He came again at the end of summer, pushing down into the dark place one evening, invading her sanctuary of silver light, her grotto of growth where the mushrooms and numbroots flourished, where the clear water ran through and delivered shrimp and fish and so many bounties, where no tamer came before. Tuya floated in the stream, trying to battle the heat and heavy air, practicing her leg kicks to try and unclamp her cramped muscles while Yaha bantered about how Tuya would need her own cognitive-affectomancer to chase her around to keep her cool were they in the Isles.

If only Tuya could have stayed in that carefree moment where she mimicked Yaha’s belly laugh and barraged her with a volley of Yaha’s complaints of being too cold in the winter. If only she could have savored the joy of her mother’s face twisting into disarray as if she had swallowed a bug. If only she could have left before the devil even knew she was gone. If only.

There could be no mistaking the consciousness of Gurgaldai ezen Celegan. It was the Spire beside hollows and the saplings, dwarfing every other mind she ever saw, all the blessing she cultivated in her sanctuary veering aside, but still subsumed in the withering presence of this mightiest of minds. Tuya reacted, her mental walls erected and reinforced as she braced for invasion.

“Gurg!”

The Ezen’s mind collided into her walls, penetrating and pushing through them, like a fist pushing into a spider’s web, folding it inward. Tuya strained, feeling the blood rush to her head and flow from every orifice. Gurg was angry, but she was too focused on keeping him out to make any sense of his feeling, or even to grasp at any of his thoughts. She lost sight of everything, of the sanctuary, of Yaha, of herself. Everything was a blur as she warded her mind from him.

Tuya held weakly to her self, trying not to lose it, desperately trying not to go to the place of pure abyss where he took his victims. Like fingers slipping on the cliff’s edge, she felt herself letting go, and soon the fall, and with it everything she built for herself would come crashing down in an instant. With one final grunt, blood rushing from her eyes, nose, ears, and mouth, she pushed, repelling him with every last fragment of her fractured will.

Breathing heavy, her body pains of moments ago mere inconveniences besides the strain on her exhausted mind, she opened her eyes and saw him, spiraling around her, but not attempting to breach. Yet.

Tuya did not feel like herself, did not feel anything but the lethargy. If he came again, he would find no wall, only an opening into her soul, and, all her secrets.

Chosen.

One word, one thought, conveying with it so many feelings. Gurg’s respect, his desire, his regret, and his hate. Above them all an anger, and lurking underneath it, always concealed by the wrath, was the sadness, the sorrow, the isolation. Tuya knew his mind as well as anyone in this world, perhaps better even than he knew it himself. What she did not know was why today? Why anger? Why not when she helped Renisha leap? Why not last season, when she began training wilders in secret, or when she told Darrakh about her plans to escape? Why now?

She gave him one word, one thought, conveying with it so many feelings. Her respect, her desire, her regrets, and, yes, her hate. Above them all was fear, fear of his anger, and concealed beneath the fear, her sadness, her sorrow, her lament for what could have been if only he were able to see. Gurg.

He knew her mind, even if he did not breach and seize her secrets. They both knew the sorrow underneath it all, the desire that things could have been different between them, that the world could be saved if only the other could see it through their eyes. Alas, Tuya’s eyes were her own and Gurg’s his. They saw the futures ahead of them, the one they must take, and the one they must not for it led straight to the end of everything dear to them. They knew this. Tuya accepted it, many cycles of the moon ago, when they last communed. She harbored no hopes for this man. Not anymore. Those dreams were buried beside the bodies of all the people he killed and could not be exhumed. One path was before her, and she prayed to her divine mothers that Gurg did not breach her consciousness and see just how far gone she already was from him.

They say that you have bloomed, that you have grown more beautiful than any other.

Tuya bristled, more confused, but also irritated. This man chose her, and yet, this was only the second time he sought her in all the years since that day he chose her, and the only other time was to stop her from leaping to her death. She did not miss him and she would prefer it no other way. For all that, the way he ignored her often made her think of him, made her question whether he wanted her, made her want more of him, even if she thought that part of her supremely foolish. She could have ignored that jilted little girl inside of her, pretended it was not there, yet here she was. And yet, you have never come to see me. One time we met, the seasons have cycled many times, and still, you never come. Not once. Instead, you rely on the eyes of your lessers. One might wonder why she was chosen.

