“Enough chatter. Why must I stay?”
“I have seen you make hard decisions and know you can be trusted.”
“I can do that scouting for Veriskans!”
Grixis’s jaw tics. “I need you to give the women a chance.”
“Have I not done so already? I was at the shore, same as you. It was I who suggested we get Elena to help us fix The Tomb. And who trekked through the woods in search of Obnoxious Amber? I did.”
“You have done all of those things, and yet, I must ask more of you.”
“What more could you possibly ask?”
“You must dull your edge.”
“Dull my edge?”
“Show the others that even if you have no love for the Penticari, you can still coexist with them, and what better way to do that than with Asha? I understand why you feel the way you do about her, but look inward, see strength where you thought there was none.”
“What if I am right and there is no strength in that one?”
“She alone was the only one who could fix the terraformer, and we cannot tell the future, and if we will need small Asha again.”
I growl in dismay. “This would be a lot easier if she did notexistin my hut! She can go to the longhouse with the rest of them.”
“She is staying with you, and you are staying in the village, and that is final, as it is best for everyone.”
“No, it is best for you and Elena,” I snarl.
Before he can reply, I storm from his tent, across the village, to my hut, furious that he would demand that I stay with Asha when I could be scouting the woods.
7
ASHA
“Harold?” I call, looking through my weaves and under Ramsey’s bed. But he’s nowhere to be found.
Hopefully, he’s realized what a hazard the hut is now that Ramsey’s made it back, and he’s decided to start his life anew.
Good for him.
I press my eyes closed, and say a silent goodbye, as I’ve done before.
If only I weren’t so weak.
I see the way the other maidens sometimes look at me, with annoyance, like it’s my fault we’re stuck here. I’ll never be enough for them, and if I had died out on the shore, they wouldn’t have shed a tear.
Will I ever meet anyone’s expectations of me? I haven’t so far, and I doubt I ever will. The one time I ever did anything right, when I’d squeezed through a thin passage between walls to fix something that looked too fantastical to be real, I don’t even know what I did.
Despite my lacking, it was that deed that allowed us into the village, where we are now safe.
But only a handful of people know the truth, most assuming we were brought to the village due to Elena’s pregnancy.
I look at dyed threads, pleased with how the colors came out. One, in particular, shimmers in a way I’ve never seen before, looking like water.
The color came from the shells of bugs Nori brought to me after a trek out into the woods with Dogan. The color was unlike anything we’d seen, because it seemed to move and shift.
Curious as to how it would bind to threads, she asked that I use it to make a dye, and I’ve just now gotten around to using it.
