There were so many kobolds crammed into the cavern that Kyla couldn’t even count them all, and every one of them was looking at her. Well, that might have been a bit of an exaggeration, but not much of one, and while Kyla used to think everyone paying attention to her would be a good thing, now she wasn’t so sure.
She had just finished her howl, telling them about the journey to Cliffcross, including fleeing Wheldrake and meeting the thieves. Then she skimmed over the part where she deliberately left Kaz and Raff - or rather, just Raff, since she wasn’t mentioning Kaz - and focused on her journey through the sewers, where she met Reina and Jinn, both powerful females from high-ranking human lines.
She skipped over Fengji entirely, just mentioning that the incinerator had mysteriously failed and melted the island, then focused again on the journey through the xiyi den and almost single-handedly rescuing Raff from the dragons. She’d kept her eyes on Raff as she howled, but for once that male knew when to remain silent, and simply nodded along as she spoke, though his grin said he might have something to say later.
Now, friends and family were allowed to question the howler. This used to be a way to pick out what the aspiring new adult had learned from their spirit hunt, or point out particularly impressive things they’d done, but in recent years few questions were asked. Most spirit hunts were much the same, with the young females finding a cave with water and food nearby, and sitting there as they thought about their power and the ancestors. Young males, of course, stalked and killed the most dangerous beast they could handle, returning with bones and teeth as trophies, but there were only so many ways to kill a janjio or ponder the meaning of life. As long as the young kobold didn’t die or run back home, it was generally considered a success, and everyone just moved on to celebrating.
Kyla’s howl, on the other hand, had so many new and unusual ideas and situations in it that no one had any idea how to respond. If they asked all the questions they had, they would never get to eat, and, frankly, at least some of it was all but unbelievable, but they couldn’t just call the sister of the chief a liar. Could they?
Gram - Kyla’s cousin and the new chief of the Woodblades - solved at least part of this communal conundrum by leaning forward and saying, “Tell me again about Mei. She was injured, and you took care of her, and then she just stayed with you?”
Once again, this was a tricky topic to navigate without mentioning Kaz. Kyla had avoided lying, at least for the most part, by just leaving her cousin out of the howl entirely. The older kobolds would certainly notice the omission - especially since she should have included howling him to the ancestors if he’d died - but the younger were fixated on two things: Mei and dragons.
“A creature has to choose to stay with you,” Kyla said with as much authority as she could muster. “You can offer it food, or care for it if it’s injured, and it seems to help if it’s young when you begin. But if you force them to stay, they’ll fear and hate you.”
Now that she thought of it, that wasn’t that different from how kobolds worked. If you were kind to them, they stayed with you because they loved you, but if you forced them to stay, they would abandon you as soon as they saw an opportunity, and possibly injure you as they went.
Gram nodded eagerly. When he spoke again, his ears stood straight up, and his tail wagged. Beside him, the ever-present Chix looked much the same, though he kept his eyes on Gram, rather than Kyla. The tiny gray male looked stronger and more aware than Kyla could ever remember seeing him before. There was actually some flesh on his bones, and some shine to his fur, so he didn’t look like he was one missed meal away from death.
“And Mei is going to have puppies, isn’t she?” Gram asked, eyes intent. “How many puppies do fuergar have? Could I have one?”
This was the first time anyone had come straight out and asked, but Kyla had an answer prepared. She wouldn’t promise to give Mei’s babies to anyone, not even a great chief. “It’s up to them,” she said firmly. “You’ll have to give them lots of treats and be very nice, and maybe one of them will want to stay with you.”
At that, Ija stood up and gave a sharp yip, cutting off Gram’s next question. This would have been terribly rude in almost any other circumstance, but Ija was Kyla’s chief, and it was up to her to decide when the time for questions had ended.
Everyone obediently fell silent, and Ija turned to Kyla. “Kyla, daughter of Rudu and Vega.” There were a few soft gasps at this. The female mate was supposed to be named first, but Vega wasn’t there to defend her placement, and obviously Ija didn’t want to give their mother that honor, though she also didn’t cut her out entirely. “Kyla, you faced dangers and trials that no one here has ever faced. And though these trials were unnecessary, and resulted from your own choices, you handled them with honor, bravery, and cunning. The Magmablades are proud to count you among their number.”
