The next day the Riidaga began meeting with the Khan to plan the campaign. Every day, everywhere Alqa went she saw people making armor adjustments, preparing food for travel and making arrows. The whole War-yisra was abuzz with movement. It was just before midday and that was when the first gust of wind came. Alqa had been making arrows, gluing feathers to the shafts when the wind screeched and her feathers flew all over the place. She got up and desperately tried to chase the feathers as they flew all around. She grabbed most of them but a few flew farther out of her reach and she chased them. Suddenly an arm shot out around the side of a yurt and grabbed one of the feathers, it was Baatar. She stopped suddenly and he stepped into her main view. “Would you like this?” He asked, presenting the feather to her.

“Yes please,” Alqa responded, reaching out and taking the feather, the other feather had escaped but somebody would find it and use it, so it wasn’t a huge loss.

Baatar looked up, “The sky is darkening,” he commented, but to Alqa he sounded off, like he was uncomfortable or scared.

Alqa looked up, in the direction he was looking, which was behind her. “Yeah, you’re right. That’s not good,” she said. Alqa looked at him, he looked scared, he kept looking around, anywhere but at her. He used to always look directly at her when talking to her. “Are you ok?” she asked.

He looked down, “Yeah, I’m fine,” he mumbled.

“No you’re not,” She insisted.

“Ok, but please don’t hate me,” He said, still looking down.

“Why would I hate you?” She asked.

“You know why,” He told her.

“But I don’t hate you, just tell me what’s wrong,” Alqa replied, trying to be as nice as she could.

“I'm scared,” He told her.

“I know, I am too. War is scary, it’s normal and perfectly fine,” Alqa reassured him, she shocked herself. She had always known she was scared but actually telling somebody seemed crazy to her.

“That’s not what I meant, I’m scared I will hurt you,” He corrected her.

“I trust that you never wanted to hurt me. And I forgive you for what happened,” Alqa told him, he finally managed to look at her but quickly looked away. They stood awkwardly for a moment and then he turned and left. Alqa returned to making the arrows. She sat down and finished gluing the rest of the feathers onto the shafts and the heads on the other end of the shafts. When Alqa was done with the arrows she retreated into her yurt and sat down in the middle of it. Her mind raced with thoughts, would she survive? Would Qotoiyan survive? Would Baatar? What about Yesui? Buqutai? Qara? Her mind listed everybody she knew who had come, what if they all died? It would be her fault. Tears began to trickle down her face, everybody she loved was about to possibly die. She took control of herself at great difficulty and wiped her tears away with her sleeve, telling herself that it would all be ok, but she knew she was lying. She sat in her thoughts for a long time, but eventually she got hungry.

She went outside and started to look for food, she wandered a fair bit and then saw a large grouping and went closer to investigate. She saw that warriors were being handed newly made bows, quivers, arrows and they were practicing on unfamiliar horses in case they ended up sharing a mount in battle. They were rushing to hand out the bows, and that was when Alqa started approaching to ask if anybody knew where there was food. As she was trying to get one of the Ärchgekui’s attention, she felt a wet drop fall onto her neck. The Ärchgekui handing out bows noticed the rain too. “Get the bows inside! I don’t care where! I don’t care whose yurt you are in! Get the bows inside!” He yelled, warriors and Ärchgekui began rushing and grabbing as many bows as they could and taking shelter inside yurts. Alqa joined in and ran to a bow rack, she picked up four bows, holding two per hand and carried them to a yurt. By the time she reached the yurt, it was pouring. She barged into the yurt and sat down, she caught her breath and started looking for something to get the water off the bows before they were ruined. While she was looking she saw an ödsiriinoi board and the pieces.

She dug around for a bit before she finally found a clean rag. She went back to the bows and began to dry them. She had gotten through three bows and was just picking up the fourth when the flap swung open. Qotoiyan entered, carrying two hooked spears and two swords, still sheathed, he had four extra axes hanging on his belt. He was soaked, his field gray tsud was so saturated with water that it was dark. His black hair was plastered against his head and drops of water dripped down from his face.

Alqa stood up and helped him with the weapons. “You look wet,” she joked.

“I feel wet,” he replied. Instinctively, she reached down and picked up the rag, offering it to him. “Weapons first, you didn’t dry yourself off before the weapons. I can manage,” he reassured her, pushing her arm down. She tingled when he touched her, even though his hand was wet. She pulled her arm away and knelt down to dry the final bow. As she did so, Qotoian laid all the weapons out. They took turns drying the remaining weapons. While they dried the weapons, they talked.

