Gracie was obviously the Americanization of Wai Szi’s name. Leo was the name of Tinker’s father, killed by the tengu before she was born. Surely it was an odd coincidence. “He’s a tengu?”
“No, Leo was human. He was my college roommate at M.I.T — and my best friend for many years.”
“Was?”
Jin glanced at her sharply. Whatever he saw on her face made his hard look softened. “Leo and Gracie were like Romeo and Juliet. They fell madly in love at first sight. Their families didn’t want them to be together. They got secretly married. And it all ended in senseless tragedy. Leo was killed in an accident, and for the last five years, Gracie has been suicidal with grief. Crows mate for life.”
“Leo’s family didn’t want him to marry her?” Tinker asked. “They knew she was tengu?”
“No. We were Chinese — that was enough.”
Yes, that would have been enough. Much as she loved her grandfather, she knew the truth of his bigotry. She had been wondering why she dreamed of Gracie. Now she could only remember how the little tengu female had endlessly wept in her dreams.
Tinker had taped the leads to power distributor ring of the spell and hooked the other ends to the battery. “You check to make sure all the metal is clear of the spell. It would distort the effect of the spell, which could be deadly. The activation word is pronounced this way.”
Jin listened closely, and then nodded as the outer ring powered up, casting a glowing sphere over the rest of the spell. The healing spell itself kicked in, the timing cycle ring clicking quickly clockwise as the magic flowed through the spell in a steady rhythm. “How long before we can tell if it’s going to work?”
Tinker shrugged. “On an elf, I could tell immediately.”
As they watched, color flushed back into Gracie’s face and her breathing grew deeper. The machines monitoring her health verified that her heart was stabilizing.
Jin clapped his hands, just like an elf would, to summon the attention of the gods to him, and then whispered a prayer. Tinker floated in place, gazing at the female who would have been her mother, if everything had gone differently. Had it been chance that put Gracie on the same ship as Esme — or some dream inspired plan of Tinker’s real mother?
Jin finished his prayer and turned to Tinker. “Thank you. Truly you must have been sent by the gods to us.”
“No, just the wizard of Oz.”
Chapter 21: No Place Like Home
Wolf was ready to kill something. When they should have been reacting quickly, instead they stalled with negotiations. He demanded that one of the Stone Clan return to the enclaves to guard the noncombatants. Earth Son assigned the task to Jewel Tears but then tried to maneuver True Flame into qualifying it as a failure on Wolf’s part to protect the enclaves.
“I can choose to protect the enclaves,” Wolf said, “and leave you to face the dragon.”
“We will have the dreadnaught.” Earth Son pointed out.
“No, we won’t.” True Flame snapped. “Human weapons can’t pierce the dragon shielding. The dreadnaught is good at spotting and attacking ground troops. It would be an aerial banquet table for the dragon.”
“We should travel light.” True Flame continued. “One Hand each. The fewer we have to protect the better.”
Wolf let Wraith chose which of his sekasha would remain. Wolf drew Little Horse and Stormsong aside; of the sekasha returning to the enclaves, they were the ones best suited to interacting with humans. “Call Maynard. Let him know what his people might be facing. They need to know that their weapons won’t work on this.”
Even as Jewel Tears and the extra sekasha left, Earth Son was still arguing True Flame’s decision. “We should wait until it comes to us. Running around, looking for it will only weaken our position.”
Wolf scoffed at this idea. “Sit here on our hands while it does what it will to the city?”
“Property damage can be fixed later,” Earth Son said.
“And what of the humans?” Wolf said.
Earth Son had the gall to say, “I do not know why you fuss so. They are short lived anyhow.”
“I think we should go and be the heroes.” Forest Moss struck a heroic pose. “Females are attracted to males of action.”
“What females?” Earth Son cried.
“Poor Earth Son, I might have one blind eye—” Forest Moss tapped his cheek under his ruined eye and the reached out to tap both of Earth Son’s. “— but apparently you have two.”
Earth Son slapped away Moss’ hand. “I am not blind.”
“Then you must see that this city is filled with fertile young females? There are so few domana females, and they are a choosy lot. The law prevents us from taking lovers outside our own caste who is not sekasha with naekuna, and the sekasha frown on us making another caste into domana — that would be too much like our Skin Clan fathers. Would not the sane plan be to follow Wolf Who Rules’ path, winnow out the perfect female from the thousands and thousands of humans and make her elfin?”
“No!” Earth Son flinched back from the mad one. “Are you even capable of recognizing sanity?”
Forest Moss thought a moment and then shrugged. “The sad truth is: I am not sure. But nor am I sure I care. I have found a certain freedom in madness. Ah, but it is oh so lonely. I do not wish to be alone anymore. Unfortunately, I have fallen into a paradox. As domana, you can not attract a household without sekasha, but the sekasha no longer trust me. I failed to protect what was mine. What a small mistake led to my downfall, nor did I make it alone. At our first encounter with the oni, despite their displays of friendship, we should have fought. One miscalculation and all was lost. Lost forever.”
“I fell in love,” Windwolf stated coldly. “Do not mistake my honest passion for calculated convenience.”
Forest Moss made little flicking motions with his hand. “Feh, feh, I will love her. She will, after all, win me what I wish for the most. I tried to show my responsibility and leadership by holding dogs, and monkeys and small birds. Surely keeping safe such fragile packages of life shows some ability to protect? Alas, no elf has offered themselves into my keeping.”
“And this mad plan would bring you respect?” Earth Son looked puzzled.
“Beloved Tinker holds two sekasha. I’m told that she lacks a full Hand merely due to the limits of time. That even the renowned Bladebite offered to her. Surely there is another female of the same caliber in this city.”
“No.” Windwolf growled. “My domi is a rare and treasured find.”
Forest Moss refused to be distracted from his plan. “Ah, well, I will have to settle for some lesser gem then. Let us be off. There is a dragon to kill, and females to impress.”
With the elder Stone Clan male strutting off, Earth Son had no choice but to agree to go after the dragon. It made sense now that Forest Moss tried to use the aumani to gain Little Horse. Although young, Little Horse’s bloodlines meant young sekasha would be willing to look to him as First. There was some sound reasoning to that — as well as this current plan of Forest Moss. Both, however, were equally distasteful.
Hopefully Malice would cut short Forest Moss’ plan.
Tinker spent hours in the infirmary, choosing out spells out of the Dufae Codex, modifying them to work with the batteries, printing them off, and casting them. She was learning that she wasn’t cut out to be a doctor; having to touch strangers so intimately was still unnerving.