The mist that had risen from the crystal swirled until Rauhl stopped playing the melody, then it stopped, frozen in mid-air.

Brea looked on in wonder. "What does it mean?" she asked, looking at Rek'yr.

Rek'yr put a finger to his lips.

Rauhl looked at the stilled mist, his eyes moving over it as if he was reading. He stood like that for a long time, then, abruptly, he made a gesture with his hand and it dissipated.

Brea looked at Rek'yr. "What does it mean?" she asked again.

Rauhl turned to face them, his expression unreadable.

"Rauhl?" Brea pleaded.

Rauhl's eye's scanned the floor behind Brea before meeting her eyes.

"I need you to take me to the soothsayer Onica."

It was deep in the night, and Deet was awake. Her body ached for sleep, but her mind was running like a skitterer escaping a cave snake. She remembered back in Thra, after the Darkening had left her - if it ever fully had - days where she and Rian would trudge through hills and mountains until they felt broken.

There were no mountains anymore, unless you counted Ashona.

She sighed and looked at Rian, sleeping soundly beside her. He had been quite affectionate after they'd returned from the market, cooking the supper and putting Ashona to sleep early so they could share a few moments alone before the night's cycle of waking and nursing started. She'd let him sleep through the night feeding. The early morning feeding would come soon.

She turned toward him and nuzzled herself into his arms, her face buried into his neck. She felt him stir lightly, and instinctively wrap his arms around her.

"You OK?" she heard him whisper, his fingers grazing her cheek.

"I was just thinking about Dor," she whispered, sitting up slightly to look at him.

He'd fallen back asleep, if he'd ever really woken up. She smiled and settled back in.

Daybreak had barely passed when Rauhl slid down Bennu's wing and faced the steps leading up to the door.

Rauhl had never been to the Citadel before, and he wasn't exactly thrilled to be there for the first time. The tall structure in the middle of the vessel's topside evoked a castle to him, as if the Gelfling needed a new system that in any way resembled the old system.

He'd supported doing away with the Vapran monarchy, and it wasn't lost on him that Brea was still the leader, only with an even more militaristic title.

He and Rek'yr had argued about it many times. Rek'yr supported Brea and called Rauhl a separatist for not assimilating into the new Gelfling community. But then, Rek'yr lived just below the stilled desert, too, having refused accommodations at the Citadel himself.

Having met Brea, he could see why his brother was fond of her. She was headstrong, and her concern for the Gelfling seemed to have no bounds, regardless of their "once" clan.

He looked around once inside. The inside of the Citadel was ridiculously opulent, he thought. How many Gelfling on the vessel could have been fed with the resources it took to build this grand hall? He shook his head in disgust.

The door to the Citidel opened behind him suddenly, and a young Gelfling entered urgently. She appeared to be Grottan, a race that he had never seen before. He knew of their struggles, though. Many trine ago, the Grottan had been driven out from the land near Stone-in-the-Wood into the caves. At one time, their skin had been dark, darker than the Dousan. The caves had sapped their color away, leaving them, to his eyes, a pallid green, their hair nearly white, a contrast to their ancestors.

She paused, and looked at Rauhl, her large, striking black eyes blinking at him, as if she recognized him, but didn't.

"Have you seen Brea?" she asked.

Rauhl shook his head. "I'm due to meet her here this morning," he said.

She looked in the direction of Brea's quarters, back at him.

"You look like Rek'yr," she said.

He smiled. "I should think so," he said. "I'm his brother, Rauhl."

"I'm Deet," she said. She eyed his clothing. "Are you a priest?"

"A shaman," he said. "And you are the maternal half of the Wellspring."

Deet blinked. "Did your berries tell you that?"

Rauhl laughed. "It doesn't quite work that way," he said.

"Hm," Deet said, turning to look to see if Brea was coming.

"You know, to the Dousan clan, The Wellspring is an oasis, anchored by the great Oszah-Staba."

Deet was looking at him with interest now. "One of the seven Great Trees," she said.

He nodded. "The Wellspring is a place of tranquility and peace, and a source of life in the desert."

"It sounds lovely," she said.

"It is," Rauhl said. He paused. "I shall miss it."

Before Deet could respond, Brea came up behind her, seemingly out of nowhere.

"Deet, what are you doing here?" Brea asked.

Deet turned. "I need to talk to you."

"Can't you see I'm busy?"

"Who is in charge of ticks?"

"Ticks?"

"Ticks," Deet said, motioning as if she was marking a page in a book. "The… what is it called?"

"Currency," Rauhl cut in, matter-of-factly.

"I don't know," said Brea.

"How do you not know?" Deet asked, exasperated.

Rauhl's eyes moved from Deet to Brea as they talked. He didn't know if he was meant to witness it, but it was playing out in front of him.

"Do you know that Gelfling are hungry?" Deet asked.

Brea looked shocked and drew back. "That isn't true," she said. She looked at Rauhl. "It isn't true. How can that be true, there is plenty of food."

"It needs to be fair," Deet said.

Brea winced as Rauhl nodded in deep, knowing agreement.

"Look, we have bigger things to worry about right now," she said.

"Bigger than hungry childlings?"

Brea deflated. "Tell them they can have more ticks. Tell them whatever you want. I give you permission."

"But -"

Brea motioned for Rauhl to follow her as she turned and rushed away. Rauhl paused and nodded at Deet before turning. "Imagine that," he said with a smile, "a Grotten woman with the power to make a change."

Deet smiled, struck by this Dousan, who seemed to be on her side without even knowing her.

"Rauhl -" she called, as he began to walk away. "Did you come here because of the Darkening?"

Rauhl stopped and turned his head toward her. "Yes."

"Did you have a vision?"

He turned his body to face her and nodded slowly. "Yes."

"I've had one, too," she said. "Well, I've had many visions before, but I had one recently for the first time in a long time. We both had visions, Rian and I. Rian really never gets them, though I was thinking -"

"What did you see?" Rauhl asked, cutting her off.

"Death," she said. "And something about Tavra."

"And Rian?"

"More death. Flames, I think." she furrowed her brow, trying to remember exactly how he'd described it.

"Have you told Brea?"

Deet shook her head no.

Rauhl considered. "But you're telling me."

She nodded.

Behind him, Brea stood at the far end of the hallway, calling for him impatiently.

He leaned in toward her. "You should have a seat at the table, Deet," he said. "Of all of us, you should."

She blinked, and watched as Brea started walking back toward them. A seat at the table? She thought, wondering what he meant by that. She knew Brea only consulted Onica on matters of prophecy - was Rauhl here to be part of some kind of committee of seers? And if so, did she belong on it? She didn't even understand her own family's future.

She gasped, remembering the time. She had slipped away, leaving Rian with the baby. Which would be fine, but for the fact that Ashona was still nursing, and nursing frequently. She had gotten sidetracked.

"It was good to meet you, Rauhl," Deet said, quickly turning and bouncing away toward the tunnels. "Say hello to Rek'yr and Bennu for me!"

Rauhl smiles as he lifted a hand and watched her retreat.

Brea, nearly out of breath, stopped by his side and looked at him. "What in Thra were you talking about?"

Raul's eyes didn't leave Deet as she disappeared into the distance. "I was just telling her about the Oszah-Staba," he said.

Brea looked at him, confused. She had read about the Great Trees many times over. She scanned her memory until it clicked.

"A source of life in a barren world," she said. "Do you think they have something to do with the tree?"

"Don't we all have something to do with all of the Great Trees of Thra?" Rauhl looked at her with a shrug. "Let's get this done with, then."