With the five of them pushing, the boat glided effortlessly as they followed Keeper Hovo and his guards. The old Keeper led them down through the middle of the village, right alongside the river. Xan noted as they walked that there were several places along the river where great flat rocks had been placed to act as stepping stones walkways. Some of the villagers had been in the middle of crossing these stepping stones when they had stopped to watch the procession.

A young Verdan girl on one of the stepping-stone walkways ahead of them watched the procession approach. Then, as they drew near, she muscled her way between a couple of adult Verdans to stand near the riverbank.

“Da! What’s goin’ on?” she called out in a loud voice.

Rowan, who was pushing on the very stern of the boat, waved to the young girl and smiled.

“Da’s just helpin’ out some visitors! Tell Mam I’ll be back in a bit, a’ight?” he called back.

“A’ight, Da!” the young Verdan girl said, waving her arm. She watched the boat as it passed by her, then she turned and dashed away to the other side of the river. Dee turned around in her seat to look back at Rowan

“Your daughter?” she asked him.

“Me youngest, she is. The others should be about somewhere around here. I’m sure you’ll see ‘em,” Rowan replied.

They continued to follow alongside the river until they crossed the length of the village and emerged onto the top of the coastal cliffs. As the group came to a stop behind Keeper Hovo, Xan took a moment to look over the cliffs edge.

Although much shorter in comparison to the cliffs they had been camping atop during their journey, these cliffs were still sheer and slick with ocean water. Then he lifted his gaze to the gigantic tree and the island where it sat.

From where they stood on the cliff, they were level with the lower part of the tree’s trunk. The tree’s trunk stretched upward with a slight twist, and from there its branches stretched upwards into the sky, easily towering over the pines that surrounded the Verdan village. Xan had to crane his neck to even try to get an estimate of how tall it was. Then he looked down towards the roots and was taken aback by what he saw. For as enormous as the tree was, it looked insignificant compared to the jagged stump it was growing out of.

Keeper Hovo took a step forward ahead of the group, standing rather precariously on the cliff’s edge. He raised his hands in a show of supplication.

“Earth and stone, heed my voice and grant us passage to the Earth Mother’s shrine!” he commanded.

A moment later there was a sudden rumbling coming from the ground beneath them. Xan clung to the side of the boat in a sudden surge of panic. Then he saw that those around him were unfazed by the shaking. He straightened himself up and tried his best to looked unfazed too.

Then the stone in the cliffside began to rearrange itself. The rumbling became accompanied by grinding sounds and loud thuds as the rocks slid over each other and into place. In less than a minute, a long, straight staircase had been built into the cliffside that led to the base of the tree.

Keeper Hovo ordered Elen to run ahead and inform the others of their coming. Then the little procession pressed forward down the steps towards the tree. At one point about halfway down the stairs, Xan made the mistake of looking over the side. He was hit by a spell of vertigo and nearly lost his balance. Luckily, Rowan was close enough to grab hold of the back of his coat before he could tumble over.

The stairs ended on the edge of the island’s gravelly beach. A small group of devotees in robes had already assembled there. One stepped forward to briefly converse with Keeper Hovo. Then Keeper Hovo began directing the devotees. Two of them worked together to lift Katar out of the boat and onto a stretcher. Then another two began to bear him towards a wide, circular gap that had been cut out of the tree’s roots. Taika never left his side as he was borne away into the shrine.

Xan made a move to follow them, but his path was blocked by Gayane. She held up a hand to him, her mouth set in a firm line.

“We have allowed you to bring him to shrine, as you requested. Please do not test Keeper Hovo’s patience by trying to enter,” she said.

“But—” Xan said, looking around her after Katar and Taika.

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“It’s a’right, lad,” Rowan said, laying a hand on Xan’s shoulder. “We can wait here for ‘em. They’ll let us know if anythin’ happens.”

Xan looked at the shrine entrance for a long moment. Then he relented with a sigh.

“Alright, then.”

Dee lowered the boat down to the ground. She looked up at Xan with a question on her face, but Xan was still just standing there, staring at the entrance to the shrine. She sighed. She got settled in the rowing well. Then she pulled out her notebook and started sketching.

Xan watched the shrine entrance for what felt like a long time. Once again, the thought began niggling into his mind that he was useless. After everything they had gone through to get Katar to the shrine, and everything they had done to try to save his life, now that they were here all Xan could do was sit and wait. He hated it.

He began to pace back and forth. He folded his arms, then unfolded them. Rowan must have sensed his restlessness, because he caught Xan by the shoulder and said:

“It might be a bit before we get any news. Mayhap you should find somethin’ to do while you wait.”

Xan sighed and shook his head. “Alright. Come on, Dee, let’s see what we can do about repairing our boat,” he said. Dee looked up. Then she quietly closed her notebook and followed him.

