Tuya’s consciousness wound through her dark place, past thousands of hollows, and up, up, up the massive spire of earth that rose far above the endless blue ocean that surrounded it from three sides. Higher and higher, she ventured, seeking the zenith of Celegana’s Spire.

This beautiful monstrosity where innocent boys died and ruthless monsters were born swelled with the hatred imbued into tamers as they underwent their horrid metamorphosis. Amongst the hateful, Tuya sensed the broken women that obeyed and suffered and suppressed every feeling within this bastion of brutality, wishing she could take their pain away, as her hatred for the tamers grew. Higher and higher she traversed until she reached the summit. The unmistakable presence of Chimaera was here, pulsing with the desire to be linked and guided to further destruction. Tuya dared not brush minds with the monster, shivering with the memory of corpses strewn across sand and dreams dying in their infancy. The strongest tamers resided atop the Spire, their hatred flashing like bright lights in dark places when you had your eyes closed. Shining brighter than them all was Gurgaldai ezen Celegan. He was the sun, the big lightmaker in the sky, and once seen all the other minds were faraway stars imperceptible beside the glow of his being. The mightiest tamer bathed her consciousness in his loneliness, in his paranoia, in his melancholy.

She lingered in the space around his mind, angry about all the suffering within the Spire, frightened about what that anger would make her reveal, and saddened that she must do this. Nothing in her wanted to touch minds with Gurgaldai even though she knew she could not go forward without speaking to him one more time.

Chosen. Gurgaldai’s mind entwined around her like an unwelcome embrace. Remember, you cannot hide from me.

I am not hiding!

In this place where minds met but did not link, they could sense the colorful exterior of their feelings without knowing what thoughts lurked beneath them. Without either of them trying to merge minds, the only thoughts they received were ones the other chose to send. Tuya could tell that Gurgaldai felt curiosity and something pleasant but not what his pleasant feeling meant. Was it a sadistic glee in having her in grasp, a genuine joy in encountering her, or anything between these poles? Was he pondering how to punish her for the murder of Semug or would he praise her for showing strength? Tuya felt blind and for one who learned only reasons to mistrust the tamers, for one who relied on her ability to see danger, to sense the mind of those who could threaten her, and none could threaten her like Gurgaldai, this unlinked ambiguity was terrifying. Still, for all the uncertainty, the distance from him allowed her safety, much like why she chose to meet him shrouded in the dark place rather than at Celegana’s Spire. Tuya knew not whether she feared if he would let her in more than she feared being left out when she pressed against his mind.

Gurgaldai repelled her, erecting walls around his consciousness, withholding his inner self and controlling what flowed through his mental barrier. Blessedly, he did not try to invade her mind and force his will upon her.

His hidden delight roiled Tuya’s stomach, just as the thousands of times awaiting the decision of a tamer had in her early seasons. If she knew one thing, it was that the powerful enjoyed punching downward. If she knew a second thing, it was that none were more powerful than Gurgaldai. She could not dispel the belief that he was preparing to hit her with all his might. Reasons for the imminent beating ran through her mind, whether it was the killing, her delay of first blood, or worse, if he knew about her plans with Masarga. Terror presided over her mind, and, was also the dominant sensation emanating from Gurgaldai. What he feared, Tuya could not imagine as he concealed the real him behind his omnipotent veneer.

Still, for all her fear, she knew that Gurgaldai wanted to see her be strong, be dominant, be unyielding. He chose her not for the way she cowered and made herself small, but for how she stood her ground. Cowards do not breed conquerors, she remembered.

Tuya could not hide, but neither would she choose to hide. I have no access to you except through our minds, and yet you never come to me, never seek me out, and now you refuse to let me in. Who is it that hides from who, Gurgaldai?

A wave of ecstasy emanated from Gurgaldai and Tuya knew she projected the strong thoughts he wanted to sense from her even if his excitement further stoked her fears. She could not endure these fears, nor could she retreat now. Tuya forced herself to focus only on him, to attune to what he felt, to seek out the truths hidden within him.

Tuya sensed the predominant undercurrent beneath the ecstasy and the curiosity and even his fear. Gurgaldai tried to disguise the rising wave of sorrow that ran through each current of his consciousness. As she caught the undercurrent, her own fears drifted away, her desire to understand and make pain smaller flowed in place of the terror. Hope kindled within Tuya. If she could make his pain smaller, could she make pain smaller for all the Celegans? Could understanding and healing the sorrow in Gurgaldai restore harmony to the Hollows? She remembered her purpose, remembered that she needed to determine where her life would take her, and knew that she was in the right place, doing the right thing in this moment. She waited for him, riding each emotion she could find, willing him to be himself just as she would any other.

One might think that you have missed me, Tuya.

No, she thought, keeping that to herself, and hoping that her outward pulse was ambiguous enough to not reveal this truth. Tuya knew better than to lie to a man that could verify everything you said, but neither could she hope to find harmony if she broadened the rift between their worlds. You have left me to myself, choosing instead to spend time with farawaylander women.

Man cannot give his seed to one who has not bloomed.

