Maker of Fire

Danasma of House Urssi, Northern Wilderness, Cold Season, 5th rot., 10th day, to 6th rot., 1st day

We left Aybhas on the morning of the last day of the fifth rotation, by the Foskan calendar. I wanted to see my people before I left them behind. I wanted them to know that I did not want to return home before them. I was going home by command of our beloved Vassu, guardian of the sea. The stop in Black Falls took at least a bell, mainly because everyone wanted to meet Emily.

Garkosh Tulkin sidled up to me during our visit and whispered in my ear, "The Prophet Emily is so short and much too young."

"Yes, and yes," I whispered back. "The frightening thing is that she fed herself from the time she was around eight or nine, so she didn't grow up with enough to eat. It's probably why she is so small. She's also sixteen, she thinks."

"She thinks?"

"She's not sure when she was born. She never had any parents or family. Given she's an orphan and raised herself after she fled a breeding farm, what's inside her head is truly frightening. I don't think she realizes that. Talking to her is like talking to an ancient learned sage. She doesn't talk like someone who is sixteen."

As his reply, Garkosh looked at me in disbelief. I had a lot of sympathy for how he must have felt. I felt much the same way. Encountering Emily and speaking with her at length challenged many of my assumptions about the world and the gods.

I didn't mention to Garkosh that I now knew Emily was a reborn person. I was so shocked when I found that out. I was even more amazed when I discovered that Tom, the Queen of Foskos, and the first griffin revelator, Asgotl, were also reborn people. On top of that, they were all from the same general place. The only logical explanation is that the gods did this deliberately.

The biggest shocker was that Emily and Tom were married in their previous lives. I didn't want to spend my entire morning explaining that to my people. That wasn't my purpose in visiting them. Despite my going home before them, I wanted to talk with my traders and reassure them during their time as guests in a very foreign place. My trip to the Inkalemi village in Black Falls was about leadership and building confidence for my fellow Inkalemi. It was not to reveal the strange facts about the unfolding miracles and events of the third age of divine intervention.

While meeting and getting to know a reborn person was startling, one frightening thing about Emily was the way she talked about the gods, as if they were a bunch of troublesome elderly relatives and not the divine powers that created us and the world we live in. If I thought about it too long, it scared me. If you always talked to gods, did you start thinking of them as relatives who had overstayed their visit?

When we left Black Falls, we flew across the Great Cracks. I even saw one erupting, throwing a spray of glowing molten rock into the air every few breaths. The trade fair last Growing Season was routine, excluding Emily's and Usruldes' visit, and the attack was a nightmare; however, I felt like I was on a real adventure for the second time in my life.

After crossing the Great Cracks, we stopped at a hot spring in a narrow but lovely mountain valley. Both the Queen and Lord Usruldes said it belonged to Emily. Someone had built two shelters for each side of the soaking pools. A hedge of pine trees separated two sets of pools, one for women and one for men. Each side had a Coyn-size pool, a Cosm-size pool, and a cold water pool just big enough for a Cosm to dunk and cool off. The bottoms of the pools were paved and smooth, without a speck of nasty gravel anywhere. The Queen said the pools and shelters were the work of Ud, the spider monster.

Emily said the valley we were in was her home. We stopped because she wanted to show Tom where she lived before the Queen brought her to Foskos a year and a half ago. Soaking in the hot spring was delightful. Emily and Tom both brought the new musical instrument called a divine and sang many songs after dinner. I was surprised that the griffin Asgotl also sang, as did the Queen.

I had no idea before this trip that griffins could sing. Lord Usruldes teased Cadrees, his eagle friend, trying to get him to sing. Then we all learned what a bad idea that was. Eagles can't sing—they screech. Asgotl teased poor Cadrees without mercy afterward. It was obvious to me that the two were good friends.

I learned around the cook fire that evening that the divine was an instrument from the previous life of Emily and Tom. The Queen was familiar with it too though she didn't play it. Given all the shocking things I had learned about the four reborn personages, the revelation about the divine didn't surprise me. Emily and Tom related that they met because they both played the divine. They had sat together at a singalong in what they called a city park, a public space created simply for the enjoyment of the populace.

The divines were incredible. I decided I wanted one. I sang a common rowing song from Inkalem, and Tom soon was playing an accompaniment for it. Then Emily showed me how it was done. She and Tom made it seem simple, though I suspect it was harder to do than it looked. Regardless, now I want to try.