At this point, Rudu lifted his muzzle and began to howl in fierce pride. He was quickly joined by Aunt Sika, her aged voice wavering high above Rudu’s, and then Acha and Qhurg. Soon, all of the adult Magmablades were calling to Kyla, accepting her as one of them.
The howl only began to quiet when Ija held something high over her head. It was Kyla’s necklace, heavy with all of the treasures and mementos she had gathered over the last few weeks. There were salamander and stone lizard teeth, as well as copper, silver, and gold coins. Beside the coins sat the copper button Mei had brought back to her when they first entered Cliffcross, and a piece of crystal Kyla found near the incinerator. She also had a triangular red dragon scale, and there, in the very center, hung Fengji’s feather.
“This necklace,” Ija barked, and everyone else fell silent, “is the first I’ve made as chief of the Magmablades. It shows both my sister’s bravery, and her willingness to leave behind the safety of the known, and seek out new places and people. It holds pieces of her story, connecting kobolds and humans for the first time in years. When a howl is sent up for someone to represent our people in dealing with the humans, Kyla’s will be the first name spoken. She brings our tribe honor now and, I believe, will continue to do so in the future.”
Kyla felt the fur down her spine lift with the ferocity of the emotion that ran through her as Ija met her eyes. For the first time in her life, Kyla truly believed she was more than just another thing for her brave, strong sister to protect. Kyla could help Ija, and she would.
As the weight of the necklace settled around her neck, the heavy coins jingling softly, Kyla bowed, turning her head to explose her throat to her chief. “I will bring honor to my tribe, fight for my people, and protect our pups and our den with my life.”
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Ija smiled, her yellow eyes warm and affectionate. “Welcome, Kyla,” she said softly. “Sister.” Kyla howled, and the feast began.
The den was loud with celebration, and Kyla was glad to see kobolds with green, pale blue, and black fur speaking with those who had red, orange, and pink fur. There were a few true blues mixed in, other than Gram, but the puppy definitely had the brightest fur, and the closest to Kaz’s natural color. Kyla didn’t remember other Woodblades, but apparently her cousin’s fur color was a dead giveaway to the strength of his Woodblade heritage, which is why everyone had wanted him so badly when he reappeared.
Once everyone had food, the humans made their way over to Kyla. Elder Long was still at the portal, and Yingtao was at the human hut with Mei, but Kyla was certain Chi Yincang was somewhere nearby. Lianhua and Raff had both had some experience with kobold ways, but Baihe was looking around with bright interest, and her stone bowl held at least a few bites of everything that had been prepared for this event. Should Kyla warn her about the spicy jiao and the fact that the jiyun grubs were poisonous? Before she could decide, Lianhua spoke, and Kyla was thoroughly distracted.
“Congratulations,” the female said, holding out a bundle of pale pink cloth. “Among humans, it’s traditional to offer a gift to the person celebrating. I hope you like it.”
Kyla barely remembered to give a bow of thanks before accepting the present. She shook out the cloth with careful fingers. It was incredibly soft, and as it unfolded, she was astonished to see the delicate stitches that formed a brightly colored bird with a tail made of enormous feathers splayed out behind it. This was a glorious gift, worthy of a chief.
“That’s a peacock,” Lianhua said, seeing Kyla tracing the glorious tail. “Yingtao made that. She has far more patience than I do.”
“Until it comes to translating ancient scrolls,” Baihe said. “Even when you were barely taller than Kyla, you could spend hours staring at pages no one else had read for a thousand years. I think you told old master Tao Ru Fang that he was incorrectly translating ‘artery’ as ‘pathway’ when you were only twelve.”
She popped a jiyun in her mouth, bit down, and looked quite startled when the steaming insides squirted out. Jiyun grubs were a bit of an acquired taste even among kobolds. Perhaps Kyla really should have said something. Baihe shouldn’t have commented on Kyla’s height, though, so it was fair.
Lianhua’s cheeks turned faintly pink. “I could have been more diplomatic about that,” she admitted. “I was just so excited. And really, who makes such an obvious mistake?”
Raff had been standing silently by, eating from a bowl that held little besides sweet, quivering mounds of steamed tanuo. That was something usually only puppies allowed themselves to indulge in, but Raff showed no embarrassment as he swallowed another bite and said, “Y’know, a lot of people barely know enough runes to sign their names and read a map. It’s not like it comes up a lot. The only things I ever read anymore are quest notices.”
