I was in danger, but they rescued me from the situation. We were escaping.I took a deep breath and thought of the way Shazeera and I shared experiences. I thought reluctantly of Ozul—of all the people he had turned into walking corpses. I thought of the way he had latched onto me and drained away my energy, my life force, until it felt like I was on the brink of death.
You were,the eagle said, the tone in my head somber.But once we bonded, I lent you my strength.
So that’s how I recovered,I said, still reeling with quiet amazement. I still felt a bone-deep weariness and like I desperately needed to eat and sleep, but no longer did it feel like my heart struggled to beat in my chest.How can I ever thank you enough for saving me?
We are bonded now,he said.I will protect you with my life.
The moment he said that, I realized that not only did I know deep in my heart that he spoke the truth, but that somehow, I felt the same way. Even though I had only just met him, I had been waiting for him all my life.
What should I call you? It feels impersonal to keep referring to you as “the eagle” in my mind.
I could feel his amusement.I have a name, but it’s one given to me by the wild eagle clan and may not translate well into your language.
I considered this for a moment. The way we were communicating now—it wasn’t a language I’d ever spoken. The eagle senthis thoughts to me, and my brain somehow translated them. Yet the words seemed familiar to me, like I’d heard them in a dream. If I stopped to think about it too long, I got a headache.
Tell me anyway,I told him. It wasn’t like any of this mental communication made sense in the first place.
He thought for a moment before saying,It’s something like “violent wind.”
Like a storm?I asked. He responded back with the mental equivalent of a human wrinkling his nose.And suddenly, I remembered the conversation I’d had with the wind spirit. He had said,Ride the tempest, tame the wind.Tempestwas another word for a violent, windy storm, and when Mistral first told me, I thought I would have to go out and face down a storm and try to harness its power.
But now…
My breath caught in my throat before I tentatively asked,Tempest?
The eagle made a little warble sound out loud.“Tempest” is an acceptable translation.
Suddenly it all made sense.Ride the tempestreferred to our bond. I smiled up at him, still stroking the smooth feathers. Did this mean that my bond with Tempest would allow me to fully control the power of the wind?
I prayed with all my heart that it did because I knew my people would need that power now more than ever. By confronting the Devourer, I had broken the treaty by using wind magic against it. Even if I hadn’t, though, there was no way I would go through with the marriage now.
I’m still not sure how any of this happened,I thought to him. Do wild eagles bond with humans?Much less humans who weren’t Zephyrians.
Never.
A shocked silence descended over me.I don’t understand,I finally said.
I’m not sure I can explain because I’m not familiar with the bonding process. I only know that I was drawn to you, and when I thought you were in danger, I came to your rescue. But the moment I was close enough to hear your mind—even when you were unconscious—I knew I could never be apart from you.
Despite the impossibility of it, we had bonded, but the reason for it was apparently beyond both of us.
The wind spoke of you once,he said.
Surprise shot through me.You heard the wind?
Yes, though I didn’t know it meant a human until now. It said I was destined to be united in power with the wind caller.
The wind spirit told me the same thing, though I didn’t understand at the time what he meant,I said, as the memory clicked into meaning.
I knew the moment I saw you that you were the one. You’re the human I’ve seen since I was just a chick.
Time seemed to stretch and slow, the sheer magnitude of his words reverberating through me. Suddenly, my mind dredged up an image of that day two years ago, when I stumbled upon an eagle’s nest.
You mean, you’ve seen me in your dreams?
Well, yes, but I also saw you once. When I was only two weeks old.
The memory played through my mind. The chick that had come close enough for me to touch…before its mother returned and tried to kill Shazeera and me.