I asked the Queen if a divine might be sent to Tuleen so I could have it delivered after the passes opened. The Queen gobsmacked me because she created a divine with her magic right there and gave it to me. Cosm mages are fantastic and scary.

The Queen did all the cooking. I was amazed to discover she was an excellent cook. She looked like she really enjoyed it too. It's not what one would expect from royalty. We stayed the night in the shelters, warm inside a magical barrier, and left in the morning.

We spent most of the next day flying across the northern wilderness, down most of the Copper River before it turned south, over a pass, and then down the north fork of the Claw River. We followed the Claw to where it emptied out into the Great Wash. The scenery was amazing. I found myself envious of all these Cosm mages and their flying mounts.

We turned north at the Great Wash and flew into the Fenlands. We landed on the only hill surrounded by endless iced-over scrub pine-covered swamp. Ud the spider monster was waiting to greet us.

Ud, the Fenlands, Cold Season, 6th rot., 1st day

It was the best year in years and years and years! Not only did I have two hundred refugee warmages as my guests, I knew that my two students, Asgotl, Cadrees, Twee, Emily, and two other Coyns, were about to arrive. I knew without knowing because I walk the time-space strings. Life was much less boring than last year.

One of my eyes on the Great Wash saw them as they entered the fens from the south. I had more than enough time to get to the front door. I met them at the top of the hill. Cadrees landed right in front of me. He had Twee, Usruldes, and a Sea Coyn on his back. The Sea Coyn had the smell and the aura of the Urssi Tribe.

The ever-interesting griffin Asgotl put down, bearing Jane, Emily, and a very pretty male Coyn. I did love the look of copper-colored hair on humans. I knew he had a purpose here, in the same way that Asgotl had a purpose here. I knew without knowing that he was important to Emily because that is how my unique magic works. Jane was good enough to learn this if she wanted, but only after the twins were born.

I reminded myself two days in the future to mention possible problems with breeding offspring and Emily's developmental health since they need to know. Jane or I could help with the physical corrections. Women who want to lay eggs but have physical problems doing so can harm their own mental health and that of their families.

Emily was so easy to read, except when she wasn't. His name was Tom. She was worried her physical shell in this life was unattractive to him and that he would leave her. He feared she would reject him now that she was so far above him. He was afraid she didn't need him. Oh, their auras matched so nicely. They were one of those pairs. Oh, young love was so much fun. Fun! Fun! Fun! I was very much less bored. Emily was fun. Tom would be too. I knew without knowing.

I love romance. Watching them brought back memories. I delegated the viewing of memories to one of my nine sub-brains.

*I have your rooms ready. I am so happy to see all of you. No, Tom, I do not eat sapient beings. Young noble of Urssi, it has been many years since one of you has graced my doorstep. I open my door with a greeting on my lips to offer you water and meat, and friendship to the stranger.*

I made a beaker of water for her and a straw into an appropriately-sized container of water for me. We drank. That was nice.

"I am Danasma of House Urssi, Camp Master of Uldlip," she put her fingers to her lips and her heart and then bowed to me with her cupped hands in front of her.

*I am happy to meet you, Danasma of House Urssi. Let's sit down and chat about how things are in Inkalem and your experiences in Foskos. And now,* I turned my eyes on Usruldes, and faster than he could dodge, I flung him up into the air. I loved this little tease.

He came floating gently down, legs crossed, hands behind his head, and a very annoyed expression on his face. Emily started laughing, and Jane was fighting not to. She lost. The Chem shook his head, and the two other Coyn were bemused.

I love company.

I couldn't wait to see Cadree's reaction when he saw all the eagles in the main cavern. I didn't think he'd like having to schedule a flying time when the weather went bad like it did the next day. I knew that lazy griffin wouldn't care. So I had company for longer. What fun! I didn't feel bored.

Tom, the Fenlands, Cold Season, 6th rot., 1st day

Ud was incredible. She was like a monster in B Movie, only she had a pleasant and almost motherly personality. She also had a sense of humor, teasing the gigantic mage Usruldes by throwing him up into the air at an unbelievable height. You could tell she had done this to him many times from the look on his face—and the way Emily and the Queen were laughing.

The most surprising part of this trip has been the Queen, acting more like a home economics major than royalty. She even makes jokes and plays little pranks on Em. She's comfortable with Usruldes, too. I get the feeling they've done this sort of traveling thing before.

