“Mobo soup,” Gideon said. “I know it looks awful, but it really is quite delicious, especially when Mistress Goss makes it. If the three of you are hungry, you might like it.”

“We do not eat that,” Thairyn said. Nya had produced two bowls of sticky brown goo from an ornate wooden box and he called it “lunch”, which, apparently, meant that they were going to eat it.

Neyhira nudged Thairyn’s side and gave her a look that meant, Be polite. “May I try it?”

“Of course.” Gideon motioned towards Nya. The silver-haired boy abandoned his dish for a moment to prepare one for Neyhira. Meanwhile, Gideon gave the Dracoen girls a strange sort of look. It was very subtle, and masked by a smile, but Thairyn did not miss it. “I am curious though, what do Dracoens eat?”

“Real food,” Thairyn said. Nya handed Neyhira a bowl of the strange Münshirling food. It smelled as repulsive as it looked.

Gideon raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean by that?”

“We eat gemstones and gemfruits,” Neyhira said, curiously sniffing the soup. “What is this, er, mobo soup made of?”

“Water, spices, and mobos, a-course,” Nya said. He sat down in the grass to resume his meal.

“Do you mean to say that you really eat gems?” Gideon asked, astonished. “I heard that your kind did, but I had always thought it was a sort of interpretation or symbol of some sort!”

“Yes, we really eat gems,” Neyhira said. She looked at the bowl doubtfully, in spite of herself. She did not know what a mobo was. But the nice boys seemed to be enjoying the soup, so she decided she would try just one tiny taste. Unlike the incident with the timkaisu, however, one tiny taste did not lead to another. The soup was mushy, salty, and strange. But it was not the flavour or the texture that put her off having another bite, for she found them rather interesting. Rather, it was that she bit into a chunk of something stringy and salty that, for whatever reason, made her feel like her stomach did a leap and a twist inside of her. She forced herself to politely swallow (though this nearly made her retch). She quietly set the bowl down.

“Well, how can you possibly ever find enough to sustain yourselves on?” Gideon was saying. “Gemstones are so hard to find, that’d add up to quite the expensive diet after a while!”

“No, not,” Valii managed in trade speak, “Many, is tree, is ground. Is many. Every place.”

“We have many gems,” Neyhira said weakly. The iridescence in her scales seemed to have faded away, leaving her face dull and almost grey. She hiccuped and covered her mouth quickly. In alarm, she looked at Thairyn. “Auch no, Thairyn, na douri na en eli—” she twittered in Dracoen speech. She stood up in a hurry and tried to limp off as fast as she could before the contents of her stomach were emptied onto the grass.

“Sey?!” Thairyn cried in alarm, “En eli sey? Dlam choures?”

Valii squealed, sounding very much like a small animal that had just been stabbed. “Auch! Neyhira! En fien baiie?”

Gideon stood up at once. “What happened?”

“Did you poison my sister?!” Thairyn jumped to her feet and hurried to Neyhira’s side. Embarrassed, both spread their wings to hide the mess from anyone’s view.

“Certainly not! She was served from the same pot Nya and I ate out of—you saw. And she did not even eat that much. Perhaps she is allergic to one of the ingredients?”

“Auch!” Neyhira moaned. She kept her head ducked under her wings and tried to avoid being seen by the Münshirlings while Thairyn helped her clean up.

Thairyn looked over her shoulder. “I don’t know what allergic means, but my sister had better not die from it!” she said angrily.

“Auch! Auch! Matan na en lekourae!” Valii cried out, pushing herself to her feet. She started to run as fast as her chubby legs could carry her back towards the hill that parted them from the Forest, but Thairyn caught her by the arm—looking suddenly apologetic.

“Neyhira en memda, Valii,” she said gently.

Valii did not look very convinced by whatever it was Thairyn had said to calm her. “Vi pach vey en baiie?”

“Na en no cheldo, ma na en memda—I will be well. I feel better now, in any case,” Neyhira said, straightening up. “Gideon, what is allergic?”

Gideon stammered something they could not catch, but ultimately said, “Sensitive—sensitive. It makes you sick.”

“Oh, sensitive.” Neyhira pinned back her earfins. “Maybe you are correct. Auch, let us go from here—I am excessively sorry for being sick. Go over there and we will follow—do not look, please, do not look.”

She meant her mess, of course, which she continued to stand in front of with her wings outspread. Gideon felt awful for her. “It’s not like you could help it,” he said. “I’m sorry I fed you the stuff. Excessively sorry, really.”

Nya replaced their food and things in his box, and they left that spot in favour of another grassy area on the top of the hill, so that they could see the Gem Forest.

“Does organic food not agree wiz yer kind?” Nya asked after the Dracoen sisters rejoined them.

“What?” Thairyn asked.

“Organic food, does it make yer kind ill?”

“You mean not-gem food?” Neyhira asked weakly, to clarify as she was not certain what he meant by the trade speak word he had used.

“Aye.”

“We call those Things Pleasant To Eat,” Thairyn said. “But the trouble is, yours does not seem any better to eat than it is to smell!”

“Auch! What kind of fruit is your mobo anyway, Gideon? It is terrible!” Neyhira moaned, sitting down miserably in the grass.

Gideon looked a little hesitant. “A mobo is not a fruit...”

Neyhira’s earfins perked up. “No?” she asked. “What is it, then?”

“It is a kind of animal from the southern continent Kaiyar,” he said. “It kind of looks like a giant erepod.”

“An... animal?”

“An erepod?!” Thairyn squeaked at nearly the same time. Both of the twins’ eyes widened and their scales greyed. Neyhira moaned and looked as though she might retch again.

Thus Gideon became aware of a cultural gap between his own and the Dracoens’ species. “I am very sorry.”

Neyhira felt that she would burst into tears from embarrassment, so she only nodded and said nothing.

“Must is home,” Valii said. “Matan is afraid.”

“We must go home, Valii,” Neyhira said.

“And Matan will be afraid—er, worried. Matan is Mother. Valii has not learned all of the different words for en in trade speak yet,” Thairyn said.

“What does en mean exactly?” Gideon asked.

“Well, you know. Is, will, be, am, are—something that you are being, or will become,” Thairyn said. “So far Valii only knows is.”

“How do you tell the difference?” Gideon asked. “Those are very specific words in trade speak—and Münshirling also.”

“It depends,” Thairyn said, looking confused. After a moment of thinking, she simply shrugged and said, “You just know, I suppose.”

“It’s like our dé. zen,” Nya said. “Dependin’ on how zat’s used, it means either ze, of, or of ze.”

Neyhira looked at Gideon and pinned back her earfins, then she looked away; completely humiliated by the whole ordeal she had just been through. “We really must go home,” she said in a low voice, “Our mother called for us—auch, very much time ago! Auch, she will be furious with us!”

“I understand,” Gideon said. “It is about time that Nya and I return to New Münshir as well.”

Thairyn looked between her sister and Gideon wistfully. She was in no hurry to be scolded by her doubtlessly worried mother, but she knew that every moment longer she put off returning, the worse trouble she would be in. “When may we see you again?” she asked the Prince after a moment.

Gideon and Nya both looked surprised. “You would want to after this...?” Gideon started before trailing off and shaking his head. “I am truly sorry about the mobo soup, Neyhira. If I had but known, I never would have-”

Neyhira shook her head quickly. “Please, no more. I forgive you, and let that be the end of it!” And she laughed, suddenly and hard, so that she surprised even her sisters. For a time she did naught but this, until at last she was able to regain her composure. At last she exclaimed, “It is very much a strange thing to have happened! I am either going to laugh or to cry, and I will not cry!”