It didn’t take long for them to scrounge up some driftwood. By working together, they were soon able to repair the hole in the hull. The missing mast, Dee informed him, was going to be another matter altogether, so they left that alone.

After completing all of the repairs that they could manage, Xan and Dee ended up just sitting on the beach with Rowan. Gayane and Bedros stood watch nearby, seeming disinterested in the conversation the three of them were having.

“Well now, I suppose proper introductions are in order. Me name is Rowan Ward of the line of Rivule, at your service.” Rowan said, bowing.

“And I at yours, Rowan,” Xan said, returning the bow and the greeting. “My name is Xan Rais.”

“And I’m Diore Caird. But you can call me Dee,” Dee piped up.

“Well met, the both of ye,” Rowan said with a warm smile.

“Wait a minute—” Xan said as a sudden realization came over him, “you’re not of the line of Ignas?”

“Nay, lad. I an’ me family are all of the line of Rivule. Our Ignas cousins are just lettin’ us winter here with them,” Rowan explained.

Xan shook his head. “Another line? How many lines do you Verdans have?” he exclaimed. Rowan threw back his head and laughed.

“Just the four, lad: Ignas, Tsunis, Essos, and Rivule,” he said. Then he stretched his arms over his head and leaned back against a nearby rock. “I imagine it seems passin’ strange to ye.”

“Just a little…” Xan said.

“Well, it all has to do with the origin of the Verdans, way back when the Earth Mother created us—” Rowan began.

“Cousin Rowan,” Bedros suddenly cut in, “please refrain yourself from revealing our people’s secrets to outsiders.”

“It isn’t a secret if it’s history,” Rowan replied. Bedros scoffed, then looked away.

Rowan leaned forward, side-eyeing Bedros and Gayane.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to get used to that, lad. The Ignas Verdans are stubborn, and a bit high-and-mighty, if you ask me,” he muttered. Then he settled back against the rock. “But it’s a’ight. The story is much better told when me whole family gets involved. Mayhap we can share it with ye tonight.”

“Maybe…” Xan said. He stole another glance back at the shrine entrance.

Rowan glanced over at Dee. The little Rodentian had pulled out her notebook again. He leaned over to get a better look at what she was drawing.

“Well, now. You’re quite talented, lass,” he said.

“Oh! Well, not really…” Dee said, quickly covering up her sketches.

“Nonsense! You should give yourself more credit!” Rowan said, giving her a hearty pat on the back. Dee nearly doubled over from the force of it.

“Ugh… thank you,” she groaned.

Xan leaned over to look at Dee’s sketches, too. The page she was on sported a mostly finished – and very realistic looking – version of the giant tree they were sitting under. He whistled in awe.

“That really is amazing, Dee. Where did you learn to draw like that?” he asked.

Dee shrugged. “I just picked it up out of boredom, I guess. When I was younger, Auntie used to send me to study with the monks at the Amber Archives, and their version of teaching involves a lot of sitting and listening to people drone on and on. It was so boring!”

“The Amber Archives, eh?” Rowan said, raising an eyebrow. “That’s quite unusual.”

“I suppose,” Dee said, brushing away some charcoal dust. “But Auntie said she wanted me to get a good education. She must have worked something out with the Head Archivist to let me study there.”

“Your aunt sounds like a good person,” Rowan said.

“She’s amazing!” Dee said, looking up with an enormous grin. “She’s the only woman in Vaimea to own and run her own shipyard. Everyone respects her and listens to her, and she doesn’t take any crap from anybody. But beneath it all, she’s still generous and kind to others. She was even willing to let Xan and Taika borrow the boat we used to get here.”

“She sounds like quite the woman. An’ it seems like ye really admire her,” Rowan said.

“Well, of course!” Dee said.

“But what about your parents? What do they do?” Rowan asked.

“My parents…?” Dee said, tilting her head to the side in thought. “Oh, they died when I was a baby.”

“My apologies, I didn’t mean to—”

“No, it’s alright. It happened a really long time ago, and I don’t really remember them, so…”

“That’s all the more saddenin’, lass. I’d hate for me children to grow up without knowin’ who I was.”

“Oh, well, I—”

Suddenly, Xan abruptly stood up. He turned towards the shrine entrance expectantly. Dee looked up at him with a slightly startled expression.

“Xan, what is it?” she asked. Xan looked back down at her.

“Did you hear that?” he asked.

“Hear what?” Dee asked back.

“That voice. It came from the shrine,” Xan said. Dee and Rowan looked at each other.

“The only voices here are ours, lad,” Rowan said.

But Xan wasn’t paying attention anymore. Without another word, he started moving towards the shrine.