Chapter 6
WALKING ON CLOUDS
We waited on the platform while the excision ceremony took place.
The storm raged above us, and now that I knew that it was vayujaari that controlled it, it didn’t seem as fearsome.
But it would be gone soon enough. When they left, they’d take the storm makers with them.
This settlement would remain, abandoned to history…
But we’d remember. I’d remember the beings who’d lived here.
“They’re coming,” Kalani said, pulling me out of my thoughts.
Zarael and Jaantor joined us on the platform. Was it my imagination or had they lost a little of the ethereal glow that usually surrounded them? The glow might be gone, but the gleam in their eyes when they looked at each other was brighter than ever.
“The ship will be here shortly,” Jaantor said. “We will collect the civilians and get them safely to Shantivan. Then we can return with you and aid you in gathering allies.”
“I won’t be going to Shantivan. I need to act now. I have to stay behind and begin recruitment. The nagrata and whoever else I can find to aid me.” C’ael would find me once Zarael told him where I’d gone.
“She’s right,” Kalani said. “There is no time to waste. Yudh, Dhoona, and I will stay with her.”
Zarael nodded. “Very well. Jaantor and I will transport your people to Shantivan and then join you back on the mainland. We will find you.”
“Where is the camp?” Jaantor asked.
“The Ustara Mountains,” Kalani said. “East of the—”
“Yes, I know where that is. The nagrata lair isn’t too far from there. You should travel with us, say goodbye to your people, and then continue your journey.”
It looked like I’d be returning to camp after all. “How long will it take to get to camp on your ship?”
Jaantor grinned. “An hour. We move fast.”
“It’s here,” Zarael said, looking over my head.
I turned, breath catching at the sight of a ship made entirely out of clouds.
“Now that’s impressive,” Kalani said.
“Wait till you see on board,” Jaantor said, chest swelling with pride.
The ship came level with the platform, and a set of steps made from cloud matter formed to bridge the distance between us and the deck.
I arched a brow. “And that will hold us?”
Zarael grinned. “Scared?”
I rolled my eyes. “Hardly. If I fall, I know you’ll catch me.” I matched her grin, then climbed the cloud steps, surprised at how sturdy and real they felt beneath my boots. I glanced over my shoulders at the others. “Well, hurry up. We don’t have all day.”
I might not have had an army, but I had refuge for my people and a plan to gather support against the primordial evil. The nagrata would be powerful allies indeed.
I’d crossed the ocean on a ship housed on the back of a turtle, so riding a cloud ship shouldn’t have felt strange, but the fluffy, misty appearance of the deck fueled my anxiety.
At least on the turtle, the ground had looked solid.
Here every step made me cringe, so I stayed close to the wheel, to Zarael as she kept us on course while Jaantor did something with the cloud sails.
I couldn’t see what because he was hidden by mist high above.
“You get used to it,” Zarael said. “After a while, your mind and body will recognize the atmosphere as stable. You will differentiate between the space within and that which is outside.”
Yes, that was disconcerting too. There were clouds surrounding our ship. Clouds that looked like our ship. But the deck glowed with silver light, and so did the hull, so it was clearly defined as a safe zone.
It was warm, too, as if air was trapped within some kind of dome around us, circulating, staying temperate enough not to be uncomfortable.
Still, I needed a distraction. “So…you and Jaantor?”
She winced, but there was a smile hidden in it.
“We were some of the first vayujaari born here. The new generation. We’d never seen our true home, and so this became our world.
On our home world, we would have been kept separate.
Living in specific regions and meeting only for summits.
But here, those of us who survived the crossing lived together, and vayujaari like Jaantor and me, born here, were trained together.
Learned together. After a while, we fell in love.
But even though we were in a new world, the old laws stood.
We could not be together. Rootborn, emberheart, stormbound, frostviel, and tidecarver must remain separate in genealogy for when it came time to return to our world.
The delineation is balance.” She smiled wryly.
“And so we buried our feelings and existed.”
“That’s so unfair.”
“I suppose it is. But it is how the collective survives. We are bonded to our race in a way that makes us integral to the whole. If they would have allowed Jaantor and me to mate, then it would have corrupted both our collectives. But now that we have been excised, our love doesn’t corrupt the collective. ”
“I don’t understand. Why didn’t you ask for excision before?”
