The other lands

"That I make a fine Shivith," he said, speaking his thought aloud.

Mor made a sound low in her throat. "We'll see."

Late the next afternoon, he moved as one of a group of ten. Unbound completely now, he followed Skylene's slim form through the maze of subterranean passageways that had been his home for weeks. This time he was not being shifted to another cell. This time they came to a door, opened it, and stepped outside.

At first his eyes shot across the field beside them. It had been a long time since he had taken in the open world from ground level. The sky hung ominously huge above them. Rows of strange vegetables-bushes about a man's height that bristled with long arms, each ending in a fist-sized bud of some sort-seemed to be marching toward him in military lines. Blinking, it took him a moment to confirm that they were, in fact, stationary, but a moment after that he detected movement coming from another quadrant.

The wall above him was alive with a sickening, slithering, u

"What are those?" Dariel asked.

Tu

"Not like those," Dariel said.

"Don't worry." Tu

They moved on along the wall, undisturbed by the writhing limbs. Dariel stayed close, trying to match the other's composure. Failing at it.

They cut around buildings and ran through fields and climbed, for a time, over rooftops. Dariel had to keep his focus on his progress, on the placement of his feet and hands and on keeping up with the others, but he took in the panorama that was Avina in quick glimpses. Enormous. Never ending, it seemed. Buildings jutting up into the distance.

Tu

Dariel thought it sounded exciting, dangerous in all the ways that set his boy's fancy tingling.

Twice, the group had to split up to navigate crowded streets. Dariel walked beside Tu

The sun had fully set and the sky had settled in to early evening dark by the time the group gathered in the corner of a warehouse. Dariel could smell the sea. It was so near, just a wall away, he thought. It smelled like freedom to him. Skylene sent Birke and another man to check the last bit of the route to the destination. The rest waited. Dariel found himself standing beside Skylene. She pressed closed to him, closer than seemed necessary. He knew why. She was staring at his freshly tattooed face.

"I can't get used to seeing you like that," Skylene said. "You look like one of us, but I sat talking to you so long I know you're not one of-"

"Perhaps I'm becoming one of you," Dariel cut in. His face was still sore, and he could not help but feel the touch of her eyes as a physical pain. "Give me the chance at it, at least."

Skylene kept looking at him. "Mor must have enjoyed doing that work. Did she make it hurt?"

"What do you mean? Of course it hurt."

Smiling, Skylene said, "It doesn't if you chew kenvu root. It deadens the sensations on the skin." She touched a spot on his face with a fingertip. "Makes the markings painless. She didn't mention that?"

"No, she didn't mention it," Dariel snapped. "What's wrong with her, anyway? Does she just enjoy hurting me? Slapping me. Sticking me with needles. Insulting me every chance she gets. Is she like that always? With others?"

"Mor has been one of the Free People for many years," Skylene said. "Her problem is not cruelty. It's that she loves too much, cares too much. She's missing half her-" Skylene stopped, shook away whatever she was going to say. Instead, she lightened her tone. "Anyway, she doesn't enjoy hurting anyone. I think she likes you, actually."

"Tell him," Tu

Skylene looked at him sharply. "We'll talk later."

"Please," Dariel said, "tell me. What don't I know about her?"

"Ah… Mor wants nothing for herself, except one thing." Though she had committed, it still took Skylene a moment to continue. "She had a brother. A twin named Ravi. They were taken together but were separated when they arrived in Ushen Brae."

"So, what… she's looking for him?"

"In a ma

She pointed at the shadowy figure who had just reappeared at the far side of the warehouse. He waved, indicating that the area was free, at least temporarily, of divine children. Dariel asked no more questions. He fell in step behind Skylene, with Tu

Out beyond the edge of concrete pier, the sea moved, black and shimmering. He caught the hulking, jagged shapes of outcroppings of rock near shore through which water sieved. Jets of white foam burst up at regular intervals, ghostly in the darkness, frightening and full of danger. Perfect, Dariel told himself. Just as I like it. Just as Val would like it. Wild.