Ellysetta froze in dazed surprise. Fluttering wings filled the skies of Dharsa, and fragrant petals rained down from the blossoming orchards of the surrounding hills. From every road and rooftop garden, every path and walkway, the Shining Folk sang her name with breathtaking, boundless joy. Thousands of Fey hearts opened to her in an outpouring of love and welcome so abundant, so genuine, it stunned her to her soul.
The hand on Rain’s wrist began to shake. Tears filled her eyes, turning vision to a watery blur until she could no longer see the faces of the thousands gathered to greet her. Never had she dared to dream of such a welcome.
«Meivelei, shei’tani.»Rain’s Spirit whisper sounded oddly choked.«Meivelei ti’Dharsa.»
Somehow she kept walking, though her knees were quaking so hard she thought she would crumple in a puddle to the paving stones. The outpouring of love drew out her own magic, lighting her from within until she glowed bright as the star thelu’tanshad named her.
Behind them, Ellysetta’s bloodsworn quintet followed in a protective semicircle, while Steli paced at the rear as the self-appointed sixth member of the quintet. The tairen strode like thechakaishe was, proud, stately, her eyes gleaming sapphires in the pure white of her face. Her claws, half extended, clicked on the paving stones as she walked, and she held her wings unfurled in a show of protective might.
The procession halted at the base of Dharsa’s central mount,where the five lords of the Massan and theirshei’dalintruemates stood waiting. The warriors burst into their final song: a booming, joy-filled rendition of “Ten Thousand Swords.” As the Fey voices built to a soaring crescendo, Fahreeta, Torasul, and Steli reared up on their hind legs, pawing the sky, roaring, and shooting jets of searing flame upward as their great wings beat the air: tairen rampant, the symbol of the Feyreisen’s power. The three held their pose as thelu’tansang in perfect, stirring pitch the song’s final verse: “Ten thousand swords protect you, beloved of us all.”
With a final roar that shook the ground like thunder, all three tairen leapt into the air. Mighty wings beat hard and fast, gaining speed and altitude until the tairen were circling the city overhead, the first true tairen to do so in a thousand years. They filled the skies with roars and flame, then soared north and disappeared from view.
Rain lifted his arms and called out both aloud and in a Spirit weave that carried to every corner of the city, “Mioralas,Fey!Mioralas, kem’ilanis!With pride, this Fey presents Ellysetta Feyreisa, truemate of the Tairen Soul, she who shines light on shadowed souls, restores hope where none remains, and brings fertility back to the Fey.” He lifted her hand and raised it high.“Miora felah ti’Feyreisa!”
The formerrasatook up his cry:“Miora felah ti’Feyreisa! Miora felah ti’Feyreisen!”
The crowd burst into explosive cheers and applause, and thousands more Fey added their own voices to the exuberant cries.
Rain let his gaze sweep over the crowd, finding dozens of faces he knew, seeing the subtle nods that told him the message of this carefully orchestrated show had not gone unnoticed. And as his eyes met and held the gazes of the five Massan and their mates on the podium, he knew they had not misunderstood either.
If they had truly been considering Challenge, they’d just realized they were outmatched. Ellysetta had saved therasaand been accepted by the tairen and, thanks to her powerful fertility weave,had brought the promise of life back to the Fading Lands in the form of Marissya v’En Solande’s unborn Tairen Soul son.
Despite the looming threat of war, the gods were clearly smiling on the Fey once more. Thanks to Ellysetta Feyreisa, the Star of Chakai.
With a faint, deliberate smile, Rain leapt into the air, his body dissolving in a swirling cloud of rainbow-shot mist. Moments later, pure black, magnificent and deadly, his tairen form wheeled overhead. He swooped low over the crowds, and Ellysetta’slu’tansspun a whirling jet of Air that lifted her high and deposited her smoothly onto his back as he passed overhead.
«Hold on, shei’tani.»
«Rain, wait. What about the Massan? Are we not going to meet them?»
«They will join us in the palace in a few bells, before the banquet to celebrate your arrival begins. For now, let them celebrate Marissya’s joy and the return of the rasa, and let us enjoy what I fear will be the last chimes we will have alone for many days. I have a feeling all of Dharsa will want to greet you personally and ask for your blessing.»
Rain circled one final time over the crowds before soaring towards the palace at the top of the city’s central hill to give Ellie an unimpeded view of her new home.
Wider than several Celierian city blocks, the five-sided white marble hall rose up from lush, manicured gardens. Gilded tairen rampant crouched on the rooftop at all five corners, and in their great jaws, each cat clutched a gleaming globe of Tairen’s Eye crystal. A large tower capped with a golden dome rose above the center of the complex, and at its apex stood a silverstone Feyshei’dalindraped in rippling golden robes. Her face was upturned, her arms raised over her head, holding aloft a sixth crystal globe, larger than all the rest, that shone pure white and radiant as the sun.
«Legend says the white stone is thekiyrof Lissallukai, the tairen who breathed magic into the world,»Rain told her as theycircled.«The tairen at the corners of the building represent the five makai who led their prides to follow her here.»
«And the shei’dalin and five warriors?»Below theshei’dalinholding Lissallukai’s soul crystal, five statues of fierce Fey warriors ringed the base of the dome. They leaned out over the edges of the tower roof into the winds, silverseyaniswords unsheathed and clutched in their pale stone hands. Each warrior wore finely scaled armor gilded gold and silver and covered with tabards enameled in rich shades of scarlet, silvery white, rich purple, cobalt, or verdant green.
«The five branches of Fey magic, of course, and the love that gives us hope and holds Fey warriors to the Bright Path. They guard and bless the Hall of Tairen, throne room of the Feyreisen.»
On the northeast side of the dome lay a large, open courtyard sown with a green expanse of grass. They descended onto the thick grass, and Rain Changed back into the Feyreisen’s ceremonial garb.
“This is beautiful,” she said, looking around.
“When the prides were many, and themakaiscame to Dharsa to meet with the Feyreisen, this is where they would gather before entering the Hall of Tairen. Steli and the others will join us here tomorrow when they return to sing to the Eye.”
The walls of the courtyard were covered with a mural of mosaic tiles that depicted various scenes: tairen soaring the blue skies above Fey’Bahren and Dharsa, hunting on the Plains of Corunn, stalking through verdant forests, and swimming in aqua waters beside silver-sand beaches. The tiles shimmered with magic, and Rain showed her how to make the scenes come alive by turning her head. Ellysetta laughed in delight and turned her head from side to side to watch the tairen stalk and the trees rustle in a breeze.
He led her to the south wall of the courtyard, where a shimmering pool lay waiting under the southern eave. A silverstone maiden and warrior poured continuous streams of water from crystal urnsinto the pool, while on the wall, mosaic tairen crouched on either side and appeared to drink. Rain plucked a golden cup from a small niche beside the pool, held it under the stream of water, then offered it to Ellysetta.
The moment the water touched her lips, her eyes went wide. One small sip erased every hint of weariness and filled her with vibrant energy.“Faerilas.”She sipped again, then drained the cup, shuddering a little at the rush of refreshing power. “But much stronger than any I’ve tasted yet.”
“The pool is fed directly from Dharsa’s Source,” he told her. He filled the cup for himself when she was done. “There is no more potentfaerilasto be found in all the Fading Lands.”
“What makes it so much stronger?” She watched his throat work as he swallowed and saw the glow of his skin grow brighter as thefaerilasrenewed his magic.