Gurg was quiet for a while, though the pulse of his rage softened, much to her surprise. Just when she thought she knew him, he felt comforted by confrontation. Why? She thought to herself, trying to make sense of this man she thought she understood. Why does he leave me? Why does he like that I challenged him for leaving me behind?

I must do so, Gurg projected. I could not risk being near you before you are ready for me.

Why, Gurg? What risk could there have been in spending a few days together? In getting to know each other, in seeing from each other’s eyes? You left me to myself when you could have been by my side.

Gurg thought, his sorrow rising above everything else now, muting his anger until it seemed he was sadness incarnate.

You can tell me, Tuya said. I want to understand you. While that was true, she thought to herself, it was no longer for the purpose of achieving harmony. No. Nothing would come of their communion but discord, and still, she wanted to understand what made this man the monster he was.

Come to me and I will show you.

Tuya froze. Knowing him was not worth the risk of him knowing her. The moments passed between them, Yaha watching Tuya with big eyes, eyes blind to the swirling consciousness that filled their grotto and spread sorrow through them as a faint hope extinguished within Gurgaldai ezen Celegan. Gurg’s anger rose from the ashes of that fire, as fierce as ever, pushing down sorrow until it was in its proper burial place, always there and never truly dead, like fingers grasping from beneath the muddy lies of the world’s most dangerous man.

You will stop chewing those leaves now, Gurg said. You have grown strong enough, made me wait long enough. Too long. The day of your first blood, you will be delivered to the Spire with your dark woman and any of your little friends that you would have. If you are ready to honor Celegana and make the world one again, I will let them live out their seasons as your claimed. If you resist, they will be given to my tamers, with orders to make their suffering slow and thorough.

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Tuya beamed, her eyes going bright, hope flaring in her. No numbroot leaves had been in Tuya’s mouth since the day Darrakh agreed to leave with her, and, Darrakh knew that. Trust, ever balancing on that high branch that might hide the most treacherous of falls, at last felt secure. No doubt Gurg could sense her hope as their minds shared this space. Honing in on her hope, her trust toward Darrakh, and the truth that she would not use numbroot leaf, she answered, It shall be done, Gurg.

His pulse was confused, and again, that tiny flicker of hope was lit, diverting rage into hope and paranoia. She knew the color of those feelings well enough to sense them from the man who commanded all and trusted none, the man who believed it was his divine mandate to save the world. In this, she expected nobody else in the world could understand her as well as him.

You understand what you must do?

Tuya wanted to lie, to tell him what he wanted to hear, to give herself time to escape. She almost willed the thought to him, but she knew better. Knew better than to insult his intelligence, to give him the reason to assault her walls again. She would not hold out against another taming attack. No. Lying was not her way.

I have not changed my mind. She inhaled. There was no stopping now. She needed to see this through even if there was no hope. For better or worse. Harmony is better than discord. That is what will make us whole again. This is what I will spend my life trying to achieve.

Once more, Tuya shared her visions of wholeness. Tamers and wilders working in unison. Celegana’s land flourishing as nature’s perfect balance was restored, as they gave back to Celegana what the tamers took, achieving symbiosis with Celegana and with themselves. Every person playing their part, but free to be themselves. Chimaeras roaming the borders of the Hollows, unified with the mighty tamers, men like Gurg, that linked with them, protecting Celegana’s sons and daughters from the threats of faraway lands. Women nurturing the wild, women like Tuya, giving Celegana’s strength to the land, listening to her cries, and soothing the wrongness and making everything more of itself.

Her vision expanded, showing the vastness of their harmony, of the happiness shared by all. Tamers gathered from the beasts, stripping them of hide and meat, even as the wilders soothed the frenzies of the untamed, as they found the ripest berries and made the withering plants strong and full of life. The men did not spend all their days seeking domination and hating. They laughed and shared amongst themselves, never needing to fear who would try to overpower them and take what they worked so hard to provide for themselves. Little boys were not carried away to the Spire where they would be forced to kill to live because every one of them had worth and place in this society, for that was the true spirit of wholeness. The women did not hate themselves, they did not spend their days believing they were wrong and that they were mistakes even to be born. They were able to love. Love themselves, love each other, and, love the tamers who were their other halves. They kissed and danced, sharing their lives, their joys, their sorrows, their hopes, and their fears. There was no loneliness in this world. Mothers, fathers, children, communities, all were there and all were true to Celegana.

