BOOK TWO
Times of the heart turn and change,
Moons and seasons, for they range,
Times of laughter, times of grief,
Times when violent fear is chief,
Times of joy and of success,
Times when sorrow gives no rest,
So, harbor here with me, my friend,
Until your times come to an end.
- Songs of the Far Stones
Chapter Nine
THE HOUSE MY FAMILY had taken over was an ordinary house – just three rooms upstairs and three downstairs and an outhouse around the back, but it felt like something special when I finally walked through the doors. It wasn’t just the smell of Anfrea’s cooking – a smell that had home in it right to the bones – or the leaping children rushing to hug me and calling back and forth.
“Auntie Aella, look, I lost a tooth!”
“Auntie Aella, the baby can crawl now!”
“Auntie Aella, daddy said we had to fight to get you back. Did we win?”
“Watch me, watch me!”
It wasn’t just the steady stream of hugs and kisses or the warmth I felt from constant smiles, constant catching of the eyes with someone else and a knowing look shared. No, it was more than that.
It was the safety of my brothers watching from both doors and guarding our house. It was the way they drew Ivo and Zayana in, setting them by the fire so Helissa could scold Retger on not bringing Zayana to them sooner and Adigale could tell her that she’d make a fine Far Reach bride – to her utter horror. Her bird flickered on her shoulder and off again so many times that I was sure it was a sign that she wished she could fly away, too, but her cat’s eyes narrowed whenever she looked at Retger and she didn’t try to leave or tell them she wasn’t going to be a bride – which left me shocked and staring.
“Put him on my pallet,” Raquella had demanded as soon as we cleared the door. Retger helped me put Osprey there – on a pallet in the corner of the main room. I didn’t leave his side, and no one tried to make me. From the edge of that pallet, I watched them all – watched the teasing and laughing, the loving and the constant glances to me like a thousand touches to make sure I was still there.
“Aella!” my sister Adigale exclaimed when she caught sight of me. “You’re injured. Your face is badly bruised and look at your hand. It’s burned! Take that jacket off.”
I took my jacket off, blushing as she fussed over me. “I’m not badly hurt.”
“Not badly ... Aella you have blood seeping through your shirt. Are you injured in other places?” She was already trying to look up the sleeve of my shirt.
“Can we at least do this somewhere private?” I squeaked.
“Raquella, gather some bandges and water,” Adigale ordered. “Aella, you come with me.”
She marched me to one of the front rooms – a cramped little spot covered in pallets. Clothing hung on rope lines along one wall. This was clearly where her little family was staying. One of her toddlers – Gessa – was fast asleep in the corner.
“Take off that shirt,” she ordered. I stripped down and she gasped. “Aella.”
“None of the injuries are serious,” I assured her.
“The stitches in this one need to come out,” she said, examining a wound Zayana had stitched for me. “And this one could have used stitches but now it’s too late and it’s just going to heal like that.”
She ran a gentle finger beside the slash in my arm, clicking her tongue.
Raquella joined us, closing the door behind her. When she saw me, she clicked her tongue, too.
“Good thing I’m training to be a healer,” she said wryly. “Aella might need me full-time.”
“Take off the trousers, too,” Adigale ordered. “I bet there are more injuries under there. You are a woman, Aella, not a Forbidding bear. You can’t just scatter and coalesce again if you’re too wounded. You need to take care of yourself.”
They set to washing and bandaging my wounds and my hands until they finally agreed I could dress again.
“Try, try, try to take care of yourself,” Adigale said, shaking her head as I finished buttoning my shirt. There was no censure in those eyes. All I saw was love.
I sucked in a long, hiccupping breath. It was like it hit me all at once. I was surrounded by people I loved and who loved me. Raquella’s sudden hug knocked a little sob out of me and then Adigale wrapped us both up in her arms.
“Oh, my sisters, what will I do with you? You both worry me too much,” she said. “I wish I could wrap you up in my arms and keep you here forever.”
“Then who would take care of your children?” I laughed through my tears.
“I would,” she said firmly. “I’m far more capable than you think. I can take care of everyone.”
Our laughter woke little Gessa, and she waved us out of the room as she hurried to her daughter’s side.
I followed Raquella out of the little room and made my way back to Osprey’s side.
Raquella made tea and brought me some and as the night grew and dinner was served in small wooden bowls and children were put to bed and mothers and fathers grew busy with the business of settling them down and cleaning up, Raquella drifted to sit with me. We sat side by side, perched on the edge of Osprey’s pallet and we sipped our tea in a quiet harmony.
“I’ve missed you,” I said, arranging my short sword and Osprey’s beside the pallet. Alect had brought them back with him. “I was worried that you wouldn’t survive the journey.”
“You were worried?” she teased. “I wouldn’t think you had time with this one to moon over.”
I jabbed her with my elbow – but lightly so she wouldn’t spill her tea.
“It’s complicated,” I said.
“There’s nothing complicated about falling in love,” Raquella said breezily.
I scoffed and she raised her eyebrows as I explained. “I suppose it depends on who you fall in love with.”
“He looks just fine to me,” she said. “Long and lean with warm brown skin, rippling muscles, well-defined features, and a shadowed jaw? Yeah, you have it rough. He even smells nice. Is that pine? Also, does he have a brother?”
“Unfortunately, yes. It turns out I’m married to the brother. Against my will.”
Her eyebrows rose and then she smirked, “Then maybe I’ll take this one.”
“No,” my voice came out as a growl.
“See?” Raquella said sweetly. “Not complicated at all. Let me help you tend his injuries.”
We unwrapped Osprey’s bandages and his breathing hardly even hitched as we applied salve and new bandages. I tried not to blush at Raquella’s approving looks as she worked over Osprey. Really, she didn’t need to admire him so openly. I was desperate to change the subject to anything else.
“Is it true that the Single Wing is ready to launch a strike?”
She nodded and whispered as she worked. “Simultaneous strikes on every city in Far Stones. We start by burning any ships in the harbors. Burning barracks and guardhouses is second. Seizing the governor’s house in Karkatua and the Grand Claw’s house in Astar Harbor are also on our list. We were planning to strike tomorrow.”