While she ran, she threw keep-away thoughts ahead of her, knowing that her brother Benayeem would understand them and leave her alone. She lay in the grass when she was too tired to run, then got back up and ran again.
And at the end of the day when she couldn’t run anymore, and she was sore and sick and heart weary beyond recognition, she went home. She opened the door to her house. Her foster parents jumped up and came toward her, and she saw with surprise that they had been crying.
It was her mother who spoke first. Elba had been Aria’s mother for six years already, but Aria still did not feel understood by her.
“Do not be angry with us, dear one,” she said. “We are doing the best we know. You must rest now, and in the morning we will go back to the healing tent.”
Aria shook her head wildly, clenching her fists.
“I don’t want to go again!” she said. Her throat was so raw with exhaustion and tears that she could barely get the words out.
“You must,” her father said, staring at her with deep, sad eyes. “The healers want you to stay for the next four weeks. Please respect us, Aria,” he said.
Aria slumped over, exhausted, feeling the four walls of her home closing in on her.
Chapter 3
The healers had told Gavi that he needed to walk every day as he healed from the enemy sword wound that had cut into his chest and shoulder and nearly killed him, so he walked for miles and worked in the garden. Those were the only two things he did these days, and he was growing bored out of his mind. He was anxious to get back to seeker work.
Spending his days between the kitchen gardens and his room wasn’t helping him. Things weren’t the same anymore. He couldn’t tell if the injury had changed him, or something else. He felt newly aware of his difference. The space Gavi occupied in the world was not the same as the one his brother lived and breathed in, and it made Gavi edgy and confused. He knew Jabari wondered what was wrong with him. Gavi wished he knew.
He wasn’t meeting Yab today; Yab was busy training as a ranger. Often he waited for Jabari at the foot of the garden so they could carry baskets of vegetables back to the kitchens together. Jabari would come running up to meet him from the training grounds and try not to appear concerned about the lack of strength in Gavi’s left arm.
So Gavi was bringing the baskets of vegetables on his own, ignoring the pain, and trying not to overthink. He missed the simplicity of his old mind.
As he drew near the palace, he spotted Benayeem coming from the training grounds. Ben wanted to be a ranger someday, so he was training as a seeker—the first step. Ben had the best discernment gift the Maweel had seen in years. Gavi didn’t know anyone else who could hear so much of what was going on in others. Ben called it music, and it told him truth from lies, goodwill from malice.
Gavi thought the discernment gift was wasted on being a ranger, but Jabari disagreed.
“We need justice among the rangers,” he had said.
Ben hadn’t spotted Gavi yet, and Gavi wondered whether he could slip away without being seen, but while he was still thinking, Ben looked up and caught sight of him. His face transformed with a huge smile, and Gavi felt small for not wanting to talk. He shook himself and jogged over to join the younger boy.
“Little brother, your training is starting to show,” Gavi said as he fell into step beside Ben.
“What do you mean?” Ben asked.
“Look at your shoulders,” Gavi said, reaching out to pat Ben’s upper arms, which were wider now, ridged with muscle.
Ben laughed, dodging Gavi and giving him a shove. “You’re one to talk,” he said.
Gavi grinned. It was true that he had always been strong— both tall and wide, though he had lost weight since his injury. “Ah,” he said, “but when I met you, Ben, you were a tiny thing, like a stick walking along with arms and legs.”
Ben laughed and the sound rang out. Gavi felt sorry that he hadn’t spent time with Ben lately. Being injured made him feel like hiding. He had always been the easygoing one, these moods were something he had never experienced. Jabari was the one with the stormy temperament. Lately though, he felt as though anything could disappear at any moment, and he only wanted to be around people who understood what it was like to be injured.
He glanced at Ben. Here was someone who might understand. Benayeem had been hurt many times.
“Where are you going?” Ben asked.
Gavi gestured at the basket of tomatoes and peppers that he had picked in the garden. “Heading to the kitchens.”
