Udaru made copies of himself with the power of his Tears ris, the images distorting the air beside where he sat before resolving into perfect reflections. Where before one blue aquaros had been, now there were three, as if Udaru had two identical brothers sitting cross-legged just behind him. Seeing them appear, Tif made a silent wager with Pep that Tears tribe had gotten the idea to create duplicate islands, or as best they could, from this very ability. The Qichon should know the answer, and if she was going to be meeting them, it was important to have something to talk about. With a few words of command from the former division leader, the extra Udarus ported away, sent to fetch the carriers who had brought Tif and her friends to the remote island.
“Couldn’t your reflections have carried us?” Tif asked him. She still held Jer, who had stopped crying but hadn’t removed the hands from in front of his face. His breaths were slow and even, like he was trying to pull himself back together with each he took.
Udaru removed a jar from his belt, full of a muddy liquid that Tif felt she had seen before but couldn’t place. “They could for a short distance, yes,” he answered, unstopping the bottle. “Though investing both with enough ris would nearly deplete me, so no use with three of you to move. Better to wait for assistance.” He tilted the mud into the side of his mouth and then lifted his head, shooting it back.
“That’s that u-juice you like, isn’t it?” Tif said.
“I wouldn’t say ursk is something you like,” Udaru croaked in answer. “It grows on you, until it feels odd not to drink it.”
“Sounds like a flower we have on the Plain called hiye” Teerog said. Her voice was pitched for all of them to hear, though her lone eye was on Jer. “A petal under the tongue will make you sick up, but after you will see swirls of colors and experience a gentle peace. Those with a Seal or more of Blood are immune, but others partake in it despite the imbalance it creates in their body.”
“I do not believe ursk is harmful, except to perhaps the nose,” Udaru said, considering the jar of lumpy liquid. “My mate always hated the smell of it, saying it reeked like rotting seaweed. It is made from the leaves, so she was probably correct.”
Tif wasn’t sure if he had just tried to make a joke or not, and decided that after everything they had just discussed, it was best not to laugh. “Thank you for telling us about her,” she said instead.
Udaru simply inclined his head in her direction and then took another swig.
Their wait stretched, during which time Jer tried to give Tif the yellow sah back, but she pressed it into his hands, whispering to him that it was his now. He didn’t argue, tucking it away, and Tif hoped that after meeting the Qichon, she’d have time to tell him more about it.
The helpers arrived not long after that exchange, the same orange aquaros who had found them on the coast and ported with Teerog, and the green aquaros who had moved Jer. After being told by Udaru to take the pair to a place to rest in Sah’Sah proper, they quickly went about that task. Tif found letting go of Jer harder than she expected, especially when he gave her a brief lost look. It was such a change from his former anger or more recent semi-dazed expression that her breath caught briefly in her throat.
“I’ll see you both again soon!” she called after them, as they ported away.
“Let us go,” Udaru said, appearing beside her. She gave him a nod; the sooner gone, the sooner done. Though in truth she was quite curious to meet the Chon of another city. After all, when she became the Archon of Lercel, she would need to treat with them as equals, and now was as good a time as any to start that relationship.
Udaru ported them toward their destination faster than Tif had ever before traveled. There was no time spent falling in-between skyward leaps; as soon as they arrived in a fresh patch of air, they were gone again just as quickly, shifting to a new place. The succession of the jumps was so fast Tif began to feel queasy, but the discomfort couldn’t compete with the thrill of such rapid-fire travel. It was like they were lightning or a shot of Gold ris punching through the sky, arcing ever upward. They were over the water in what felt like no time, the bamboo buildings of the city appearing below. Still higher they went, making their destination clear to Tif: the tall, wooden tower that dominated the center of Sah’Sah. She had seen the structure in the distance on her first trip to the southern great city, but had never had the chance to go near it since all her time, whether with the knights or the local Underground, had been spent on the outskirts of the island.
Up and up they went, so high that Tif thought she’d soon be able to lift her hand to touch the belly of the clouds. But before she got the chance, Udaru leveled them out, coming at the tower head on. The upper half of the building was empty floor after empty floor, no walls blocking the eye from seeing within and no stairs leading from one to the next.
“No need with Tears ris,” she whispered to Pep, saying half the words in one part of the sky and the other half in another.
