"Well," Cita ventured. "I guess we learned a few things. Maybe don't burn down villages."
Bilal huffed a small laugh and nodded.
"But," Cita paused as an image of Nocturne in blue flames and himself astride crossed his mind, "I bet I looked like a badass on Nocturne."
Sophia, Jenny, and Rashida treated him to looks of varying levels of offense, as if he were missing the point entirely.
Bilal guffawed, bowing his head before meeting Cita's gaze full on.
'It's been a while since I saw that gold.'
"Yes, you were quite fearsome. Any battlefield would have trembled at your arrival."
The throbbing pain in Cita's head eased.
"But what now?" Cita asked. "We've clearly lost the original swarm we were tracking. And Ash's vision about the village didn't exactly pan out."
Cita was distracted from his train of thought as a girl entered the kitchen. She had long, dark hair and warm brown skin. She wore a simple skirt, a top that left her midriff bare, and a drape of cloth over it all. His skin crawled and his fingers itched for his daggers.
'Where have they gotten to this time?'
"Sophia, ma'am, could I have something for the twins to eat?" the girl asked in a respectful tone.
"Of course," Sophia answered warmly as Jenny hopped up from her stool to prepare a tray with some fresh pottage and bread sliced from a wrapped loaf. "Are the poor dears settling in all right? And yourself?"
The girl nodded and opened her mouth to say something further when her blue eyes met Cita's fiery gaze. She snapped her mouth shut and glared.
"Who are you?" Cita asked savagely. He gripped his empty mug. 'Throw the cup, and it'll back off. That'll give me a chance to find a better weapon.'
"Cita!" Rashida rose with a scowl. "That is not how we treat ..." She faltered.
"That's not how we treat orphans after we destroy their home?" the girl cut in. "But that is how we treat those we tried to kill, apparently. I'm Ryka," she said. "You should remember it." She accepted the tray from Jenny's limp grasp and whirled to leave the room.
Bilal's golden eyes skimmed Cita and turned away.
Cita stared after her. 'There's something very wrong with that … girl.' He couldn't put it into words, but in the face of Rashida's hostility and Bilal's disapproval, he had to try.
"That girl — Ryka — she's … dangerous. There's something not right about her."
Rashida opened her mouth, intent on chastising him further, but Sophia cut her off.
"You should listen to him. He is growing into a powerful flame ... summoner." She spoke the last word with compassion and finality. "He may have a touch of foresight, like my grand-nephews, too. It's hard to say. And although Jenny gave you a copybook," she paused to arch an eyebrow at the blushing young woman, "I doubt any of you have had time to read it."
Cita shook his head and looked back into his empty mug. It didn't hold the answers to the universe, nor yet the more immediate answers he needed.
"Bilal? Did you … perhaps … skip a few things that happened in the village?" he asked. 'Like me trying to kill a creepy kid? Or kids? What did they … no … what did Bilal do to stop me?' Cita's eyes narrowed. He threw off the blanket as a boiling heat welled from his stomach.
Bilal still would not meet his gaze.
"Perhaps a few things," Bilal answered in a tight voice. He did not continue.
Gritting his teeth, Cita braced his hands on the table. Red haze coated his vision as he glared after the girl. Before he could push himself up to follow her, darkness dropped over his eyes. His breath froze in his throat, stopping his scream.
'No. Leave them for now.'
As abruptly as it had swallowed him, the darkness spat Cita out, leaving him gasping and shaking on the stool.
"Cita?" Bilal asked, frowning. Golden eyes darted from Cita to the empty doorway.
Teeth chattering, Cita shook his head.
With a sigh, Bilal collected the blanket and tucked it around Cita's shoulders.
"I think it's time to eat," Jenny suggested, breaking the silence. "The pottage is ready, and this morning's bread has finished rising. It will be in and out of the oven in a trice."
Cita wanted to refuse, but his stomach grumbled at the suggestion of food.