“Ah,” Ben said. “You and Ibba should trade secrets. I’ve never seen someone grow food as well as she does. Even Auntie Teru says she’s a wonder.”
“What makes you think we haven’t?” Gavi asked.
He loved Ben’s little sister Ibba. She was uncomplicated, always laughing, in love with gardening. What was not to love? She made him wish he had a little sister. He thought that in Ibba and Kital, he could see what the royal siblings would have been without the abuse that had surrounded their lives for so many years.
Ibba was a sunny, laughing child with powers of her own and a very strong gathering gift. She followed Gavi around like a little duck in the palace gardens, telling him all the things she thought about gardening and critiquing his work, which was disconcerting, since she was nine years old and usually right.
They came close to the palace.
“I’ll probably head home,” Ben said. “I’m supposed to help Kital with one of his projects, since Uncle is working at the palace today.”
“Sounds good. I’ll see you,” Gavi said, but just then, as they drew close to the stairs, a familiar figure burst out of the front door and ran down the stairs, stumbling as she went. She didn’t see them and they weren’t fast enough to stop her as she tore down the road.
“Oh no.” Gavi said, half to himself. “I was worried about this.”
“Aria,” Ben breathed. “But what’s wrong? Her music sounds distraught.”
“She told me she was going to Petitions today to ask again if she could come on another seeking mission.” Gavi told him, walking faster, passing the steps and following Aria.
“What?” Ben asked. “Why would she go to Petitions to do that?”
Gavi groaned. “It’s a long story.” They both watched as Aria ran blindly as if there were mud demons behind her. She stumbled and fell, then got back up and raced away down the stone road.
They exchanged a glance, and without a word they began to run after her, loping along to keep in pace without drawing any nearer. It was clear to Gavi that she needed space. Aria was used to running, but so were they. Gavi settled into a rhythm, readying his muscles for a long run.
“Something’s not right with Aria these days,” Ben said, only a little out of breath. “Her music is so strange, it’s as though someone else has moved into her body. She doesn’t sound like herself. It’s as though her music weaves in and out of this other music. Strange, horrible music that only reminds me of one other person.”
Gavi glanced at him quickly, knowing he didn’t even need to ask who the person was. Ben said it anyway.
“The Desert King.”
Gavi gritted his teeth. “This arrow is likely to kill her,” he said. At Ben’s horrified look he went on. “Not now, maybe not soon, but it is eating our little bird from the inside.”
Ben still looked terrified. Gavi spoke again, wanting to reassure him.
“It’s okay,” he said, shrugging away the discomfort he felt. If anyone would understand what he had been thinking and planning since the sword took a chunk out of him, it would be Benayeem, who had thought he was going crazy all his life until he realized the music he was hearing was a gift. A gift from Nenyi herself, not the signs of madness overtaking him.
Ben glanced at him with questions in his eyes.
“I think that I am meant to watch over Aria. To protect her, no matter what happens to her, ” Gavi said.
“Wait, what?” Ben asked. Gavi
shook his head and pointed.
“Shh, look.”
Aria had reached a stream and was bending down to drink. Gavi looked around and found a bend in the stream a little way away. Gavi tried to drink quietly. Ben dunked his head after he took a drink, then straightened to look at Gavi, water running down his face, neck, and shoulders.
“I don’t understand what you mean,” Ben said. “Who means for you to watch Aria?”
“The Shaper, I think,” Gavi said quietly.
“Does Nenyi do such things?” Ben asked. “Give one person the task of watching over another?”
Gavi stiffened. Maybe he had been wrong in thinking that Ben would understand. He wished he hadn’t said anything. He shrugged and tried to think of how explain it.
“This is all happening in such a strange way,” he said. “You and your sister coming to us at such a time. Every person has some responsibility in the the tapestry of the story. Every person has some thread. I think my thread runs beside Aria’s thread. We understand each other, and I feel that Nenyi has asked me to her to watch over Aria. I feel compelled to make sure this arrow does not kill her. She needs to come out of this, Ben. But it will not happen on its own. She needs someone to fight for her. I think I am that person.”