“How do you always manage to find me?” Alqa asked him.

“You stand out,” Qotoiyan responded simply.

“But I don’t stand out in here,” She pointed out.

“That is a fair point, but you stood out while entering,” He responded.

“And you remembered which yurt I went in and chose this specific one to take shelter in?” Alqa asked. It was rather unbelievable to her, but her gut told her to trust him.

“Yes, I wouldn’t want to be in a yurt with a complete stranger for who knows how long. That wouldn’t be very fun,” Qotoiyan explained.

“Well, I’m glad that you are at least with me. Being alone would just make me sad,” She laughed.

“Do you not like being alone?” He asked.

“No I don't, it's the reason that after I moved out of my mother’s yurt I took Dagan with me, so I could still have somebody. I was getting better about it though. But now whenever I’m alone my mind always goes to what I should have done to protect my Yisra and my friends and my family,” Alqa answered. Qotoiyan looked at her empathetically.

“Well I’m glad I could keep you company then,” he told her as he finished drying the last weapon. Alqa smiled and reached over to take the rag from him.

He handed her the rag and sat back, as if he was waiting patiently. “Hold still,” she told him.

“Why?” he asked.

“So I can dry you,” Alqa told him.

“No, you get dry first,” he told her politely.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

“Umm, no. You are far more wet, I’m almost dry anyway,” Alqa responded. She reached over with the rag to dry his hair and he moved his head. “Hold still!” Alqa laughed.

“You first,” He told her. She tried again and he moved again. Alqa tried a third time and a third time, he dodged her attempt.

He stood up, “I’m not going to let you dry me until you are dry,” He told her, smiling.

Alqa thought for a moment then stood up as well, “Not if I catch you,” She told him with a devious but playful grin.

She ran after him and they ran in circles around the yurt. They avoided the middle of it because the rain was entering through the smoke hole and if they ran through it they would get wet. “Well, if we do this long enough both of us will get dried off!” Alqa laughed. Qotoiyan ran to the entrance to the yurt and stopped.

“Try catching me!” He taunted.

“Qotoiyan! No!” She yelled, but he opened the flap and went outside anyway. Alqa threw the rag down and ran after him.

She couldn’t see him when she left the yurt. “Where’d you go?” She asked as she spun in circles looking for Qotoiyan. She spun too much and got dizzy, she stopped spinning but started to wobble.

“Over here!” Qotoiyan yelled.

“Where!? I don’t see you!” Alqa responded.

“Right here? You don’t see me?” Qotoiyan responded, he sounded closer but Alqa still couldn’t tell where he was. She wobbled after the direction she thought he might be in. “Wrong way!” Qotoiyan yelled. She went back the way she had come. “No more correct!” He yelled to her. Alqa adjusted her trajectory and Qotoiyan was silent. As she passed a cart something grabbed her wrist and pulled her down. She opened her mouth to scream but a hand went over her mouth. She thought she would surely die and that Qotoiyan might be in danger as well. Then Qotoiyan showed his face and released her mouth.

“Not cool,” She smiled.

He laid down next to Alqa with his head beside hers. “You see, rain can be fun," he said. "I mean - Maisuya did some jerk moves, but rain can be fun.” “Hmm, I was raised on the story that Maisuya made rainstorms to destroy our bows so we couldn’t get any food."

She shifted on the ground beside him. “Rain was Agaa Iija’s creation.To heal and support the growth of the grass that so many animals eat after Maisuya tried to kill it,” she corrected.

“Hmm, I was raised on the story that Maisuya made rainstorms to destroy our bows so we couldn’t get any food."

“Interesting. I guess only Agaa Äv, Agaa Iija and Maisuya know the truth.” She said.

He huffed under his breath. “I suppose. Do you want to go back inside?”

“Yes, definitely!” Alqa said. They stood and hurried back to the yurt, where they both dried themselves off.

“What do we do now?” Alqa asked Qotoiyan.

“I don’t know, what do you want to do?” he asked.

“We could play ödsiriinoi, there’s a board in here somewhere,” Alqa suggested.

“That sounds like fun,” Qotoiyan commented. Alqa started digging around trying to find the board. She soon found it and they set it up and sat on either side of it. “Alva or boida?” Alqa asked.

“Why are you saying those weird? It's like you switched to speaking in an accent to say those. Its alva and boida not ahlvah and beedah,”

“It’s Rovoai’Omila. These are Rovoai letters after all,” Alqa explained.

