I left for the meeting an hour early with the excuse that Esie had extra training for me tonight. Better to get to the platform early than chance arriving at the same time as one of the attendees. Still, I made my way down to the fire starter path that went below the Gathering Spot first so I could listen for any sounds above before I stepped through the shadows.

All was quiet except for the brush of wind. I stepped through the nearest shadow and followed the pull to the entrance shadow above. The platform was empty just like it was supposed to be, so I hurried over to where I had hidden my rope in the pine needles and breathed a sigh of relief when my hand closed over its coarse surface.

I pulled myself up it without much trouble, though I was grateful for the knots I had tied by the end of it. They gave me a little bit of extra leverage as I climbed. Then I followed the same steps I took the night before and pulled the rope up after me to hide the evidence before I slipped over to where the branch overlooked the Gathering Spot.

It wasn’t the most comfortable spot to lay, but I had dealt with worse and I knew better than to sit upright and offer my profile for anyone who bothered to glance up. So I settled into a position I should be able to hold indefinitely without falling off the branch or a limp falling asleep and waited for the whisper women to show up.

A pair of whisper women were the first to arrive. I recognized both without any of the extra studying I’d done recently. Kaylan, the Far Listener and Esie’s partner, and Hattie, the friendly squad leader I had met after I fell from the root wall saving the commander and got swept away in the wave of water. I resolved to be very, very quiet. If I gave Kaylan any reason to focus in on this direction she’d easily be able to hear my breathing.

The Beastwatchers’ second, Morwen, arrived next and I felt the stakes for this particular meeting rise even higher. If there was a second-in-command involved then the meeting had to be important, especially since from what I heard, this particular second rarely put anything ahead of exploring the goddess’s territory.

Esie strode in not long after her and I was caught between feeling vindicated and annoyed. On one hand, I was glad I had put together that she’d likely be part of the meeting, but on the other it only made me more suspicious about why the Lady of Calm Waters might want me to listen in on the meeting.

The four were all greeting each other when three other whisper women arrived in quick succession. Two I recognized from the student reports I had read: Nix and Ambervale. Nix was a senior whisper woman in my new sect, Hundred Eyes, and she was known for solving mysteries that required long in depth research that others didn’t have the patience for. Ambervale was a Seeker who had dedicated herself to learning all about the ocean, the Lady Blue and her sea monsters. The student’s report said that she would interview anyone who would let her about their experiences with those things and that she made frequent visits to the shore in different parts of the goddess’s territory as well. It was said, apparently, that the Lady of Calm Waters knew everything about fighting the sea monsters and Ambervale knew everything else.

The last whisper woman wasn’t a whisper woman at all, I realized as I focused on her. Nor was she a fire starter or a seedling or anyone else who belonged in the Seedling Palace. She had a lithe, toned build, brown-blonde hair cut close to her scalp, and a presence about her despite being surrounded by whisper women. If I didn’t miss my guess, she was the tribe leader of a large tribe and she bore a striking resemblance to my fellow Hundred Eyes recruit I had left back in our room of papers in the Archivist’s building.

I stared at Juniper’s mother and tried to reconcile how she was here, why she was here, and why Esie had wanted me to know about it, even as my mind spun trying to understand how such a woman had created the girl I knew. It didn’t look she had ever missed a day of battle and she had the scars to prove it, but Juniper’s skill set seemed more theoretical than honed through practical experience.

The whisper women all settled on the first tier of the Gathering spot, even Morwen, while Juniper’s mother had to suffer the indignity of being the only one to remain on the ground level. Was this a hearing then? A petition? By why bother to bring Juniper’s mother all the way to the Seedling Palace for that?

My eyes narrowed. Some point was being made and I didn’t like not knowing what it was. Especially when this particular gathering of whisper women might have power in their own way, but I doubted they had the ability to officially accept a petition. Morwen might, as the Seekers’ second, but it was more likely that she could advise the Seekers’ head about such things but not make the final decision.

There weren’t any sect heads here nor a member of the goddess’s Chosen. No one who could make a unilateral decision on behalf of a sect or whisper women as a whole. It didn’t make sense unless they were leading her on. Or setting a trap. Tribe leaders weren’t brought to the Seedling Palace; it broke the unspoken rules separating the regular tribesfolk from whisper women.

Esie smiled at her from her central spot among the other whisper women. “Welcome, Tribe Master Toniva.”

So the Swirling Waters tribe was actually a collection of smaller tribes, similar to the clans in the Root Mountains. I had heard of Tribe Masters mentioned in a handful of the stories I knew but they weren’t common where I had grown up. My tribe had split up the leadership roles between Grandmother, the tribe leader and the Pack leader, but Tribe Masters centralized the power into one position, with the except of the tribe’s Grandmother, and also often had several subsidiary tribes pledged to them as well. They controlled large swathes of territory and could fill enter cold season shelter spots with just their tribe and the tribes pledged to them, rather than the mix we had in Grislander’s Maw. The most prominent Tribe Master in the stories was Oleandri, Stone Fist of the East. I wondered if Juniper’s mother was anything like that legend.

