How could she use that now, when she hadn’t a clue where her destination was? Could she travel…to a person? Could she bring Valorre?
When she’d freed herself from under the horse on the battlefield, she’d traveled with everything that had been on her person, everything she’d carried. But not the dead horse. So proximity hadn’t been a factor. Was it simply a matter of intent? The horse’s body had been something she’d needed to be freed from, a location she’d wanted to leave.
Could she travel with Valorre by touch? Or perhaps through their mental connection?
Valorre left the stream and approached her. Lowering his head in an invitation for her to mount him, he said,We can try.
Steeling her resolve, she climbed back onto Valorre’s back. A wave of exhaustion crested through her, but she breathed it away. She didn’t have time to sleep. She hardly had time to think.
Closing her eyes, she shifted her attention to the elements around her, strengthening her connection to them. She breathed in the mild night air, filling her lungs with the scent of leaves and soil. Pressing her palms to Valorre’s shoulders, she let her awareness radiate down his smooth hide, past his legs and hooves to the earth he stood upon. Through him, she rooted her energy to the earth. Next, she shifted her attention to the melodic trickle of the stream. Then tilted her face toward the sky to feel the light of the moon. The warmth of summer infusing the night.
Air. Earth. Water. Fire.
On a deep exhale, she filled her mind with thoughts of Salinda, the woman who’d treated Cora as a daughter. She saw her brown skin, her long black hair, her dark eyes that crinkled at the corners when she smiled. She pictured the slight angle at the tip of her ears, marking her as a Faeryn descendent. Then she imagined the triple moon sigil that marked the tip of her chin, the ink that adorned her neck in complex geometric patterns, theinsigmorathat trailed over every inch of her arms down to her palms.
Cora’s owninsigmoraseemed to hum in response, warming her blood, fueling her with the thrum that was her magic. She extended her senses and tried tofeelfor Salinda’s presence. Her nearness. Her location.
She got nothing back.
Nothing.
Emotion, she reminded herself.I need emotion to travel.
She imagined Maiya next, the girl she loved as dearly as a sister. Her chest felt warm, but her heart felt so clouded with dread. Fear. Fatigue. Her emotions refused to rise past it.
No, I must feel. I must.
She thought of how the Forest People had cared for her. How they’d taken her in and taught her about the Arts. How they’d helped her recognize her clairsentience. Nurture it. Hone it.
Her heart began to lift.
They were my family, she said to herself.My family. My home.
Her emotions grew lighter. Richer. More potent.
She shifted her awareness to Valorre, welcoming his mind to connect with hers.
My family. My home. She said it again and again like a mantra, seeking some inkling that could guide her toward the location she sought.
My family. My home.
An invisible tug drew her forward, cleaving through her emotions. She followed it with her mind. Her heart?—
My home. The words came not from her mind but Valorre’s. Or was it simply a matter of their minds being connected?
I had another home before this.
This time, she couldn’t decipher where the thought came from, but the sense of awe that accompanied it was so strong that it pulled her deeper into her emotions, strengthening that tug, that pull toward a place. A vision filled her mind now, a meadow of lush green grass in the most vibrant shade of emerald. Dewdrops glittered rainbow light upon every blade. Flowers in the most spectacular array of color shifted in a playful breeze, creating a susurration more melodic than any stream, any instrument.
It was…breathtaking. Unlike any place Cora had ever been. Was this where the Forest People were now?
Home. The word pulsed through her mind and filled her heart with longing. Another pull. Another tug forward. Everything inside her said to move. To step. To enter this new location.
Valorre shifted beneath her.
He took a step forward.
A flare of warm light kissed the other side of Cora’s eyelids. Blinking them open, she greeted daylight. Her mind stumbled under the haze of her meditation, but as her senses sharpened, she realized she and Valorre were in the very meadow she’d seen in her mind. It was even more vibrant than she’d imagined, more stunning.
