The Great Spirit has decided that it will be your choice,Badger Spirit said, but he sounded pissed about it.Make up your mind, girl. Be aware you cannot reverse this decision once you have chosen.
“Then I want to go back,” I said automatically.
Think carefully,Coyote reminded me.Your body is in a very dire state. Even if you return, and attempt to survive, there’s no guarantee you won’t end up back here, with nothing to show for your decision to return but possible weeks or months of sheer pain.
“I like taking risks. Makes things interesting.”
The girl doesn’t understand what she’s asking for, Badger Spirit said.
“Then answer me this. Is the Blessed Haven still in danger? If I remain in the Ancestral Lands, will the Warden continue to try to take over heaven, summon the dark gods from hell, and rule earth?” I asked.
There was silence. None of the gods responded, and I took that for my answer.
“Then if the Ancestral Lands and the rest of the spirit realm is in danger, it’s my job to go back and protect it, even if I have to give all this up,” I said firmly. “The Great Spirit chose me to decide what happens to the afterlife. No matter how much I have to go through to defend it, I’m going back.”
You could go back only to make the wrong choice and damn us all, Badger Spirit growled.Your very presence on earth is a risk. If you are here in the Ancestral Lands, we stand a better chance of survival!
If that is her choice to return, then we will honor it, Coyote said harshly.The Great Spirit chose her to fulfill her prophecy. She deserves a second chance to see it completed, and to make the choice to save our world, or damn it.
“I promise that I’ll do everything in my power to save the spirit realm once I return,” I vowed to the gods. “I won’t let the Warden decide who’s fit for heaven or who’s not.”
Badger Spirit gave a dissatisfied noise.Very well. We shall see if you keep your promise.
Yeah, whatever. I’d show him.
Before you return,Coyote said.There are two people you should meet.
I couldn’t imagine what could be more important than getting back to Charlie, but I figured I might as well humor him, as I didn’t have much of a choice. Coyote indicated I should hop on his back again, and I clambered on. Coyote gave a bow to Whale Spirit, and only her, before he took off into the sky, and she inclined her head in kind. Soon, we were running along a stream of colors, soaring out of the open-air amphitheater as Coyote took me to who-knew where.
“Whale Spirit is pretty,” I said, goading him on.
She is elaborate, Coyote replied.I am quite fond of her.
Hmph. The way Coyote had talked about my parents during my Darke Games run, Coyote acted like Fire and Water being together was some big joke, but he definitely had a thing for Whale Spirit. I didn’t know who he was trying to fool.
Coyote flew me to another little house, this time a stone cottage that was anchored on the side of a deserted mountain. I slid off his back, and he remained off at a distance to watch me as I proceeded toward the house.
I knocked on the door. I didn’t know if I was supposed to, but there wasn’t anyone else out here to talk to.
The door opened. A tall, beautiful woman with red hair stood in the doorway. Behind her, a lovely girl with dark skin poured coffee into three cups that sat on the kitchen table.
They were both my age. They must’ve died young. I didn’t recognize either of them.
But they knew me. “Ava. Come inside,” the redhead said in a sultry tone.
I glanced back at Coyote, who didn’t give me any sort of instruction. I entered the cottage. It was really hot in here— they both had to be Koigni. I was Fire, too, so I wasn’t uncomfortable. The house was decorated in a modernist style— clean lines, everything black and white.
I sat down at the table, and they sat across from me. I took a sip of coffee, which I found to be a hazelnut latte. It was divine.
“Miranda makes the best coffee,” the redhead said, taking the other woman’s hand with a smile.
“Only because you make it sweet, Lindsey,” Miranda responded, giving her a peck on the lips.
The names were familiar— I’d heard them before. “You were my mother’s friends,” I said. “You sacrificed yourself in the Hawkei Civil War. What you gave up was incredible.”
“What we gave up was worth it to save the tribe,” Lindsey said.
“And it enabled us to be together, so it all worked out in the end, as it always does,” Miranda said, taking a sip of her coffee. “We’ve been waiting a long time to speak with you, Ava, and explain things. Maddie told us it would happen someday, when we were alive, but we never expected it would be like this.”