Toniva knelt on her cushion. “My thanks for hearing me.” She lifted her head. “My people will be overrun by this time next year unless something changes. The horde does not slack with the cold as they have in the past.”

Hattie leaned forward. “They normally pull back during the cold season in the delta? Wish that was true everywhere.”

Toniva nodded. “The smaller channels in the delta freeze over and the cold gives us firmer footing. We can focus our defense on the larger channels they are forced to swim through then and make the cost so high that they pull back to try to slip past us during the warm season.”

“They don’t try to go overland?” Hattie asked.

“They try—rarely. The fish do poorly when they attempt it. They can handle themselves fairly well in the few open areas of the delta, but they quickly lose their mobility when they try to navigate the foliage. Our slingers and ambushers love the easy targets they make then.”

“So why are you having so much trouble now?”

“We have skill and knowledge of the terrain, experience. If this was a normal year I wouldn’t be making claims about becoming overrun.” Toniva squared her shoulders as she stared up at the whisper women. “But they have numbers and they do not pull back. No matter how many we kill, no matter how yellow the water runs with their blood. Thousands more arrive every week to replace the ones we’ve killed.

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“We have no such replacements. My people are tired after a season of hard fighting. We use the cold season to recover, to rest and prepare our traps and weapons for the next season of fighting. We can handle the horde testing us, but we cannot handle a full year or more of fighting without the Water Frond Snake, without reinforcements, without time to rest. So I am asking for the sake of my people and for the protection of the grand lake, to either have the shore frozen, including the large channels, or return my daughter to us so we can wake the Water Frond Snake.”

I had to stifle a gasp. Juniper might get her wish after all. That, or there’d have to be a mass exodus so the High Priestess could freeze the shore, but I wasn’t sure how they could manage that while still defending the river.

Morwen said, “A mass freeze could hurt the land or open up new channels you’d need to defend. Why not ask for reinforcements?”

“A freeze would offer more opportunity for rest. With respect, if fighters could be spared we would appreciate the help, but we have learned separate forces fare worse than a cohesive one.”

In other words, she didn’t think that Peacekeepers would work together with her people or listen to her. They might have two different forces between the whisper women and the tribesfolk, but she didn’t think that would give them the boost they needed to stop the fish in their tracks.

Esie tilted her head. “And the Water Frond Snake?”

“My people could rest while it defended the delta. It would need its own rest eventually, but the Water Frond Snake should be able to buy us the time we need to face the horde.”

I was becoming increasingly curious about what the Water Frond Snake actually was. Some guardian spirit similar to the wind spirits? A monstrous creature like Grislander in the stories? If it was born of a wish like Grislander, I didn’t see how the goddess wouldn’t have destroyed it within minutes of it coming to life.

Ambervale broke into the conversation. “You say that the Lady Blue’s creatures are pushing harder this year than they have in the past. Do you have any hints as to why? Any other odd behavior you’ve noticed?”

Toniva shook her head. “They push beyond all reason now, but there was no change the year before or the one before that. It is as if they desperate to escape the ocean or the Lady Blue has lost all patience. There have been more of their heavy hitters this year and during the warm season there were so many fish clogging the channels we could have walked from bank to bank without sinking below the surface if they weren’t trying to kill us.”

Esie spread her hands in front of her, palms up. “We have heard your plea, Tribe Master. You will have our answer soon.”

Toniva dipped her head in acknowledgment and a long moment later, Hana, the whisper woman who was very skilled at shadow walking, stepped from the tunnel. Toniva followed her back into the tunnel and I wouldn’t be surprised if Hana was going to take her back to her tribe. It likely wasn’t good for the Tribe Master to be gone long from her people if the fighting was as bad as she made it sound.

The whisper women waited until she was gone before they began to speak among themselves.

“Do you think this another cover for some secret operation the Lady Blue is trying to hatch?” Hattie asked.

Kaylan shrugged a lazy shoulder. “If it is, the Tribe Master doesn’t have the people to look into it. They are stretched thin fighting the horde as it is.”

Hattie nodded thoughtfully. “The commander is willing to send more squads to the delta, but there’s little point in adding more bodies to the grind without a way to stem the assault.”

Morwen added, “We’ve been seeding the delta for generations with the tribe’s help, cultivating its natural defenses. The fish should have no incentive to try to breach those defenses, not when they are dying to them in the droves they always have.”

