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What would they see when they looked at me?

I patted my hair, then smoothed both hands over the soft leather covering my skirt.

“Do I still look okay?” I asked Matthias, my nerves adding the slightest bitterness to my sweet scent.

“You look perfect. I have no doubt your mates will be delighted by the sight of you.”

He leaned down and kissed my forehead.

I was so taken aback that I didn’t know what to say. Thankfully, he didn’t expect me to. He simply gestured to one of the attendants, who brought my cape and fastened it behind my shoulders just as the ship touched down.

Three clear notes sounded through the lounge.

Cedric rose. “That is our signal.”

The ship’s door opened, and cold air swept inside, sharp with snow and something green that reminded me of forests after rain. After weeks in the Kharith heat, breathing it felt almost indecently good.

“You should proceed first.”

I looked at Cedric. “Me?”

“You are the one they have come to receive.”

I almost had a mini heart attack.

Please don’t fall. Please don’t fall in front of all these people. Please.

I stepped down onto the platform. Wind caught my skirt and lifted the edge of the cape from my shoulders, sending the sapphire lining flashing behind me.

Heavy boots struck the stone in perfect unison. The formation advanced and stopped as one, each soldier raising a gloved fist to the centre of their chest.

An officer separated from the front row and approached. Three silver tags gleamed on his coat, with the Vaelor crest fixed at his collar.

He greeted Cedric, Samir and Matthias before turning to me.

“A new light to you, Lady Elowen. I am Commander Eirik Halden of the House Guard. On behalf of House Vaelor, I welcome you to High Mountain.”

I opened my mouth to say good afternoon, then remembered Eleanor explaining how people in High Mountain greeted one another.

I inclined my head. “A new light to you too, Commander. It’s an honour to be…” I searched for the right words. “…welcomed like this. Thank you.”

His expression remained composed, but something in it eased.

“The honour is ours, my lady.”

He issued an instruction in Kottarsht. The soldiers responded as one, hundreds of voices rising together as the entire formation moved in perfect synchrony. By the time their voices fell silent, two perfectly straight lines had formed with a wide path between them.

I had no idea what they’d said, but it felt monumental.

Commander Halden stepped aside and indicated the newly formed path between his soldiers, leading away from the landing platform.

Goosebumps rose over my skin as we passed between the two lines of House Guard.

Ahead of us, a broad avenue curved along the mountain’s side. Rock rose on our left, filled with carved windows, doorways, and shopfronts, while a stone parapet ran along the right, overlooking the mountains beyond. It was absolutely stunning.

People paused as the procession passed. Some bowed their heads while others pressed a fist over their hearts. Snatches of Kottarsht moved through the crowd, spoken too quietly for me to separate, not that I remembered many words in the first place.

I really needed to learn Kottarsht.