had met Jeif and Leifa before they had been trapped in the spirit realm. “I wonder how Niri and Khodan are doing with Isha in the Temple of Mists,” Zhao said.

Laireag didn’t reply for a minute. “Get some sleep. We have enough to deal with.” Zhao laughed, stretching out in the warm sand by the fire. He fell asleep before he had a chance to ask Laireag if they should keep watch.

They arrived in Shofar by midmorning the next day, following the winding river that flowed down from the foothills of the forested mountains into the village nestled in a fjord of the bay. By evening, Zhao was certain that Gagee was not there either. That left Keifai.

“I should have asked Yihn,” Zhao said, disheartened.

“Why, are we in a hurry?” Laireag asked.

Zhao appreciated the support as much as it worried him. The Kith did not like to be separated from the tree to which their spirit were bonded. Laireag and Darag both chose to leave after the war ended. They hadn’t been home in six months. Eventually, Laireag would need to return home, even if Zhao had to drag him. But not today. Or tomorrow, when they hopefully found Gagee.

They flew through the night to arrive tired in Kiefai at day break. Zhao cruised the rising thermals, searching for the long river boats used for fisingh. When he found a set of three, he also found his brother-by-marriage.

Gagee sat by a small fire next to his overturned and banked boats, sipping from a steaming mug. Zhao landed outside of the circle of firelight and transformed. It took Gagee a moment to notice he was no longer alone.

“I saw Yihn and your daughter,” Zhao said as he approached.

Startled, Gagee nearly dropped his cup. When he saw who was walking towards him, he did.

“Zhao!” Gagee said as he jumped to his feet, embracing Zhao before he had a chance to react. “It has been so long. I was afraid of what had happened to you.”

“To me! You and Yihn have a child. And what the elders have done... I wish I had known sooner,” Zhao said.

“How are they? Did they look well?” Gagee asked, drawing Zhao toward the fire.

“When was the last time you saw them?” Laireag asked. Gagee turned swiftly at the sound of another voice.

“This is my good friend, Laireag. He is Kith from the forests in the north of Myrrah. Laireag, this is my brother-in-marriage, Gagee,” Zhao introduced.

“Not since a month ago, when Miyu was three months old,” Gagee answered, waving Laireag forward to join them by the fire. Gagee’s gaze rested on Laireag’s patterned skin a moment before he turned to Zhao. “The forests to the north of Myrrah, you have been far, my brother.”

“Miyu,” Zhao said, trying out the name. It made him smile. “How did they discover she was an Air Elemental?”

“Three months is very young to show power for any Elemental, even Kith,” Laireag said.

“Miyu could call the breeze after her first month. Yihn noticed it first, having grown up with you. We hoped at first it was a coincidence that the chimes would move when she was awake, but...”

“It wasn’t,” Zhao said. “She is going to be amazingly gifted.”

“We thought we’d kept it hidden, but Phet came a month ago along with the other elders. They said my marriage to Yihn was a mistake and no longer sanctioned. Then they sent me here.”

“And you stayed?” Zhao asked.

“I’m watched and they threatened to harm Yihn and Miyu if I try to see them. I’ve been trying to figure out what to do. There are not many who will break with our traditions and go against the elders,” Gagee said.

“Well, you have two with you now,” Laireag said with a grin.

“What do you plan to do?” Gagee asked.

“We need you to convince Yihn to leave. She is listening to Phet and doing as she is expected. From what I saw, she lives the life of a woman who had a child out of wedlock. Her clothes are worn, she is thin, but Miyu appeared well.”

The growing day reflected in the moisture filling Gagee’s eyes. He looked away, swallowing hard. “Where will we go?”

“Oh, there are so many places,” Zhao said.

They waited an hour before heading into town, during which Zhao shared what had happened when he’d returned to Xiazhing. Gagee, it turned out, had not taken a house in Keifai but stayed with a cousin. The few things he kept that were important to him, a knife passed down through his family, a necklace he’d made for Miyu when he’d been forced to move to Keifai, were there.

The cousin was a weaver and his house was located in the center of Keifai, a city unlike most Tiak. Though it sat nestled on a low shoulder of a fjord, there were few of the sacred Yisha trees in town and none outside of it except for along the river. Keifai belonged more to the steps than to the forest. The marshy grasses were harvested to make fine cloth and numerous vegetables grown that survived poorly in the thin soil and turbulent winds further west along the bay. Once, Zhao would have thought Keifai a world apart from Xiazhing, but after his travels he saw still that the houses and people were the same as his village. He had no interest to explore this town unique to his people.

They stayed off the main road, walking between houses space so closely together Zhao’s shoulders brushed one on each side. Before they stepped into the sunlight, a voice caused Zhao to grab Gagee’s shoulder.

“Where is he?” Phet asked.