Our first destination is unfortunately not the ursu homeland. We travel southeast, opposite the moon, heading to what might as well have become the new capital in the past months.

The agglomerate is cold and far too close to the dangerous loose rock of the fallen mountainside for many to risk returning there. Tribes still need to congregate, both for emergency resources and detailed maps for those that have lost their usual roaming land to the waters.

With the far west sands now risen from the former ocean, grand elders have encouraged tribes to expand their routes to the untouched deserts, but few are willing to risk such an endeavour. Fear that the ocean may reclaim those lands is widespread, and while I know it is unlikely, not even I would be inclined to make the risk had I not the ability to fly.

Most tribes are reluctant to accept change. First, there was the threat of the Henosis, then the encroaching ocean. Too many áed veer from the borders; both ocean and eastern. Because of this, while half of the wasteland remains the same, tribes are confining themselves to a quarter or less of the land. Resources grow ever more strained by the day.

The four of us run along the sands with the new sea shore along the horizon to our right. From what I’ve heard from some of Yalun’s eagles, this large body of water no longer connects to the southern ocean. Technically, it’s just a lake in the middle of our wasteland now. Well, a damn big lake, but one none the less.

Each step I infuse with a hundred microbursts, leaping to keep up with my elders. They all have far better control than me, and can output greater speed with similar energy usage, so to keep up, I cheat a little.

On the surface, it looks like I’m the same as ever, but I’ve got almost no physical body. What I might have once called my inner flame holds the shape of my body. An incredibly thin outer layer hides the flickering of flames. To any eye, it’s no different from our standard solid form that imitates an albanic.

But it is not solid.

It has taken long months of effort, but I’m able to somewhat imitate the solid-like appearance of my default form while being completely intangible. I can only do so for my normal shape for now, but that will change in time.

Essentially, beyond the bursts given by my legs, I’m taking a leisurely flight within the confines of my body. My wings the only physical thing about me, hidden beneath the fake exterior, and my elders are none the wiser.

Well… that might not be true given the annoyed looks Yalun keeps sending me.

But she cannot tell the difference between my physical and non physical flames unless we are Kindling, so she has no proof to call me out on any guess she might have made. Śuri and Ignatia haven’t noticed. Or, if they have, they don’t care.

So, when I’m sure those two aren’t looking, I poke out my tongue at Yalun, while altering the heat around my face to prevent notice to their thermal sense. She narrows her eyes, and I turn to hide my smirk. It may have admitted my deception, but I just couldn’t help myself.

Śuri casts a curious glance back, obviously questioning my smile and Yalun’s glare, but says nothing. It’s really too bad Ignatia refuses to try Śuri’s glass-board. We’d already be there if she had.

A sudden gust slams the back of my wings. I’m too low to react before the breeze flattens me into the sands. My fake form disperses in an instant, revealing a small flaming falcon to my elders.

“Hey!” I shout, turning to Yalun just as a twisting fire funnel disperses. She obviously created the gust with it.

“What is this, Solvei?” Yalun snickers. “Cheating on your training? Tsk. Tsk.” She looks down at me — still laying here in the sands — with mock disappointment.

Śuri shakes his head with a roll of the eyes, but it’s Ignatia’s burning glare that worries me.

I turn an accusing eye on Yalun, but she only shrugs with a smirk. “You were the one that decided to be smart.”

Ignatia stomps along the sands until she’s standing right above me. I sigh, knowing what is coming. After more than a month of travelling with the grand elder, I knew the only thing that twisted her from that soft-spoken kindly woman to this fearsome being, is when someone cheated. Unfortunately, that extended to cheating oneself.

She doesn’t need to speak. I know how this goes. I reform my body under her watchful gaze, properly this time. We move out again, but this time her critical eye never leaves me. She throws a sash over my shoulders. A device of her own make intended only to tell her when I either use more than a specified amount of energy or do something else she doesn’t like with my fire; like hide the fact that I’m flying rather than running.

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I run. All my focus going into the miniature explosions through my legs to give me the most thrust from the tiny amount of energy I’m allowed to expend. It’s no more physically difficult that what I did earlier, but it is far more mentally taxing.

Accidentally, I go over the maximum allowed energy usage, and the sash ignites. Ignatia accelerates and both other elders follow close. The longer the sash burns, the faster they peel away from me. To put out the fire, I need to split my mind, taking away from the focus on micro-bursts. It’s an almost impossible balance that has the grand elders running further away every moment I’m unable to pull the damn thing under control.

I consider just letting them run off. Or throwing away the sash and flying ahead. I know where we’re headed, and it’s not like I’ll have any problem travelling there on my own.