Ben shook his head slowly at Gavi, and Gavi watched as a thousand emotions flitted over the younger boy’s face.
“I just think you’re wrong if you feel that you are the only one who will fight for her,” he said, his eyes very serious on Gavi’s face. “Isika and I love her and we will not stop fighting for her. But . . . she is lucky to have you.” He nodded once, and it felt like acceptance. Gavi knew he didn’t have to explain any farther.
They followed Aria all that day as she ran across fields, over plains, and through forests. They saw her fall at the feet of trees, weeping. Many times Gavi wanted to go to her, but Ben held out a hand each time.
“She is crying out to be left alone with her music. I think she is speaking to me, trying to let me know not to follow. Let her have what she needs.”
Finally, at the end of the day, they watched as Aria slowly climbed the steps to her house.
Tears leaked out of the corners of Gavi’s eyes as he and Ben stood down the road, exhausted, relieved that she was finally home. Gavi knew her journey would go on like this for a long time. The little bird was a long way from being well.
Chapter 4
Jabari savored the feeling of being on the road as he walked beside Ivy, Brigid, and Chibu. The day was hot and dusty, Jabari could feel dust in his shoes and in his teeth. The rains had been gone for nearly a month now, and the unending sun on the road had everything covered in dust. Chibu was the ranger in charge of training the three seekers who had chosen to go on with their training and become rangers. He was funny and smart, someone Jabari respected.
That morning a messenger had come to the ranger grounds asking for help with poison in a field outside the city. Chibu had jumped to take the work.
“My children need practice,” he had said. Jabari scoffed at him.
“Poison in a field? This is seeker stuff.”
“Not this poison,” the messenger said, but he couldn’t tell them more. Just that it was menacing and had been there for a while. Something strange that no one recognized, making noise in the grasses of the field.
Jabari wasn’t worried. Since Isika had arrived, there had been plenty of strange poison, and they had taken care of problems well beyond the skill of simple seekers. Chibu cocked an eyebrow at his confidence, but didn’t say anything.
The messenger told them the field was near a large stand of Hoona trees. There they would find a well in a field opposite a small white house, and that was where the poison was located. It was troubling the farmer because he couldn’t get to his well. So they had quickly gathered their gear and run. After a long run that put dust in their teeth and eyebrows, Chibu told them to slow down.
“I don’t think we’re in a rush. Let’s get our breath back and talk a bit. Where are you kids, anyway? Why so glum?”
“We’re not glum,” Ivy shot back, laughing. “Well, Brigid and I aren’t, anyway. I can’t say the same for glum face over there.”
Jabari shook his head. He couldn’t expect anything else from Ivy. She and Gavi and Jabari had grown up like siblings in the palace, and to be honest, she had gotten them into trouble more times than he could count. She always found trouble and was faster at getting out of it. She knew all the secret passageways, how to get the cook to give them more dessert, and how to disappear when the wrath came, leaving Gavi and Jabari to take the blame.
“I’m fine, Ivy. Thanks for your concern. Just thinking.”
“About what? What’s on your mind?” Chibu asked.
Jabari felt a flash of alarm. He couldn’t tell Chibu what he was really thinking about.
“Plans,” he said finally.
Brigid looked surprised.
“I didn’t think you spent a lot of time planning,” she said. “But I guess I have a lot to learn.” Her long brown hair was plaited into a braid like the one Abbas wore. Jabari had noticed that she had started to do her hair like his when he first came to Azariyah. Before that, she had worn it in hundreds of tiny braids like many Maweel women. But her hair was different from Maweel hair, long and straight, and the single braid suited her.
“I do make plans,” Jabari told her. “Just not for this day or the next. I make long range plans.”
