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Umana was my own little Roav secret. We had met on one of my earlier missions and she has been an invaluable asset ever since, not to mention that I paid her well for the information she divulged. But she requested that I keep her identity confidential, not wanting anyone back at Morah to find out. Seeing as we often had to give detailed reports to Eamon about our journeys, I didn’t want to put Nikan and Malina in a position to lie.
Both Malina’s and Nikan’s eyebrows creased.
“There is no beach on the northern end of Dusan. The Rip goes right through it. I think your contact was mistaken or lied to,” Nikan said.
“Unlikely. She has never led me astray before.” I shook my head.
“There is a small area.” Malina blew out a sharp breath. Nikan and I looked at her. “My mother tried to take me there when I was a child. There was a small strip of land just past the Dusan border, at the far end of the Rip, that leads you to an isolated piece of land with a beach. She wanted to visit and stay for a few days with me and my father. I was terrified at the time when we went, being so close to Odes’s grave, and we didn’t even make it past the Rip before we turned around.”
My eyes were as wide as Nikan’s. Malina never spoke of her mother and father. Being separated from them after losing our home had been hard for her—hard on both of us—but I hadpracticed compartmentalization and adjusted to it more easily, while she continued to mask her pain with smiles and sassy remarks.
“So yes, there is a beach at the northern end of Dusan. But I don’t know if it’s still accessible by land. It was right on Atara’s border, and I don’t know if the Glaev closed off the path to get to it,” she added.
I nodded. “Alright. We can go to Morah and find maps of the area to see if the Glaev barred the path. It would be faster to get there on land rather than going to the coast at the southern end and chartering a boat to get to the northern end.”
“Unless you’d like to put those wings to use?”I said to Odarum.
“I would not,”he deadpanned.
“This is kind of a big fucking deal. You’re all about protecting the balance and everything. Don’t you want to help me with the Glaev?”
“That would be interfering,”he said.
“We have a plan then. Let’s get moving.” Nikan stood and walked back to his horse.
“Your mark isn’t gone,” Malina stated, pointing to my exposed wrist between my sleeve and glove. “I thought it was supposed to disappear when you completed the Trial.”
“No.” I pulled down the collar of my shirt over my shoulder to show her the extension. “Now that I’m a Worthy, the mark will always remain. It’s changed though. It now goes up the length of my arm and bears the symbols of Kleio since she chose me.”
Malina and I stood and she gestured to Odarum. “So the flying Spirit pony is like your pet now?”
“I am no pet nor am I some feeble pony!”Odarum shouted through my mind and he reared his head back.
Nikan snorted and I laughed. I was grateful to be here with my family.
A couple of hours before dusk, we stopped to camp for the night. I wanted daylight so that I could start training with Odarum. I was tired of waiting. Malina had ridden with me while Nikan carried our packs to help even out the weight for the horses since Odarum refused to carry anyone and grumbled something about not being a mule when I asked him to carry the packs.
“Why won’t you even carry me?”I asked the Spirit.
“I believe that soon you will no longer need to be carried,”he replied.
“What do you mean?”I turned to face him after Malina and I dismounted our horse.
“The shift. It is possible, and likely, that you may gain my wings.”He lowered his head so that his eyes were level with mine as I approached.
“I’ll be able to fly?”My mouth fell open.
“As I said, it is possible. It will not be known until the shifting manifests.”
“When will that happen?”
“I do not know. Or perhaps you will only gain my hair.”
I scoffed out loud.
Malina startled me when she spoke directly behind me. “Why are you just staring at him?”
“They talk through their minds, and they do it often. It’s weird. Get used to it,” Nikan yelled from over his shoulder where he was erecting our terra tent.
