Chapter1
Everything will be better soon, Daleina thought.
She’d climbed to the top of the canopy and was balancing on two slender branches. Spread before her, the forests of Aratay looked magnificent. Red, orange, and yellow leaves blazed like candle flames in the late-afternoon sun.
This high up, she could see across all of western Aratay, even as far as the untamed lands beyond the border. Shrouded by a thick mist, the untamed lands looked as if they were boiling. As she watched, a mountain burst out of the soupy haze, and then it crumbled. Beyond the borders of the world, everything was as ephemeral as a sand castle washed away by waves.
So long as Aratay had a queen, it would never be like that.
And right now, we have two!
It was a heady thought, because with two queens...We can fix all that was broken.
Below her, she heard Naelin—the second queen of Aratay—huffing as she climbed up the tree. Daleina wanted to tell her to call a spirit to fly her up to the canopy, but she didn’t bother. She knew how Naelin would feel about that. The other queen despised using spirits for “nonessential purposes.”In truth, she’s afraid of them,Daleina thought.
And honestly, it was a sensible way to feel.
Today, though, Daleina didn’t want to be sensible. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath of sweet, fresh air.Today we begin!
The branches jiggled as Naelin popped her head up between the leaves. “And why can’t”—she puffed—“we do this midforest?”
Daleina tilted her head back to feel the sun on her face. It was as warm as Hamon’s caress. She stuffed that lovely thought away, to save for later, when she wasn’t with Naelin. “Because it’s beautiful up here.”
“Beauty.” Naelin humphed and heaved herself up. “Sure, it’s beautiful. But it’s alsoreckless, and we have no heirs.”
Daleina flinched—she was the last person who needed to be reminded ofthat—but she refused to let it destroy her mood. Opening her eyes, she pointed to a hole in the canopy. As she’d hoped, from this high up, it was easy to spot the damaged areas. “We’ll start with that one.”
Once there had been a tree filling that hole, probably a grand one with sprawling branches and dense leaves, but now... The barren patch looked like a black island in the sea of green. Merecot had left countless dead zones in the wake of her invasion.Yet another thing I can’t quite forgive her for.She’d wounded Daleina’s beloved Aratay when she’d attacked—killing its spirits killed the land. They’d pushed the queen of Semo out, but her influence was still visible throughout the country.
The time for fighting was over. Now was the time for healing.
“Come on.” Dropping down, Daleina scampered over the branch until she found a wire path. She hooked a carabiner over the wire. “The closer we are, the easier it will be.”
“Can’t we just—”
Kicking off, Daleina sailed through the leaves. She whooped, and whatever the other queen was saying was lost in the rush of wind. She knocked yellow leaves off their branches, and they filled the air, making her feel as if she were flying through a cyclone of gold.
She reached the next tree quickly, landing on a platform. Unhooking herself from the wire, she waited for Naelin to join her.
“You’re torturing me on purpose,” Naelin said as she landed. She was sweating, her doelike brown-and-gray hair sticking to her forehead. Her cheeks were flushed.
“Not on purpose.” Daleina crouched, peering through the trees. “It’s just a happy accident.” She flashed her a smile, to show she was only joking. Of course, she wasn’t entirely sure that Naelinhada sense of humor. They hadn’t spent much time together, at least not without either Naelin’s children or Ven.
No matter.Ithought it was funny.
A rope bridge led from the platform toward the barren area—very convenient. She wondered why...Oh. A village must have been there.Her heart sank. When the tree died, the villagers’ homes had been destroyed. Maybe lives lost. Moving more slowly, Daleina led the way from the tree to the bridge. She tried not to imagine how many could have lived there.
I did the best I could, she told herself, not for the first time.
Per usual, it didn’t make her feel better.
The nation wasn’t the only thing that needed healing.
The ropes were mossy and frayed, and the bridge swayed and bounced as she and Naelin crossed to the next platform. From there, they could see the barren area: roughly a circle, the width of one of the massive oak trees that commonly held homes in their branches. Below, very far below, the ground was dry and gray, lifeless. It was ringed by thick underbrush that wouldn’t creep even an inch into the dead land—Not until we fix it, Daleina thought.
Daleina reached into the pack she carried and pulled out a coil of rope. She selected a sturdy limb and secured the rope. She then swung herself onto it and began rappelling down the trunk of the tree.
“Really?” Naelin said.