Gideon looked for a moment as though he might apologize again, but he did not for her sake. “Very well then,” he said. He looked at Thairyn. “I often come here to picnic with my friends, we’ll be back again tomorrow, actually.”

“Good,” Thairyn said, “I want to teach you how to die properly.”

“What?” the Prince asked, looking at her startled and caught off guard. Then he remembered. “Oh, yes, of course. Until then?”

“Until then!”

The skies drowsily donned a dun orange about the eastern hills as the princesses crossed back into the long blue shadows of the Forest of Gems. There came a crisp chill to the air, though not enough to make them shiver, and the sweet-smelling grass soon became wet with condensation. The sisters all agreed not to go back the way they had come. Instead, they had gone the long way around so as to avoid the Blue Wood. As they walked under the great green sentinels of the Forest, they could not help but notice that all of the creatures were tranquil now, as if the disturbance earlier that day had not occurred. The leaves in the canopy high above only rustled quietly, as the gentle whisper of a mother bidding her little ones good night.

Neyhira yawned as she tread homeward and contemplated it. She was tired, and her mind was full of all sorts of new things. She could hardly wait to get home, wash up, and prepare for bed. How nice her silky sleeping gown would feel against her scales after a day like this! She closed her eyes and imagined curling up in her familiar, soft, pillowy bedding beside Thairyn and Valii... Then Mama would come and tuck them under wonderful warm blankets and give them each a sweet prinnaging on the cheek...

“I can’t believe you ate an animal,” Thairyn said, violently tearing Neyhira from her visions of comfort. “Even if it was just a little piece of one—oh, yuck!” She stuck out her tongue and grimaced.

Neyhira moaned, looking sick again. “Auch. Valii, you can’t tell Mama about this. Let’s just forget it ever happened, okay?”

Valii could not be coerced into such an agreement. But she did not argue, either. She simply gave her sisters a scornful look and said nothing. That was almost as bad.

“What do you think a mobo looks like, anyway?” Thairyn said after a moment, unable to resist. “Gideon said it looked like a giant erepod, but there are all sorts of different erepods. Does it look like a giant talgonfree, you think? Or maybe a giant mimbeetle, with big hairy legs and everything?”

“Oh, Thairyn, please, I just want to forget about it!”

The Cira-Anu Tree Kin was eerily quiet and the sky was twilight blue when the girls finally arrived home. The sisters paused at the ladder to their teiami and looked at each other uncertainly. “Do you suppose everyone is asleep already?” Neyhira asked quietly.

Thairyn shrugged. “Shouldn’t be,” she said, “We haven’t even had the alaanc yet, and frankly, I’m starved!” Her tummy growled to prove it.

Her sisters agreed and they all hurried up into the tree. There was no one to meet them as the girls slipped past their mother’s tapestry and into the darkened welcome chamber of the teiami. All was still, empty. Thairyn started to feel a terrible feeling right in the pit of her stomach, worse still than just being hungry. It was a twisty fearful feeling, like something was wrong. She tried to shrug it off. It was a silly feeling, after all.

“Mama?” Neyhira called.

There was no answer.

Almost simultaneously, Neyhira and Thairyn ignited their tail flames. Blue and red illuminated the familiar main room of the teiami.

“Kaqurei? Mama?” Thairyn called uncertainly.

“Maybe they’re out looking for our own selves,” Valii said. “We’re very late.”

Neyhira proceeded into the kitchen, taking the glow of her flame with her. “Mama? Kaqurei? Are you here?” She returned shortly and shrugged.

“Let’s look up the hall,” Thairyn said.

The three of them hurried up the winding hallway to the upper portion of their home. “Look, there’s light in Mama’s room,” Neyhira said. She had only just closed her mouth when suddenly there was a terrible sound!

“Tyrrius! Tyrrius! No, no don’t let them—!” Then, a scream, a horrible haunting scream that none of them would ever soon forget, pierced their souls. They did not think about what they did next; one moment they had been standing in the hallway and the next they were casting back the tapestry to their mother’s room, hearts pounding and legs shaking!

There they saw the Gem Elder and Matron, standing before their mother’s bed. Both turned; the Gem Matron hurried forward to try to block their view and usher them out of the room—but they had already caught a glimpse of her mother lying in bed, drenched in sweat, her eyes squeezed shut and her ebony hair a tossed mess.

“Come with me, little ones,” the Gem Matron said in a gentle but urgent voice, gathering them under her wings. She hurried them to their sleeping chamber.

“Grandmama,” Valii burbled through tears, “What’s wrong with my own Mama?!”

The Gem Matron smiled knowingly at her, but Thairyn and Neyhira could see plainly the worry in her eyes. “Your Mama is very sick, little one. Remember when you had andichofsu? It is much like that. Do not worry, she will be all right. We are giving her medicine that will make her feel better.” She gathered the three of them under her wings and hugged them tight. Though comforted by her warm, familiar embrace, Thairyn and Neyhira looked fearfully at each other through her hair. Valii started to sob.

“There, there, now, hush,” the Gem Matron said soothingly. “Thairyn, Neyhira, I need you to be big girls. Find a few sets of clothes for yourselves and Valii, and your favourite toys. We’re going to go my teiami for a story. You’ll probably sleep there with me tonight, so Mama can get her rest, all right?”

The twins nodded solemnly and withdrew to do as they had been instructed without a word, each with big, uncertain eyes. “It’ll be all right, little ones, you’ll see,” the Gem Matron said after them.

Thairyn and Neyhira had a large intricately woven wicker chest at the foot of their bedding. They lifted its light lid and gathered a few outfits quickly—Neyhira did not even pause to consider which of her gowns were the silkiest or frilliest. They each took their nightgowns and the soft dolls Mama had made for them. Meanwhile, the Gem Matron had set to gathering their blankets and wrapping up Valii. Thairyn grabbed Valii’s soft yellow nightdress, doll, and a few outfits from her chest across the room.

“Where is Kaqurei?” the Gem Matron asked, taking Valii’s things from Thairyn and laying them over her wingshoulder.

“Kaqurei?” Neyhira repeated. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen her since this morning.”

The Gem Matron looked confused. “Then she did not..?” she started. Then her face relaxed. “Oh, I see. Do not worry, she is probably still out with Torran looking for you. The Gem Elder will speak to her when she gets back. Now, come, my little ones.” She ushered them back into the hallway and down the Cira-Anu. Her teiami tree was not far from their own, being just across The Way.

The rest of that evening was a bit of a blur for the girls. The Gem Matron brought them all to her familiar parchment-scented room, cleaned them up and dressed them in their bedtime attire, and snuggled them in her bed under their own warm blankets for a story. The Gem Matron’s stories were always very interesting, but tonight the girls could not quite focus on the words. They heard her voice, smooth, soft, and soothing. Sometimes she spoke, sometimes she sang... something to do with Kelsandalyn the Dawnbringer, Keeper of the Trees and the Morning... Gradually they drifted to sleep, but they did not sleep well. Neyhira had various memories of tossing and turning, now in dreamless slumber, now awake and restless. The Gem Matron’s small, warm room was snug and comfortable, but she could not rest knowing her mother was

unwell. At some point during the night, she gave up the fight and sat up. She was thirsty. In the dim, quiet darkness, she could see her Grandmother sleeping near her, little Valii cuddled up in her arms. Kaqurei was sleeping soundly on a soft mat near the Gem Matron’s bedding. But Thairyn was nowhere to be seen.