On the highest level, with a peaked roof above it, Tif and Udaru finally landed; the sudden lack of forward motion was completely unnatural, and she stumbled two steps and likely would have gone more if Udaru hadn’t kept a firm grip on her arm. To take her eyes off the much more persistent nausea in her belly, Tif studied the floor she stood on. The wood was the same tan, springy bamboo that was used on the paths in Sah’Sah, and her toes enjoyed the familiar feel of its rounded shape. What she didn’t enjoy was the tower choosing that moment to sway, tilting her body toward one of the open sides and the long drop that would follow. That got her heart racing nearly as quickly as their flight through the sky, sure enough. If she still had her Blood ris, Tif doubted it would have bothered her; she could have just stuck to the floor or have healed after a fall. But as she was now, she had a distinct feeling that this was a place that those without seals should walk with utmost care.
A gentle tug from Udaru got her moving forward, toward the only person or object on the level. She had seen the Qichon’s green back when approaching, but now only a dozen feet from him, Tif could better tell that he was easily one of the biggest aquaros she had ever seen. He was twice as thick as Udaru, with wide shoulders, a frill that draped a good foot down his back, and bright feathers around his waist that were large enough to be used as fans. Also, his green scales made the cobalt swirls of glistening Tears ris that covered his body much easier to see than when they were blue on blue as she was used to seeing them.
Udaru gestured for her to stop before moving the rest of the way over to the Qichon alone. Once there, he leaned his head toward the larger aquaros, and they spoke together in low croaks. Tif looked side-to-side at the magnificent views while they talked. She wasn’t near an edge like the leader of Sah’Sah, but the lack of walls made seeing out into the distance as easy as turning her eyes in that direction. Endless sea, other islands, and even the mainland were all available for her to gaze out upon from the great height where they perched. She didn’t think the spot was nearly as tall as Lercel, but it was impressive nonetheless. However, the longer Tif appreciated the sights, the more curious she became about strange flashes of green she kept seeing. The splashes of color were much too large to be birds or anything else natural from how they vanished so quickly.
Udaru and the Qichon were still speaking, so Tif walked closer to the side where the green seemed more common. Below her was the city proper of this reflection of Sah’Sah, and with another sway of the tower, she grabbed onto the thick bundle of bamboo poles that was the support for this corner of the structure. There had been green much closer this time, the size of an aquaros she thought. But if it was just male aqauros porting around, why would there be so many of them? She wasn’t sure, and neither was Pep.
“Did Udaru tell you why we built these towers, newcomer?” a voice she didn’t recognize asked. It was a croak, so had to be the Qichon, but it was so loud and much nearer than it should have been. Tif turned away from the overlook and found that two large, green aquaros stood beside her and two beside them, all the way around the tower, at least two dozen in total. Each looked exactly like the next, with a snout that was much wider and flatter than Udaru’s, and slitted eyes that were brighter green than their forest-colored scales. Only blue Udaru stood out in the ring of Qichon’s, all of whom were staring at her, as if waiting for her answer.
“You’re able to see what they see?” Tif guessed, gesturing at the reflections that surrounded the tower top. She focused on the one nearest Udaru, but it was impossible to tell which was real with how alike they looked.
All of the Qichon’s tilted their head in a manner Tif had come to associate with aqauros, looking at her more fully with a single eye. “In a way,” he replied, cryptically.
She felt a humming sensation on her shoulder and turned just in time to see that the Qichon to her left had placed his clawed hand on her. Suddenly, she was standing back where she had, only a few strides from Udaru, and the leader of Sah’Sah--only one of them now, all the others gone just as quickly as they had appeared.
“That’s amazing,” Tif breathed out in wonder, imagining how his reflections could port all over the city, letting the Qichon keep watch from above. “You can see everything.”
“Never as much as I would like, and not when speaking with others.” Though his voice held no more emotion than any other aquaros Tif had met, the meaning was clear: his time was precious.
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“Don’t let me interrupt,” Tif said.
“You are not,” the Qichon answered, his voice still loud and deep, even though there was only one of him now. “My returned First Warrior is.”
Tif looked at Udaru, her eyes bulging. “You’re the First Warrior of Sah’Sah?”
Udaru’s normally stiff tail twitched behind him, but it was the Qichon who answered.
“Yes. There are others who will surely surpass him in another few seasons, but we are glad for his return. Too long he lingered in Lercel when he was needed in Sah’Sah for our rebuilding.”
