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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
carillons
"No, but he gets very upset about stuff sometimes," she says. "And it doesn't always make sense why."
Smiles.
Kaydi is a full year older than Helen, and her daemon settles when she's just eleven. Lexaryn is a tree swallow, and very vain about it. She separates on the first try, and Lexaryn is barely within thirty feet of her for the next week, showing off.
Shura has been anxious about separating, and keeps asking Kaydi about it and getting told, "Everybody does it, don't be a baby."
Kaydi is a full year older than Helen, and her daemon settles when she's just eleven. Lexaryn is a tree swallow, and very vain about it. She separates on the first try, and Lexaryn is barely within thirty feet of her for the next week, showing off.
Shura has been anxious about separating, and keeps asking Kaydi about it and getting told, "Everybody does it, don't be a baby."
Helen does not have the important attribute of having, in fact, walked across the Waste - "And even when you do, your birth blessing will help. I'm scared." (Shura is hugging Nicoa hard. He's being a Dalmatian; he's been being mostly mammals in deference to her nervousness.)
"He didn't have to, though, did he? He's not a witch, if he didn't then he wouldn't have been a little kid forever."
carillons
Helen says, a little hesitantly, "He kind of had to. Somebody he cared about was in trouble, they were going to die, and the only way to save them was for Petaal to be a witch and fly to where they were and rescue them."
carillons
"Yeah," says Helen. "And he was really scared, he says, and it was awful and scary and sad, but then he rescued his friend and hugged Petaal a lot and everyone was okay."
Shura nods. "I know witches all do it, but it hurts if Nicoa even goes - over there." She waves at a tree.
carillons
"I don't really know what the thing does," says Helen. "Maybe it hurts me less to pull, or maybe it's just going to be - easier another way, less distance maybe? I don't know."
carillons
Helen hugs her back.
"Everybody does it," she says. "And they're all okay. We'll be okay too."
"Everybody does it," she says. "And they're all okay. We'll be okay too."
"Some people's daemons are mad at them for ages."
Nicoa nudges Shura's ear with his nose comfortingly.
Nicoa nudges Shura's ear with his nose comfortingly.
carillons
"I hope you won't be like that," says Helen. "That would be sad."
"You don't want to be mad at her, right?" says Kalavar to Nicoa.
"You don't want to be mad at her, right?" says Kalavar to Nicoa.
carillons
"I don't know why either," says Kalavar. "But it's got to help if you don't want to be mad."