While he had been gone, the trio had managed to scrub off most of the fish smell. Before leaving for the shrine Rolan cooked the promised fried fish, and after the meal Mrei was so full that she was glad to stay behind and just digest her food, falling asleep on the big, soft bed Rolan had.

Rolan led Kress and Lucas to the camouflaged entrance and through the twisting natural tunnels with only a single lamp to illuminate their steps.

After a while they came to a door that might have as well been from one of the modern buildings in Delavia. It slid open without a sound as they approached.

The inside was smooth, white walls adorned with blue crystals, with the center of the dome above them covered entirely by a huge one. There was some pattern to them, but Kress couldn't quite make it out. The lowest part of the wall in the circular room was decorated with faded paintings. Some of the shapes were humanoid, but the details were impossible to make out.

This was not at all what he had expected. He had thought a heathen shrine would be...well, primal. Nothing more than a crude cave carved out of rock. This place was very elegant in its simplicity.

"Over here," Rolan led them to a clean-cut rectangular pedestal in the middle of the room. The top was cut slightly sloped and laced with blue crystal striped with bronze-colored metal - although Lucas could tell it was not bronze -, and there was a circular indentation in the middle. "Put your pendants in that indentation, next to each other."

"Hey, I remember this!" Lucas commented eagerly. "That thing lit up when I touched it."

Rolan laid his hand on the pedestal. The blue coating started faintly shining with some inner light. "It recognizes those blessed by the spirits."

"So if it lights up for Kress, that proves he's the messenger, right?"

"Not quite. I am expecting something more." The young children to be tested came here shirtless and a special disc held for just this purpose was placed on the pedestal. If the wing-mark appeared on his or her back, that was the proof that this child was the messenger. But Kress already had a mark. "The legends say that the messenger can unite the keys into one. Shall we see what happens?"

Lucas quickly put his pendant into the indentation. Kress followed his example a little more slowly, reluctant to part with his.

"Put both your hands on the pedestal," Rolan instructed him.

The boy carefully stepped right next to the pedestal and slowly placed his hands on it, not sure what to expect.

Suddenly a circular wall of blue light surrounded him. His body felt like it was burning, and he could swear he was seeing things as the pendants...melted into golden liquid and pooled together at the bottom part of the indentation.

Rolan had to grab Lucas to stop him from running to Kress as a force like electricity crackled inside the protective cocoon he could swear looked like giant wings. He had never seen anything like this happen. The pedestal would light up or a few times the walls had literally sparkled, voices like the winds whispering their acceptance, but nothing like this.

It certainly felt like a lot longer, but in reality couldn't have been more than a minute or two, before the light disappeared. Kress collapsed to the ground, trembling and breathing shallowly.

"Are you alright, kid?" Rolan helped him to sit up.

"No, I'm not alright!" Kress snapped. He felt awful. "Was that a trap of some kind?!"

"Not that I know of."

Meanwhile, Lucas retrieved the glued-together pendants and gave them a hard tug to pull them apart. But they stubbornly clung together. He tugged at them again. Then he inspected the piece to find any kind of seam and smiled widely. "Uncle, look! They've become one!"

"Really?" Rolan looked from Kress to the piece of metal Lucas was holding.

"Yeah! I knew Kress could do it!"

"That's great..." Kress muttered with very sarcastic tone. "Can I pass out now?" The floor felt like it was swaying. He squeezed his eyes shut, but it only seemed to worsen the feeling of vertigo.

"Well, you can either walk out of here on your own two feet or you can be carried like a baby."

There was no response.

"Carried it is then," Rolan commented to nobody in particular and hoisted the boy on his arms. Even considering that all teens tended to be tall and lanky, Kress was pretty frail.

"Will he be alright?" Lucas asked.

"I'd imagine so. Is there some reason he wouldn't be?"

Lucas's hand tightened around the pendant. "He's sick. He said that doctors can't cure it."

"I see...Well, his heart still beats strongly, and it seems to me like you three are very intent to survive and find the land beyond the clouds. Never underestimate the sheer will to live."

~*~*~

Kress woke on a couch. He just stared at the wooden ceiling for a while until the sound of footsteps forced him to stop ignoring the fact that he was not alone. He slowly sat up, although he kept his feet on the couch. "Was that enough for your test?" he asked.

Rolan dropped down to one knee. "Yes. I'm sorry if I acted disrespectfully before."

"Don't. Just...don't." Kress let his head fall back against the backrest of the couch. "I just want to help Lucas find his land beyond the clouds. I'm not some sacred being. I don't even understand why I can do these things."

Rolan slowly stood up. "The Sky spirits had some reason to choose you."

"Would be nice if they shared that reason with me."

As the silence became awkward, he added, "You weren't that disrespectful...I just don't like being touched."

"Because of medical stuff?"

Kress's eyes narrowed. "How do you know about that?"

"Eh? Lucas said you'd told him you're sick and that doctors can't cure it. I assumed that meant you have spent a good deal of time in hospitals."

"No- Yes, I am sick." What was he supposed to say? "Look, I just don't like doctors. It's complicated."

Rolan chuckled. "I know I'm pretty rough on the edges and I will never have Romi's gift to see into people's hearts, but look, kid...You can still trust me. I want to help you."

"You hardly trust me."

"I trust you now. And I don't hate outsiders. But we have to protect the shrine of the Sky spirits. If the king ever learned its location, you can bet there would be a lot of soldiers here to destroy it for good."

That was probably true. "Apology accepted - if that was one."

"Heh, let's say it was."

"If you really want to help, I'll accept that too. It's difficult for three kids to accomplish everything on our own." They had been incredibly lucky this far - they could have been apprehended by city guards any time in Ravona and held in custody until their legal guardians would have come to get them, yet had sneaked away unnoticed -, but things would be a whole lot easier with an adult with them. "But I really don't want to hear anything about this messenger business unless I absolutely have to. I want to find the keys, and so do you. Can we leave it at that?"

"So..." He had thought that the messenger would be the spiritual leader of their entire people, something like what keepers did, but on larger scale. Kress really didn't fit that image.

Although he wasn't really in a position to talk in that, having preferred Romi keep the pendant even when she married another keeper. The spirits favored marriages among keepers, but the pendants should have stayed one in each of the central towns - one for each of the clans. In the case of marriage another keeper should have been appointed. He would have been the natural choice, but he hadn't wanted to. And by the time he had come to accept the responsibility for the shrine and would have been ready to take the pendant in his custody it had already been too late.

"Should I treat you like my own son? Something like that?"

"I didn't know you had children."

"I don't. But in a manner of speaking. Or a nephew, like Lucas."

Kress was starting to feel tired again. "If you wish," he stated.

"Nephew it is then."

He would have liked to just fall asleep again, but he felt like something was missing. It was too quiet. "Where is Lucas? And Mrei?"

"They're with my mother."

"Why am I not? I'd prefer we stay together."

"Because they can help with housework and such - you can't, not right now at least. She's gotten old and doesn't need sick kids to look after." He laughed when Kress glowered at him. "Better that I take that job, don't you agree? Do you need something?"

"Peace and quiet." He couldn't believe he had thought it was too quiet without Lucas a moment ago. On second thought, quiet was very good.

"I'll be sleeping in the room over there. Don't hesitate to wake me if you need something else."