“Thinking about the future,” Chibu said, nodding and grinning. “That’s good. So what are your plans? Not just you, Jabari, but Ivy and Brigid as well.”
Brigid spoke first. “Well,” she said, “I’m in this training, and I think I want to be a ranger, but sometimes I wonder if I should join my family as a weaver like them.” She smiled. “I’m not worried, though. I’ll know what to do when the time comes.”
Ivy smiled back at her, then shrugged. “I want to be ranger. That’s all,” she said. “It’s all I’ve ever wanted to be, and protection is my only gift. I’m a fighter without a scrap of gatherer or builder or justice in me. I guess my plan is to become as strong as humanly possible.” She did a back flip and a few impossibly high jumps to illustrate. “And then to protect Maween for all of my life.”
They all stopped to watch and laugh at her.
“And what about a partner?” Chibu asked, as they began walking again.
Ivy looked shocked. “What?” she asked.
“You know, a significant other?” Chibu asked again. “Do you have anyone in mind? All of you? What part do they have in your plans?”
Jabari knew that Chibu was married to another ranger, so their life was very simple. They fought, they often asked for rounds together, though Chibu’s wife was staying home more often lately with their infant son.
Ivy shook her head. “I’m not thinking about that yet,” she said.
Jabari raised one eyebrow at her, but didn’t say anything. He knew he could tease her, but it was very likely that she would tease him right back and her teasing would go straight to the thing he was avoiding.
Brigid turned to him. “And you, Jabari?” she asked. “What about you?”
“It’s pretty simple,” he said, trying to ignore the heat that was coming from his toes all the way to his face, flooding him in a rush of embarrassment. He didn’t dare look at Ivy for very long. She could read him too well. “I just want to be a ranger. I want to protect Maween like Ivy.”
Then he pointed at a grove in the distance. “Are those our Hoona trees?” he asked. Thankfully they turned their attention away from him.
It was the second part of his plan that he couldn’t tell them, the part that Chibu wanted to know about. Jabari wanted to protect Maween, but beside Isika. He wanted to marry her and work for Maween together. For a thousand other things, he would overcome embarrassment by shouting about his plans. But not this. He knew that he could scare Isika away. She wasn’t ready. So he kept his plans to himself.
; The stand of trees was indeed their landmark. They jogged toward the tall Hoona trees with their yellow bark and leaves, and soon saw the house and well they were looking for.
Around the well was a kind of haze, drifting along the earth and clinging to the well. Jabari narrowed his eyes, looking at it. What under Nenyi’s skies was it? Chibu’s face grew serious.
“Silence, kids,” he told them. “Keep your hands on your staffs.” He had his hand on his sword. Rangers were sword carriers, unlike seekers. Their jobs were more dangerous. They patrolled the borders of Maween and tried to do no harm, but if need be they would fight.
As they approached the well, dry heat soared up at Jabari from the field, pulling at his clothes and sucking the moisture out of his mouth. Cicadas began shrieking from the trees. It was eerie. Jabari rolled his shoulders as pressure settled on him with a heavy hand. What was it?
They drew closer, silently and slowly, all senses alert. Then the ground in front of the well opened up and giant ashy lizards poured out of it, hissing at them. The lizards stood and approached, waving toward them like a mirage of death.
“Mud demons!” Ivy yelled, baring her teeth. Before Chibu could say anything, she leapt toward one of them, slicing through it with her staff, bludgeoning it until it disappeared in a puff of ash and turned back into dust that hissed at them from the ground.
Chibu was not far behind her. He leapt toward the next mud demon, sword flashing. Then ten more sprang up from the dust of the demon Ivy had killed. The Baloto wove and sang in their ashy hissy voices. It was hard to focus on them as they wove back and forth. Though Jabari could not understand their words, the sound sent terror into his bones. Then very suddenly, one of them stood and was still. It turned to look straight at Jabari, and in the clear high voice of Aria, said, “Isika, no! Stay back!”
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