I wasn't complaining. I merely made the observation. It was nice to travel across the wilderness with people who were comfortable with each other.

Ud put me, Em, Danasma, and Twee on top of her. We rode into her home on her back.

*I don't usually light up the caverns, but I currently have visitors who need a cycle of dark and light to properly achieve their required sleep trances. They have also been helping out with the marine rescues and hunting for me. You will be happy to hear that there are other things to eat besides mutton, Emily.*

Emily laughed. So did the Queen and Usruldes. Emily told me about her first visit to Ud, but she didn't mention anything about mutton.

*Twee, I put in a fish tank for you and stocked it. Remember to visit.*

Twee bounced up and down and made that rapid clicking noise that's the Chem laugh. For a frightening spider monster, Ud had a lot of friends.

Ud took us through passages that went down below the ground surface. She eventually emerged into a cavern that had to be three or four times the size of the Astrodome. My jaw might have fallen out of my skull because of twenty roc eagles and their mages flying in formation. Many more eagles, certainly more than a hundred, were perched on rock formations everywhere. Scattered across the cavern floor were tens and maybe hundreds of Cosm-scaled tents. Silverhairs, primarily women in dark green and deep red flying clothes, stood sentry duty, hustled about on errands, or wandered about at their leisure.

*Ilsabess! Ilsabess! I brought company! Shall we have a feast and party tonight? Two of my new guests are great musicians.*

A silverhair tall enough to be a high priestess emerged from a large tent that screamed "General!" at me. She was wearing a padded jacket for martial arts practice. She moved like Usruldes and Imstay. She had lavender-colored eyes, which were stunning. There were so many more eye colors on Erdos than on Earth.

She looked at us and spotted Emily.

“May the blessings of the eleven gods be upon you, Great Ones,” Ilsabess walked up and made a bowing obeisance.

“And upon you too, Holy One. Please rise,” Twee replied since it was his turn to respond to obeisances. It was an arrangement the four revelators had worked out to spare Emily from making all the replies.

"Merciful Mugash," Ilsabess studied Twee, "you've been marked by Vassu. I am Ilsabess, High Priestess of Erhonsay from the Valiant Shrine in Hoydee," she bowed her head at him. "Might I inquire who you might be, Great One?"

"Sssssss am Twee, Holy One." Twee's tongue flicked more than usual, which I now knew meant he was nervous. I guessed he was uncomfortable with an Impotuan silverhair of status after he had been enslaved in that country. "Why are the warmages of Impotu at my friend Ud's home?"

*Twee! Peace, little one. They are refugees like your friend Arma.*

"It seems Impotu is bleeding away the best of its mages," Danasma remarked sharply. "Were any of your mages involved with the attacks on Black Falls or Uldlip?"

"I refused to participate in that campaign and forbade my mages to become involved," Ilsabess retorted with extra bite to her words. "We might still be at home if we had gone, but I could not participate in any action that attacked other shrines. It was a war designed to break the Conventions of Surd. No priestess or priest could live with such sacrilege."

*Ilsabess, Danasma, peace. Ilsabess, you know what happened at Uldlip. Danasma is one of the survivors. She is Camp Master of Uldlip, what's left of it.*

Ilsabess closed her eyes and grimaced. Then she got on her knees and kowtowed to Danasma, "Camp Master Danasma, I would like to tell you that Impotuan soldiers are better than what you encountered. I wish I could. I can only assure you that the warmages of Erhonsay from the Valiant Shrine would never act in such a barbaric manner and would never break the Conventions of Surd, which for us are scripture."

"Please get up, Holy One," Danasma's voice sounded suddenly different, all diplomatic and well-spoken. "I apologize for my sharp words. It was my grief and rage speaking, not myself, for I should know better. I confess that I still feel angry and grieving over what happened to a centuries-old trade camp with a long history of peace and honorable trading. We should be friends while we are sharing the same roof."

"I thank you for your graciousness, Danasma Camp Master," Ilsabess got to her feet. Standing up, his head was level with where we were sitting on Ud's back. "I hear the Inkalemi have a delicious way to roast eel. Might I inquire if you know of what I speak? My warmages go fishing, and they catch a lot of eels, but no matter what we try, the taste is a bit too fishy."

"Ah!" Danasma smiled, "I see you want to pry that trade secret out of me. I give up. I have been intimidated into showing you. I will need a knife I can handle, at least twenty skewers, a grill, and a charcoal fire under it."