Quietly, Neyhira inched off the bed and onto the velvety rug of the Gem Matron’s room. Kaqurei stirred, but did not wake, so Neyhira tiptoed to the tapestry-door and exited the Gem Matron’s room. Silently, she made her way up the warm red hallway to the glistening main room of the teiami. She paused and admired the tinkling ornaments hanging from the domed ceiling there. Then she heard a sound. It was quiet and strange, but it was also familiar.

Thairyn was crying.

Neyhira hurried out of the teiami and onto one of the great Tree Kin branches supporting it. High in the branches above Neyhira was a tiny figure, a mere silhouette with the Moons behind her; head bowed and arms wrapped around her knees. Neyhira crawled up the great boughs to her sister’s side and touched her gently on the shoulder.

Thairyn startled and looked up, her purple eyes swimming with tears. She sniffed quietly.

Neyhira wrapped her arms around Thairyn and hugged her tight. “Shh, Thair,” she whispered, “Mama’s going to be okay.”

Thairyn sniffled and leaned in close to Neyhira’s embrace.

Neyhira pulled Thairyn closer, to lie in her lap, and covered them both in her wings. She stroked her hair and shoulder as she wept, rocking side to side to comfort her. Then, softly, she began to sing:

It was Thairyn’s lullaby, The Song of Manairus. Mama would always sing it to her every night before they went to sleep. Gradually her sobs quieted and she listened, squeezing Neyhira’s hand tight. When at last Neyhira had finished, she sat up and hugged her.

A soothing, comforting feeling surrounded them both. A cool breeze swept through the Tree Kin’s leaves, and the rustling sound seemed to assure the girls that they were being watched over and loved.

Thairyn sniffed. “It wants us to feel better,” she said, touching the bark of the branch.

Neyhira nodded. “I love you, Thairyn,” she whispered sincerely. “Mama’s going to be okay.”

“I love you too,” Thairyn said. She laid down in Neyhira’s lap again, looking up at the moonslight filtering through the Tree Kin’s leaves. “Thank you.”

“Good morning, girls,” the Gem Matron said as the four sisters entered her kitchen. She was busily preparing some sweet taste-goods to go along with their gem meal for that morning, and the smell of them filled the air.

“Good morning, Grandmama,” Kaqurei said, taking a deep whiff. “Mmm! That smells good!”

The Gem Matron smiled and gestured to the seating places around her short wickerwork table. “Please, sit down; I have your ciraanc right here. Kaqurei, I brought some kikanis and fiez seeds over to make some soup. Here you are, little one.”

Kaqurei gratefully took the hot bowl from the Gem Matron and sat down. “Thank you.”

“As for you three,” the Gem Matron went on busily, “Here are your favourite gemstones: Tereinyas for Thairyn, Kyrziams for Neyhira, and Fyens for Valii.”

As the girls sat down each in turn, the Gem Matron put a bowl at their place, each with their favourite gemfood broken into small pieces that would be easier for them to chew.

“Do your favourites taste any different from the other gems?” Kaqurei asked.

“Yes,” Thairyn said. Her eyes were still puffy from her cry last night, and her throat felt dry.

Kaqurei looked at the Gem Matron. Then she looked at Thairyn. “Are you okay, Thair?” she asked.

“Yes,” Thairyn said, without looking up.

“The taste isn’t why I like Kyrziams best, Kaqu,” Neyhira said softly. “It’s the colour. And the way it breaks up in my mouth. They’re all different in that way.”

“Oh.”

“Uh-huh, and I like my own green ones. Green is a yummy colour,” Valii added. She looked up and went on, “Grandmama? When are we going to my own home? I wanna give my own Mama a hug and tell her I love her and I want her to be better.”

Again Kaqurei and the Gem Matron exchanged glances, like a secret code to talk without talking. Thairyn never liked it when grownups, or even kids like Kaqurei, did that. “Probably in a few days, little one,” the Gem Matron said, sitting down beside her. “Your Papa has come home to help the Gem Elder care for her. You know he is a masterful healer. Mama should be feeling better than ever very soon.”

“In an oor?” Valii asked.

“An hour,” Neyhira corrected solemnly.

“Well, not that soon, little one,” the Gem Matron said softly. Her tone cheered up some and she added, “Once you are done with your gemfruits, I have some timkaisu for all of you.”

If an hour is soon, Thairyn thought despairingly, We’re never going to see our poor Mama again. Never.

After they had finished eating, the Gem Matron sent the girls outside to play. “But I don’t feel like playing,” Neyhira declared after the Gem Matron had gone back inside.

“Aw, come on, Ney-Ney,” Kaqurei said, ruffling her hair fondly. “Ma’a is going to be fine. Nothing is different, we’re just spending a few days with Grandmama. It’ll be fun, you’ll see.”

Neyhira looked around The Way. Everything seemed normal and cheerful enough; the Kiir was shining brightly, a light breeze was dancing through the grass, a pair of talgonfrees were swooping and buzzing along the path. But things were different. If things were the same, Mama would be here, helping them pick flowers and teaching them how to embroider, or write, or say something in Münshirling or trade speak. She felt a knot winding up in her throat. With a little sniffle, she sat down in the grass. “I don’t feel like playing,” she said again.

Kaqurei looked at her little sisters. None of them were crying, but each looked like she wanted to, like this case of andichofs in their mother was the worst, most tragic thing in all the world that could have happened. She wanted to cheer them up, but she was not sure how to go about it, that is, until she spied a certain figure proceeding down The Way towards them.

“Oh?” she said, “Look at that, isn’t that Faeralie coming now?”

The girls turned to look. Sure enough, a tall, lithe figure was making her way towards them in long graceful strides. With such a stride, like she was caught in an eternal dance, and that long dark blood-red hair, Neyhira knew she could be none other than her favourite beautiful cousin.

“Kaqurei!” this figure exclaimed, waving towards them.

“Hello, Fae!” Kaqurei called.

“I heard about your mother,” Faeralie said with concern as she approached them, and gave Kaqurei a hug. “How is she doing?”

“Grandmama says that her fever broke this morning—she’s sleeping now, I think.”

“Aye, that’s the way. I hope she starts feeling better soon.” Faeralie’s golden-rose hued eyes wandered to Thairyn, Neyhira, and Valii. “And look at you three, being so brave. Just like the little Gem Chief Noren in the bygone days—Thairyn, Neyhira, do you two remember that tale, Telae’ah and the Darkest Night?”

Thairyn’s face lit up. “Aye, I remember it.”

“Me too,” added Neyhira.

Valii sniffled, but looked hopeful. “I don’t.”

“Do you not?” Faeralie asked with a mysterious voice and a twinkle in her eye. “Well, we shall certainly have to tell it you. Isn’t that right, Kaqurei? But not here—there’s not nearly enough magia in this place so much as there would be, say at the brook.”

Valii smiled some. “I know what mashia is. Gideon told me and my own sisters all about it.”

Kaqurei did not ask who Gideon was, much to the relief of the twins. She must have assumed Valii had meant to say Girdan—he being a little playmate of Valii’s from the East Side.

Faeralie must have thought the same thing, for she went on, “Did he indeed? Well, then you know how truly vital it is that we find a place well imbued with it before we spin our tale. Come, my dear sisters, it is such a lovely day—why not we wander along down The Way, perhaps to the Western Side or the brook, until we find ourselves quite lost midst the Kiirlit skies and ready to discover new worlds of adventure?”

Neyhira smiled. She loved it when Faeralie talked like that.

As they started off, Kaqurei took Faeralie’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “Thanks, Fae,” she said quietly. “This should be the very thing to get the girls’ minds off of Ma’a’s being unwell.”

