World Whisperer

by Rachel Devenish Ford

  The man grinned and walked down the steps to clasp Jabari in a firm hug, then he moved to Gavi and hugged him. The other three people walked to join in, leaving their papers on the table behind them.

  "Wait," Ben said to Isika. "Did he mean sons as in figurative sons or real sons?"

  Isika shook her head, frowning. She felt heavy and confused. This must be the regent, and if Jabari and Gavi were his sons, well they were like princes, weren't they? And brothers! They had never said they were brothers!

  She looked at Benayeem and Ibba and they stared back at her, wide-eyed. She felt sick to her stomach, as though the room had turned upside down. The camaraderie of the last days evaporated in the rich, scented air of the palace. The tall, elegant people finished with hugging and kissing the two boys. Isika felt shabby and dirty in her traveling clothes. When Gavi looked at her she glared at him. He came close.

  "Jabari didn't want to tell you," he said. "I had to respect that."

  "So you thought you'd spring it on us now?" she hissed at him.

  Jabari spoke to the robed people, who stared at Isika and her siblings with curiosity. The one who had called Jabari and Gavi sons opened his mouth to speak, but just then, the Othra swooped into the large room, bringing breezes of peace with them. Isika had never been with the Othra in a closed space, and as they flew past the guards and through the columns, she was full of wonder at the way feelings of wellbeing reflected off every surface. She straightened her back as Nirral and Efir settled at her feet and Eemia landed a foot or two ahead of Benayeem. Jabari's father shifted from foot to foot, and the other man, who hadn't yet spoken, lifted his head to look directly in Isika's eyes.

  "Jabari, what is this?" the first man asked.

  It was Isika who answered. "Sir," she said, "We are looking for our brother. Jabari and Gavi have brought us to find him."

  Jabari shot her a look. She narrowed her eyes at him. He cleared his throat.

  "These three are poison-landers." The dark-skinned woman gasped. She wore a circlet on her head as well. Jabari went on. "They followed an outcast," he said, his head up and his back very straight. "We led them through Maween so they could reunite with him in our city. I worried about taking poison-landers through our lands, but they," he swept a hand toward the Othra, "were very persuasive." He paused, watching the large birds, as though leaving room for them to speak, but the Othra were silent, besides a quiet whirring and clicking that came from Eemia. They looked at home in the large room, rather than out of place, and the jewel colors in their feathers flashed and changed continually.

  "But they don't look like poison-landers," one of the women said. Her white skin was a stark contrast to the black skin of the tall silver-haired man who stood beside her. He held a long staff in his right hand, made from wood that looked like the silverwood trees by Lake Ayo. Isika felt a sudden urge to touch the staff, an urge he may have been able to see, because his brown eyes crinkled in a smile. He had the darkest skin Isika had ever seen, and eyes that were brilliant in his face. The woman who had spoken was breathtaking. She wore a long, green robe embroidered with silver flowers, and she had flowers in her hair, which was flame colored and fell to her waist. She shook her head.

  "But wait, they are tired. Come children, sit, it seems you have walked a long way."

  The man with the staff guided them to a nook in a corner of the room. Low, wooden platforms were covered with colorful cushions and these had even more pillows piled on them. Servants emerged from behind the pillars and placed cups of water and plates of fruit on a low table in front of them. The soft-footed servants startled Isika; she hadn't seen them before they moved. The cushions were soft, and as Isika sank into a mound of pillows, she felt her weariness threaten to push her farther into the seat. She felt as though she could sleep for a year.

  She pushed herself straight upright, willing herself awake. Once she found Kital, she could sleep, but it was important to concentrate with her baby brother so close. Not far from the cushioned area, the Othra settled themselves on short pedestals, and promptly went to sleep, tucking their heads under their wings.

  As everyone found a place to sit, one of the women spoke. "Please introduce your friends, Jabari," she said. Her circlet was so thin and delicate on her forehead it looked like a silver thread against her dark skin. Her robe was deep orange, also covered in intricate silver embroidery. Everything was gorgeous. Isika sank farther into the cushions.

