PASHA

“Aim!” Lelan called. “Hold steady! Concentrate!”

Pasha’s heart picked up in speed. This was her favorite moment of the exercise; the strained feeling of holding her drawn bow steady, the pulse between her mind and the crystalline arrowheads. She longed to be there, back to drills with the other sentinels, but instead she was hidden; watching them from afar in the trees. The pain in her ankle still lingered. She crouched down a bit further in the dense forest brush as she tried to get a better look at Omedi. From what she could tell, his form had improved since last month.

“You’re moving,” Lelan’s commanding voice rang through the grove like a bell, overpowering even the waterfalls that thundered across the forest basin. He crossed his arms and tossed a long twist of hair over his shoulder.

A hush clothed each of them, a focused silence that seemed to wrap their breath and bodies in a taut line. Pasha waited, eyes fixed on Omedi. The target, a mistbird hologram, was nearly invisible. It took sharp senses to detect the slightest shimmer in the light, and a knack for timing that was practically rooted in precognition. Omedi didn’t know she was there, watching him from the trees. It was kind of a thrill to be sneaking around. If Lelan – or worse, Tigara – discovered she was trying to hang around her squadron she would be lambasted beyond recovery. Not that she wasn’t already. None of the other sentinels had so much as looked her in the eye in weeks.

“Become stone,” Lelan spoke, softly this time.

The chill of wet air from the waterfall tickled her nose. Pasha swallowed and winced at her dry throat. Then, Lelan’s lips cracked into the smile he always broke into when making them wait like this.

“Now!” Lelan commanded.

Less than a second before the others, Omedi’s sparkling arrow streaked through the air in a quenching green ray, piercing the sky. The mistbird, revealed, shimmered; struck from invisibility, it spiraled to the ground.

Pasha’s heart surged with pride, until the dozen sentinels turned around to collect their things. She quietly backed up into the foliage.

“Good work, Sentinel,” Lelan pressed a closed fist to his opposite shoulder in respect. “You’ve been impressing me.”

“Oh, well, you know,” Omedi laughed nervously as he scratched at his ear. “It’s all Pasha’s help. Not that she’s been, you know. Out and around. Just verbal feedback, you know. It's great stuff.”

“Her skill is unparalleled,” Lelan said. He bowed his head slightly to Omedi and turned to give quiet guidance on form to a junior sentinel.

Pasha’s cheeks burned with embarrassment. She was on everyone’s bad side, but at least Lelan was still in her corner. Kind of.

Finally, Omedi looked in her direction. Pasha lifted herself just slightly from the tall leaves, enough for him to see her ear. He met her eyes, and they grew wide with fear. She nodded at his bow and winked, then disappeared back into the shadows.

The grove began to clear. A few sentinels meandered passed, wrapped in their own conversations, down the stone path. Pasha waited to the rumbling of the waterfall, her back pressed her against a tree trunk, while Omedi offered her a soft, knowing smile.

Pasha retrieved an arrow from her quiver and pressed it against her chest. Imprinting with the trees wasn’t a skill she had mastered, nor was she particularly interested in doing so, but she didn’t know how long it would be until she and Omedi would have the grove. Imprinting wasn’t part of her clan’s tradition. But the time spent in reflection – and the opportunity to massage the swelling of her ankle – was welcome. Yet her mind kept wanting to reflect on the squadron before her, and how none of them had visited her since the incident.

Through the thick woods, Pasha could barely make out Lelan. He was crouched over, writing, and his long dark hair shadowed his face. He hadn’t visited her either.

Pasha closed her eyes and gently attempted to push her mind from her own body into the soil, through the roots and out into branches of the tree.

Distracting flashes filled her mind like unsettled dreaming. The fire she caused. The steel crates on the ship. Grandmother Mina’s burial. The stargate.

“How’s the ankle?” a whisper dragged her consciousness back into her body with a start.

Pasha opened her eyes and, the forest emptied, found Omedi in front of her, hand outstretched. His braids hung over his shoulders like bead strings, and his face looked even deeper indigo beneath the forest canopy. She scanned the grove. Lelan was gone.

