Three days later, Decimus was still missing, Lennon T. James and Chief To'an were at a stalemate, Lyong and I were friends and the bundle of flowers in my hand smelled sweeter than honey.

Lennon T. James was not here this morning. Every night after dinner, he left us at his cabin and slipped into the shadows. Some mornings he was back for breakfast. This day was not one of those.

It was well into the morning when the sunshine found all six of us arrayed on the porch of Lennon T. James' cabin.

We were tired of socialising with a translator, as it was ten times harder and the celebration was almost over. As it was, none of us had seen much of a celebration.

"Where do you think they're hiding all the alcohol?" asked Lyong, his fingers gently tugging my hair as he arranged them into a braid. He was gentle but particular and took his sweet time organizing my hair just so.

Mitch sat on the step below me, carving something into the wood by my feet with her knife. "I don't know. I could use some of it, though."

"Don't even think about it." Nattaniel shifted, the wood creaking beneath him as he leaned heavier on the railing.

Gino tossed an apple into the air, lying on the railing with one foot dangling off the side and the other propped against the wood--as if he didn't have a twitch aggravated by the uncomfortable balancing he had to do.

He was our voice of reason, as always. "If you think about it, they are very devoted to the Untameable. Holy Men and Women don't touch a drop of alcohol, unless for medicinal purposes."

"I have very dire medicinal reasons." Lyong loosened his grip slightly, rearranging strands before he continued his plaiting. "Also, there is no singing, no dancing, and I see very little people milling about. Where is everyone?"

"Probably in a tree somewhere," Mitch muttered beneath her breath, eliciting an amused huff from Gino and a smile from me.

"To be fair," I piped up after he tugged a bit too hard and I flinched. "I would be avoiding Lyong too, so..."

"Bloedskryefer!"

The voice cut through any further conversation.

Mitch flicked the knife to her more dominant hand. Gino sat up, reaching for his gun while still holding the bitten apple between his fingers. Nattaniel straightened. Lyong kept braiding my hair.

"Kita!" I called back, waving as the warrior woman came into sight. At my cheerful tone and excited smile, my fellow travellers relaxed -- but not quite as they had been.

Kita approached us with purposeful, long strides, the spear in her hand glinting in the sunlight. She did not wear her disguise; the mud had been washed from her face to showcase her clear umber-toned skin. Her hair had been tossed in a long ponytail.

"Shae, I have looked for you everywhere. We have a lot to catch up on. Tier-kin mentioned you knew nothing of your journey."

I blinked at her. "Well, not... I was there, so I know where we've been, but I don't know why or where we are headed."

"Oh, we're not stopping here?" asked Elle from her place in the corner of the patio, where she was curled up in one of the curved, cushioned chairs.

"Knowing Tier-kin, he will give you an option to stay before starting out again," Kita said, stopping a few metres from the first few steps. "Walk with me, Shae?"

"She is busy right now." Lyong twisted the strands in his fingers, finishing off a plait. Then I felt the gentle scrap against my scalp as he divided my hair for another plait. "We are making sure she looks beautiful for dinner tonight."

Kita meet my gaze, her mouth tipping up into a smile when I rolled my eyes.

"Join us, Kita?" I asked.

The pitter-patter of feet on the wooden deck let me know that Elle had scurried inside for some tea and dried fruit. Gino Morton jumped from his spot on the railing, landing on the grass with a soft thud. Nattaniel passed him one of the wooden benches set out on the porch, and he carried it close to the stairs.

Kita thanked him and Nattaniel with a dip of her chin and a matter-of-fact, "Anke."

"Where did you disappear to when we entered Bomsta, Kita?" I asked, unable to help the questions when she faced me.

I was thankful to see her, hoping to rekindle the easy camaraderie we had established on that afternoon trek between the slaughter of the taneapies and the border guard at Bomsta's edge.

She fiddled with the many straps looped around her spear shaft. "I was one of the hunting party. We only arrived home this morning."

Kita looked radiant like she had when I'd seen her for the first time, but I now noticed a small cut on the side of her chin, bruising evident on her upper arm. It had turned her skin a purple, green shade that made my stomach turn.

"Did you get hurt? Did everyone make it?" I held her gaze, trying to show her I cared without seeming too forward for an acquaintance. Hadn't she said her Seilg-noot had joined them on the expedition?

Kita shook her head, braids swinging. "Yes. We took down both of the spira. Several of us are injured but nothing serious."

"Tea?" called Elle, the sweet tangy smell of Bomsta's special tea escaping through the open door.

