There’s nothing but bright white light.
Kiaga, a voice shouts back.
Ama! This time, Liz sits up, her eyes open but not focused, and she screams so loudly that everyone near cringes.
As the light fades and the world returns to something comprehensible, Euphrasia looks the same, but also different. As she bursts from the water with Liz, brilliant, shimmering wings unfurl behind her and she launches into the air with a terribly loud scream. The other water blessed follow suit, spreading their wings and flying. The ice spears that were about to harm them both appear to have disappeared.
And when the ice vanir strike again, Euphrasia’s scream melts their spears into water, which splashes harmlessly to the ground below. The ice vanir shriek and backpedal, slamming into one another and nearly crashing to the ground. Within less than ten minutes, the attack force we came to defend against has nearly all fallen back. Thunar even circles down to see what happened, and he seems quite impressed.
Liz is asleep, and her body still appears to be slowly healing.
The water blessed, as they make their way to Vancouver Harbour where Liz was being kept, have all regained their wings. Euphrasia’s giddy, which is surprising. They lost nearly two thousand of their number—staggering losses for a single engagement. More than a third of the water blessed on earth are just. . .gone.
They would all say their sacrifice was worth it, Euphrasia says.
To protect one earth child? Thunar’s disgust is clear.
To regain what we lost, Euphrasia says.
Thunar explodes upward, clearly displeased, and disappears through a portal, presumably ditching us to return to Australia.
Take Liz and go back to keep an eye on the little ones, Hyperion says. I’ll make sure everyone here makes it home.
I consider arguing, but Liz is wiped out, and I’m just glad the vanir fell back. I’m not sure how much longer our people would have kept fighting. Sometimes, the best win you can hope for is not to lose. For the first time since I came to earth, I wonder whether my father’s arrival wouldn’t be a blessing.
Even with the water blessed upgrade, I’m not sure we can beat them back again. And although we could refuse to fight for the Americans in the future, it’s only a matter of time before the vanir bring the fight to us. We may have been gone a long time, and we may have freed them, but it appears that old hatreds don’t die easily, especially after they’ve been baked in a volcano for thousands of years.
Chapter 18
Kiaga
A bright light is the first thing I recall.
It’s warm, it’s welcoming, and there’s a sound that goes with it. I later know the sound as laughter. At the time, I just knew I liked it.
“Kiaga,” the maker-of-light, the author-of-laughter says. And then her eyes sparkle and the corners of her mouth turn upward. “You are Kiaga, and I am Ama.”
“Ama,” I repeat.
Her mouth turns up even more sharply. She’s smiling. It’s my favorite thing. I want to see it more and more.
“Where are we?” I ask.
“This is my home,” Ama says. “And you’re my child.”
For a very long time, there are only the two of us. But then Ama makes me brothers and sisters. She smiles more. We all do. We learn to tend to the earth, as children of the earth. We plant and cultivate flowers, fruit trees, and vegetables. We learn to take grains and grind them and make bread.
Baked bread becomes almost as good to me as Ama’s smile.
We make shelters to keep us safe and warm when the rains come, and when the rains turn cold and freeze, we prepare rushes to keep our homes more comfortable. We prepare food for seasons when the earth slumbers and does not provide. We grow. We live. We love.
I’m not sure how much time passes, because Ama never changes.
I don’t either.
The others do, growing older, becoming feeble and sick, and eventually, returning to the earth. The others age and die, but I do not. I am nourished by Ama’s smile. I remain in her shadow, never far from her light. Thanks to the bright, warm strength of her smile, walking across the welcoming, loving earth where I was created, I know I will endure. But one day, after one of the other earth children I particularly love returns to the earth, leaving me lonely, I begin to wonder why Ama made me and why I am different.
I ask.
