Page 26 of All the Wandering Light

“But if this is true, it could be useful.” Lusha seemed to be thinking out loud. “It could give us a window into what the witches are planning.”

I glared at her. I wasn’t sure I appreciated being referred to as a useful window.

“Well, you’re all right, aren’t you?” Lusha said defensively. “Now that you’ve calmed down.”

“I’d like to see how calm you would be, in my shoes.”

“I will never be in your shoes, Kamzin.” Lusha’s voice was ice. “Because I would never be foolish enough to trust the word of a fire demon.”

“I’m still not convinced,” Mara said. “Dreams can be vivid—isn’t that the most likely explanation? Besides, I can’t imagine River would allow Kamzin to use Azar-at’s power, if this sort of thing was possible. I doubt he would be happy sharing his thoughts and plans.”

“River doesn’t know about my contract with Azar-at. He was long gone.” I was frustrated. “If I’m imagining this whole thing, if it was just a dream, how is it I know that River led an expedition to look for a fallen star before, and that you were with him?”

Mara’s expression grew scornful. “He could have told you that himself.”

“So now I’m delusional and a liar?” I narrowed my eyes. “Apparently it rained the whole time, but that wasn’t as bad as your complaining. And your scrolls weren’t carried off by the floods, you know. River threw them away when you weren’t looking.”

Mara opened and then closed his mouth. Any response he might have given, though, was forestalled by the sound of wingbeats.

“Biter!” Lusha called. The raven circled our campsite, then landed with a thud on Lusha’s shoulder. She winced, while the bird crouched low, clearly relieved to rest his wings. His feathers were in disarray, and he managed only a low crrk when Lusha stroked his beak.

“You made it,” she said, her voice gentle. Biter held out his foot, and she removed the scrap of parchment tied there. The bird burrowed into her hood.

“That’s not your note, is it?” I said.

“No. He reached Azmiri.”

“What does it say?” I crowded around her before she could respond. The note, once unrolled, was short. The sight of Father’s handwriting brought tears to my eyes. The paper smelled like home, of Aunt Behe’s cooking and Father’s incense. He would have written it at the table in his bedroom, his shoulders hunching to bring his eyes as close to the paper as possible—Father’s sight was terrible. I swallowed against the tightness in my throat.

The message was simple enough—there had been no sightings of witches in Azmiri, and as far as anyone could tell, the Nightwood was quiet. There had been an attack on one of the villages in the Southern Aryas—the signs suggested a barbarian force. The emperor had sent his Ninth Army to investigate, which would certainly get things under control. Father would have guards stationed around the village, and any animals or birds who strayed within its boundaries would be shot on sight with obsidian arrows. Chirri would cast all the warding spells she knew, and he would send a messenger to the emperor to request an army to protect Azmiri. In short, he wrote, we were not to worry about the village, but were to return home as quickly as possible, where he would expect a full account.

“I didn’t give him many details,” Lusha said. “About River, or what happened on Raksha. He would have blamed himself.”

She folded the note gently, careful not to tear it. River’s deception, and my own role in breaking the binding spell, loomed large in my thoughts. “We’ll have to explain it all eventually.”

“Eventually. After we get home and he sees that we’re safe.”

“Can I look at that?” Tem said. Lusha handed him the letter. He unfolded it, muttering something about the Ninth Army.

“Can’t we reply?” I said.

Lusha touched Biter’s beak. The raven barely stirred. “He wouldn’t make it. It will be days before he can fly again.”

My chest ached. I wanted nothing more than to follow through on our plan—to make for Azmiri as if the fiangul were chasing us. But—

“Lusha, we have to find the star,” I said. “I think the witches need it—why else would they hold off on attacking the Three Cities? They despise the emperor more than anything. If they could destroy him now, they wouldn’t hesitate.”

Lusha didn’t meet my eyes. Her gaze was fixed on the ground, but it seemed distant.

“If you truly saw a glimpse of River’s expedition to the southern rainforest, you should know how ridiculous your idea is,” Mara said. “Fallen stars are impossible to retrieve, because they don’t stay fallen—they return to the sky within days.”

“If you say so,” I said. “I don’t know anything about them, besides what River was thinking in that moment. I don’t even know what they do.”

“The ancient shamans used them,” Tem said, glancing up from the letter. “To what purpose, I don’t know. It’s not something Chirri ever asked you to study—probably because they’re so rare.”

We all looked expectantly at Lusha. Of all of us, she would know the most about fallen stars, having been apprenticed to Yonden, the village seer, for more than five years.

Yonden. I realized that Father likely wasn’t the only person on Lusha’s mind as she turned to gaze in the direction of Azmiri. I bit my lip and refrained from pressing her.