*****
After the midday meal, Cita was set to work peeling a small mountain of potatoes and other light kitchen chores under Sophia's watchful eye. Bilal and Rashida left, each with tasks that urgently needed to be done.
"Urgent my butt," Cita muttered as he hauled a bucket of scraps out into the courtyard.
"Hey!" Kody called out as he walked out of the stable and spotted Cita. "Thanks for dropping off that sandwich earlier. Are you taking that to the compost pile or the pigs?"
"Heck if I know," Cita answered, setting the bucket down to stretch. "I think Sophia has forgotten I'm not one of her nephews — she said to bring it out, but didn't say where."
Kody laughed, reminding Cita of their earlier laughter.
Cita smiled, but the story of the village pressed like a weight on his chest. He scanned the courtyard.
"Well, they're both this way. Come on — I'll show you."
They went around the side of the stable and down a narrow path between the building and the stockade. Instead of the mucky, stinking pen filled with massive porcine bodies Cita had envisioned, Kody ushered him to a clean-smelling, albeit muddy, enclosure with several smallish pigs. They politely lined up at their trough when they saw the bucket.
"Well, that's what they'd prefer!" Kody grinned. He peered in the bucket. "Go ahead and let them have it. It's just potato scraps, right?"
Cita nodded and approached the fence to spread the peels in the trough.
"So, Jenny said you weren't … very comfortable with those children from the village?"
Cita looked over at Kody, suspicious.
Kody scratched the back of his head. "Ash … isn't sure about them either. I … I don't know. They kind of feel weird … the same way a distant prairie fire feels weird. Not bad … but … different from the current way of things."
'Is that what it's like to be a flame sorcerer? Even a wildfire doesn't phase you?' Longing clawed at Cita's gut.
"So … well, we've been keeping an eye on them," Kody finished in a rush.
"Huh." The hair on the back of Cita's neck rose.
"They're playing in one of the back courtyards, and if you climb up the backside of the sheep barn, you can watch without being seen. Ash is there now. Did you want to go take a look?"
"Well, yeah," Cita said. "What have you seen so far? Are they doing anything suspicious?"
Bucket and chores forgotten, they headed for the sheep barn.
*****
The wooden ladder consisted of a central pole with crossbars tied on with rawhide lace at regular intervals. It leaned against the back of the sheep barn and extended up thirty feet.
Cita looked up the ladder to the steep, thatched roof. Ash lay in the autumn sun, arms crossed behind his head. A brief memory of the dizziness that had plagued him sprang into Cita's mind.
Kody stopped halfway up the ladder. "Are you coming?" he asked Cita with a grin.
"Of course!" Cita answered. He reached up to grab a crossbar and started climbing.
Kody's grin widened before he resumed his ascent. At the top of the ladder, he nimbly swung around to alight on the thatched roof. The ladder shifted as he dismounted, but felt stable enough as Cita finished climbing.
"Why aren't you watching them?" Kody asked his brother. Instead of waiting for a response, he crawled to the crown of the roof and peered over. With a yelp, he ducked back down immediately. His recoil sent him sliding. He stopped next to Ash.
"Why didn't you tell me she knew we were up here?"
Though Cita's gut chilled at the implications of Kody's words, the betrayed tone made Cita chuckle.
"What do you mean, she knows we're up here?" Cita asked as he cautiously crept up the thatching. Cita forced himself to relax next to the others and found that spreading his weight out made him feel less like he was about to fall off the roof.
"As soon as I poked my head over the ridgepole, she was looking straight at me — like she was expecting me. What did you do, wave at her?"
Ash opened one eye to inspect his brother. "I was just watching. She spotted me before you were halfway down the ladder."
"That's … not good." Kody flopped down on his back and rubbed his face. "Maybe if we tried watching from Taylor's room? He wouldn't mind, so long as we didn't make a mess."
"Yeah, but to get there, we'd have to go past the kitchen. Grauntie Sophia is always in the kitchen for at least three days after she gets back. There's no way to sneak past her, and she'll find something for us to do if she sees us." Ash closed his eyes again.
