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Indel hated this body when he tried to do regular work. Climbing was by far the worst. He couldn’t imagine how Nala managed without complaints.

Crane was silent. Boon, wearing a robe to guard his skin until his scales grew back, came along as well. He’d at least offered to come and help his brother find a new ino.

“If you get an egg, yours will be smaller than mine, I guess,” Boon said, pulling himself up onto another rock.

Of the three of them, Crane climbed with the most ease. He hoisted himself up so quickly he overtook them.

Boon made a brave attempt at climbing the rock faster.

Indel was the most pitiful, and he called to his son. “Crane. Lend me a lift!”

Crane reached the top and extended his hand down.

When he helped Indel up and reached down to do the same for Boon, his brother boxed his arm away.

“I will manage! Just you wait. When my scales come back, I’ll be the faster one.”

It took ages for Boon to finally reach but he did.

They searched nest after nest to no avail.

Just as Indel feared, it was the season and the animals no doubt took to mating.

That knowledge reminded Indel of his bad luck. He was Indel now and going back to the roost as such was better than waiting in hopes of being able to change again. Indel was his new form, perhaps his last. This was the second season Levelers would mate without a king. They wouldn’t last a third. They had to return. At least Citel’s son wasn’t fit to reproduce. If Crane and Boon were still unaffected by the spells, the other would-be king was as well.

They were big though, Crane towering over Indel easily. Boon looked shorter now but when his scales returned, he would take on some more height.

The time to return was soon, and Indel feared the indignity of forcing one of his sons to walk rather than ride an ino there. Somehow or another, they had to find one.

Boon peered down over the ledge of the cliff and said, “I see something moving.”

“Probably a throw-away,” Indel said. “A babe that cannot prosper so they’ve left it for dead.”

They climbed down.

Though Crane wore a frown, Boon smile. “Well, no sense in crying about it now then. Aza’ll have food ready by the time we get home.”

Crane stared him down. Indel half expected them to break out into yet another fight. Instead, Crane stepped past them, jumping from the rock into the brush. “May your weak robe see you safely home, maggot.”

Boon stared after him, his face scrunched up as it often did before he’d cry. He didn’t make a noise, however. In a great huff, he struggled out of the robe and threw it down.

“Boon...” Indel warned but it was too late, the boy had started back down into the woods.

Indel meant to advise Crane against jumping into bushes without a fully formed exoskeleton but it was a bit too late for that. He waited on Crane, reasoning that should something attack Boon, the boy would run back to them.

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After some time and a lot of cursing on Crane’s part, he came out with a young ino in his grip.

“There were a few,” he said. “I got the biggest one. This one’s a girl, too and she looks fair. Don’t you think?”

Indel counted no less than five slugs on Crane’s shoulders alone.

“Come out quickly and get into the sun. It will save you from the vermin you’ve collected.”

“Vermin?” Crane asked. He hoisted himself up, ino in hand. “What vermin?”

Indel took Boon’s robe and started out of the woods. “You will see. Come into the suns before they burrow into your shell.”

Crane hobbled after him, scanning the woods. “Where’s the king of crying?”

Most of Crane’s play on words were humorous, he’d easily get Nala laughing for hours. This joke was not funny.

“He is traveling home without protection, that is where he is.”

“Madness,” Crane gasped. “That is foolish.”

“That is your doing.” Lyndal waited until they were in the suns’ light before turning to face him. As the slugs began to dry up, he gave his son a hard look. “You know that Boon is brash and irrational. His hearts are made of weaker stuff than yours. He is a Summoner king of red but no Leveler. If you push him, he will break.”

At the scolding, Crane gathered his ino close, muttering, “I know.”

“The next dispute you two have, you fight him properly with your hands. You do not reduce yourself to petty Earther ways of attacking one’s composure.”

Silent and pensive, Crane kept his gaze low as he cradled his new sickly-looking ino.

In time, Indel calmed. “I am sorry for casting blame to you. But as a king, all blame will fall to you. I know of what I speak, because...” he hesitated then confessed, “I...have...I have used words to hurt your Aza before. I think they resound even now. I called her a pet and some days I feel she is trying to prove me wrong—prove herself wrong. It is foolish and unfair. If Boon must lose to you, let it be in combat. Better to die a bloodied warrior than live a broken mess.”

The ino stirred. Crane kept a firm hold as he nodded.

“Yes, Azal.”

Sighing, Indel pulled his own robe over his shoulders and stepped out into the bright day. “Now let us find your brother, no doubt he’s hidden himself under a rock, away from this heat, if he knows what’s good for him.”

They found him up in a tree, cowering from a yal hatchling, barely big enough to make a proper bite. As the animal crawled from this side to the next, yapping up at Boon’s trembling presence, Indel shook his head.

“Of all the places....”

Crane spoke up before he could approach. “No, Azal. You have no armor. It’s small, but it can hurt. Let me go first.” He lumbered to the thing and grabbed it by its cone-shaped ear, hoisting it off the ground. “Away with you, back to your Aza!”

After he tossed the creature and it slid to a halt, its fluffy blue fur dirty from the tumble, he waited.

Indel waited as well. He expected the yal to attack. Instead, it scampered away, crying much like Boon no doubt would have.

Had Crane known just how dangerous a yal was, even at this size, he might have jumped up into that tree to cower behind his brother. Indel himself had resolved to kill it.

Crane was gentle in this way. It was a trait Indel worried for. A gentle king wasn’t common among Levelers.

“I’ve said I take back my words. Why won’t you descend?” Crane called up to Boon. “I take them back. Now come!”

Expecting Boon to admit he was wrong and needed help was a foolish notion. He’d never admit it. This was the first time Indel could see a kingly trait; Boon would sooner die in that tree than face the shame of being ambushed by a hatchling.

Indel stepped beside Crane and looked up. “Come. If we do not return before the suns sleep, your Aza will have our hides.”

They waited, Indel uncertain if this tactic would work.

Boon took a great deal of time to consider it before he turned and wrap his legs around the smooth base of the tree. For a moment, he lost his grip. His journey down was a rather painful one, but Crane caught him before he crashed into the dirt.

A bigger problem still lay before them. By the time they arrived the suns would be low but traveling now required walking through the heat and Boon didn’t reach for the robe on his own.

Indel thrust the fabric out. “Do not argue with me or show disrespect. You will take this.”

Boon stared him down.

Finally, Crane managed to utter, “I take back what I said.”

Snatching the robe, Boon dragged it on, grumbling, “I’m telling Aza when we get back.”

After he marched past, Crane looked pensive. “Please do not....”

Indel met his gaze and assured him, “Do not fret so. I will tell your Aza first.”

“It doesn’t matter who tells it,” Crane complained. “She will not like it no matter how reasonable it sounds.”

“Come. You have a new ino, and you are vermin free. And your brother is safe. That is all that matters. Isn’t it?”