The wicker man burned until he was falling into flaming pieces. Yuliko and Kardan snuck off from the pyre to find somewhere quiet, and came upon a nice little nook in the rock wall. Kardan helped Yuliko hop up into their spot first, then climbed up himself. From where they sat they could see a sliver of the starry sea above the gorge. Drum beats and song and a hundred murmuring voices echoed through the hidden trench, but no one else was around.

“You know, you’re the reason why we weren’t executed,” Kardan said to her.

“No, not me. It was Minty who saved the woman,” Yuliko said.

“Well, yeah,” Kardan said. “But before that. You convinced Jogen and King Leandrus to let Minty treat her. And before that Faydayo was going to be turned to splatter and cause the rest of us to lose our heads.”

“Faydayo did the best he could,” Yuliko said.

“Oh, don’t excuse him,” Kardan said. “If he was smart he never would have challenged Leandrus. But you did the smart thing, and that saved us.”

“Well, thanks,” Yuliko said, though she did not believe she deserved the credit. Though this conversation was steering towards something she had been meaning to discuss with Kardan, but hadn’t yet, so she decided to push on with it now. “Hey, I think you should lay off Faydayo, alright? Being the leader is difficult.”

“Why are you speaking for Faydayo, of all people?” Kardan asked, almost sounding offended.

Yuliko touched her antler wound. “It’s the red mark Eshika gave me. You said she gave me the handprint because I was a survivor. But I think she gave it to me to help Faydayo lead.”

“Ashes to that,” Kardan said. “She probably gave you the red to be the backup, seeing as Faydayo’s likely going to get himself killed. By the next tribe or maybe by Sarkola.”

“We all made a mistake when we got captured in the meadow. We shouldn’t have been goofing off on the flower heads. Faydayo had warned us to keep quiet, but we didn’t,” Yuliko said.

“Did we come all the way out here to talk about Faydayo?” Kardan said, getting defensive. He surely remembered he had been the first to start bouncing on the sunflower discs.

“No. It’s just, we should follow our leader,” Yuliko said. “Be a mo’huran.

“Yeah, I know,” Kardan said.

“Our mo’huran could be special,” Yuliko added.

Kardan rolled his eyes. “You don’t believe that do you?”

Yuliko didn’t know if she did or not. But she knew she wanted it to be true. She wanted to undo her shame. “The tremors had to mean something,” she said.

“Why?” Kardan asked.

“We shouldn’t ignore the spirits, Kardan. You know this,” Yuliko said.

“Sure. Fine,” Kardan said.

Yuliko frowned. This was certainly not what they had come to this nook for. “I didn’t mean to upset you,” she said, and lowered her head to Kardan.

“Don’t do that,” Kardan said, tapping her shoulder to rise.

Yuliko lifted her head. Her blue-green eyes hooking into his light brown irises.

“You don’t ever have to lower yourself to me,” he told her. Under starlight, with his hair down, wearing flowers, Kardan seemed almost spirit-like. The way Yuliko imagined a forest spirit would manifest to interact with man kins, like in the stories. He brushed Yuliko’s hair over her ear, and said, “You’re beautiful.”

“As are you,” Yuliko said, smiling brightly.

Then, as Kardan pulled his hand back, her eyes trained onto the red jasper bracelet on his wrist. Yuliko’s smile turned limp.

Kardan lowered his hand. “Gidiya is only a girl,” he said.

“A girl with status,” Yuliko said.

Kardan took her hand in his.

“I’m not playing the game of status,” Kardan said.

He leaned in towards her. Yuliko let him get close, and when he was mere inches away from her face, she tilted her head upward so their lips could meet. They kissed as the last pieces of the Wild Watcher toppled into the roaring bonfire. The kiss was soft and wet and Yuliko’s innards were fluttering like scalewings.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Then they heard the rattling of beads. “Hyah! Look at you two,” Krissa’s voice came from the shadows.

Yuliko and Kardan pulled apart and saw Krissa emerging into the light. She wore one of the Meadow Dweller grass skirts, and munched on a sack of sunflower seeds.

“Krissa? Um, hi?” Yuliko said.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Krissa said, lowering herself in mock apology. “You two are cute together. It’s just that I’m very curious why you would choose the Totem-Loser, Kardan. Why weaken your status?”

“Uh, this is kind of none of your business,” he said.

“I guess, it’s just a matter of options on this Journey, right?” Krissa said, plopping a palmful of seeds into her mouth as she spoke. “Faydayo has claimed me. Pykor has practically claimed Zana. Minty isn’t going to let a man claim her. So that really just leaves Yuliko.”

Yuliko noticed that the sunflower seeds were a pale whitish-green.

“I think you should move along,” Kardan said.

“Those seeds are unripened,” Yuliko said. “You should go see Minty before you get sick.”