“It is my pleasure, of course, dearest Kaqurei,” Faeralie replied with a gentle smile. “Just you wait and see what I have in store for you once we get to that special place we are going—the girls will love it, I think.”

“What is it?” Thairyn asked curiously, following closely behind.

Faeralie smiled in that mysterious way again and drew her forefinger to her lips. “It’s a secret,” she said.

“Okay,” Thairyn said. She hurried up alongside Faeralie opposite to Kaqurei and took her other hand. She smiled up at Fae endearingly and said in a quiet, sweet voice, “But what is the secret? You can tell

me.”

Faeralie laughed merrily. “You’ll have to wait and see! What fun would it be if I simply told you? There would be no surprise then!”

“It would still be fun,” Thairyn insisted, “It would just be yours and my secret.”

“If she tells you, I wanna know too,” Neyhira said loudly behind her.

“Me too!” added Valii.

“I’m sorry Thair,” Faeralie said. “I couldn’t just tell you and nobody else, that wouldn’t be very fair at all, would it?”

“I don’t see what the difference is,” Thairyn said with a pout. She kicked a pebble in her path. “It’s not fair for you to keep the secret all to yourself. At least it would be a little less selfish to share with just one person than none at all.”

“Especially if that one person were you?” Kaqurei laughed.

Thairyn scowled hard at her. “That’s not what I meant.”

“Of course not,” Kaqurei said, tapping the side of her muzzle in a knowing way and giving her little sister a wink.

“I don’t think secrets are any fun, not unless you’re the one keeping them,” Neyhira said, crossing her arms. That is, if you’re good at keeping them, she thought. It was nice to know a secret; that way there was no maddening desire to know what it was. But Neyhira did not really like to keep secrets herself. They tended to burn holes in her mind until she could stand to keep them no more and before she knew it she had told at least a dozen listeners. It did not often matter who those listeners were, either.

Valii, reasonably, was satisfied that Faeralie would show them the secret soon enough. She had said so, after all.

A great silver cloud passed over the Kiir, obscuring her light from those below. Thairyn looked up at the canopy and could see the cloud between the flickering leaves of the Tree Kin.

“Mmmm, smells like it’s going to rain,” Faeralie said.

Neyhira took a long, deep breath. True to Faeralie’s word, there was a sweet, green scent lacing the air. High above her head, she heard the leaves of the Tree Kin rustling eagerly in anticipation. It started as just a soft whisper, but soon the sound grew louder and louder, until the whole canopy was vibrating and chattering away. She closed her eyes and imagined, high in the heavens above her, that there was a single drop of rain—the herald—waiting for just the right moment to slip from the safe enfolds of the cloud. It must be very nervous, she thought, as it looks down upon the waiting world so far below. But it has to fall, it knows that none of the others can fall before it. So the raindrop would muster its courage and then, as if signalled by some greater power, it would abruptly take leave of its silvery abode and descend in a speeding freefall towards the ground. Of course there was nothing realistic about Neyhira’s little fantasy, but just as she pictured her raindrop was about to hit the ground, she was startled by a cold tap on the tip of her muzzle. Her green eyes fluttered wide open in surprise, and she laughed, for it was indeed a little drop of rain that had hit her nose.

There was a great sigh from the Tree Kin, and the pattering of rain on leaves began in earnest. The girls gasped and exclaimed in excitement as the sudden torrent spattered down from the canopies upon their heads and shoulders! They squealed and covered themselves with their wings, but Faeralie started laughing; she spread out her arms and wings, twirling and skipping happily as her hair and gown were drenched.

Kaqurei and her sisters had, at first, been scrambling about with their wings over their heads in vain attempt to find shelter. Seeing her cousin, Kaqurei laughed and exclaimed, “What are you, some kind of wind sprite?”

Faeralie paused in her twirling and shook her soaked hair. She licked the dripping water on her lips. Still smiling, she replied, “If only I were, I should fly with the storms and see all the world!”

Kaqurei spread her wings wide over her little sisters to shield them from the rain and watched her cousin twirl cheerfully. Thairyn, Neyhira, and Valii watched too. Faeralie made getting wet look like such fun! Without any cue or warning, they all raced out from under Kaqurei’s wings and joined Fae’s dance, squealing and bouncing as the cold drops spattered once more upon their scales.

Faeralie caught Neyhira and Thairyn each by the hand; Neyhira caught Valii and Valii beckoned to Kaqurei, so that they all linked up together in a circle. Then they skipped around and around, laughing and singing until they were quite spent with the effort!

Just as they slowed down, panting and giggling still, so too did the pace of the rain, until the little burst ceased altogether. The shadow of the cloud passed and Kiirlight poured down upon the five soaked figures and dripping Tree Kin. Golden beams filtered in through the canopy, illuminating water and gemfruits alike, so that The Way was painted in dancing pastel colours and littered with glittering crystal drops of rain which clung to the lush leaves of the wayside and dripped still from above.

“Oh, that’s lovely!” Kaqurei exclaimed.

“You know, if you could see music, Kaqurei, I do believe it would look just like that,” Faeralie said.

“So do I,” said Neyhira.

“Well, there you have it, girls,” Faeralie said, “Something that beautiful must indeed be a gateway to a magicael place. Let us seek out the door!”

“What does the door look like?” Valii asked.

“I don’t know yet,” Faeralie said. “That’s why we must seek it out.”

To Valii, this made no sense at all. She looked around The Way, but there were no teiamisu, and thus, no doors anywhere to be seen.

“How do we find it if we don’t know what it looks like?” Neyhira asked.

Faeralie turned towards her and smiled in that mysterious way again. “You’ll know,” she said simply.

“How?” Valii pressed.

Clearly, they would need a little more to go on to use their imaginations. Faeralie drew her hand to her chin and looked thoughtful. She looked up at the canopy, and then around The Way. Her eyes wandered towards Kaqurei. “Uhm, well, Kaqu? How will we know it when we see it?”

“It’ll be a pathway,” Kaqurei said, “A pathway leading into some deep, secret place. There should be flowers—there are always flowers along enchanted pathways, and tendia’ii. Look for something you’ve never seen before down this way, and that will be it.”

The little girls’ faces brightened, and the search began. Only a few minutes into their search, Thairyn and Neyhira exclaimed excitedly, “Look! Look!”

“Is this it?” Thairyn asked when the others came near to see what she and her twin had found. She pointed towards two ancient Tree Kin that had grown very close together by the wayside, so that in between both of the massive, towering forms was a small nook, perhaps only three feet and a half across. A net of flowering vines weaved between the trees and curled along the ridges of their bark, partially obscuring the nook from view.

“That certainly looks promising!” Kaqurei said. “Let’s have a look and see, shall we?”

The two older girls worked together to gently move the vines from their place.

Thairyn and Neyhira inched forward to see inside. It looked really dark, but sure enough, they spotted the little branching white tendrils of fungi growing against the edges of the Tree Kin nearest the soil. “Tendia’ii!” Neyhira breathed, “Oh, this must be it!”

Faeralie paused for a moment and listened. “Do you hear that?” she whispered.

“Hear what?” Valii asked, whispering too. Perhaps it was because Faeralie had, or perhaps it was because the presence of magia beckoned a silence. Either way, Valii felt sure that they were on the very brink of uncovering a special “mashicael” secret.

“That gurgling.”

The sisters focused their earfins towards the nook. Sure enough, there was a subtle gurgling sound of water echoing along the narrow passage. Faeralie beckoned to her cousins. “Come, let’s go inside. Be careful not to disturb the tendia’ii; magia is such a delicate thing, we must leave everything as we found it.”

