Tuya emerged from the mouth of her cavern. Her lightseer eyes gazed into the dark haven for the last time. A place where she could see and others could not, a place where she grew when in the light she would not, the place where in the dark she found herself. Thank you, my sanctuary.

Yaha sighed. “Never would I have expected to mourn a dark, musty-aired cave full of snakes and spiders. Thank you, haven beneath the Hollows. Farewell, my home in hell.”

Tuya took Yaha’s hand. “Goodbye, my friend who drew no breath but breathed such life into me.”

The sun crested the seaside horizon, tinting the sky with red. Tuya breathed, as Zaya taught her. Through their link, Yaha felt an ill foreboding. She knew better than to voice it. Today was hard enough without giving credence to pessimistic superstition.

Darrakh’s hollow was a pretty place for a beautiful man. He laid claim to it due to its proximity to Tuya’s cave, that he might sneak to and from her dark place with as few watchful eyes. It too was red. A large red-barked tree, at least fifty body lengths high, and another ten in circumference, with no low hanging branches but many strong limbs closer to the sky all covered in verdant green. Moss grew on the seaward face of the hollow and flowers and herbs splashed color around the hollow. Tuya had names for each plant and knew their strengths and purposes. The majority of these served the sole invaluable purpose of being pleasant to the eyes and the nose. The wind picked up their scents and foretold of a sweetness that did not belong to this day or this land.

Tuya snuck inside of the hollow and Yaha stood vigil at the opening. Darrakh’s sleeping face conjured many things in Tuya. The dreams of tomorrow began today.

Do I have to be linked with you right now?

Tuya ignored Yaha’s discomfort. They both knew the plan. If she had to ignore Yaha’s dark premonitions, Yaha could tolerate Tuya’s dreams. Tuya hoped Darrakh had pleasant dreams last night and that she was in them the way he was so often in her dreams.

Please. Stop...

Tuya, perhaps out of spite, visualized her future. She and Darrakh would be gone from this place where they were only allowed to hate. They would travel the lands of love, finding allies and living out the dreams of countless nights spent looking forward. They would recruit the world’s mightiest warriors: the Leverian cognitive-affectomancers, the lightseers and shadows of Isihla, Mahagan bondpairs, Heiyan Hanas, and the dragon knights of Volqor. They made zealous love in Mirrevar, where the world’s largest tree grew above clouds and bloomed every flower to ever exist. They spread hope in Malhaya, the city of their mothers, sharing their story with people who looked like them and cared about them. They held hands in the rains of Dalazuli, near the shores of Caleel where Yaha was from. They chased each other through the tall grasses of the Heiyan Savanna, acting like the many yangkun cats that roamed the land. She thought of Volqor and how it would feel if they soared through the skies on the wings of a dragon. How she wished they had one right here that could fly them all away, far beyond Gurg’s reach.

As she dreamt, even Yaha’s sourness, her aversion to everything tamer, seemed subdued and docile. Her desire to get Tuya out of the Hollows and give her those moments became the most important thing in her world.

Still, as warm as Yaha’s feelings were, she was still Yaha. Focus, Pelianna. Today is the day to make dreams come true, not the day to dream them.

You still need to tell me what a Pelianna is.

Pelianna Leveria and Elior the Paladin’s story is one of love between people who were not allowed to love overcoming the impossible odds. If this boy proves himself to be your Elior, the man who will fight to be with you no matter how powerful those who would drive you apart, I will tell you the full story.

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I would like that, Tuya projected, her eyes set on her lover’s sleeping face. My Elior. Tuya knelt down, nudging his head with hers.

Darrakh startled awake, eyes wide with fear before the smile crested his face and they alighted with glee. “Beautiful.”

“Me?” she said, raising an eyebrow and adding a playful lilt to her voice, one using tongue and lips rather than throat.

Yaha’s discomfort in sharing her mind was at an all-time high and this only enhanced Tuya’s amusement.