“We did, but it was denied. Jaantor and I are generals. Powerful warriors. We’re assets that they couldn’t afford to release. I guess now that there is hope of returning home, hope for the collectives, the elders can afford to show benevolence.”
“So you can die now?”
“We could die before, but not by any means available in this world.”
“I’m surprised the Authority didn’t make you fight the devouring force.”
“Yes…I often wondered why we were never called to the front lines. I always assumed there was a clause in the oath, some loophole that allowed us to avoid direct contact, but now I wonder if the Authority suspected our immunity to their lies. That they played along with our feigned ignorance but kept us away from the line of fire. From the Asura and demigods that we may have revealed the truth to.”
“And you never said a word because you needed refuge for your people?”
“Yes, refuge and peace. Truth be told, we are not powerful beings, not on our world. But here…the air…the sun…it loans us abilities we do not have in our home world.”
It reminded me of several comic book superheroes, and I couldn’t help but smile.
“You know, if you wanted a distraction from the cloud ship, then you could have asked me about Vayelle. About my friendship with her…with you back then.”
“The forbidden romance was much more alluring.”
She laughed. “I suppose it is.” She flicked a glance my way. “You can ask me about her, you know. I’m happy to tell you what I know.”
Did I want to know about who I’d been? About the warrior. The woman who could shoot arrows with her eyes closed and hit the mark every fucking time. Honestly, I was a little intimidated by past me. But curious too.
“All right, tell me how you and I met.”
“You insisted on learning how to wield a sword, and you insisted on the best trainer they could find. You wanted a woman to train you in the art of swordplay because you knew that there would be a difference in methodology. I was the best back then, and I was summoned to aid you. We became friends quickly, and even once I had taught you all I knew, we remained thus.”
“And Chandra?”
“He was there before me. An emissary who you’d befriended. He was there often at the keep. And I…”
“What?”
She shook her head. “Nothing.”
“Oh, you can’t do that. Leave me dangling like that.”
“I don’t want to say something that may not be true.”
“But you think it is?”
“I believed it to be at the time…” She smiled softly, her mercury eyes clouding. “I believed Chandra to be very much in love with you.”
My heart skipped a beat. “What? I mean…did he say something?”
“No. It was in the way I would catch him looking at you when you weren’t aware. The soft longing. The yearning. But he knew that you didn’t feel the same way. I believe he valued your friendship too much to shadow it by expressing his desires.”
“And then I married Ilyarien.”
“Yes…yes you did, indeed, but only when he bested you in a sparring match. Your father wanted you wed, but you were adamant that you would only marry a male who could best you in swordplay.” She laughed softly.
“Chandra had no chance, and he knew it. Many males came and tried, but you beat them all, and do you know why? Do you know what the consensus was amongst them as to the reason that they failed?”
“Go on…”
“They were disarmed and distracted by your beauty.”
“Pfft, typical macho bullshit.”
“Indeed. But Ilyarien took it to heart.” She grinned and shook her head. “That djinn fought you while he was blindfolded, and he won. Gods you were furious at having to marry him.”
A memory surged up in my mind’s eye. A man on the sands, dark hair pinned up in a knot, eyes hidden behind an ocher scarf. Bare-chested, skin gleaming, a slight smirk on his beautiful mouth. My breath caught as I tried to latch on to it, but it melted away, leaving me with a soft ache in my chest.
“But I fell in love…didn’t I?”
“Oh, that you did…eventually.”
“We’ll be approaching the Ustara Mountains soon,” Jaantor said, appearing beside us, his ember gaze fixed on Zarael.
Fiery tendrils of hair had escaped from his braid and fell around his cheeks becomingly, and it was obvious Zarael was enraptured by the image.
Her mouth parted slightly, and her cheeks flushed, eyes lighting up with the warmth of intimacy.
How long had they skirted their love? Their desires? Their needs?
Yeah, these two deserved a moment or two alone. “I’m going to take a turn around the deck. Get used to walking on clouds.” I backed away, but those two only had eyes for each other, and I doubted they noticed me leaving.
A pang lanced through me. Gods, I missed that feeling. The zing of eye contact. The flood of heat.
Araz…I miss you so fucking much. And I’m going to get you back. I promise.