Thairyn went first, with Neyhira just behind her, then Valii and the older girls. She felt a buzzing excitement from the top of her head to the tips of her toes as she carefully moved down the narrow passage between the trees. The very idea that this was a secret place, undiscovered and unexplored by anyone else before this moment, thrilled her. In the darkness, she could only barely make out the path ahead of her and the details of the Tree Kins’ bark in a bluish tint. She could feel the soft ground under her toes and the rough furry sides of the Tree Kin brushing against her shoulders and wings. The air was moist and smelled of rich soil, similar to the way the inside of that log yesterday had been, but different too. It was a sweeter, greener sort of scent. Wordlessly the five Dracoens crept through the passage, nothing but the ever-present sounds of soft gurgling and their own breathing to break the silence. Then Thairyn noticed a soft golden light ahead, like Kiirset. Her heart started beating faster; she felt like they had just crossed some threshold of time, and were about to enter an entirely new world. She started inching her way through just a little quicker, squeezing past a gnarled lump on the left Tree Kin’s side. Neyhira ducked under it and hurried after her.

They had to climb up a little bit to exit the nook, for two Tree Kin yearlings grew just outside and their wide trunks came nigh together at the base of the opening. The twins squeezed out and hopped down without much trouble. Kaqurei lifted Valii up; then she and Faeralie climbed up and out of the passage.

They found themselves in a little forgotten pocket of the Forest, where the trees and Tree Kin grew very closely together in a circle around a great moss-covered stone, which jutted up at an angle like a ramp from the soggy ground. Above, a hole in the thick canopy allowed for a single beam of golden light to pour down upon the very tip of this great stone. It was there that they discovered the source of the gurgling noise, for a small spring trickled forth from the edge of the stone, forming a glittering pool all around. Nectar-scented dahl flowers floated on the surface of the pool, rocking peacefully in tune with the trickling. Hundreds of azure and emerald glinting talgonfrees darted from one flower to the next.

“Oh, that’s beautiful!” Neyhira exclaimed.

Kaqurei smiled and nodded. “Talgonfrees and dahls live symbiotically, Neyhira. The flowers need the erepods to pollinate them so they can make seeds, and the adult erepods needs the flowers’ nectar to survive. They depend on each other; they’re the only ones who are built to perform the tasks the other needs,” she said. “If something happened so that all the dahls in the world vanished, the talgonfrees would disappear too, and vice-versa. So be careful not to hurt the flowers, okay?”

“Okay.”

Catching up their skirts, the girls proceeded into the warm spring water and waded to the stone. A great flurry of talgonfrees buzzed up from the disturbance—flying up and around before settling casually back down to their flowers. Kaqurei, carrying Valii, reached the rock first. She sat Valii up on top of it, climbed up herself, and helped her cousin and each sister up after her in turn.

Neyhira and Thairyn laid themselves down on the stone, enjoying the soft, foamy moss. It smelled so good!

“Come on girls, let’s get to the top,” Faeralie said, beckoning to them. “Then I’ll show you my secret.”

Kaqurei picked Valii up onto her hip and followed after Faeralie.

Neyhira looked at Thairyn, who looked at her sheepishly and they both started giggling. They rolled over onto their tummies, pushed themselves up, caught the other by the hand, and skipped up after their

cousin and sisters.

The stone was very tall. Once Thairyn and Neyhira reached the top, they could easily look down upon the Tree Kin yearlings that they had passed before and thought tall! The nook that they had entered by now looked only as long as Neyhira’s thumb.

“Ooh, this place is so beautiful!” Neyhira cried, spinning in a little circle so that her dampened skirt flew up and twirled about her hips. When she stopped, she was a little dizzy, so Thairyn had to catch her else she fall off the side of the stone!

“Do you think anyone has ever been here before us?” Thairyn asked once she had steadied Neyhira.

Kaqurei smiled. She sat down cross-legged and set Valii comfortably in her lap. “No, I think we’re the first Dracoens to set foot here in a very, very long time, or since those Great Ones were just saplings, anyway,” she said, brushing Valii’s curly hair into locks she could braid.

“Do you think Gem Chief Noren ever came here?” Valii asked.

Faeralie, standing at the very tip of the stone with her eyes closed and hands on her hips, took a deep breath and let out a happy sigh. She turned, eyes dancing, and said, “I promised you that story, didn’t I?”

Valii smiled shyly and nodded.

“You also promised us you’d tell us the secret,” Neyhira said, smiling.

“Aye, you did!” Thairyn added.

Faeralie smiled mysteriously again. “Oh, no, I didn’t say I’d tell you the secret,” she said, and before the twins could protest she went on, “I said I’d show you the secret!” Not missing another beat, she reached into her pale grey satchel and drew out a crystal jar, filled with a transparent green liquid, and a long stiff piece of twine which she had dried in a curling, looping shape.

The little girls gasped, but were not sure of what to make of it. Their older sister, smiling knowingly, said nothing.

Faeralie proceeded to open her jar and dip the twine into the liquid. Then, before her wondering audience, she drew the twine out again and to her lips. Softly, she blew into it and behold—several large, beautiful wobbly bubbles spewed forth into existence!

The little girls gasped more genuinely, exclaimed, and cheered! Valii jumped up from Kaqurei’s lap and hurried over to catch the jiggling iridescent baubles as they floated down from Faeralie’s wand—only to squeal in surprise as they popped and vanished in her outstretched hands!

“Do it again! Do it again!” Valii cheered, clapping her hands.

Faeralie laughed and complied. This time she blew into another series of loops, and a flurry of smaller bubbles issued forth from the twine.

Valii shrieked and giggled, jumping up to catch the lighter bubbles, which seemed more inclined to float and swirl up towards the canopy than down to her chubby hands. Neyhira and Thairyn jumped up at once to help her.

Faeralie hurried to blow more bubbles than they could pop, sometimes laughing and out of breath. “Kaqurei, come help me over here!” she laughed in feigned exasperation.

Laughing, Kaqurei pushed herself up and came to Faeralie’s aide.

Faeralie motioned to her satchel. “Go ahead, there’s a—” she paused to blow some more bubbles, “—another length of twine in there for you.”

“I got it,” Kaqurei said.

Soon the little glade was filled with innocent laughter and stray bubbles floating here and there, with talgonfrees darting about curiously to inspect them and the giggling visitors. After a while, Faeralie finally sat down to tell her cousins the promised story.

“Awww!” Valii cried.

“But I want to catch more bubbles!” Neyhira exclaimed, her shoulders sinking.

“And you may continue still,” Faeralie said cheerfully, “I brought these for you. Here.” She pulled three more jars and accompanying twine from her satchel and passed one to each little cousin, earning more cheers of excitement and gleeful squeals. The twine had been dyed in their favourite colours too! Red for Thairyn, purple for Neyhira, and yellow for Valii.

“The more you use your bubbles, the more the liquid will take on your favourite colour,” Faeralie added.

Catching bubbles had been fun, but there was a whole new thrill that raced through the sisters as each accepted her own jar. Thairyn looked at Neyhira with her eyes glowing; they had been given the precious gift to make as many bubbles as they wanted! Neyhira smiled and raised her jar up to look at it in the beam of Kiirlight; she gasped in awe as her beautiful crystal jar shone.

“Oh, thank you Fae!” Valii cried, throwing her arms around her cousin’s legs.

Faeralie laughed and rubbed her head fondly. “You’re very welcome! Now, come sit in a circle around me and I’ll tell you the tale of Gem Chief Noren.”