“What is Roh-voh-ai?” Qotoiyan asked.

“Honey-eaters, which one do you want? Alva or boida?” Alqa told him.

“Boida, you can go first,” Qotoiyan replied. Alqa smiled at him. They started to play. While they played, Alqa looked at Qotoiyan, she smiled a little and wished she could stay here forever with him. He looked up at her. “Your turn,” he said.

“Oh yeah, right,” Alqa said awkwardly, hoping he hadn’t noticed her staring at him.

Alqa took her turn and Qotoiyan looked at her. “So, what do you like to do?”

“I don’t know. It’s been a long time since I had the luxury of peace, but I used to like singing and going for rides,”

“Anything you can sing?” He asked.

“Right now? We’re in the middle of a game,”

“After?”

“Fine. What do you like to do?”

“I like cooking and sparring,”

“Well, we already cooked together. Maybe we could try a little sparring,”

Qotoioyan laughed. “I’d like that,” he told her, smiling.

“You use an axe right?”

“Yes. And you a sword,”

“Correct. If I may ask, why do you use a sword?”

“It was what I was given. Buqutai took me to a Baal Tusgra shortly after Tuva Khan announced his goal,” Alqa explained.

“Do you know how to use it?”

“Of course, and I know how to beat you,”

“Not quite. You see. I move here, and now, I have won,” Qotoiyan said, moving one of his pieces to the middle. “You were distracted by conversation and possibly other things and as a result, zoned out. You made a series of tactical errors leading to your defeat,”

Alqa smiled, she was quite impressed. “How are you so good at multitasking?” she asked. He looked at her and then responded as if the answer was super obvious, but not in a mean way.

“Practice,”

“You're really smart, you know that?”

“Thank you, you’re smart too,”

“Not like you,”

“You’re smart in your own way. I don’t speak the honey-eater’s language, but you do,”

“I’m just learning,”

“Still know more than me,” Qotoiyan laughed.

“Sure but I can’t do many of the things you can,”

“And yet you can do many things I can’t,”

“You can learn Rovoai’Omila. You just haven’t decided too,”

“I meant other things,”

“Disregarding our gifts from Agaa Iija,” Alqa laughed, blushing. She hadn’t expected him to mention that.

“Do you play any instruments?”

“Yeah. I play the qumes, but I lost it. I think you can figure out when,”

“Yes I can, would you please sing now?”

“Fine, only a little though,” Alqa told him, thinking of what to sing.

Alqa started singing, producing a single tone from the back of her throat. She added another tone, chirping joyfully, like a bird. She punctuated herself with the screech on an eagle, and softly began to sing. Slowly at first, but picking up speed as she continued. “Hey, yo the beautiful steppe. The steppe between the seas. Hey, yo the beautiful steppe. The steppe between the seas,” Alqa began humming, making a sound like a flowing stream before continuing to sing. “And in the steppe, there is a stream. A rare stream, a beautiful stream. And the stream in the steppe. And the steppe between the seas,” Alqa paused, not for very long but Qotoiyan noticed.

“I like it, you can continue,”

“No, I can’t,”

“Why not? Did you forget it?”

“No. I wouldn’t forget it. It’s a song I sang to Dagan when he was little. It describes the place of his birth. And now, I might never get to sing to him again,”

“You will be fine, I believe in you,” Qotoiyan reassured her, putting his hand on top of hers. Alqa tingled and blushed at his touch. And could only muster a whisper in response.

“Thank you. But I might die anyway,”

Qotoiyan looked her straight in the eyes with a serious expression on his face. He pulled out his dagger and cut his palm. “I swear before Agaa Iija and Maisuya that I will do everything I can to protect you. I make this blood oath to you, Alqaiia Qutuqäsa, daughter of Tarmaagii Qutuqäz and Bortuiia Qutuqäsa,” He swore. Alqa grabbed the rag, it was still wet but she handed it to him anyway.

“Come on, let’s wrap that up,”

“I’ll be fine,”

“You can’t obey your blood oath if you die of blood loss or infection,” Alqa reminded him. Qotoiyan sighed and let Alqa help him wrap the rag around his hand.

“We will return it later,” Qotoiyan told her. Alqa nodded in agreement. Qotoiyan looked around her head, “The rain is slowing,”

Alqa looked back, “Yeah … it is. I guess that’s good,” Once the rain had fully stopped, they parted ways, agreeing to meet at the training field for sparring in two days.