Page 121 of Salt in the Seas
“Which means they’ll be safe,” Orra said softly.
Emeris nodded, but her gaze clouded over as she descended into one of her occasional states of confusion. It had grown worse with Aeliana’s absence. In some moments, like now, it seemed like a self-defense mechanism, where she allowed herself to retreat into her mind so she didn’t have to face the terrible reality.
“There’s more,” the first scout said. His gaze flicked to Orra, and he licked his lips nervously.
“Spit it out,” General Nels growled.
He winced, his gaze somewhere around General Nels’ chest. “They’re communing with the Stars.”
“The Stars?” Orra’s mind raced as she took in the meaning. “The Stars are communing with Mayvus and the Ahmranans?” He might as well have said the Stars were communing with the witches.
It stung to be told something she hadn’t foreseen. Her magic had grown so weak over the years that she couldn’t searchmany paths, but her experience gave her wisdom to search the right ones. Or it had until recently.
“Are you certain?” General Nels asked. “No one has communed with the Stars for hundreds of years. Did you see light come down from the heavens? Maybe Mayvus is doing something with her magic, some sort of trick that mimics their descent.”
“They’ve begun communing again,” Orra said slowly. “Reyna told me as much. She just didn’t say who…” She frowned, thinking through Reyna’s words. The Star had come to collect Jasperus’ body and starlock after they’d defeated the Zealots, but she’d been as aloof as ever with Orra. After making the cryptic comment that they’d found people worthy of communing with, she’d taken to the skies, leaving Orra alone with her regrets.
“We saw the lights come down,” the scout continued, his tongue loosening after Orra’s confirmation. “Not every night, but most nights. Two or three separate lights. At first we thought someone had died or had their Awakening, but it was happening so much we knew that couldn’t be right. We snuck closer one night, and…” He trailed off, exchanging glances with the others.
“We only saw them from afar,” the second said, “but they were brilliant.” His face shone with the memory, and tears sprang to Orra’s eyes. “And they stood among the people, talking to them.”
Orra blinked the tears away, remembering the sense of completeness with communing, the joy of giving people the briefest glimpse of the Sun’s glory, of leading them to reflect its power in the same way. She pinched her temples between her thumb and fingers, warding off the headache she sensed coming. “Why the Ahmranans?”
Reyna had told her they were communing with a select few. It was exactly how it had begun all those years ago. The Sun had created the humans and the Stars, allowing them to mingle together on the earth. At first, the Stars’ visits were rare. They couldn’t bear to leave the Sun’s presence in the sky, to give up the opportunity to reflect its glory. The privilege of communion with a Star was highly sought after by the humans, and Orra supposed that history was how they’d begun to be worshiped on the other side of the barrier.
But the Stars grew to love the humans, even bonded with them andcreated a new people group with starblood in their veins—magic that had to be taught and tamed. Stars gave up locks of hair to enhance their children’s magic, encasing them in intricate stones that the half-lights wore around their necks. But all of that had been good, blessed by the Sun.
There was nothing good about this. Even if Mayvus hadn’t been involved, she questioned it. Before the Great Divide, the Ahmranans had been a bitter people group who had hidden in the north to breed the highest starblood concentrations possible. They’d sought power for themselves, not for the glory of the Sun. After the Great Divide, they’d been stuck there, forced to become as hard as their frigid surroundings. The people brought over in her days as Pirate Redwood were evidence of that. Could their descendants have changed so much that the Stars chose to commune with them?
It seemed unlikely if those same descendants were following Mayvus.
“I’m not sure the why matters,” General Nels said. “What matters is that they have Stars on their side. Our numbers aren’t likely to matter in that case.”
Orra swallowed hard, afraid to confirm his words even though they were, without a doubt, accurate. Perhaps she’d taken too long to reunite the starbridges. Perhaps she’d failed in the mission the Sun had given her so long ago. Would the rest of the Stars make their own mistakes? Would more be grounded? How much more would Rhystahn feel the effects of the stone she’d thrown?
“We need to warn the others,” Rildan said. “Now’s the time to send Gullet.”
“Gullet can’t cross the barriers,” Orra said. “If we send him now, he’ll grow confused if he can’t find them. Who knows if he’d come back here or await Gaeren in Elanesse?”
“Aeliana crossed the barrier?” Emeris asked, rising from the cloud of confusion she’d been under.
Rildan and Marnok exchanged a glance.
“About a week ago. Soon after I arrived,” Marnok said.
“Where will they return?” General Nels asked.
Orra shrugged. “I suspect somewhere on the west coast. I know theleast about that starbridge. I found the stone and cutlass ages ago, but the fish and arrow were only found and used in the last hundred years.”
The scouts squirmed at her casual mention of her longevity, the youngest even flinching away from her despite the comfort she’d previously offered.
“We thank you for the update,” Orra said. “Is there anything more? I’m assuming you’d all love to wash off the dust of the Bahlric Desert.”
General Nels frowned at her but didn’t disagree, so the three men took their leave.
“So now what?” Emeris asked. “Do we send a delegation to the Elanesses asking for aid?”
“I was thinking more that we send you away for your safety.” General Nels raised a hand to silence her protests. “But if sending you as part of a delegation makes it seem more tasteful, I’m open to that that.”