  "Yes, Mother. This is Isika, Benayeem, and Ibba," Jabari said, gesturing to each of them. Ibba stood up and gave a deep bow, and everyone laughed. She sat down, flustered, but Jabari's mother smiled and beckoned to her, and she settled Ibba close to her side, holding her hand.

  "Welcome, young ones," said the man with the circlet. "We will have food, beds, and baths for you soon. But first, I'm afraid, we must talk. I am Andar, regent and high elder of this land. You have met my sons, and this is my wife, Laylit, second elder. This man is Ivram, third elder and my advisor, and his wife Karah, fourth elder, first of the rescued ones in Maween."

  Isika stared at Karah, then remembered she was in a palace and there must be some response called for. She bowed her head in greeting and felt Ben doing the same beside her. Then she took a moment to really look at the elders.

  Andar was perhaps an inch or two shorter than Jabari, but he was elegant and gracious, with glowing black skin and short, tightly curled black hair. He radiated authority. His wife, Laylit, was smaller than him, short only by Maweel standards. In the Worker village she would be considered a tall woman. She was the most beautiful woman Isika had ever seen, her skin a rich brown, with a high curving forehead and large brown eyes. The lines of her face looked as though an artist had drawn them, and her hair coiled around her head like a crown. Laylit watched Isika with a slight frown between her eyes, as though she was puzzled by something.

  The man with the staff was extremely tall, with dark skin, gray hair, and long limbs, and his wife, Karah, was tall like him. Her red hair was loose, flowing around her, but Isika saw that pieces were braided into tiny plaits that shimmered with gold beads. Together, the four of them were impossibly beautiful. They shone in the room. She tried to hide her dirty feet, jumping as Gavi elbowed her and winked. She gave him a small smile in return before she remembered that she was angry with him.

  "So," Andar said. "Introductions are behind us. You followed your brother. We have never heard of this happening."

  "That's because it has never happened before, sir," said Ben.

  Andar sat back and looked at them. "But how did you come to live with the poison-landers?" he asked.

  Isika sighed. So many questions when she simply wanted to know where her brother was. And Aria. She shoved back the tiny flame of hope with Aria's name on it. Isika told the story of her mother in the desert quickly, then asked, "Do you know where our brother is?" She couldn't quite keep the impatience out of her voice and she saw the man called Ivram smile.

  "Andar, the child is right. We have time for these questions later," he said. "Let's help these journeyers if we can. But, young one," he said to Isika, "we were just now conferring about a strange problem." He gestured toward the table and the papers scattered over it, which Isika was now close enough to see were maps. "The rescuers haven't returned, you see, and we wonder whether we should send someone for them, because they should surely be back by now."

  A strange, choked sound came from Jabari and Isika looked at him. It was the first time she had seen how fear looked on his strong face, and her stomach flipped with dread. She leapt to her feet, towering over everyone who remained seated.

  "What? What do you mean?" she cried.

  Gavi touched her leg. "Sit," he whispered, frowning toward the seated elders. She sank onto her cushion, legs shaking, her face on fire, angry and embarrassed at whatever rule she had broken, despairing because she had believed she would hold Kital this very day, expecting to arrive in the city and simply open her arms up to Kital while he ran into them.
Her hands shook, and she sat on them to make them stop.

  "What do you mean they're not back?" Jabari repeated, and Isika felt worse when she heard the urgency in his voice.

  "We don't understand either," Andar said. "What could have held them up?" The elders gave each other troubled looks.

  "How many rescuers?" Gavi asked.

  "Four," Ivram said. He heaved a deep sigh. "Ivy was with them."

  Gavi sat back with his head in his hands.

  "Who is Ivy?" Isika whispered.

  "Our daughter," Karah answered.

  "Do you think—?" Jabari started, his face creased in a frown.

  "Yes," his father said, before Jabari had even finished his question.

  "What? What?" Isika asked, looking at the faces before her. It was cruelly ironic; they sat here with kind people and beautiful things, fruit sliced on a plate before them, but Isika could not enjoy a single part of it because of the fear that broke over her like a wave.