“You.” When he took her hand, Tuya felt the currents of his love flow like a river that could smash through any barrier. Now that she was blooded, things previously forbidden could be considered, and Tuya considered with a great deal of excitement and nervousness, wanting to have something like Renisha and Rahan had, or Yaha and Olono, but afraid of everything her eyes had seen in the Hollows.

Fourteenth help me, Yaha prayed.

Darrakh pulled her tight to him and they held each other’s hands, fingers interlocked and spread them out like wings. We will fly today. She leaned into him and waited for the first kiss of their new life.

“You,” Darrakh said, “are the most beautiful girl in the world. I will tell you this at the start of all our days and kiss you until you know my eyes see true.”

“You might have to kiss me for a long time then. Better get started now.”

Get started, Darrakh did. Tuya wished no furs separated their touch. With her blood now flowing, her flower bloomed, Tuya was hungry for him. Once, like a fool, he tried to break off the kiss. She kept him there, savoring the flow of love, of passion, and, yes, of lust between them. Tuya might have kissed the early dawn away if not for the yearning and sorrow that did not belong to her infiltrating her mind.

Yaha yearned for one more day with her Olono, for a chance to tell him again that she loved him, to hear his voice, to feel his lips on hers, and, yes, even to merge as man and woman like two youths recently bonded.

Tuya broke off the kiss, and used her wilding to try and make Yaha’s pain smaller.

“What is wrong?” Darrakh asked, his palms on her cheeks.

“I am linked with Yaha.”

Darrakh snorted and his cheeks grew puffy as he suppressed his laugh. Tuya’s lover knew much of the prudishness of her mother.

Yaha’s irritation sparked. The Mahagan warrior gave the Celegan tamer a side-eyed glare that emptied him of laughter the way a spear emptied one of blood. Focus, Pelianna! We must use every moment of this day to get away!

Tuya suppressed her impulse to lash back at Yaha, suppressed it because the woman was wise in this. Very wise. Tuya’s excitement got in the way of the hard work that needed to be done today, the blood that needed spilling, and the bodies that needed returning to Celegana. These moments of stolen love were precious moments they needed and could never get back.

Make my dreams come true today so that I can live them tomorrow, Tuya reminded herself, much to Yaha’s satisfaction.

Wasting not another moment, Tuya lifted her furs. Already, new blood wet her hairs and made tracks on her inner thighs.

The joy bled from Darrakh’s face. “No. You can still hide it. We don’t have to do this now. We have more time.”

This is not your Elior, Yaha projected. This is a coward. We should never have trusted in him.

Tuya was more sad than angry, more disappointed and discouraged than bitter and boiling. His response sent her into a downhearted spiral, calling into question the day and the dreams that were supposed to be born today. Her eyes went to her feet, like a little girl who was promised food by a tamer only to be denied after she gave him everything he demanded.

Darrakh took her hands. “I don’t want to lose you.”

Now, the anger. “And that is why we must go! Gurgaldai will not give us another chance if we do not take it today! If you want to kiss me every morning, it starts with today! With doing what we must to fly away to the faraway lands!”

Please, please tell me you are ready, that you will do what it takes, that you will be an Elior.

Darrakh cradled her in his arms. “You are right, Tuya. I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe.” He kissed her cheek and she let his fingers drift away from hers before he wandered into the morning light.

“Remember,” Darrakh said, back to her as he greeted the day. “Remember to stay linked together at all times.”

Darrakh went toward the heart of their region, where the mightiest of the tamers would be rising soon. Tuya tried to be confident that he would play his part in the plan. It was hard when her mind was merged with one who had no such faith in Darrakh.

She needed to find confidence, needed to will it from somewhere, to shift away from these doubts that would doom them all. “This is it,” she said. “All the seasons I have dreamt of leaving this place. Today, we make that dream come true.”

“You will fly away from here and find the place you belong, my little empagong.”

Do empagong fly?

Yaha snorted. Not usually. You are special though. You can do whatever you dream, even if that means making empagong fly.