But doing so might give them a reason to call off the envoy, or delay it. I can’t have the áed stay so isolated. It has worked for a thousand years, but things are changing.

I extinguish the burning sash and eventually catch up with them again. Yalun smiles innocently at me as I step in stride with her.

Once I don’t have to deal with Ignatia’s drills, Yalun will get what’s coming. I grin at the thought, and that wipes the smile off the eagle leader. She stares back at me suspiciously. A laugh escapes my throat… which reignites the sash.

Focus now, consider how I’ll get back at Yalun later.

❖❖❖

After a few hours, we arrive over the quarry. A few dozen ger sit around the base of the first round of cliffs. Two more down, many áed carve away the earth. They carry carts of stone and mineral up a ramp to the middle section, where it is all melted and sorted.

This quarry is the largest deposit of iron within five hundred kilometres from the agglomerate. The place is an emergency resource. It is the only mine where the extraction of metal is taboo. At least it was.

With the situation as it is, it is no surprise the grand elders allow its utilisation for the first time in hundreds of years.

The four of us trek down the ramp dug out of the outer cliff face. Each surface is a smooth and reflective dark orange, a clear remnant of when the first áed carved out the earth. The glass-like stone is sleek, enough that it would be difficult for wheels and feet to find grip had small grooves not warped the surface.

“Śuri.” A voice calls out from between the ger ahead of us. “Heading east already? Didn’t think it’d be so soon.”

Śuri laughs as we head toward the man that comes out to meet us. “Well, we have a rather impatient young eagle whose wings are too jittery for her own sake.” He turns an eye to me with a slight smirk.

Damn grand elders and their lack of urgency. I cross my arms and hold my ground, not giving him the satisfaction of a response.

Śuri shakes his head with mirth. “But we are better off leaving now. If we remain passive for too long, problems will pile and we’ll be in truly dire straits.”

Wow, is that the first time a grand elder has actually agreed that we need immediate action? No wait, he still had us wait months. Hardly quick by any means.

“So, Mirri, you helping with the mining?” Śuri continues.

“No. No. I’m actually on my way to organise the sand-fill out west. The Agni tribes are stuck in the middle of the ocean until we can bridge the gap. Fortunately, we’ve found a section of coast where we only need to fill a kilometre of water to reach the mountains.”

“How is that lot going, isolated as they now are?” Śuri asks.

Instead of Mirri, it’s Yalun who answers. “This is the Agni tribes we’re talking about, right? They’ve probably not even noticed they live on an island yet. Besides, the eagles that have passed through say that besides the dozen tribes that took refuge there, they’ve hardly had a concern.”

“Yes, well, they are certainly in a decent position to ignore the world around them, but we need to reestablish a path for those that cannot fly,” Mirri says. “Shouldn’t take more than a decade or two to fill.”

A decade or two? I wince in pity for those tribes that climbed the mountains to avoid the ocean. But wait… isn’t there a quicker way?

“We’re going to meet with the representatives of the eastern races soon. Maybe we can organise a trade and have them build a bridge for us. I’ve seen plenty of their construction, and they’d be able to reconnect the Agni mountains to the rest of the wasteland in a few years, maybe less.”

Śuri and Yalun seem to ponder it, but both Mirri and Ignatia appear hesitant.

“No. I wouldn’t trust the construction of another kind. Especially not to cross water,” Ignatia says. “If it collapses, how many would die? And we’d be right back at the start, with no way across for the common áed.”

Mirri ponders it a bit longer before commenting. “I know eastern architecture is likely stable enough to create what you say, but I feel Ignatia’s concerns will be the standard amongst those who would use it. How many would risk a walk suspended over deathly waters, regardless of how much we assure them the bridge is stable? Far better to just fill the path with mounds of sand.”

I turn to the depths of the quarry and watch the áed down there digging out blocks of hardened earth. They melt away lines in the ground so that they can push the cubical boulders onto wagons before they are hauled away.

Having my idea turned down is disappointing. I want to give them reasons to connect with those I’ve already gotten close to in the years I was away from the wasteland. The trade of resources to support my people is the core of our delegation, but that doesn’t mean we can’t try for a more integrated society like that of the pact nations.

Regardless of the issues in the pact nations, the fact that different races could live together is encouraging. It is something I want for the áed. But my kind’s reluctance to trust will be a major hurdle to overcome.

As I search through the quarry, I finally spot my elders. Cyrus works below the second cliff, melting stone without eating it to separate iron from the worthless stuff. Elder Enya sits to the side, chatting with him while he works.

I leave the grand elders behind me to gather the other members of our envoy and go to meet with the only remnants of my tribe.