A young roc muttered to his sleeping mate, keeping one red eye on the little groundling walking below. It sang - badly, in the roc's opinion - and did incomprehensible things with a weirdly shaped stick as it climbed toward the box canyon to the northeast. It didn't look toward the rocs' nest, or raise shining pain-sticks into the air, but groundlings were never to be trusted.

The wind wasn't good - thin with twilight, and going the wrong way to drive it safely out of his territory. Anyways the groundling moved oddly, for it had emerged from the shadows below his nest without any warning at all, cawing rudely. The roc watched until the groundling vanished around a distant boulder. Its least favorite clutchmate nested on that side - let him deal with it.

The roc grumbled, shifting on his branch and looking forward to his own turn to sleep.

- o - O - o -

Rajo danced their spindle along, giddy with the freedom of twilight. This far from the fortress, no guard could see them, and no Rova knew to look. Even with Nabooru on duty tonight, if she did check their room, she wouldn't tell. Nabs always understood.

The wind pulled at their rust and ochre mantle, sharp and cold though the winter was young yet. It was worth it though - the stars were so much closer here, at the edge of the northern mountains and the rich eastern plains. And tonight, the wind had chased away the gray murk from the east, and the wandering fire would dance

Still, they felt better when they turned the corner and entered the shelter of the first canyon in the Lady's Quiver. The target poles looked weird and desolate in the lowering sunset, but they weren't as bad as the straw-men in the third canyon. Those were terrible even in daylight - but at night, they moved all by themselves.

Rajo dropped their spindle when they stumbled over a broken bow half-buried in the sand. The yarn tangled around the jagged wood, and every time Rajo bent to fetch the spindle it rolled away again.

"Tits," grumbled Rajo, kicking dust at the whole mess, but it only lay there in the wasting light, innocent as anything. Why did Nabs' words only ever work for her? Maybe they weren't saying them right. They gathered wind and shouted at the canyon, vaguely pleased when the canyon shouted back. But the spindle raced away as soon as they touched the yarn again.

Stupid warriors, leaving trash where anybody might trip on it. Rajo shook free of their mantle, shivering in the wind. Turning in another snarl of bad, dirty yarn was better than getting in trouble for losing another spindle whorl though. They dropped the heavy wool over all of it, scooping up yarn, spindle and bow, and no small portion of sand.

Rajo hefted the untidy bundle, careful not to step on the cloth too much as they hurried down the canyon. Time enough to untangle everything later, when they reached their secret place. It was even warmer than the canyon floor, and the crystals in the walls there reflected the wandering fire well enough to make the work almost easy.

Two-thirds of the way down the canyon, they almost dropped it all again. Something was moving in the shadows at the foot of the last target board - the low, charred one that Nabooru broke her hand on that morning. Rajo heard her swearing when she came back to the fortress early, and had snuck away from their lessons to hear better. Nabs always had the most interesting stories. She didn't say what happened at all, but she was really mad at the bridge sisters.

But when the Rova called the bridge sisters into the courtyard, they huffed and tossed their heads like stubborn horses, and called Nabs a liar. But Nabs never lied. Not really.

Rajo held their breath, tiptoeing closer to the canyon wall. If they moved slow and quiet, maybe whatever-it-was wouldn't notice them. Or maybe they should run through the twilight again. That might be better - but it was getting late.

They edged closer to the crevasse that joined the first canyon to the second, watching the shadows more than their own feet - which is how they noticed the little glitter of light coming from the moving shadow sometimes. And then they realized it wasn't just the wind moaning.

Rajo thought about running - but which way? Home? They were closer to their secret place now, but they had to climb to get there, and that was never fast. Belatedly, Rajo realized they wouldn't be able to carry anything while they climbed. Or at least, not like this.

"Tits," said Rajo.

The shadow yelped - but in a broken and wheezing way. Like when the Rova started to fix Dira's smooshed-up legs, before her eyes rolled back and she stopped moving.

Rajo dropped their burden and ran.

"Stop, stop it," cried Rajo, stumbling, sliding on their knees as the shadow bunched up and fell back with another pitiful yelp.

"Nnnn-" it said.

Rajo caught a fistful of damp wool, pulling the other child back by their tunic as they tried again to rise. "Stop - you make it worse, stupid."

The other child sobbed, shoving their face against the sand. They looked weird and splotchy in the dim light, and their ears were the longest Rajo had ever seen. And now they could see what caught the light.

"Nnnghohay-!" said the stranger to the ground, shattering Rajo's thoughts before they could be sure what they were.

"No," said Rajo. "Lay still, stupid. Don't you know anything?"

The other child sobbed, trying to curl in a little ball. But their arm was bent around the wrong way, so Rajo could still reach the stones on their loose, double-looped bracelets. They were warm and slick to the touch, but the magic woke easily. It tickled under their skin, and cast a soft green light around both of them.

The stranger squeaked like a startled cat, rolling over a little. Rajo crawled forward, keeping one fist in the stranger's tunic for balance and to keep them from rolling out of reach.

"Let me help, stupid. Do you want monsters to eat you?"

The stranger moaned, shoving their face in the sand again. It was a stupid way to try to escape, really. But that meant Rajo could reach the stranger's necklace. Maybe they didn't know what they had, or maybe they didn't have enough magic yet to make it work.

But Rajo did.

- o - O - o -

Rajo set their back against the warm, smooth stone, watching the stranger in the dark. The magic had made both of them a little dizzy, but that was a good thing. Rajo shoved the mantle and everything at the other and dragged them along before they could argue. They made it to the Dragon's Stairs just before true night fell, and Rajo opened the shadows at its foot. The stranger had screamed - but it was a short sprint up the weird, winding twilight path, and they reached the end of it before any of the creatures on the other side could catch them.

"I've never seen you before," said Rajo.

The stranger sat down against the opposite wall, pulling their knees to the chest. They stared with their wide eyes, but they didn't answer. Maybe they didn't know it was a question.

"What happened, anyway? Why didn't you use your summer stones? Are you lost?"

The stranger laughed, but it wasn't a funny laugh. "Maybe we all are."

"You're weird," said Rajo.

"Why did you do it?" said the stranger, tipping their weird pale face to one side.

"Do what?"

The stranger brushed dirt from their knees. Not like it would help. Their gray trousers were torn in at least six places. "You know what, Rajolaan."

"Are you a spirit?" blurted Rajo.

The stranger smiled, but it wasn't a happy smile. "My name is Link."

"Do you bring my Name?"

"Yes and no," said Link.

Rajo waited, but Link didn't say anything else. So Rajo tipped their head back to watch the wandering fire through the crystal eye in the ceiling of the little cave. The pattern of its dance made them feel better, and they pull their mantle up to the their shoulders, letting their mind empty of everything but the patterns.

"This is a beautiful place," said Link.

"Yeah," said Rajo. "You gotta keep it secret though."

"Why?"

Rajo frowned at Link. "Because. It's mine."

"But you brought me here."

"Yeah, so?" Rajo shook their head, sinking a little lower against the wall. "It was close, and the wind is bad at night. Also monsters."

"Fair enough," said Link. "How did you find it? When?"

"Nabs gave it to me, for my year-gift in the raining summer."

Link was quiet for a while, and Rajo couldn't quite tell whether they were watching the wandering fire or not. "When did Nabooru change?"

Rajo considered this. "After. When the mothers named her avadha Saiev."

"Why?"

Rajo shrugged. "Everyone's different when they're big."