“When my own Mama gets better, I’m going to blow my own bubbles for her,” Valii said as she sat down, tucking her jar under her arm.

“I think she’ll love that,” Kaqurei said.

“So do I,” Faeralie said.

Neyhira and Thairyn, who had already opened their jars and blown a few bubbles, felt a little sheepish and guilty. They exchanged glances and quietly resealed their jars.

“Now,” Faeralie said in a theatrical tone, “It happened long, long ago, a few years after the War of Separation ended. Prince Noren was just a little boy of eight years, but he was strong and brave and very much like his father...”

“...He did not walk; he ran to Telae’ah’s side—he found her even as the Gem Elders had said. She was so weak she could not even open her eyes, engaged in a restless sleep...”

“...The Sundalai was a rare, small white flower which would glow golden like the Kiirset in the dark; it was said that it could cure any disease, and it was for that reason that the Moonkinds guarded it closely. But Prince Noren knew that no matter the danger, he had to retrieve it for his beloved mother. And so he embarked on his quest—that night he gathered his things and set out alone towards the Jag...”

It was nearly dusk when Faeralie’s tale had been told. The girls had played along as various characters in the story—Valii had taken the part of Prince Noren, while Neyhira had been Telae’ah, engaged in a dream to follow her son on his quest, and Thairyn insisted to be the mysterious Moon Dracoen whom had at first seemed an enemy, but later aided little Noren on his quest to save his mother.

When the beam of Kiirlight that had lit the tiny glade had dimmed, they knew they had to leave their wonderful little realm and return to the Gem Matron’s teiami. She would be waiting, and would worry if they did not come in time. And so once more they passed through the nook between the Tree Kin; this time the feeling of passing time’s threshold brought to Thairyn a sense of melancholy. No light met her on the other end this time, as if to compliment that notion. They stepped out again onto the familiar Way, no longer lit with rainbows and crystal raindrops... just the same, ordinary forest path, made a pale blue by the retreating light. We’re in the real world again, with all its troubles, Thairyn thought with a sinking heart.

They all returned together to the Gem Matron’s teiami, and there they bid farewell to Faeralie as she would continue up The Way to the Eastern Side.

“See, today was not such a bad day after all,” Kaqurei said, waving as Faeralie disappeared around the bend. “Did you have fun, Val?”

“Aye,” Valii said thoughtfully, clutching her jar close to her chest. “But I still wish my own Mama had been here.”

Kaqurei lifted her into her arms and gave her a squeeze. “She’ll be well before you know it, then we can show her our special world beyond the nook, and you can show her your bubbles.”

“Aye.”

“I wish that Sundalai flowers really existed,” Neyhira said, looking sadly at their own forlorn teiami across The Way. “Then we could just climb up the Jag and get one for her.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to just climb up the Jag and do anything,” Kaqurei said, a bit more grimly than the twins would have expected, “Not many Moonkinds there are like the mysterious stranger... besides, the Gem Elder’s herbs are just as good as a magicael flower for Ma’a’s andichofsu anyway.”

Thairyn gazed solemnly at the Cira-Anu. “Is it just andichofsu, Kaqurei?” she asked softly.

“Aye,” Kaqurei said. “That’s what Grandmama told me.”

“Then why did Mama scream?” Thairyn asked, her eyes unwavering.

“Her head was hurting...” Kaqurei said slowly, following Thairyn’s gaze. After a second, she looked at Thairyn again and ruffled her hair. “Come on now, Thair. Let’s go have the alaanc together.”

As Kaqurei carried Valii up the ladder, Neyhira sidled over to Thairyn and they looked at each other anxiously. “It wasn’t that kind of a scream,” Thairyn whispered.

Neyhira shook her head. “No... Mama sounded scared—really, really scared.” Her eyes filled with tears, but she swept them away quickly. There was no sense in letting Grandmama see she was frightened. “We have to be big girls,” she said, sniffing. “Big girls don’t cry.”

“Big girls don’t let anyone see them cry, anyway,” Thairyn said. “I saw Kaqurei crying once, in her room.”

They looked at the Cira-Anu one last time. How dark and sad it looked! Usually at this time of day, Mama and Papa would be laughing and tucking them into bed for stories and lullabies... now it was just quiet, with only one room lit—the room where their beautiful little Mama lay sick. They looked at each other, green meeting purple and expressing the same sort of fear, sadness, and loneliness, then they slowly turned and climbed one after the other up the ladder into their Grandmama’s teiami.

“Good evening girls,” Grandmama said with a warm smile as the twins entered. She already had their meal set up on her table in the main room. “Are you hungry? Here are some gemfruits for you. Come sit down over here, little ones.”

Thairyn and Neyhira each took their places at the table beside Kaqurei and Valii. Neyhira looked

around at the little tinkling ornaments and trinkets hanging on the ceiling. Then she looked at her grandmother. “Why are we eating in here, instead of the Alaanc?” she asked.

The Gem Matron sat down. “Tonight is a lunar perigee. Do you know what that means?”

“What?”

“It means that all week The Three Sisters will be greater in the sky than they usually are,” the Gem Matron said.

“What does that mean?” Valii asked.

“Well, you know how Eitac and Eleinad always seem to be changing in size, getting bigger and smaller—sometimes Eleinad even almost looks the same size as Alyakeam? That’s because they rotate around Alyakeam,” the Gem Matron said, twirling her thumbs around each other to give Valii an idea of what she meant by rotate, “And when they look bigger to us, it’s because they’re closer. Look at my hands.” She showed Valii her hands, side by side, with the palms out. “They’re the same size, aren’t they?”

“Yes,” Valii said.

“Now watch what happens when I bring one back towards me, and stretch the other one out towards you,” Grandmama said. “See how the hand closer to you looks bigger than the one next to me? That’s why the moons sometimes change size; when they look bigger, it’s because they’re closer. I thought we could all stay up late tonight and watch them rise.”

“Ooooh.”

“That should be fun, huh Val?” Kaqurei asked, tickling Valii’s sides.

Valii jumped and squealed, before pushing Kaqurei’s hands off. She knitted her brows and gave her a disapproving look, even though she could not help smiling a little bit in the corner of her mouth. “Stop that,” she said, trying now to giggle.

The Gem Matron smiled. “Did you girls have fun with Faeralie today?”

“Oh yes,” Valii said, “We played in the rain, and found a secret mashicael place, and Faeralie gave me my own bubbles—see?” She held up her crystal jar as proof of their exploit.

“Oh that’s lovely, Valii,” the Gem Matron said, looking very impressed. “What a wonderful gift! You must be extra careful not to spill it.”

“I won’t,” Valii said determinedly, “I’m going to show my own Mama when she gets well.”

“That’s wonderful,” the Gem Matron said. She looked at the twins. “What about you two? You’ve been very quiet this evening.”

“Aye, we had fun,” Thairyn said, nibbling at her gemfruit.

“Uh-huh,” Neyhira added.

“Your mother was doing better when I checked in on her this evening,” Grandmama said softly.

The twins looked up. “Really?”

“M’hm,” the Gem Matron said. “She was very tired, but she was smiling some and talking with your father. She asked me how you four were doing.”

“What did you tell her?” Thairyn asked.

“I told her you were out playing,” the Gem Matron replied. “She told me to tell you all that she loves you very much and she can’t wait to be well again so she can snuggle and prinnage you.”

Valii smiled.