Lianhua looked shocked. “You don’t read books? Histories? Even adventure stories?”
“Got enough adventures of my own,” Raff said, shrugging as he ate more tanuo. He saw Kyla’s look and said, “And don’t you tell me what I’m eating. It’s good, and if it’s spider liver or centipede brains, I don’t want to know.”
She laughed. “It’s a lichen. It only grows near water, under the light of glow worms.”
The large male looked relieved. “So I’m not eatin’ bugs?”
Kyla shook her head, then pointed at Baihe, who was on her third jiyun. “No, but Lady Long is.”
For a moment, Baihe looked uncertain, and then she shrugged and ate another. “They’re good, and they make my tongue tingle, just for a moment.”
“That’s the poison,” Kyla agreed. “Males shouldn’t eat too many, but females will sometimes have contests to see who can eat the most without getting sick. It’s supposed to show how much power you have.”
Lianhua had picked up one of the round grubs, and now eyed it warily. After a moment, she set it back down and said, “I’ll take it to Yingtao. She loves to try new poisons.”
The four of them talked for a bit longer, and then the howl rose for dancers. Kyla’s ears twitched nervously as she eyed the adults who were gathering near the power-fueled fire. Males stood on one side, and females on the other, though they leaned around the fire to see who stood where in the other line.
Lianhua’s eyes were bright with interest as she said, “What’s going on? I thought males and females weren’t supposed to interact.”
Kyla was grateful for a moment to gather herself, and said, “They’re not. Though there are ways, especially if you know a family member of the person you’re interested in. A sister can ask about her brother’s friends, and a brother can let his sister know he wouldn’t mind if a certain female she knows would ask for him to be her guard. But when we have a howl for the whole tribe, that’s the best opportunity for males and females to indicate interest and see whether that interest would be returned.”
The kobolds began to jump over the flames, leaping as high as they could so their fur and paws wouldn’t be singed. As they did, there was a brief moment when one male and one female hovered above the fire, their eyes meeting and their fingers almost touching as they reached out toward each other. The goal was to get as close as possible to the other jumper without actually touching them, and it was considered very bad luck if two kobolds actually bumped into each other in the flames. The female controlling the fire would put it out immediately if that happened, of course, but there was no way such a male and female pair would ever take each other as mates.
The humans were watching the dance; the way the two kobolds swayed toward each other at the height of their jumps, then spun, yipping and excited, when they landed safely on the other side. Raff chuckled as a particularly bold pair actually brushed tails on the way by, and Kyla guessed those two would be mated soon enough.
“I thought you lot were a bit uptight, with all your ‘males this’, and ‘females that’, but you do know how to have fun, eh?” Raff asked. “Just need to figure out how to make mushroom beer, and this’d be a great party.” Lianhua glared at him, though Kyla wasn’t sure why. She didn’t have time to ask, either, because Ija was coming toward her, holding out her hands, with a wicked smile on her face.
“You need to dance, too, Kyla. You’re an adult now,” her sister said, and Kyla tried to pretend to be happy as she set her bowl down. This dance was for unmated adults only, but Kyla didn’t know any of the males except a few who had been in the hidden den with her. They were all older, and had become adults a while ago, but she remembered when they were annoying pups who chased her around. She definitely wasn’t interested in any of them.
Lianhua saw Kyla’s discomfort, and gave her a sympathetic smile. “Just relax and have fun,” she said quietly. “Forget about the expectations and the etiquette, and just enjoy leaping through the flames. It’s not like they can burn you, right?”
That was certainly true. Ever since the incinerator and Fengji, Kyla had found that she had very little to fear from fire. She had even tested it by putting her hand directly in the coals after dinner one night, and discovered that while it was slightly uncomfortable, the only damage it caused was to her fur. She could just ignore the male jumping with her, and take pleasure in the dance itself.
Accepting Ija’s hands, Kyla let her sister pull her toward the dance. Someone had begun playing a drum, and now that she was listening, it felt like the beat was perfectly in time with her heart. Her paws lifted a little higher with each step, and soon enough she whirled, tail flying behind her as she yipped with excitement. It was finally time to dance, and if she danced alone, well, at least she knew she could burn brighter than anyone else.