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Pasha took his hand and stood.

“Blazing, to be honest,” Pasha slid the arrow back into her quiver and retrieved her bow from behind a yellow sage bush. “But worth every shot.”

“You’d be healed by now if you stayed off it.”

“Maybe,” Pasha gave him a mischievous smile as she limped into the clearing. Sitting still for so long made the swelling ache. “But did you know that the temple quarry pools are left unattended at night? Someone could, presumably, sneak right in.”

“Does holy water work if it’s stolen?”

Pasha rolled her eyes and stretched. The training grove was her favorite place to be, though it was weird to spend time there without the company of the squadron or Lelan’s gaze. The ground was covered in a thick layer of moss. A gray stone path led the way up the hillside to the stone circle of the training area. In the endless mists of the waterfalls that poured into the basin and the city, the moss grew on everything; stones and trees, houses and left behind belongings. The great trees of the basin, ancient and wise, reached as high as birds could fly. The stood like portals to the heavens.

She was forbidden from training with her squadron, but there were no rules – at least, not explicitly – to shoot a few arrows with a friend.

Pasha aimed for a small red target beneath a stone archway.

“Ah, the criminal is here.”

Pasha dropped her bow and turned around. It was Zuna and her brother, Den, still in their sentinel gear. Zuna took one look at the bandage on Pasha’s ankle and cackled. “I had a feeling Omedi was getting extra training.”

“Mediocrity will only get you so far, Zuna,” Omedi retorted as he tossed his own bow over his back.

Den scowled. “Does Lelan know you’re here?”

“Save your breath,” Zuna smiled as she closed the distance between her and Pasha. “We all know Lelan would never enforce the rules for sweet little Pasha.”

“Are you two sharing a bed again?” Den whispered playfully.

“Your jealousy is tangible,” Pasha sneered.

“Sounds like a no,” Zuna winked at Omedi. “Means you might have a chance. Are traitorous murderers your type?”

“Shut it,” Omedia lifted his chin. “What do you want?”

“I just thought I’d give you both a fair warning.”

“For what?” Pasha’s stomach began to churn. Zuna loved opportunities to play with her like a hunt.

“Judgment day.” No sooner had Zuna smiled, bearing her teeth, did Lelan and Tigara appear on the path at the edge of the training grove.

“Go!” Omedi pushed her. “I’ll cover for you!”

Pasha brushed him off and pointed to her swollen, bandaged ankle. “Yeah, because I can outrun Tigara with a limp.”

Omedi’s face fell. “Right.”

“Why not go on all fours?” Zuna whispered as she and Den took a few steps back, barely controlling their laughter.

The churning in Pasha’s stomach increased to the ferocity of a whirlpool, and her heart was a wardrum.

Her mind raced. Was this really, right now, judgment day? Of course it would be the day she’d get caught in the grove. As if they needed more fuel for their crusade against her.

Within a moment, there they were: Lelan and, beside him, Tigara. Tigara was taller than Pasha, and her fierce yellow eyes looked down at her with disdain. She was dressed in her formal attire of polished black armor, blacker than the night, and streaks of the white iridescent warpaint of her clan decorated her cheekbones.

“High General,” Omedi bowed. His braids swung in the air. Pasha quickly mimicked him. They stole a brief glance into each other’s eyes. Her own fear was there, reflected back to her.

“Rise and step forward, sentinel,” Tigara’s lip curled. She did not acknowledge Omedi.

Pasha complied.

“We’re here to retrieve you for your final hearing, Pasha,” Lelan said coolly.

“How did you know I was here?”

Zuna laughed. “Please, he’s only the commander.”

Lelan held Pasha’s eyes. There was something in them that she felt him trying to communicate, but it was buried too deep. “You’re very easy to spot in the brush, Pasha. In the future, try the branches.”

She couldn’t help but smile a little.

“You waste my time,” Tigara spat, cutting them off. “Sentinel, you have been summoned to immediate trial for the murder of three human persons. The Crescent Council is waiting.”