I blinked in surprise at that. It was odd to think of a mass area being purposefully changed and influenced without the goddess’s involvement, but given the nature of the delta it also made sense that it would be defended as much as possible, even down to the plant growth.

“The Lady Blue’s forces have been increasing their assault on all shores over the past few years. I haven’t found any conclusive reason why they might focus on the delta now other than reaching here, but…” Ambervale glanced over at Esie before clearing her throat and pushing on, “perhaps the Lady of Calm Waters’ influence is weakening. Each assault they try without being cut to ribbons allows their confidence to grow.”

Esie’s smile didn’t waver. “Maybe so.”

Nix shifted in her spot and all eyes shifted to her. “I’d like reports and maps detailing the fighting in the delta and surrounding area for the past five years at least. Perhaps that will point to what is motivating them rather than a simple lack of fear.” Another thought seemed to occur to her. “Has the Water Frond Snake been asleep since the seedling came here?”

Esie answered, “It’s only been awoken once since Juniper inherited the pearl.”

“Perhaps that accounts for part of the answer then,” Nix said.

“No one wants to face the the goddess’s wrath should the fish reach here,” Esie said. “Let us find the full answer quickly so my mistress can take it to the sect heads and drive them into action. Many want to dismiss the threat as being overblown and focus on their own affairs. That can’t be allowed to stand.” She ran her gaze over the whisper women before adding with a note of finality, “Let’s see what answers we can come up with in a few days time. I’ll contact you with the meeting details.”

No one looked upset by the dismissal. Instead they all slowly filtered out of the Gathering Spot while exchanging little bits of small talk until Esie was the only one remaining. She picked up her cushion and put it away in the alcove before making her way back up to the Gathering Spot’s top tier. She stood and faced the goddess’s nest.

I had to shift and strain to see past hanging pine needles, but once I did my blood froze, still remembering the ache of being frozen solid for weeks on end.

Lithunia, the High Priestess, stood on the balcony growing out of the goddess’s nest. I could have sworn she hadn’t been there before—none of the whisper women had seemed to notice her—but if she was involved then it made more sense why Toniva had been brought here.

They looked at each other for a long moment before Lithunia spoke, “I’ll relay the danger.”

My eyes widened. This was much, much bigger than I had originally thought. There were only two options for who Lithunia would relay information to: the other Chosen or the Beloved herself.

Esie had made it sound like that she and the other whisper women had to gather evidence to even get the sect heads’ attention, even though, somehow, the High Priestess was already listening in on the discussion.

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be involved in something of that magnitude, especially when I still didn’t understand what part I supposed to play in it. Was I supposed to tell Juniper that her mother was here, petitioning for help because she feared their home would overrun? Why wouldn’t they just call on Juniper directly if they needed the pearl for the Water Frond Snake? Why would Esie let me know about the High Priestess’s involvement when she kept it from the other whisper women?

Danger. That was the only thing I could be certain of. This was a dangerous situation for a seedling to be involved in.

Lithunia disappeared back into the goddess’s nest, a place most wouldn’t dare tread, and Esie seemed proud as she strode back down to the ground level and into the tunnel.

I stayed where I was for another half hour as I turned over everything I had learned and different possibilities for what might be going on beneath the surface. Once I was sure the landing was clear, I turned to make my way back to my rope and climb down.

Only to find Kaylan sitting on the branch, playing with my rope. I had no idea how she had somehow made her way up here—and I was starting to get tired of not knowing things.

“I thought I heard someone up here.” She smiled at me, lazy and self assured. “Did Esie put you up to this?”

At this point I doubted I could away with lying. “As a way to repay a favor. She said the Lady of Calm Waters wanted to know what I thought about the meeting.”

“Hmm.” Kaylan dropped the rope back into its spot and leaned forward. “The way I see it you got a mentor for fighting, a mentor for language lessons, and mentor for poisons, but you haven’t got a mentor for what Hundred Eyes is known for: gathering information.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “Are you offering?”

“Would you accept if I did?” she countered. Then added, “Esie is a wonderful, meddlesome woman, but she’s best dealt with both eyes open. Send me a whisper if you decide to accept.”

I was still trying to come up with a response when she stood and jumped up to touch a shadow on the underside of a branch overhead. She disappeared into the shadow paths and I glowered up at the shadow. It was technically outside of the Gathering Spot which is why she likely hadn’t run into the same problem I had before, but it also wasn’t a large or particularly deep shadow, and even if I was brazen enough to jump on this branch I wouldn’t able to reach the shadow. I couldn’t have done the same thing even if I wanted to.

So I dropped my rope down and had to leave the branch the basic way. Once I climbed down I hid the rope in the needles again in case I’d have to spy in the future. If I did, I hoped it wasn’t anything as dramatic as what I had witnessed tonight. I had more than enough to think about now.