You take Para into the forests around Hetch. Farmland surrounds the town in most directions now, but people still hunt in the dense forests to the east. You and she walk the game trails, silent as cats in the shadows cast by the morning sun.

"I remember hearing about how you brought down that lone wolf at the beginning of winter," your mother says. "That was quite a heroic feat."

Thinking back, you can imagine a dozen better ways you could have approached that wolf. You have learned much, even in the last few months.

By midday, you and Para start to wind your way back toward the great hall.

"What a shame," a bright clear voice behind you says, "to hear our great chieftain and her son arguing in public yet again."

Urmish, o sacerdote da cidade de Yune, desliza pela estrada, a capa laranja-fogo ondulando dramaticamente atrás dele, e caminha suavemente entre você e Para. Mais alto do que qualquer um de vocês, Urmish não é nem caçador nem guerreiro. Nem ele é realmente um padre; ele é apenas um iniciado, capaz de fazer o sinal do deus do ofício, mas incapaz de manifestar poder real. Seu manto contém menos motivos solares e linhas radiantes do que o de um padre completo. Seu gorro e gola não são tão altos, e não há amuletos pendurados em seu manto tecido. Ele faz o possível para esconder a verdade.

Stolen novel; please report.

E você não estava exatamente discutindo com sua mãe, mas Urmish vê o que ele quer.

This close to the great hall, the town's gossips are wealthy traders, riverboat captains, and diplomats from the other tribes. Recognizing Urmish's desire to associate himself with the chieftain, your mother says, "I'll leave you two boys to talk," and takes the stone steps two at a time into the great hall.

The hall's guards step aside to let you pass, but Urmish glides in front of you, blocking your path up the steps. As always, he is eager to gossip and desperate to impress. And as usual in situations like this–