Man does not need to give his seed to anyone but the one he chooses and the one who chooses him. Gurgaldai recoiled, his sorrow becoming even more discernable before he covered it with forced feelings. Tuya reached for him, seeking the source of his sorrow so that she could discover the real Gurgaldai. Again, she was repelled.

You chose me, Gurg, Tuya projected. I want to choose you too, but I cannot choose a man who gives his seed to other women.

Anger flashed like lightning and Tuya cowered within her mind, hoping she was not struck. You would have me waste my seed while you delay your bloom? You want me to squander Celegana’s blessings?

Tuya remembered how Sarnai would calm Jhorgal when he fell into fits of rage, even though projecting the thought sickened her. I would have you stop touching other women with your great breeder.

My great breeder? Gurgaldai’s anger dissipated, a torrential storm one moment and a placid rainfall the next. Are you jealous, Tuya? You would have it reserved for you and you only, would you?

Tuya had never been more thankful that they were not fully linked. She could not stomach the thought of a man touching her with his breeder. Not even in her daydreams of Darrakh did she imagine being touched like that. Too many memories of Zaya being held down and hit while Zalmug put his breeder in her, of Sarnai out in the rain crying after her first blood, of farawaylander women going hollow as the tamers repeatedly touched them, of tamers hooting and hollering while women wept powerlessly. Tuya did not want anything to do with a man’s breeder. Breeding was not love. In her world, it was a hateful act of domination, just like everything else the tamers did. She could not lie, but neither could she tell this truth.

If you choose me, you must choose only me, Tuya projected. I cannot love a man who breeds with other women. I demand your loyalty.

She waited for his angry outburst, for him to push his way into her mind, for him to know that she thought of Darrakh, for the end of the freedoms he permitted her, for a punishment delivered to another, to Masarga, to Yaha’s women, to Yaha herself. She braced for those. Of all the emotions he carried with him, it was his hope that flared, smothering his sorrow.

Gurgaldai projected an image of her. Tuya was older than she was now and more developed, like a plant she made into a paragon of itself. She was … beautiful, Gurg thought to her, thought of her. Strong. He transmitted an image of her holding him, wrapping her arms around him. He embraced her. You are my Chosen. My only Chosen.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Gurg’s vision grew more vivid as he built his dream of them. They embraced atop the Spire, a vast mound of earth, stone, and tree melded together looming over the highest hollowed-out trees. The only structure in this world was Munderra, Gurgaldai’s massive throne of earth and tree, a masterwork crafted by Celegana herself, fit for a tamer and a wilder to share, lovers presiding over a harmonious land. The sky was above them, endless and blue, nothing between Tuya and Gurg, no other people, no Chimaera, not even hides to separate them. Gurg stood beside her in all his magnificent glory.

Tuya knew then that no man would ever be as beautiful to her. How could they be? He was no less a masterwork than Munderra, a near-divine being amongst the mundane, chiseled to perfection by Celegana. Darrakh was a pretty flower and Gurg was the Spire itself. How could someone this resplendent not be saved from the cruelty of their fathers? Tuya wanted to redeem him, not just for the women of the Hollows, but for him. He was just another victim, and she would make him into the beautiful man that ended the cycle of hatred. She chose to look past the horrible things he had done, things done not because of how he was born but how he was bred, if it meant she could love him into a man as beautiful on the inside as the outside.

Her awe must have leaked through her walls, seeping to him. He was a beacon of hope and joy. We are equal, Gurg told her. You have my loyalty. From now on, it is only you and me.

He held her, not in conquest, not in raw lust, but as an equal, as a spearmate would. He caressed her, his admiration of her flowing through his walls unfiltered. Gurg lifted her up and put his lips to hers. He carried her, never breaking his mouth away, never overpowering her, to their shared seat. This will be our future, Tuya. This world of wholeness. Can you see it?

I see, she answered. Her mind ventured into futures where the wilders and tamers could be one again, where harmony was the rule of the Hollows, where little boys were not shaped into hateful monsters, where little girls had the chance to be loved, to believe in themselves, where the faraway lands remained safe from the three-headed beast. She could see with all her eyes the great, whole world that could emerge from unifying with this man. As these possibilities unfolded, she made her choice. This was her future, this was the path she would follow. She could love this man and restore the world Celegana envisioned. Together, they could change the Hollows and make it a place where girls like her and boys like him lived in harmony.

We will bring the world together again, Gurg promised. He projected a vision of them sharing Munderra, their hands intertwined. We will restore Celegana’s Wholeness and preside over an age of peace and unity.

Tuya held his hand, merging with his vision. She smiled and stared into his vast blue seers and saw the future. You and me, choosing love instead of hate. We will make the tamers and wilders themselves again, make the whole world more of itself, make pain smaller, by restoring Celegana’s harmony.

Gurgaldai pulled away from her, shattering his image, erecting his barriers. Tuya reached for him and found only the wall. His emotions were hectic, a swirling storm of every possible feeling ranging from love to hate, joy to despair, hope to dread.

Gurg?

He spiraled, sending her spinning through all the same emotions. With the fall from hope, with the descent into dread, each fear, each terror held at bay, returned. Tuya screamed for him in the silence, needing him to come back to her, to believe in their dreams. She sent the image of them on Munderra, holding hands, loving each other, presiding over a Hollows where tamers and wilders worked in unison.