Kita nodded, looking past my shoulder to where Elle stood. "Yes, please!" Then her eyes met mine. "Shae, I need to speak to you. I do not mind sharing with an audience if you are comfortable...?"

Lyong snorted. "No, she must retain all knowledge of this expedition by herself and guard the information religiously."

I swatted at him. "Let me be."

"I am making you beautiful," he sniffed, tying off another plait. He started twisting and loosening and I didn't even try to picture what he was doing to my hair.

My attention shifted back to Kita. "I don't mind. These are my travel companions and I assume you mean to share something regarding our journey?"

She bit her lip, regarding our group silently for several long moments. With a sigh, she released the tension she'd gathered in that simple gesture. "What divides the people in Chileez?"

"Excuse me?" asked Mitch, looking up from her knife. She had been about to resume carving the porch steps, her knife-point millimetres from the wood.

"Every society groups its individuals differently." Kita tucked a loose curl behind her ear. "Here, we group by the level of devotion to the Untameable. Those who are dedicated to guarding the gateway stay here, fulfilling their duty. Those who forsake what the Untameable have given us wander as the clans of old, with no purpose beyond returning every two years."

"I wonder where you belong," interrupted Lyong wryly, his tone a bit sarcastic, a bit sincere. "You must be very devoted to guarding the gateway if you live here for your entire life."

Kita shot him a look that could kill a taneapie. She returned to her questions. "What is it in yours, Shae?"

"Poor and rich," I replied, shrugging a shoulder.

Lyong tugged my hair. "Hold still."

"Also, we do have those who are devoted to the Untameable," Mitch added.

Gino plopped down on a step, causing Mitch to slide over to give him more space. "But they aren't separate in the way the poor are excluded from society."

"We're not like the Ysnord from the North," I agreed with Gino. "They divide their people on the depth of colour of their skin. Or the continent across the sea, where the dragon riders are at war with the knights. We do not have much to divide us."

"Except money." And Mitch brought us full circle.

"It still proves my point," Kita said, her eyes wandering as she planted her spear in the earth and clasped her hands around one knee. "Many years ago, this place you call 'the jungle' was part of the Cartoza's land. So were Chileez and Abbeyl. The root of this story happened too long ago for anyone to remember the details but this is all we need to know.

'The Cartoza Clan, nomadic by nature, ruled this old country of Chileez. There was a war, the old families of Muran were involved, and it shook the foundations of our world as we know it."

I tried to recall what the history books said about that time, the time of Kajetan and Aria, but could not remember much. "It was not the Muran against the Cartoza?"

"No." Kita accepted the cup of tea Elle handed her, thanking her with a smile. "This is why I asked about division amongst your people. Back in those days, you were either a follower of the Untameable--"

"--or a follower of the Ancients."

The new voice was as familiar as my own, the rumble of thunder in a summer storm and the bubble of a fountain in a city square.

Lennon T. James was striding towards us, every inch the man he'd been in the throne room. "What are you telling them, Kita?"

"The things you should have a long time ago."

I paid them no mind. "The Ancients were an old civilisation, revered and studied by the scholars in Hanochk. Their language is dead."

"Yes, well, history has a habit of forgetting itself." Kita sipped at her tea, waiting for someone to speak.

I knew him well enough to know he would not.

"They were a sinister force," Kita sighed, finally relenting and giving us the information we hadn't know we wanted. "Evil and twisted. They were magic, they were sentient, they were spirit. Their leader was Dolion the Silver Star."

Something skittered beneath my skin, raising the hair on my arms and pricking the back of my neck.

"What do they have to do with us?" asked Gino. He directed the question to Lennon T. James, who stood watching Lyong with narrowed eyes.

"Lyong, what are you doing?"

"It's called braiding. I did it for my sisters all the time." He leaned over my shoulder. "What do you say, Shae? Would you like to be my honorary sister? Jamie is like a brother to me. I need a complete set."

"You can't go around collecting honorary siblings," I replied, feeling a discomfort that was not altogether unpleasant.

"Maybe not but Jamie is my brother, in all but blood, and I need an honorary sister, one way or another."

"Lyong, what are you doing?" Lennon T. James asked again, this time with an edge in his tone that hadn't been there before.

The fingers in my hair did not still. "Making Shae pretty. Why, what are you doing?"

"Not answering the question."

The words fell out of my mouth before I had a chance to stop it.

Lennon T. James' gaze snapped to meet mine, direct in a way it hadn't been since Colette's.

"I have something of the Ancients', Gino." Lennon T. James did not look away. "I have to return it. We are waiting for Decimus."

