Her breath shuddered in her chest. The tears she could no longer fight coursing down her cheeks. Grief and sorrow welled up inside. A loneliness that she'd thought was long gone.
Soon, Polaris or Danyon would come to retrieve her. She had until then to find her composure—and think up how she would break the news to the Trateri.
sixteen
Evawasn'tsurehowlong she stood thinking, lost in her thoughts before Polaris's arrival. This time he was alone.
A fact Eva was thankful for.
Her defenses lay in tatters on the ground around her. She wasn't up to dealing with Danyon's hostility or any of the baggage he brought with him.
Maybe later when she wasn't feeling so raw.
The whoosh of his wings announced his presence before she saw him. His hooves were loud in the quiet as he landed and picked his way toward her, taking the place where Orion had stood not too long ago.
"You heard, huh?"
There was a marked silence that Eva took as an answer.
Are you ready to head back?
Eva forced down her bitterness, her voice nearly cracking as she asked, "Could I have another moment?"
Just one more second before she had to deal with the fallout.
When she finally left this mountaintop, she would be doing so not as the Caller for the Kyren, liaison between the two peoples, but rather as Eva, the plain, unassuming tagalong.
Former herd mistress and a woman who was no longer certain of what her future contained.
Take your time.
The faint note of understanding in Polaris's voice made her smile.
Funny. All this time, she'd only sensed disapproval from him. Only now, when things were at an end, did he let her see something else.
Eva pushed the negative thoughts out of her mind, determined to imprint this scene into her memory. She needed to burn it into her mind so she wouldn't forget.
Not as a lesson of what happened when she took a chance but rather as a reminder of what wonders she might experience when she allowed herself to try.
True, she'd failed, but there were bright spots in the endeavor.
Who else could say they'd experienced flight? Or helped a Kyren bring new life into this world?
Even her visit to the temporary herd lands was something no human in living memory had ever experienced.
There was solace in those memories and Eva would do well not to forget it.
Eva stirred, feeling more centered. "Tell me one thing—will you keep Sebastian from seeing me?"
The loss of the Kyren was one thing. It hurt, but she would recover. Her relationship with them was still in the beginning stages, the bond never having had a chance to deepen.
And now never would.
Sebastian was different. They'd been through the fire together. Trusted each other. He was her friend. Kyren or not.
Losing him would hurt on a whole different level than losing the Kyren as a whole.
Members of the herd can choose to spend their time where they will.