“Qichon, I--” Udaru started, but the large aquaros’s frill fluttered, and Udaru was silent.
“I am told we owe you a great debt,” the Qichon continued, his wide head angled toward Tif.
“That’s for you two to decide, not me,” she answered. “Just did what I did because it seemed right at the time.”
“Were you believed?” the Qichon asked, barely opening his mouth to do so.
Tif thought on that. “Think so. Though they never told me one way or the other, so I can’t say for sure.”
The large aquaros chuffed a cough, turning toward Udaru. “Our debt to her may not be as great as you say.”
Udaru leaned closer to the leader of Sah’Sah, and the Qichon lowered his head so they could talk again. Their croaks were pitched to stay between them, and Tif didn’t try to listen in. That was until Udaru’s voice raised, but a sharp move from the Qichon cut him off. The large, green aquaros looked over at Tif.
“I will grant you an inch of Tears ris to show you are a friend of Sah’Sah. This will grant you free passage in and out of the city whenever you wish. It is a great boon, and one few other outsiders possess.”
Tif nodded. Not sure what else to say about a gift phrased as a demand.
“Also, when you leave this time, the carriers will take you anywhere you wish within a day of porting. In the future, you will need to pay if you want to travel further than the coastal edge.”
That would get them halfway back to Lercel assuming the Qichon agreed to let her take Teerog and Jer, too, free of charge. Plumya should be able to keep pace with her wings like she had before, assuming the little bounty hunter hadn’t abandoned them again.
While Tif was pleased with how things had turned out, she noticed that Udaru was shaking his head. For him, she thought, he looked quite upset.
The Qichon noticed the move as well, and growled, the flap of frill above his throat vibrating. “Not even a molting past since you have returned to us and already you are questioning my orders. Perhaps I should find myself a different First Warrior.”
Udaru kept his head bowed, showing what Tif thought was the utmost respect, in posture at least. “Avoiding conflict with Lercel is a great service, my Chon. Surely worth more than an inch of ris.”
“She did you a service for your folly,” the larger aquaros croaked. “Assuming they listened to her and she is not lying. Must the Tribe continue to pay for your mistakes?”
“Um, excuse me,” Tif said, which got both scaled snouts to turn her way. “What I really need is proof that I wasn’t part of the assassination attempt. Could you maybe help me with that?”
Udaru and the Qichon shared a look, and then Udaru spoke. “I am sorry, Tif. I do not think my words will carry any weight with the arcknights or council, not after I fled my post.”
“But they attacked you first,” she said, getting a bit angry just remembering. “Maybe you could write a letter saying that you didn’t feel safe with the Archon dead and so left for home. They can’t fault you for that, can they? And then you can tell them that Rof was the killer and that I wasn’t involved.” A rebellious part of Tif considered asking Udaru to also say that the Archon had agreed to make her a squire in their private meeting, but she quickly kicked that idea out of her mind: she would earn her way to the top, just like her friend Teerog was doing. “I could carry it back for you,” she added, hopefully.
“Even if your lie has convinced them not to go to war with us,” the Qichon said, “they have no reason to trust us, especially not about something of such importance. Why risk a betrayer in their midst? I have shared a table with keshe before and know how they think. You would need to represent more value to them alive than dead, and though we have just met, I do not see how you could do that in their eyes.”
It was a harsh truth, but Tif appreciated hearing it. All the more reason to try the other thing she had in mind. She nodded to the Qichon to show she would contemplate his words and then turned to Udaru.
“What about the scrolls Rof had?” Tif asked. “Maybe he got it from someone here who was connected to the assassination, and…” she trailed off because Udaru was already shaking his head again.
“The technique on the Gold scroll was unknown to me,” he said. “However, the one from Tears was a standard description of porting that can be purchased by anyone with two seals from the temple where he received them.”
Tif deflated. She had been so sure that Udaru would have answers for her or at least be able to help her find some. Without them, she wasn’t sure what she was going to do. She didn’t want to live in the Underground the rest of her days or give up on her dream, but how was she going to become the Archon for a city that wanted to see her dead?
“I’m sorry that I cannot assist you in this way,” Udaru said, taking a step toward her that got her attention. “You are welcome to stay in Sah’Sah, but from our conversations before, I know that is not your desire. Also, the Qichon is correct, the debt is mine, not the Tribes. For that reason, I will purchase you a seal of Tears, using my personal stores. I hope this will not only help you but also convey the depth of my gratitude to you.”
