Brena
A black crow flew toward the bear. As it passed, it dropped a feather. The feather became an arrow.
A girl stood nearby. She held a bow. She shot the arrow into the bear.
Then the whole world melted. Everything died.
A baby cried.
Brena tried to scream—but she had no mouth.
There is a wound in the world.
The bear looked straight at Brena.
Help me heal it, said the bear.
*
Brena woke from the nightmare with her hands dug deep into her own thigh.
The fire in the hearth had burned low. Only a few glowing embers remained.
Her sleeping mat was on one side of the round, one-room house. Her daughters slept together on the other.
All her herbs hung in baskets along the curved mud wall, filling the air with the smell of sage and chamomile.
She breathed in deeply and forced herself to calm down.
From the next house over, she could still hear the sound of crying. It was Ula's younger sister, still weeping over her miscarriage.
The whole ugly event with Ula had left Brena uneasy. Brena could not stop thinking about the nightmare. What if...
Ula and her sister had married the same man. Ula had not been able to have children. In public, Ula had acted happy about her sister's pregnancy. But in secret, Ula—who had no magic—had made a dark deal with some Low Fae. They gave her blue cohosh, and she slipped it into her sister's acorn stew.
The hexcraft had been discovered. Brena, like others, had cast stones on the mat to condemn Ula. The Tavaedi of Sycamore Stand gave Ula the usual choice for a witch—be sacrificed to the fae, or be given to the Deathsworn. In the end, Ula chose to be tied to the black obelisk at the edge of the clan's land, to be taken by the Deathsworn.
It would have been easy to shoot the black arrow into Ula's heart—Ula, who was going to die anyway. Easy to end the faery's torment. She hated herself for thinking that.
She pushed the thought away.
Sycamore Stand belonged to a clanklatch, a local alliance, with five clans in all. They were rarely attacked by outsiders.
But one morning, not long after Ula's trial, the warriors in the bomas—the tall crow's nests—blew their conch shells. Clanfolk ran from their gardens and fields to gather inside the stockade at the top of the hill.
Outtribers were coming. A whole band of them, even Tavaedies, had been seen crossing the totem poles at the border of Sycamore Stand land.
The outtribers stopped at the start of the earth ramp. They left gifts and waited for permission to go farther.
The clansfolk watched them from above, recognized them, and chose Zavaedi Brena to welcome them.
The leader of the outtribers bowed his head and raised his arms.
He spoke loudly for all to hear.
"Sycamore Stand Clan of Yellow Bear Tribe, we cross your land with no harm meant. We ask your welcome, Zavaedi Brena the Gold-Bracelet Teacher of Sycamore Stand."
"Zavaedi Abiono of Broken Basket of the Rainbow Labyrinth," she said, "Welcome. It has been a long time since your last visit. How many Initiates do you bring?"
"Seven boys and seven girls, Honored Auntie," said Abiono.
Brena nodded. "We also have Initiates going to the tribehold. I will escort them. They may travel with yours."
Tavaedies from both groups danced. They played rattles and drums. Together, they led the Initiates into the center of the hold.
The hosts prepared a feast.
Brena felt at home again, organizing the food and plans.
She warned her daughters while they rolled out the flatbread on large rocks.
"The friends you make now will shape the rest of your life," she said. "When I was your age, I spent time with people I thought were fun. But I didn't pick friends who helped me improve as a Tavaedi. That was a mistake."
She frowned at the memory.
"One of those so-called friends became my husband. Even back then, he didn't want me to outshine him."
"But Mama, you still became a Zavaedi," said Gwena.
"Yes," said Brena. "But not until after your father…" She stopped herself. The girls didn't know the full truth. "…after he died in battle," she finished.
"Only then did I focus and become stronger. I don't want you two to make the same mistake.
"When you reach the tribehold, there will be hundreds of other young people. Choose the best dancers as friends. They will push you to become better too. Don't waste time on those who are likely to fail the Testing."
"Well, of course," said Gwena. "Why would we want to hang around failures?"
"Maybe they have other good traits besides dancing," said Gwenika. She held a chipmunk in her hands, her newest pet.
Brena sighed. She always felt helpless when dealing with her youngest daughter.
Gwena is strong, like her father. Gwenika… too much like me when I was young. A soft one. A weak one.
"Maybe I should hold you back until the next Initiation," Brena muttered, running her hand through her hair.
"You're too young."
Gwenika brightened. "Yes! I can stay here with my pets and Gramma while you and Gwena go away for seven moons!"
"Never mind," Brena said quickly. She flattened another sticky ball of dough on the rock. "You're coming."
By noon, Brena made sure reed mats full of food were arranged in a square around the performance platform at the center of the hold.
Many houses were topped with tall wooden ladders leading to golden disks—the Ladder-to-the-Sun, sacred symbol of Yellow Bear.
She saw pride in the eyes of the Rainbow Labyrinth visitors as they looked at the gold decorations. Their own tribe was skilled in many arts, but no one made better goldwork than Yellow Bear.
The two Tavaedi societies held a surprise Vooma, a dance battle.
Each group took turns showing their cleverest tama.
While they danced, the aunties of Sycamore Stand served roasted pigeons, acorn porridge, onions, carrots, celery, rhubarb, corn pishas, and corn beer.
"Tama Tama,
Tae Tae,
Vooma Vooma
Tae!"
The drums roared. The Tavaedies flipped and kicked across the platform.
Brena won the Vooma.
Abiono accepted the loss with a smile. As they walked back toward the feast, he gestured lightly at her widow's clothes and golden ornaments.
"You still haven't remarried? Neither have I. My offer still stands…"
She smiled a little, but stopped him with a hand on his arm.
"I'm flattered, as always. But I don't want a man to complicate my life."
"You must let go of your grief, Brena. It won't bring him back."
"It's not grief," she said. "It's anger.
"He chose his death. He didn't need to fight in his cousin's clan's war. He wanted glory. He was jealous of me for having a Shining Name when he didn't.
"But he would have found more glory protecting his daughters than dying on a spear.
"What use is a Shining Name when you're dead?"
Her eyes drifted to her daughters.
Gwena was already surrounded by new Initiates. She laughed and flipped her hair. She looked so much like her father that Brena's chest tightened.
Gwenika, meanwhile, talked too much to one person after another. Each time, her partner smiled politely at first, then slowly moved away to escape the endless chatter.
Gwenika ended up next to a girl at the edge of the group. The girl was pretty but twitchy, like a frightened mouse. She didn't seem strong or skilled—certainly not someone who could help Gwenika improve.
Brena didn't know why, but she instantly disliked the girl.
There was something… wrong about her. A shadow clinging to her...
Brena's mouth became a thin line. "Who's that?"
Abiono sighed, like he carried a heavy burden.
"That one," he said, "is Dindi."
Only then did Brena recognize the girl.
She was the one from her dream—the girl who shot the bear… and destroyed the world.