“I expect she’ll be well enough for you to go home in a few days, maybe the day after tomorrow even,” the Gem Matron went on, smiling affectionately. “So you see? I told you everything was going to be fine, didn’t I? Now, no more worrying, let’s have fun tonight and send Mama happy thoughts, shall we?”

After the alaanc, the Gem Matron gathered a few light blankets and led them up a winding hallway to the very highest room in her teiami. This was the Gem Elder’s room, and it was filled with all sorts of interesting things; gadgets for studying the stars, charts, journals, tomes, jars of ceremonial spices, medicinal herbs, and so much more.

Valii longed to touch, explore, study and otherwise completely examine everything, but the Gem Matron would not allow for this.

“Come along, girls, now don’t touch anything,” she said as she led them through the room to the very furthest end. She pulled back one of the dark red tapestries hanging there, revealing that it was actually a hidden door. Outside, there was a great branch which reached far up into the dark canopy, with wickerwork stairs fashioned across it. Thairyn could hear the canopy rustling, louder than she had ever heard it before, for she had never been so close until now.

They followed their Grandmama up the stairs; on up into the canopy so that their staircase was surrounded on either side by the glittering, flickering leaves of the Tree Kin.

They continued going up, until they came to a deck situated at the very top of the canopy. Thairyn and Neyhira gasped in unison as they mounted the deck; for now, the skies were clear and open around them. A sea of dark green stretched out before them, the tops of the Tree Kin as far as the eye could see, rustling and swaying softly. “We can see the whole forest from here!” Kaqurei exclaimed.

More impressive still was the sky, crystal clear and filled with glittering stars; hundreds of thousands of them! The Gem Matron gestured to the east, where they could see the lip of a tiny azure orb glowing just beneath the furthest line of trees in the distance. She knelt down to Valii’s height and pointed. “There, you see? That’s where they’ll rise,” she said.

The girls helped the Gem Matron spread out the blankets on the deck so they could sit down and watch the skies.

The twins laid down together and pointed out constellations to each other. “Look, there’s Manairus!” Thairyn said.

“And there’s Tyrnah,” Neyhira added. She giggled. “Isn’t it funny that they’re so close together, and we’re twins?”

Thairyn did not think funny was the right word, but she giggled anyway. Then she was quiet. Lying on her back on the flat deck and looking up at the incredibly vast skies filled her being with a strange feeling; a feeling of being so impossibly tiny as she gazed at the stars so far away.

Neyhira had a funny feeling too, though localized more in her tummy, as she looked at the stars. It was the same sort of feeling she got when she looked down from a great height, feeling like she was rocking back and forth and about to fall even though she was not moving at all—this made her giddy as well as just a teensy bit frightened, but in a fun way. “Can you imagine what would happen if the world flipped upside down and we fell into the sky?” she asked quietly. She knew better, but it was fun to imagine.

“Wow, there are so many stars,” Kaqurei said. Smiling, she looked adoringly up at her grandmother. “Grandmama, what was the world like when you were a little girl?”

Grandmama laughed. “Well, Kaqurei, that was a very long time ago. Novangärd III was king of New Münshir then. He was a good friend of mine for several years.”

“You were friends with a king of New Münshir?” Neyhira asked, sitting up so fast it made her really dizzy for a moment, which in turn only made that strange vertigo sensation worse. She startled and dug her fingers into the woven surface of the deck. But then she giggled.

“Yes,” Grandmama said. “That was a little over five hundred years ago, my first meeting the king, that is. New Münshir was much smaller back then, only a few thousand people lived there, and it did not have walls. My father, your grandfather Gem Chief Torrano, had been invited to celebrate the birth of a crown prince. He took me with him to see him. Let me tell you, little Prince Novangärd III was the strangest little infant I’d ever seen! They had him dressed up to be sure, in stuffy golden swaddles and fluffy collars. I didn’t think it was right to dress a baby up like that—he was squirming and screaming terribly.” Grandmama paused and chuckled from the memory. “Just a little pink squirming thing—and that face! I haven’t thought of how he looked then in ages! You know, I don’t think Münshirlings very handsome, but their babies are rather cute, even without muzzles. But I didn’t think much of him then, and it wasn’t until later, when he had a beard, that we became friends. Prince Novangärd III grew up to be a fine king, and a very dear friend. I had occasion to meet his son, who was much like his father, and grandson, who was nothing like his father, some years after, but we never became very well acquainted. I stopped going to New Münshir after Novangärd’s death. It’s been many, many years since our people and theirs have had much to do with each other.”

“We met Prince Gideon!” Valii exclaimed.

“Did you?” Grandmama asked.

“Uh-huh.”

Kaqurei sat up straight and looked startled. “So you did say Gideon! But how could you have met him?” she asked. “He lives all the way over in New Münshir!”

Thairyn and Neyhira looked at each other with wide eyes.

“We met him in the hills after the Blue Wood got mad and scared us out. He’s my own friend. He and Nya told us all about mashia and Gwiggles!” Valii said.

“Gwiggles?” Kaqurei repeated.

“It’s a made-up story Gideon told us,” Neyhira said.

“Gwiggles are funny,” Valii said resolutely. “I like them.”

“What would King Novangärd III be to Prince Gideon?” Thairyn asked.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Grandmama said. “Their generations pass so much faster than ours do. My little Thairyn, you are eight and to our kind a child. When you are twenty, you shall be a child still, even until your ninety-first year. Yet, at twenty, Gideon will be considered a man, and might even raise a family of his own. They only live about a hundred years at best, you know. So much can change in a hundred years... so much...” Grandma looked afar off, seeing some other time or place before her eyes. She smiled fondly and went on, “A little over a hundred years ago, it was your father and Kaocoa Calis sitting next to me, gazing up at the stars in wonder just as you are now. The trees were younger then, and the forest did not stretch out as far. But there were just as many stars, and The Three Sisters were just as glorious. Look, you can see them now, can’t you? The Three Sisters are on their way!”

The girls cuddled close to their grandmother and watched the beautiful moonrise. They cooed in awe as several shooting stars darted across the skies. The Gem Matron passed hidden sweets out to the girls, and they chatted, sang, and told stories far into the night. At last, when The Three Sisters were high in the midnight sky, Valii was asleep in her grandmother’s arms, the twins gazed up drowsily.

“Grandmama,” Thairyn said softly. “Can you tell us the story about the Moon Souls?”

The Gem Matron looked at her and smiled. “Aye, I can indeed,” she whispered. “Long, long ago, when Sjoria was very new, there was a Markron called Eran-Shaikiel, the Bringer of the Night. The Markron were all young in those days, and not nearly so wise. Eran-Shaikiel, in particular, was very jealous and selfish. When the night began, he would bring the Three Sisters into the sky to light the way. But O, how he envied their glow. One night, he cut from each Sister a sliver of her light, and kept it to himself. It was only a tiny sliver, and no one seemed to notice. So, he became more bold, and the next night, he stole yet another sliver of light from the Sisters. Each night that passed, he became greedier and greedier, until he had eaten up all of the Moonslight.

People began to be afraid of the night, because no one could see without the light of the Three Sisters. At last, word got to the High Markron about what had happened. They called the Three Sisters to them. What happened to your light, Fair Sisters? the High Markron asked.

The Nightbringer came and he took it away, said the eldest of the Three.

So the High Markron called for Eran-Shaikiel, and asked him what he had done. At first, he would not say. But at last they got the truth out of him. Now, the High Markron are just, and they knew that Eran-Shaikiel would have to be taught a very hard lesson. Do you know how precious the light of the Moons is to

Eran-Shaikiel said that he did not. The High Markron shook their heads sadly and said to him, Nightbringer, it is as precious to them as the light of the stars in your coat. To remedy what you have done, we must take that light from you, and give it to the Three Sisters.

