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Time goes by. Shura's mother lets her cut a cloudpine branch, and she and Helen go flying together.
Helen celebrates her eighth birthday by baking all her favourite people a cake again. And then she goes away with Kas, to Iceland and Russia and back by way of Alaska.
When they fly in, Kas on Petaal's cloudpine and Helen on her own, Helen is wearing blue jeans and a pink T-shirt.
truthwright
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"It's a thing I can do," says Helen. "Because I'm peculiar. I can listen where anybody is if I know where they are, or where anyplace is if I remember it well, and I can put my voice wherever I'm listening or make it go all over."
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She shakes her head. "It's not my birth blessing or I would've said. My birth blessing's Amariah Lytess, daemons."
"Oh." Inkeri shrugs thoughtfully. "Okay. We can look for the queen."
Veravia hops off the cloud pine to fly alongside her as she heads towards where the queen is most often located.
Veravia hops off the cloud pine to fly alongside her as she heads towards where the queen is most often located.
The queen isn't there, but someone who knows where she went is, and presently they have found her, in one of the clan gardens, weeding.
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"Um, hello, Narida Memma," says Helen, floating on her cloudpine having entirely forgotten what she is wearing. "I was talking to Inkeri and we think she said a prophecy and we want to know how you tell."
Narida turns to look at them.
"What," she asks, gesturing to Helen, "is the intended meaning of this -?" She sounds like she intended to finish the sentence with another word or phrase but cannot come up with one that suits what she means.
"What," she asks, gesturing to Helen, "is the intended meaning of this -?" She sounds like she intended to finish the sentence with another word or phrase but cannot come up with one that suits what she means.
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Helen looks down. Pink cotton and blue denim, instead of black silk.
"Oh," she says. "I forgot I was wearing that. It doesn't mean anything."
"Oh," she says. "I forgot I was wearing that. It doesn't mean anything."
The queen makes a restrainedly distasteful face and turns from her. "Inkeri Saara," she says, "what were the words you spoke?"
"The Shade-Dreamer will return on the eve of the sixty-sixth year of her vanishment, and call on the magics of all the worlds," repeats Inkeri.
"Are those the exact words?"
"Yes."
"Does it refer to Isabella Amariah?"
"Yes."
"When exactly is the eve of the sixty-sixth year of her vanishment?"
"The day before she would have been gone sixty-six years. I don't know the date."
"Is there anyone else you are supposed to tell?"
Inkeri tilts her head again, and says, "I think so."
The queen pinches a leaf off a plant a row away from where she was weeding, shreds it, and mutters a Svaaric verse, tossing the shreds at a blinking Inkeri.
"Who do you think you should tell?" the queen inquires, after squinting at the possible prophet.
"Helen's father," says Inkeri.
"Go and do it, and then come back and tell me how he reacts."
"The Shade-Dreamer will return on the eve of the sixty-sixth year of her vanishment, and call on the magics of all the worlds," repeats Inkeri.
"Are those the exact words?"
"Yes."
"Does it refer to Isabella Amariah?"
"Yes."
"When exactly is the eve of the sixty-sixth year of her vanishment?"
"The day before she would have been gone sixty-six years. I don't know the date."
"Is there anyone else you are supposed to tell?"
Inkeri tilts her head again, and says, "I think so."
The queen pinches a leaf off a plant a row away from where she was weeding, shreds it, and mutters a Svaaric verse, tossing the shreds at a blinking Inkeri.
"Who do you think you should tell?" the queen inquires, after squinting at the possible prophet.
"Helen's father," says Inkeri.
"Go and do it, and then come back and tell me how he reacts."
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...Helen hovers a little ways back, and she listens to Kas.
"He's at Ranata's house," she murmurs.
"He's at Ranata's house," she murmurs.
"Okay," says Inkeri. She gets back on her cloud pine and flies to Ranata's little cabin that she uses for extended stays on clan lands.
truthwright
Petaal is curled up just outside the cabin door as a tiger, and Kas is leaning back against her with an arm slung comfortably around her neck.
Inkeri lands.
Without preamble, she announces, "The Shade-Dreamer will return on the eve of the sixty-sixth year of her vanishment, and call on the magics of all the worlds."
Without preamble, she announces, "The Shade-Dreamer will return on the eve of the sixty-sixth year of her vanishment, and call on the magics of all the worlds."
truthwright
"Why are you telling me this," he says. The words form a question, but the intonation doesn't.
"I'm supposed to," says Inkeri. "I think knowing who I am supposed to tell might be part of being a prophet, because the queen asked me if I was supposed to tell anyone else, and then told me to tell you."
truthwright
"You do that," he says, and he gets up, and Petaal turns into a witch and follows him into the cabin and shuts the door.
Inkeri hesitates, but then flies back to the garden where the queen is, and lands again, and describes how Kas behaved.
"I think you're a prophet," the queen concludes.
"Will I make more prophecies?" inquires Inkeri.
"Possibly not. Some people with your birth blessing don't make even one prophecy in their lifetimes."
"Oh," says Inkeri.
"I think you're a prophet," the queen concludes.
"Will I make more prophecies?" inquires Inkeri.
"Possibly not. Some people with your birth blessing don't make even one prophecy in their lifetimes."
"Oh," says Inkeri.
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Helen drifts back a little more, and then turns and flies away.
She doesn't quite mean to listen behind her, but she does.
She doesn't quite mean to listen behind her, but she does.