Tif’s jaw dropped. “A full seal?”
The Qichon had a similar reaction, his large frill snapping open around his head. The leathery wreath made him seem all the more intimidating, but Tif’s eyes were drawn to what had become visible right below it, on the upper portion of his chest: a design she knew all too well.
“You have a crest,” she said without thinking.
The leader of Sah’Sah’s mouth had been open wide, clearly about to say something loudly to Udaru, but at her words, he turned back to her.
“What?” he barked.
She pointed at swirls of blue ris on his scales; the whorls made an unmistakable--or at least unmistakable to her--wide, arrow-head shape, so similar to the one she had carried on her chest in red, made of lines and dots.
“A crest,” she repeated, not sure what else to call it besides the name Awt and Vak-Lav had used.
With an effort it seemed, the Qichon’s frill dropped back down, covering the top of his shoulders and chest. He stepped closer to her than Udaru was now, his large presence nearly as imposing as that of a cyclops.
“What do you know of it?”
“Lots,” she said, looking up at him.
“Tell me,” he hissed through teeth she hadn’t quite appreciated the size of before. In fact, his head was so wide she thought he might be able to bite hers off whole if he was in the mood.
So, she did, starting with the crest’s strange ability to transfer ris from one person to another and then how it could let you absorb a sacrifice directly through your skin like an Aspect, increasing the amount of ris you had. Next, she spoke of the things that Vak-Lav had told her, figuring the Qichon might as well know, about how if the person with the crest was killed in a certain way, all Aspects of that type would die. Tif still had trouble believing such a thing could possibly be true, but if it was, she didn’t want to chance leaving it out.
The Qichon had barely moved since her explanation began, and he didn’t now, his next words falling from his partially open mouth like only aquaros could: “How do you know such things?”
“I carried one of them for a time. The one of Blood. I also met someone who told me about them.”
“Where is it now?” he demanded in an extremely loud croak, which Tif took to be a shout for one of his kind. Udaru had said that Tears ris made you feel more deeply, and the Qichon was covered in it. What might he be feeling after the sort of frightening news she had just given him? His frill twitched, threatening to snap open a second time. “And who was this person?”
“I don’t know,” Tif replied truthfully--Awt might have been sent away for all she knew since she had last been home. “The person was Vak-Lav. Leader of the Underground of Lercel. I think you two would enjoy talking to each other.”
She hoped that giving him more information about one might stop her from pressing her about the other. After all, she had promised Teerog help in getting the crest back, and who knew what the Qichon might want with it.
For a moment, the large aquaros seemed to be hanging between asking her more questions or going and finding the answers on his own. It was Udaru who broke the silence.
“Qichon,” he said, his croak the most unsure Tif had ever heard it. “Is this true?”
The large green aquaros hesitated, and Tif wasn’t sure why. If she was in charge, she’d definitely want her First Warrior to know about this sort of thing.
“Some of it I know to be true, yes,” the Qichon said, angling his head toward Udaru. “I shall gather the Clave. Join us when you are finished.” He then looked back down at her, slitted eyes flashing. “You have given me much to think on, Tif of Lercel, new friend of Sah’Sah. I am sure our paths will cross again sooner rather than late.”
To Tif’s shock, the Qichon faded, his previously vibrant color washing out and his form seeming to haze. His ghostly eyes looked at her another moment and then his body dropped straight through the floor.
Tif stood, stunned, staring down at the section of roped together bamboo he had just slipped between as if it wasn’t even there.
“How did he do that?”
“The fifth seal of Tears is a wondrous thing,” Udaru said, his clawed toes clicking against the wood as he walked to her side. “Nearly as surprising as the knowledge you hold. Come, let us get you the first while you tell me your story. If you are willing to share it, that is.”
Tif looked up at the former division leader, the one who had offered to set her free in Lercel under the noses of the knights and had tried to save her in the Archon’s chamber. She had told her parents everything, of course, and was starting to do the same with Teerog and Plumya, but Udaru had actually lived much of the early days with her.
She smiled at him. “I’d like that. Especially if you’re willing to help me learn how to use the seal you’re giving me.”
“Ah, yes,” he said, frill rustling in a light way she thought might just be a laugh. “I have not forgotten about your desire to train and already have a plan in place for that.”
Tif grinned all the wider “Let’s get going then!”