“I’m just fine,” Krissa said. “I’ve been eating these for days. The spirits won’t let me get hurt.”

“Well, go eat them somewhere else then,” Kardan said.

Krissa stood still and silent for a moment with her head drooping to the side. “If you could choose another match, would you?”

“No,” Kardan said, then he looked at Yuliko. “No. That’s not why I kissed you.”

Krissa flipped her hair back. The beads clacked. She moseyed closer to their nook, facing Yuliko. “Kardan doesn’t want a Totem-Loser for a wife. He wants a mo’huran romance. But he won’t keep you back home.”

“Shut up,” Kardan said. “What is wrong with you?”

“She’s sick,” Yuliko said. “She’s not thinking straight.”

“I saw it in a vision. I’ve been having many visions,” Krissa said, still focused on Yuliko. “I saw you wearing your antlers, in the land of white trees. You won’t be able to stay in the forest.” Then she turned to Kardan. “But you’ll stay in the white forest forever, with a worthy wife.”

“Okay, you’re right. She needs to see Minty,” Kardan said.

“No. Hold on,” Yuliko said. “Tell me about the white forest.”

Krissa smiled silly. “I return to the white forest in many of my visions. The trees and the earth are all made of white glass, like obsidian, but pale white. Sometimes the forest is alive with life. Other times the glass is all cracked and shattering.”

“What is the white forest? Is it the White Wasteland?” Yuliko asked.

“It must be. And that is where we must go,” Krissa said. “Just like Faydayo said, we shall travel to the White Wasteland and beyond for our tribute.”

“What is there? What is the tribute?” Yuliko asked.

“Don’t encourage her,” Kardan muttered.

“Something extremely hot,” Krissa said. And then she vomited onto the ground a watery barf with chunks of sunflower seed.

They did take her to Minty after that, who said she needed water and sleep.

Yuliko and Kardan’s moment alone turned out to be brief and she wished to linger on their kiss as she lay to be, but instead Yuliko found herself thinking of the white forest and wondering if it would return in her dreams.

#

But she did not find herself surrounded by the white trees that night. Instead she was a young girl again, still the heir to the chieftainship and not a disgrace in anybody’s eyes. She stood by her chieftain father, younger, without the streaks of gray on his sides. He was skinning an ibex in a field. His hands were blood red.

“This creature has given his life for the tribe,” her father told her. “Its meat shall feed us. Its horns shall become tools. Its skin our clothing. Its hooves and bones and blood shall all be used. A leader is like this goat. They must give all to the tribe.”

Then Yuliko’s side began to bleed where she had been pierced. “I did give all,” she said.

Next Yuliko was on the ground where the ibex had been, and her father’s bloody hands were holding the obsidian knife over her now. “Be a mo’huran,” he said. Then he cut into her flesh, tearing her open from breast to groin.

Yuliko awoke in a start, and lay awake for a long while waiting for the sun to come up.

The morning of the Ibexes departure the Meadow Dwellers supplied them with some more dried salt beef and all the sunflower seeds they could carry. Also, Hado had supplied Minty with a number of herbs to add to her medicine pouch.

They would be led by King Leandrus to the northern edge of the meadow, along with a company of the masked sunflower warriors. Jogen explained that they were always cautious in the northern field, that is where they’ve had the most trouble with migrants, and where they have heard the wolves howling.

They would be flower walking, so unfortunately Jogen would not be able to join them due to his limp. He gave all the Ibexes a one armed hug before they departed out of the gorge. Enyanna came to see them all off as well, and Yuliko got one last chance to hold the baby.

Then it was time for them to be going. They walked out the gorge and climbed up the sunflower trees. Flower walking is best started by bouncing in place to build up momentum before the first leap. They didn’t have all their gear with them when they were practicing the flower walk, so it took Yuliko a while to readjust her balance with all the additional weight. Kardan even fell on his butt while trying to get used to bouncing with the gear.

In short time, King Leandrus hollered, and all the sunflower warriors were bolting ahead, springing from one flower top to another. The Ibexes followed behind, with far less grace than the Meadow Dwellers, but they managed to keep pace.

Yuliko felt alive running over the meadow. The world became a blur of magnificent yellows, oranges, and reds; like she was running through fire. It was exhilarating. Even Kardan was having fun, though he did almost tumble off the flower heads a time or two. The speed at which they could move by flower walking had them all the way to the northern edge of the meadow by mid-day.

At the edge of the meadow the sunflowers were not big enough to flower walk, so they treaded through the field at ground level until they came to the narrow pass between to high mountain ridges.

King Leandrus gave each of the Ibexes a squeeze on their shoulders. But to Faydayo, who Leandrus was pained to see go, he gave a long hug. And after that, the king and his warriors bowed slightly to the mo’huran, and disappeared back into the meadow.

The Ibexes were left standing at the face of the pass. From beyond, they heard wolves howling.