  Andar looked at her, his face serious. He had the same wide-set eyes and strong jaw that Jabari had, but when Isika looked at Laylit, Jabari's mother, she could really see Jabari's face. Gavi, the former Worker child, sitting beside his brother, didn't look like either of his parents, and Isika briefly wondered what life was like for him as an adopted rescued one.

  Andar spoke. "We have enemies we call the sea people, for we don't know their name and they have never told us, preferring to stick to shadows and betrayal rather than declare themselves. Our neighbors and allies, the Hadem, have told us that recently the sea people have been more powerful than usual. For every boat of Hadem that patrols the outer waters, there are three of the sea people's, working to break into our lands and steal our children. The Hadem can usually hold them back, but lately they have been struggling. They brought us a report just last night," Isika saw Jabari sit up straighter, "that they have seen signs of boats that have landed on our shores, but that the boats had been burned."

  Shock rippled through Isika and this time she had no words. She sat and waited for it to sink in.

  "What do they do with the children they steal?" Ben asked.

  Andar looked into the distance. It was Ivram who answered. "They sell them," he said. "Sometimes the Desert King takes them as slaves or sacrifices, sometimes even as child brides."

  Isika slumped in her seat, staring at the cup of water she still hadn't sipped from. A memory of her brother came into her head, unbidden. After she had forgotten to speak the sacred words at the gate one too many times, Nirloth had punished her. She was holding a cold cloth to her face later when Kital—he couldn't have been more than three—came to her and placed his hands gently on each side of her face. He looked into her eyes and sang the words she had sung to him ever since he was born, the same song Isika's mother sang to her when she was alive. She remembered his gentle eyes and felt despair flood her. He was too small and vulnerable to survive slavery.

  "What do we do?" Ben asked, his hands clenched into fists. "We need to find them."

  "Do you know where the boats landed?" Gavi asked.

  His father nodded. "The Hadem elders showed us on the map yesterday."

  "Then let's go!" Isika exclaimed. She sat forward, her hands on her knees. The Othra fluttered on their perches, then were still.

  "You must wait in the city, child," Laylit said, leaning forward, her eyes troubled. "We will send a group of rangers to find them—"

  "Laylit," said Ivram, and the end of his staff glowed white. He closed his eyes and opened them again. "Forgive me. I believe they have a right to see their journey through. Isika and Benayeem will go with the rangers. The little one will stay here." Isika saw a look of relief cross Ibba's face, before she frowned and looked like she would cry. Isika could see telltale signs of exhaustion in her sister. She had walked a long way for a little girl, but Ibba knew Kital better than any of them, and Isika knew her sister's heart longed for Kital.

  "I would like the little one to stay with me," Laylit said. "Would you like that, darling?" Ibba looked at her, then nodded. She blinked back tears and snuggled back into Laylit's arms, eating a slice of orange. Isika didn't really like the idea of Ibba staying with a stranger, but she could see that this little girl could become a great princess. She met Gavi's eyes, and they looked quickly away from each other, stifling smiles. It was impossible to stay angry at Gavi.

  "We leave in the morning," Ivram said. "Get some rest."

  Andar looked sharply at the man with the staff. "You too, brother?"

  "I go to find my daughter."

  Isika wanted to protest that they should leave immediately, but she saw a steely look in Ivram's eyes and knew she was fortunate to be going at all, so she closed her mouth and crossed her arms, tucking her hands under her elbows. She finally leaned forward and drank of the cold cup of water on the table, finishing it in one long drink.

  Everyone stood, and Isika saw Andar turn to Jabari.

  "Traveling with these young ones was without incident?" he asked quietly.

  "Oh, I wouldn't say that," Jabari said, glancing at Isika. "Some poison-landers came deep into our lands to pursue the young poison-landers. And there were… incidents." Heat blazed into Isika's face and she turned away.

  "Very well," Andar said. "You may give a full report later." Isika had no doubt that Jabari would tell all her misdeeds when she wasn't around. She tried to shrug it off, but it bothered her. For some reason, she wanted the elders to have a good opinion of her.

