Crown of Stars by Rachel Devenish Ford

Author:Rachel Devenish Ford
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Small Seed Press

* * *

Keethior still had not returned. Isika kept herself occupied with Petitions, visiting Tomas in the pottery workshop, and journeying into the forests and fields around the city. She rode her horse, Wind, at sunrise, watching the way the light illuminated the grasses in the plains, the mountains and valleys. Nat accompanied her on these journeys, sometimes yawning as Isika stopped to examine tiny flowers in a patch of ditch weeds.

Isika reminded herself as she rode, "I take care of this land; I am the World Whisperer." She wondered if it would ever come to her naturally, if she would ever wake up already feeling like a queen instead of having to remind herself. "Shaper, be with me."

Sometimes Nat sang while they rode, and Isika joined in. She had grown closer to her guard since Ben and Ibba left. She had fewer people to talk to, so she teased Nat until Nat smiled at her. The older woman was quiet. She had seen a lot in her life. But the longer Isika persisted, the more Nat warmed to her, until they had an easy friendship where few words needed to be exchanged, but many words often were exchanged. Nat loved to sing the songs of devotion in the morning, so if Isika left early and Nat had not yet completed her morning devotion, she sang on horseback. Isika knew some of the songs, and Nat taught her more.

"Did I ever tell you why I became a guard?" Nat asked one day as they were walking on a path through a stand of hoona trees, leading the horses.

Isika looked up at the older woman. She was even taller than Isika, with short natural hair that was streaked with gray. She had a strong jaw line and arms that would make even the most foolhardy attacker think twice.

"No," Isika replied. "You haven't."

"I was on the ranger mission when Dawit and Teru's son died," Nat said. "He was my friend. I don't know if Dawit or Teru remember that I was there. But it was terrible. One minute he was there; the next, he was gone, and we knew the poison had taken him. Teru held out hope for a long time, but even she had to admit that he was dead. I felt so responsible. So I put all my energy into learning how to protect the elders and the people around me. And I became very good at being a guard. Eventually, they asked me to do it all the time, rather than only when I was between ranger journeys."

"That's terrible," Isika said.

Nat looked over at her and nodded. "It is."

They both stopped walking to look at a pair of butterflies resting on the trunk of a hoona tree. How could such things exist in the same world? Isika wondered.

"I volunteered to be your guard," Nat said. "It's been an honor."

"I'm the honored one," Isika said, and they walked back to the road so they could ride home.

Isika tried to live as she imagined the future would need her to be.

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