ELRETH

Elreth took a deep breath and turned away from her mate before she gave in to the urge to simply take his hand and lead him from the room and the rest of them be damned.

She needed the rest of them, she knew. She couldn’t bring the people into this without them. Oh, they’d likely see no great loss in closing the traverse. Most of them were barely aware it existed. But the disformed—the Protectors, she reminded herself. They were going to be afraid of this, she knew.

She looked around the cave to find the elders, all with their heads leaned into their neighbors, discussing the idea.

She prayed none of them asked how she thought she’d achieve this. She wasn’t even sure it was possible.

“This feels wrong,” she said, letting her voice ring out so all of them would shift their attention back to her. “All this talk, all this speculation. We have to be in this together. We have to find our way together. We cannot let this current crisis create tension between us. We have to meet it together.”

She looked at Aaryn again, and he nodded, pride in his eyes, even though he hadn’t lost that tension in his jaw and stance.

He was struggling, she knew. They needed time! But where would they find it in the face of this?

“Too much of what could be, or what might be is out of our control,” she continued. “The Rite of Veneration will move ahead tonight. Tell the tribes. Tell them to bring their challenges—or their submission, if they are in agreement at our assessment of the disformed.

“Tomorrow, Aaryn and I will finish our education on the traverse, then the following day we will enter the human world, under the guidance of the Protectors, and the Guardians on the other side. We will be safe. We will learn what can be learned, and I will establish the plan we need.

“I may be gone for two or three days—less if I can. But while I am gone it will be relying on those of you still here to prepare what needs to be prepared for this from this side of the two traverses.

“I will speak to Gar tomorrow about identifying a team of Protectors to take the other traverse—identify it, cross it, and assess the risk on the other side, then return. Bird Elders, we need your tribe to send some with them to fly back to the Tree City as soon as the disformed have reported back from the crossing.

“Dad, we need a team to find Lerrin and Suhle—make sure they and their people are safe and unharmed by the humans and… and bring them back to the safety of our numbers.”

Her father winced. “That may be easier said than done.”

“Why?” she asked baldly.

“They’re a small group and entirely composed of Anima who left the Tree City for a reason. They may be… reluctant to return to the authority of another.”

Elreth frowned. “You think they’re safe being so close to a traverse with no back up?”

Her father shook his head. “No, but it’s their choice. I think… I think you should offer their return, not require it.”

She knew her eyes flashed at that, but it was the first time her father had given her a suggestion privately, and she had asked for his input. “I’ll consider it,” she said tightly. He nodded. She was grateful he didn’t push.

Was he right? Possibly. She would consider it.

It was her instinct, she realized, to simply tell others what they should do—because she was certain she was right. But she also knew she wasn’t always right.

She would try to step carefully into this. But she refused to have Anima sitting in a place of risk for the humans to enter and capture or kill. Who knew what advantage that would give them?

“Very well, the disformed and the birds will attend the second traverse, and the other team will find Lerrin and Suhle and the Outsiders. When I have returned from the human world, we’ll convene again so I can share with you what I’ve learned, and you can hear directly from any Anima who have travelled to rejoin us.

“Within a week we will step into whatever plan we deem most likely to succeed. Between  now and that meeting, I ask—no, I command you,” Elreth said, calling on her Alpha power again. “If you doubt, you do not share those doubts with anyone not in the upper levels of the hierarchy. If you fear, you support each other, but you do not stop stepping forward. And if you continue to question the wisdom of the added Tribe… know this: I may not yet know how we will close the traverse, but I am absolutely certain—without question—that it will require the Protectors. That without them, we are sitting ducks, awaiting the human hunters.

“Elders, hear me: We face the mortality not just of ourselves, but our offspring, of any ancestors to come. We face the extinction of our people if we do not take drastic action, and quickly. So tell me, will you follow? Or will I drag you? Because I refuse to leave even one Anima to this fate.”

One by one, beginning with her parents and Lhern, the Anima around her all stood and took one step forward, dropping to one knee in the traditional salute to the Dominant, and declaring their commitment to her.

Elreth’s eyes wanted to well with tears as she watched Elders in fear, elders in age, elders in reluctant disbelief, all push out of their chairs and step into the salute. And if some did it frowning, or even a couple with tears on their faces, she didn’t care.

They were of one mind. They were of one plan. And that was all that mattered.

When she looked at Aaryn, needing him suddenly, he smiled.

‘I’m proud of you,’ he signed.

Elreth flashed the thank you, swallowing back the still threatening tears. ‘The disformed haven’t gotten through the rite. I haven’t gotten through the traverse. And the Anima haven’t gotten through this threat,’ she signed back shakily.

‘They will. I believe in you.’

Her breath shaking, Elreth received the last of the salutes from the gathered with a nod, then clapped her hands and dismissed them all to prepare for the rite. But when she turned to find him again, Aaryn still stood next to the wall. Holding a subtle sign that made her want to weep.

‘All hail the Queen.’

*****

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