You have it wrong, he told her, his anger on the edge of breaking through a tightly held composure. It is our duty to restore the Wholeness, writ by Celegana herself into the stones beneath the Spire. We must make the world one, Tuya. Gurg projected an image of Tuya wielding Celegana’s strength, communing with the very land itself as it trembled and shook. The ocean shrank as faraway lands grew closer to the Hollows. Tuya continued to speak to the earth, making it more of itself, making it one again, merging lands long severed.

In the beginning, all lands were one, Gurg thought to her. The evil gods and their people fought a calamitous war that would have left the world a dead place where nothing grew if not for Celegana’s sacrifice. She gave her life to break apart the lands, to stop the fighting. But she knew that the evil gods would bring their death again to her children. Her breaking of the world was not the final solution, but only a respite until dreamers came along with the power to achieve the unification, the Wholeness that she dreamt of. You and I are those dreamers, Tuya. Only with my might can we make the people one and only with your might can we restore the world to the way it should be. Together, we can create the world Celegana dreamt of. Together, all shall be whole again. You must see this.

Tuya was not ready to let go of the dreams of mere moments ago, of the life she could have led, of the love they could have shared. She was not ready to accept the end. She knew the answer, and yet in her denial, she asked the question. How would you make the people one?

The followers of the evil gods have squandered Celegana’s blessing to them. This world is rife with war in the faraway lands. People fight over who owns what, they fight over their differences, over whether they are from here or there, over who holds power, over who they call their god, or even over what they name themselves. The fighting will never end as long as they remain different, as long as they worship the evil gods, as long as they remain pretenders and heretics. The only way we can achieve peace is if all the people become one with us.

Thus, Tuya wept for the loss of the beautiful future with the beautiful man. If this was his future, he would travel it alone, and she would stand against him. Dead was the dream of harmony. Rebellion was the only path, and that meant countless people would suffer to prevent the world Gurgaldai would create. She would not share these thoughts with him, and could only hope that he did not seize them from her. For all the heartbreak, a part of her found peace in the fact that she expected this was the road all along. Now she knew beyond all doubt what her future held. This boy unlike any other and exactly like every other believed himself the world’s savior when he was the bane of all who lived.

Still, he did not let go of her, even if she let go of him. This is the only way, Tuya. If we do not restore the Wholeness, the evil gods will ruin us. All life will be lost if we do not fulfill Celegana’s dream. Can you not see that?

What I see is a world where little girls are told they are worthless khorota and where little boys are taught to hate and hurt. Can you not see that is not the lives Celegana wanted for her children? Everyone in your world hurts, Gurgaldai. Even you. Especially you.

Everyone already hurts, Chosen. You live in dreams and must be sleeping if you believe things are better elsewhere. Venture your mind to these faraway lands and witness what I have. People fighting over pride, over who sleeps on which lands, over which pretender should lead them, over the meaningless things they own, over who breeds with who. The fighting never ends.

And you would kill them all to stop them from fighting each other.

I would make us one!

You would perpetuate the world that has made me, and everyone like me, want to leap off the cliffs!

There is nobody like us, Chosen! Through her trials, we have grown stronger than all the others. Those who leap are too weak for the natural order. That is why we are the ones who will restore the Wholeness.

No, Gurgaldai, it is not this foul soil that has made me strong. I am not strong because I have been beaten down and hated my whole life. I am not strong because I am unlike anyone else. I am strong because of the kindness and love I have received from others like me. Without those, I would have jumped seasons ago.

It was I who stopped you from jumping!

Yes, and that is why I sought you out, because I try to believe that you have the ability to love inside of you. If you believe in my strength, in our equality, you need to see what I see. You need to work with me to create a world of good soil where our children can grow strong.

Tuya trembled, afraid she went too far, that she revealed too much, ventured too close to the breaking point. Gurg’s mind went quiet as he took in her thoughts and gathered his own. Anger was the dominant color of his consciousness, with that ever-present sorrow lurking below it. She felt him there, on the edge of her mind, contemplating what to say to her. Hopelessness took root the longer their silence persisted.

You must see what is real, Chosen, and if you cannot, I will make you see it.

Tuya clenched her mental walls, preparing for him to slam into her consciousness and flood her mind with wrath. She held her walls tight, crying in her sanctuary even as her waste leaked down her leg, certain that this was the end of her freedom. She tuned out the entire world beyond her own defense, bracing, bracing, bracing for the collision. The collision never arrived.

Tuya unwound herself, brought her mind back to her body, and found herself alone in the dark place.

Alone, but not without love. Love for herself, love she would foster with Yaha, with Masarga, and with any willing to let her love them. She would not love Gurgaldai ezen Celegan. At least she knew that now. Hugging her own body, exhausted, forlorn, soaked in her own fear, but certain in her path, Tuya accepted that Gurg would never choose harmony. Well, she would never choose him. She needed to prepare the wilders, she needed to formulate her escape, and she needed to believe that there was a man here who could see what she saw, who could love her, so that she could challenge the most dangerous man alive.