Ellysetta had never seen something so perfect, so beautiful.«Rain... oh, Rain... »
The black tairen turned his head, his lavender eyes glowing bright.«Welcome to Dharsa, shei’tani. The shining heart of the Fading Lands.»
Rain dipped his wing and banked left, soaring along the perimeter of the ring of hills. Steli, Fahreeta, and Torasul followed close on his tail, and the four tairen landed in a small clearing where the Fey returning from Celieria City waited with Ellysetta’slu’tansand the rest of the formerrasa.
The warriors were smiling as they had not smiled in years. A palpable aura of joy surrounded them, and they had already buffed their gleaming black leathers and polished their steel to a mirror shine in preparation for their entrance into the city. Waiting Air masters spun Ellysetta, Marissya, and Dax clear of their saddles.
Gaelen was there the moment his sister’s feet touched ground. He caught her in his arms and held her tight. “Mioralas, little sister. Gods’ blessings upon you.” Still holding her tucked against his side, he offered Dax a smile and a hand, which his bond brother clasped warmly. “Te a vo, Dax. My heart sings for you both.” He turned back to his sister, grinning proudly. “A Tairen Soul, no less. I never thought v’En Solande had it in him.”
Dax was too happy to take offense. “Just wait, bond brother. When my son finds his flame, he’ll teach you respect.”
“Some miracles are beyond even a Tairen Soul’s power.” Bel smirked at Gaelen’s narrow-eyed look and added, “Release your sister. There are other Fey who would wish her well.”
While Dax and Marissya accepted the congratulations of the Fey, Earth masters enveloped the pair in swirling threads of power, changing their leathers to rich flowing robes in shades of green and white to celebrate the precious life growing in Marissya’s womb. The hundreds of Fey surrounded her like the treasureshe was, and each of the formerrasatook a moment to kneel and touch her hand in a way they would never have allowed themselves to do only a few days earlier.
When all had offered Marissya their joy and she had spun ashei’dalin’s blessing on the assembly, the warriors stepped back to form ranks.
Rain took his place at Ellysetta’s side. He had changed into full ceremonial dress, black leathers, purple-silk-lined black cape, his boots tooled with the scarlet and purple outlines of tairen rampant, Tairen Crown resting upon his brow. Ellysetta, in her plain brown traveling leathers, felt out of place beside the others, but when she asked Rain to weave a more appropriate gown, he smiled mysteriously and nodded towards Bel, saying, “Yourlu’tanshave prepared something for you.”
Bel stood at the front of the gathered warriors. When all eyes were upon him, he bowed low and said, “It is the custom of the Fey that ashei’dalinwho has won the bloodsworn bond of a warrior should wear his blade at all times, both for her protection and as a symbol of the honor in which she holds the warrior’s bond. But three nights ago in Chakai, the Feyreisa proved yet again she was born to set tradition on its head.”
Thelu’tanslaughed and shouted, “Miora felah ti’Feyreisa!”
Bel waited for their shouts to die down before he continued. “Three hundred seventeen Fey bound their souls to the protection of the Feyreisa after her legendary night of healing. Counting Gaelen and me, Ellysetta Feyreisa now claims three hundred nineteen bloodsworn champions. Noshei’dalinhas ever won the bonds of so many.”
“Nor ever will again!” thelu’tanscried.
White teeth flashed in a brief grin of agreement before Bel once again raised his hands to quiet his exuberant brothers. “This posed quite a challenge, since the Feyreisa clearly could not wear so many blades, yet not to do so would dishonor the bond. We”—heturned to gesture toward the assembled Fey—“the warriors who have bloodsworn ourselves to her service, have devised what we hope is an acceptable solution.”
He gestured to Gaelen, Tajik, Rijonn, and Gil. The four Fey stepped forward, holding Fey’cha belts and a set of studded leathers inshei’dalinred.
“Gaelen and I have agreed that Tajik, Gil, and Rijonn should join us to serve as your primary quintet,” Bel continued. “Our blades are here, in this hip belt. The otherlu’tansthrew lots to see whose blades you would wear in your Fey’cha belts, and the rest we transformed into the studs in your leathers. They are all here”—he gestured to the studded leathers and the weapons belts—“every one of your bloodsworn blades. Let a single drop of your blood fall on any stud or blade, and you will summon the warrior who bound himself to you.”
Ellysetta accepted the gift with reverent hands. “Beylah vos.I will wear these with pride.”
“Sha vel’mei, kem’falla.”Bel bowed. “Today, however, we thought this might be more appropriate.” He nodded at Rijonn and Tajik, who raised their hands and loosed bright weaves of Earth. The leathers disappeared and re-formed on Ellysetta’s body as an ornately embroidered gown woven from the silvery Fey steel of herlu’tans’blades. Two sashes of purple and scarlet crisscrossed her chest like Fey’cha belts, holding dozens of sheathed bloodsworn blades, while the Fey’cha of her primary quintet dangled at her hips alongside the Tairen’s Eye crystals of the warriors who’d died to protect her back in Celieria. Her hair they left in a thick rope of red coils down her back, bound by a series of silver rings.
“Nicely done, my brothers,” Rain approved. Steli, Fahreeta, and Torasul purred their agreement. With the concentration of so many Fey nearby, Ellysetta’s own power was rising. Her entire form gleamed with a golden-white radiance that made her gown of silvery Fey steel shine like a star. “You will dazzle them,shei’tani.” He lifted his wrist for her hand. “Come meet your people, Feyreisa.”
The main gate of Dharsa, flanked by a pair of crouching stone tairen, was an exquisitely carved white stone arch of immense proportions. Beyond the arch, an avenue lined by giant sentinel trees, whose intertwining branches formed a soaring, sunlight-dappled corridor, led the way into the fabled Fey city.
Thousands of immortal Fey had gathered on rooftops and the main thoroughfare. They cheered the arrival of the warriors returning from Celieria, but when they caught sight of Marissya and Dax in their robes of verdant green, a celebratory roar rose from the crowds. Celebration turned to tearful joy as more than a thousand formerrasareturned to their city and loved ones for the first time in many long years.
Joy turned to awe as Fahreeta and Torasul stepped into view. Fahreeta roared and growled and held her shining wings high in a show of beauty and fierce majesty. She stopped occasionally to spout small jets of flame, much to the Fey’s cheering delight. Torasul, stoic and deadly, padded with lethal grace at her side, lowering his head every now and again to glare at the Fey gathered along the avenue and bare a threatening fang, which made the warriors grin and bow.
Behind Fahreeta and Torasul marched Ellysetta’s three hundredlu’tan, and as they stepped into the streets of Dharsa, their voices rose in a song of their own, called “The Star of Chakai,” which several of them had composed to celebrate theshei’dalinwho restored their souls.
Finally, it was Rain and Ellysetta’s turn to enter the city.
“Are you ready,shei’tani?” Rain’s eyes were aglow with a mix of tenderness and pride.
Though the shy Celierian in her wanted to turn and flee, Ellysetta drew a deep breath and put her hand on his wrist. “Aiyah, I’mready.” Together they stepped from the sheltering avenue of trees onto the broad, white stone streets of Dharsa.
The moment she appeared, a deafening roar arose from the Fey.
“EllysettaBeilissa, Eiliss o Chakai.Ellysetta the Bright, the Star of Chakai!”
The reverberant cry stole every ouce of breath from Ellysetta’s lungs and startled thousands of birds into flight.