Eran-Shaikiel had a very fine coat, white as the stars, indeed. When the High Markron took his light, his coat became as black as the darkness itself. They gave it to the Three Sisters, and told them to swallow it so that it could never be stolen from them again. If the light is deep inside you, nothing will be able to take it all, and soon whatever was taken will grow back. That is why the Moons have a Light side and a Moon Soul. Eran-Shaikiel still tries to steal the light for his coat, but it is buried deep within the Moons, and he can never get it all.”

The Gem Matron yawned and chuckled softly. She looked at her granddaughters. All were fast asleep now, save for Kaqurei alone. “Well, my dear, it’s very late. We should all get to bed now.”

Kaqurei nodded sleepily. She wrapped her arms around the Gem Matron and gave her a soft squeeze. “I love you, Grandmama,” she whispered.

“And I love you, my sweet Kaqurei. You are such a joy to me,” the Gem Matron whispered back.

Kaqurei smiled warmly. She had said it, but words scarcely touched the surface of her deep admiration and love for her grandmother. “Would you like me to carry Valii down to bed?”

“Oh yes, thank you,” the Gem Matron said. She looked down lovingly at the limp little bundle in her arms. “Such a little treasure.”

As Kaqurei stood and lifted Valii’s tiny form, the Gem Matron roused the twins. “You two will be sleeping with Kaqurei in the tome room tonight,” she said. “I made up your beds there this morning.”

“Mm’hmm,” Neyhira hummed sleepily, barely able to keep her eyes open. Mechanically she helped her grandmother gather up the blankets. Then she and Thairyn followed the Gem Matron back down the stairway into the teiami.

The girls barely remembered anything after that. The next thing Neyhira knew, she was opening her eyes in near-complete darkness, the room seeming to her in shades of dark blue. Beside her lay Thairyn, and across from where they lay was another bed where Kaqurei was sleeping soundly, a small round table in between them. All around were wickerwork shelves, supporting heavy ancient tomes and scrolls. The room smelled strongly of old papers and pigments.

As Neyhira sat up, Thairyn woke also. “Neyhira?” she whispered, eyes suddenly wide.

“Yes?”

Thairyn looked around. “What happened? How’d we get in here? I’m not a bit sleepy.”

“Me neither.”

Thairyn sat up and looked around the room. A small round window covered by thick curtains let leak in only a few small beams of moonslight, and this landed on the little table in the centre of the room. It was clear from Kaqurei’s soft rhythmic breathing that the twins were alone in their sudden restlessness.

“Do you suppose Grandmama’s awake?” Neyhira asked.

Thairyn shrugged.

“Are you thirsty?”

“Aye.”

“Me too. Let’s go around to the Alaanc, Grandmama had an urn of spring water there.”

“Okay.”

Carefully so as not to wake Kaqurei, the two of them slipped out of their soft warm bed, across the room, and to the door. Then Neyhira pulled back the tapestry door just an inch and peered out into the hallway. All was still and quiet. She looked at Thairyn, nodded, and crept out of the room. Thairyn followed her.

Like little shadows, they crept as silently as they could through the long winding passages of their grandmother’s teiami. They kept alert for any sound of a disturbance as they went, especially as they tiptoed past their grandmother’s room. But the halls were so quiet their own soft breathing seemed loud in their earfins, and the slightest crunch of twined fibres under their feet would make them start.

At last, they made it to the kitchen, which was lit dimly with the soft blue light of little clinclins buzzing about. The erepods had been attracted indoors through the open window by little dishes of sweet-smelling nectar that had been placed on the table. Thairyn remembered Grandmama had told her that she did not like to keep the little erepods captive, even for a night, so instead she would beckon in their light with an enticing midnight treat.

Just under the right side of the window was the large ornate crystal urn, filled to the brim with clear water. It was almost as tall as the twins were, with a little wickerwork shelf next to it with cups and a ladle. Thairyn took two cups, and Neyhira took the ladle.

Neyhira shooed off a few clinclins that had gathered on the rim of the urn and dipped the ladle in the water. She was slow to avoid splashing, but also to watch the beautiful dark ripples form and spread across the otherwise still surface of the water. She filled Thairyn’s cup. While her twin drank, she waited for the water to become still again so she could make more ripples. As she gazed at the water, waiting for the last ripples to disappear, she heard a noise. She looked at Thairyn.

Thairyn lowered her cup from her lips and looked at Neyhira quizzically. “What was that?” she whispered.

Neyhira shrugged, furrowing her brow. “I don’t know.”

It seemed to have come from outside. The girls strained to listen.

Thairyn looked at Neyhira. “That’s Grandmama,” she whispered.

The twins crept closer to the window and stood up on their tiptoes to peer out into the darkness. Down below, on the great branch before the entryway of the teiami, stood two figures. One they recognized as their grandmother. The other, they guessed by his pale silver robes an ornately beaded hair, The Gem Elder. They were speaking in hushed tones; the girls, though they knew eavesdropping was wrong, strained to listen further in hopes of finding out how their mother was doing.

“...pity that Samlii should be ill today. She spoke of planning the celebrations for a better day.”

“Aye, what is the exact day of one’s birth to a child of only four short years? We won’t tell her. When Samlii recovers, it will all be the same to Valii,” the Gem Matron said.

“Indeed. Well, the night waxes old. Rest well, Magnii,” the Gem Elder said. “I shall attend to the stars, and see you again in the morning.” He leapt up to another branch, flapping his wings to steady himself, and then another, and soon disappeared up into the higher canopies. The twins withdrew from the window and stared at each other. “Today was Valii’s birthday?” Neyhira asked.

“Come on, we’ve got to get back up to bed before Grandmama comes,” Thairyn whispered, grabbing her wrist. Just then, they heard the flap of a tapestry outside. Grandmama was coming!

They quickly replaced the cups where they had found them. Then, as quietly as they could, but with lightning on their heels, the girls hurried up the winding hallway and into the safe confines of the tome room. There they hopped into their bed and cuddled themselves together under the blankets, which had gone cold from their absence. Then they were still, and listened to hear if their grandmother had spotted them. There was no sound, but for the natural creak and sway of the Tree Kin's subtle movements deep within the woven fibres of the teiami.

There was something exquisitely exciting about sneaking around at night. Eyes glowing with emotion, Thairyn and Neyhira clasped hands and giggled quietly. Neyhira scrunched up her nose. “Shh! Stop laughing!”

“You’re the one laughing—shh!”

Kaqurei gave a soft moan and stirred—the twins hushed at once. They waited a moment or two with their eyes and earfins focused on her, but their older sister did not wake. Neyhira looked at Thairyn sadly.

“Poor Valii,” she whispered.

“I know. Mama’s sick on her birthday!”

Neyhira frowned. “On her special day... now she’ll have to have her party on a regular old day. I feel so sad for her. What should we do?”

“Should we tell her?” Thairyn asked.

“I don’t know,” Neyhira whispered. “It feels like lying not to, but if we do, it’ll just make her sad.”

Thairyn was quiet.

“Thairyn, let’s not tell her. It’ll just hurt her feelings,” Neyhira said decidedly. But the words had scarce escaped her lips when she moaned with self-pity. “Oh, I wish we didn’t know. It feels like lying!”

“If you keep it a secret, I will,” Thairyn whispered.

Neyhira squeezed her eyes shut and winced. “You just had to call it a secret, didn’t you?”

Yes, indeed Thairyn had, and she had not done it innocently.