Tuya formed the image of she and Gurg sharing Munderra, of holding hands and kissing, even of making love and sowing the seeds of their future. Those seeds grew into a son and a daughter, strong saplings that grew before their eyes, from hearty babes, to smiling kids, to hardworking adolescents, to responsible and loving adults that would carry their vision forward, shaping the Hollows into this future of wholeness and harmony. At the end of it all, Tuya and Gurg, two people unlike any other and exactly like every other, looked down on the world they created with whole hearts full of love, with the pride of knowing they made pain smaller, and did the best they could.

Gurg took in these thoughts, a seething ocean of sorrow caressed by undulating waves of repulsion and hope. I wish it could be, he admitted. Tuya sensed the world’s loneliest man trying not to cry from the world’s highest seat.

She reached her mind toward his, on the verge of linking. She wanted to make his pain smaller, to love him, to will this world into being. Yet, for once, Tuya sought light and found none. She could not see a future where this man changed, could not risk everything she would lose by linking with him. Her consciousness pulled back, and he knew it. Tuya knew then, there was no going back. She made her choice and he confirmed his.

His fury flowed to her, unbidden and unwanted. There is only one way forward, even if it is one of discord. I will make the world one!

Giant men, Gidiites, their large metal weapons rending the harmonious people of the Hollows into viscera. Linked wilders and tamers, severed, men enchained and taken away screaming while their woman were thrown to the ground and raped. The happy children of her vision crying as they were placed in metal desecrations, yelled at, whipped, and separated from father and mother. Celegan men, fighting to break free, trying to tame the beasts, only to be oppressed by the khorota who now belonged to the Gidiites.

You would have us return to this!

Tuya did not fight him. There was no point anymore. No point in anything but flying away to the faraway lands and leaving this man behind. He would never see anything other than this. There would be no harmony for Gurgaldai ezen Celegan. Only discord. She waited, making her feelings small, keeping her thoughts within, as he flooded her with his future.

This is what we must be!

Chimaeras burst into her mind, lion head roaring, ram head spitting lightning, snake head hissing venom. People of all shapes, colors, and sizes, men, women, children from lands near and far, fell to the three-headed beast. The graceful and golden people of the Heiyan Savannah, the red folk of the Great Atmana Forest, the sand-shaded and small people of the Isihlan deserts, the sun-tinted people of the Kavovan jungles, dark folk of the Mahogany Isles, the fair people of Leveria, and, finally, the dragon folk of Volqor. The chimaeras did not stop, unleashing death to them all just as Chimaera had upon the beach seasons ago. Societies devoured and trampled, old stones shattered, wooden desecrations torn apart, great bastions of the faraway lands depleted of their belongings. The destruction was paramount, leaving nothing behind but the sanctity of Celegana’s land, a land drenched in blood.

You will be a part of this, Tuya! This is our divine right!

Her all-encompassing hatred did not need to be shared for even the weakest of minds to recognize it’s color.

I hate you too, Gurg transmitted. Be ready to come to me on the day you bleed. You have a choice, Chosen. Come to me and I will let your precious claimed be with you. Run and—

I know better than to run, she lied. I cannot escape you.

Gurg’s sadistic amusement seeped into her. Tuya spewed her evening meal into the stream. Yaha rushed to her, hand on her back, not needing to say anything for Tuya to know she was loved.

Run and I will rip out every root you planted and crush every petal you nourished! Every khorota you ever tried to help will be slaughtered! You will spend the rest of your seasons birthing my conquerors, birthing the daughter who will do what is needed, all while knowing that you are the reason why everything you cared about is gone!

I hate you. I hate you so much.

I don’t care, Gurg lied. All I ever needed was your womb. That is all you are worth, khorota.

It is you who are unworthy! You who have been gifted with phenomenal strength from Celegana and who uses it to make the world nothing but a hollow shell of the beautiful place she left us!

Be ready to come to me, khorota, or, even better, run. See how far you get.

Tuya braced for another taming assault. Worse, it did not come. Gurgaldai’s consciousness flowed back to the Spire, allowing the color to return to the plant life in the sanctuary. He knew she would try to run, knew she could not succeed. His confidence called out her doubts, made her remember again that even with Darrakh and Yaha, running would be nigh impossible. Running would seal the fates of all the women she left behind, unless she could find a way to protect them.

Yaha pulled her close and cradled her in her strong, safe arms. The Mahagan woman sang a lullaby and Tuya let herself be whisked away into a place of comfortable unthinking, where she heard Yaha’s music and nothing else, where she felt only her mother cradling her from afar, and nothing else.