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“You don’t know how heavy their other responsibilities are,” Pietro replied. “She might be one more burden than they can bear.”
She spared a moment to wonder what kind of life led a man to develop that level of compassion, then pushed herself to a standing position. “I could go look for them.”
“You could,” he said. “Or you could see what morning brings.”
“I don’t think that—”
The earth shook beneath her feet, and Jayla tumbled down with a cry. The ground bucked again and she flattened herself against it, arms outstretched and fingers digging into the dirt, trying to anchor herself in place. Pietro grabbed Aussen and cradled her against his chest as if to shield her body from falling boulders. Cody had come to his hands and knees, looking like he was ready to jump up and run, or plaster himself to the ground, whenever he could figure out which option was safest. All around them they could hear the shouts of their fellow travelers trying to ride out the newest tremor.
The shaking lasted less than a minute, but Jayla stayed where she was in case it started up again. Cody had tilted his head as if he was listening to the heartbeat of the world itself.
“Didn’t seem as bad as the one this morning,” he said.
“Do you think it’s over?” Jayla asked.
“Hard to say,” Cody replied. “Usually they come in bunches, but each new one is a little weaker than the last one.”
Jayla came cautiously to her knees. “Usually?” she repeated.
Cody nodded. “They’ve been hitting more often. And I’ve heard that Darrish Mountain has been spitting out ash for the past few months.”
Pietro had released Aussen and settled her next to him on the ground. “That’s grim news,” he observed.
Jayla looked at him. “Why?”
She thought he chose his answer with care. “It’s always unnerving when the continent seems to be tearing itself apart.”
Cody rearranged himself into a cross-legged sitting position. “There have been a lot of little tremors lately,” he said. “But it’s been a long time since we had really dangerous quakes in the city.”
Pietro nodded. “Ten years,” he said.
Cody grinned. “And nothing bad happened.”
This time it was even longer before Pietro answered. “Exactly. Nothing bad.”
“You think it’s worse now?” Jayla asked. “Why?”
“I think—” He paused to refill Aussen’s cup of water. “Our whole continent is a precarious construct. Held together by a power none of us understand. I wonder sometimes how long its contours will hold.”
The ground felt solid enough now that Jayla felt safe dropping down and copying Cody’s cross-legged pose. “But Cordelan put the continent together,” she said. “That’s what they taught us when I was growing up.”
Pietro shrugged. “Oh yes, that’s the theology,” he said. “The goddesses Dar and Zessaya spent centuries feuding with each other across seas and inlets, but their little fiefdoms were separated by enough open ocean that it didn’t really matter. Everyone in Chibain and Marata worshipped Dar, and everyone from the outer islands was devoted to Zessaya. Then Cordelan arrived and raised his hands and declared that he would bind many disparate lands together. And he sewed the mountains to the flatlands, and the islands to the coastlines, and he set Corcannon in the curve of this new continent. And the rivers from Chibain flowed onto the plains of Marata and created lush farmland that burst with new crops. And the minerals from the islands suddenly became available throughout the land. And everyone thrived in this world reshaped by Cordelan’s hands.” He lifted his eyebrows at her and there was a note of polite disbelief in his voice as he said, “And is that what you believe?”
Jayla shrugged. “In Oraki, we put more stock in small household gods who can make the way smooth or offer a night’s protection. It’s not that we don’t honor Cordelan, it’s just that he doesn’t seem very present in daily life.”
Pietro nodded and glanced over at Cody with his eyebrows still raised. “Do I believe?” Cody asked. He spread his hands. “I don’t think about it much, but I always assumed it was all true. Isn’t it?”
Pietro made soft scoffing noise. “Our learned scientists have studied the composition of the various provinces of the continent, and they have concluded that, indeed, at some point in the distant past they were separate bodies of land. They say thatsomethingknitted them together nearly a thousand years ago to create the world as we know it now. Perhaps it was Cordelan. Perhaps it was a natural drift of land masses that caused these bodies to collide. Perhaps Cordelan was an opportunistic schemer who took credit for something he had no hand in at all.”
Cody’s eyes grew wide. “That’s blasphemy! Isn’t it?”
Pietro grinned. “It’s a topic that is debated with great energy at all our institutions of learning. Since you cannot prove deity, I suppose it will continue to be debated for decades to come. But the point is not really how the continent was created. The point is that it is an assemblage of somewhat incompatible fragments that seem, from time to time, bent on repudiation.” When the other two stared at him blankly, Pietro sighed. “We don’t know what power holds the separate parts of the continent together, but what if that power is failing? And what if the quakes are warning us that the land is about to split apart?”
Cody dropped his elbows to the ground and leaned back, supremely unconcerned. “There have always been quakes, and everything has held together so far.”
“So far,” Pietro echoed.
Jayla’s mind always focused on practical matters. “Well, if you don’t know how the power is supplied, what can you do to fix it even if it is going bad?” she asked.