'He carries two of the sigils.'

Lennon T. James' words from breakfast three days ago resurfaced in my memory but I did not dare ask. It had been a private conversation.

Kita finished her tea. "You are delaying something that should not be delayed."

"Decimus has most of what we need, Kita." Lennon T. James' voice brooked no argument, but that did not seem to matter.

"Why are we pressed for time?" I asked, leaning forward to rest my elbows on my knees.

Kita answered first. "The spira? They are some of the Ancients' pets, animals breeder to seed havoc and do their bidding. The longer you wait, the more of the Ancients' magic will seep into the jungle... and then beyond, into Chileez."

I shuddered as eyes flashed in my memory; tall legs and thundering voices and tufted hides. 

"It won't come to that," Lennon T. James reassured, his voice not loud but determined. "We are waiting for Decimus before we move."

"The Ancients are not to be trifled with!" Kita was on her feet now, eyes blazing.

Hesitation tugging my tongue into a knot, I struggled to say, "Are-are the Ancients alive, then?"

A look passed from Kita to Lennon T. James.

"There is much we are not allowed to tell you," Kita explained, voice and hand gesture soft as she answered me. "That is why we do not invite you to partake in the celebration. That is why we shy away from conversing freely, or dining often, or why Tier-kin could not say anything until now."

"We take an oath." Lennon T. James rubbed his shoulder as if it ached. 

Kita nodded, once again facing him. "Yes, we renew the vow of our predecessors: to guard the gateway and protect against the Ancients."

"Kita, don't push me." Lennon T. James met her gaze head-on, looking down even though she was tall.

"You could make the trip twice."

"I will not."

His voice was no louder than the scratch of a pen on paper but it had the effect of a whip. Silence fell. Tension crackled.

"I wanted to ask if anyone would like to spar." Blue eyes were fixated on the ground, once again accompanied by a stiller tone. His arms were crossed, a finger tapping as he spoke. "There are targets set up for shooting. They will not mind your guns, Nattaniel, Morton."

Gino stood up, all but jumping up and down from eagerness. "Yes, please. I have too much ammunition not to waste a little bit."

Nattaniel grunted. "Practicing is not wasteful."

"I will stay here. No need to beat you all in hand-to-hand combat." Mitch propped her elbows on the step above hers, leaning back casually.

I snorted. "You don't even know how to use a knife."

"True." She turned to look at me over her shoulder. "But I didn't say I couldn't hit someone. I will show you if you like."

Lyong tied off another section of my hair, this time with a ribbon. "Shae is not allowed to engage in combat with her hair done up so artfully. She might ruin it." He patted my shoulder to let me know he was done. "I, however, would love to take you up on that offer."

"Surely you can't fight," I said, though it was more of a question. My fingers ran over the soft braids and twists of my hair, that been gathered into a loose knot at the back of my skull.

Lyong sniffed. "Of course I can. What sort of noble would I be if I couldn't spar, duel, or fight a decent boxing match?"

"Wait." Mitch straightened, twisting around to look at Lyong. "Have you been to the Thorn Bug Ring? In a warehouse by the Hanochk moat?"

Lennon T. James stiffened, studying his friend as the latter answered.

"Of course. The Red Rose never hesitates to turn down a fight."

Mitch barked a laugh. "I knew you looked familiar! I bet against you every time. You made me quite a bit before you disappeared."

"How rude of you." Lyong got up, languidly strolling down the stairs towards Lennon T. James. "Are we leaving or lingering to continue this pleasant conversation? What about you, Miss Siwatskie?"

Elle nervously tapped on the railing, where she stood removed from the group and watching our conversation. "I'll come along to watch but I am a pacifist. I would rather not engage in any sort of fighting."

"Was that before or after you killed someone?"

I couldn't help my gasp, unable to let silence stretch with the sudden flare of tension. "Wade Lyong, you insensitive pig. Maybe it was self-defence. Maybe it was not. You don't know and it's not your business mentioning it at all!"

He ran his fingers through his hair, straight and upright and slightly shorter than it had been when we first met. "It is my business as I was the only one who knew before I told everyone."

"It wasn't self-defence," Elle said, cutting in before I could continue defending her. Her smile was brighter than the noonday sun. "I killed for revenge."

🙞

agh, what is up with me?!  i sludged through this chapter, even though i was so excited to sit down and spend time with these characters!

how was this chapter? be honest.

thanks for reading!  

i appreciate all of you, and the comments/votes always make my week.

<3 klara