  They bowed their way out of the room, Jabari and Gavi promising to come back to give their parents a full account of the trip later in the evening. Isika turned on them as soon as they reached the hallway, her fists clenched. She wanted to punch them, but the door guards were watching and she didn't know whether hitting an insufferable son of a regent was allowed in Azariyah.

  "Why didn't you tell us you were brothers? Or that your father was the regent?" she demanded.

  Jabari shook his head. "It doesn't matter in the outer reaches of the land. It only matters here, in the city."

  "Well, you could have told us, I don't know, when we were approaching the city? A little warning would have been nice!"

  Jabari looked at her, his face frustrated. "Would you have walked in there with us if you had known?"

  She thought about it, "I don't know. Maybe." Actually, probably not. She would have expected trouble and might not have gone. The whole journey would have been different if she had known Gavi and Jabari were more than young seekers.

  "The Othra told me not to tell you, if you must know my reasons. They said you would equate my power with the power of the poisoned ones, that you wouldn't know it for what it really is, and that you would be afraid."

  Isika whirled to face the Othra, who had followed them out of the great room, but they were gone. Gavi shook his head and touched her on the arm.

  "You need to learn to trust, Isika. Not everything is a battle."

  "How can I trust when people don't tell me the truth?" she asked, shaking with anger and exhaustion. She covered her face with her hands and took a deep breath, trying to understand. If anyone had shown her they were on her side, it was the Othra, but they had kept this from her. Inside her mind, she reached out with a question, and to her deep surprise, she felt a response from far away. She saw the perspective of the Othra as they circled the city, and she breathed in sharply as her gaze followed the city, nestled into a valley, one edge climbing a mountainside. The countryside spooled out to the east of the city, and the mountain sheltered the buildings from the strong winds from the north. The deep comfort of Nirral touched her heart gently, and she was so surprised that her anger evaporated in a moment.

  Isika had never seen through someone else's eyes before. She looked up at Jabari, stunned, and he took a step toward her, but just then a scuffle broke out at the great palace doors.

  "Ibba!" Benayeem called. "Where are you going?"

  Isika turned in time to see Ibba run through the wide front door
s, leaping down the wide steps and into the street. Isika ran after her little sister. She had to watch her feet closely as she clattered down the unfamiliar steps, but she looked up as she reached the bottom, only to see Ibba running after a cluster of kids. Isika chased her, stopping as Ibba paused, looking unsure.

  "I thought I saw Kital," she said.

  "You couldn't have," Isika said. "He's not here."

  The group of children turned to look at them, and there, in the center, was a tall girl with a bow, her hair woven in hundreds of tiny braids that clung to her head and cascaded over her shoulders. She wore a sky-blue, sleeveless tunic over wide brown pants, and she had soft leather boots on her feet. But it was her face that stunned Isika. She looked exactly like Kital. She looked like Isika's mother.

  "Aria!" Isika breathed, and then the world spun. Jabari caught up to her and caught her as she fell. Her last thought before she lost consciousness was that this didn't mean she wasn't still mad at him.

  CHAPTER 22

  "Bring water!" Isika heard Jabari call from what seemed like far away. Her head hurt, and as she came back to herself, she realized that she was lying on the ground, the top half of her curled up in Jabari's arms. She sat up immediately and pushed away from him, accepting a ceramic jar of water so she could hide her face in it, regain her composure, and calm her spinning head. Jabari stood and held a hand out for her. She took it and pulled herself to her feet without looking at him. Instead, she looked back at her lost sister, standing there surrounded by other young people. Aria looked back at Isika warily.

  "Aria, it's good to see you," Jabari said.

  The tall girl smiled at him, dimples creasing her face. "It is good to see you," she said. "Have your travels gone well?"

  "Aria, don't you know me?" Isika asked. Aria frowned, confused.

  "What are you talking about?" Jabari asked Isika. "How do you know Aria?"

  "This is my sister," Isika told him, and just then, Gavi and Ben reached them, Ibba holding tight to Gavi's hand. Aria looked at Benayeem and then Ibba, and understanding broke over her face slowly, like the sun setting. Isika saw its heaviness hit her, and that's when she realized that Aria had put them away, on a shelf outside of her mind. She had tried to forget them. This was a forceful reminder.