"What about …" Kody began.
Ash cut him off with a quick headshake.
"Or we could …"
"Nope. I already thought of that. If Grauntie Sophia doesn't catch us, Jenny will. And she'll take that straight to Grauntie Sophia."
"Is she still wrathy over getting stuck here?" Kody sighed, throwing an arm over his face. "She was so much more fun before she decided she loved that Freeholder."
"What did you expect? We'll all have to find a Freeholder that fits in here if we ever want to marry. And yes, she's still wrathy. She keeps using my given name." Ash shuddered.
"Your given name?" Cita asked.
They looked at him, then at each other.
"It's no secret. At least, it isn't according to Grauntie Sophia," Kody grimaced. "Our parents named Ash Jayson, but he never liked it and rarely answers to it. He goes by Ash instead."
Ash waved a languid hand in response.
"But why Ash? It doesn't follow."
Kody burst into laughter, and Ash swatted at him.
"He's Ash because …" Kody broke out laughing again.
Ash sighed and spoke over him.
"When I was three, I found out I had the family tendency toward flame sorcery. My …" He hesitated before continuing. "My favorite toy fell into the kitchen fire. I reached right in and pulled it out. When I hugged it, it smeared ashes all over my face. So … Ash." He shrugged before turning to swat his brother. "And that's the end of it — you can stop laughing, or I've some stories to tell about you!"
Kody stifled his laughter.
"So you're fireproof, too?" Cita asked, remembering that neither brother had been especially surprised that Cita hadn't crisped himself. 'Was that three days ago? So much keeps happening and I can't remember half of it!' He ground his teeth in frustration.
Ash nodded, arms crossed behind his head again. "I am. He's not."
Kody poked him in the side. Ash retaliated with an elbow thrust.
"People around here sure are weird about names," Cita mused.
The tussle slowed and then stopped.
"I mean, Bilal wouldn't even say my name right, back when we first met. He still doesn't — we just agreed on a nickname." Cita pieced bits of fire-rimmed memories together as he spoke.
"And every time I go to introduce myself, he cuts me off. He introduces me using the nickname. He never uses my real name."
An image sparked behind his eyes.
**
Bilal's glaive swinging through the air, intercepting a black arrow.
**
"No … he used it once." Cita tugged at the image, trying to remember. "He used my name, and Rashida was livid. She was furious and … scared."
"Hey — relax," Ash chided, interrupting Cita's inward spiral. "Don't torch the roof. I don't want to have to re-thatch it before winter sets in."
"Ugh. No more thatching," Kody agreed. "And, anyway, what's so bad about your name?"
"I don't know," Cita groaned, leaning back against the sun-warmed thatch. "It's just a name, right?"
"Yeah, but what name? You can't not tell us now!" Kody teased, miming a swoon. "I'll pine away from curiosity."
"You should be in movies," Cita laughed. "It's Akicita."
"Aki … cita?" Ash repeated.
"That's exactly what Bilal said!" Cita threw a hand up in disgust, sitting up and turning away from the brothers.
The roof creaked as Ash sat up behind him.
"That's … I've heard that name somewhere. Or read it?" Ash's brow furrowed, and he cupped his chin.
"That's a pre-Cataclysm name. Betcha!" Kody smirked. "Otherwise why would he react that way? The Dracaenaekin have all sorts of lore that predates the Cataclysm."
"Cataclysm?" Cita asked.
"Yeah. The Cataclysm." Kody frowned at Cita's blank expression. "You don't know about that?"
Cita shook his head.
Ash sighed.
"A long time ago — at the very beginning of anyone's records, a flame summoner raised an army and set out to either conquer or raze the world."
Cita turned. Somber green eyes met his own.
Kody looked ready to be sick.
"There are different stories about why he did it. Some say greed, or lust for power, or even insanity. Everyone agrees on what he did. He led his army against anyone he found. Each time, they slaughtered one third to half of the warriors and then offered terms of surrender. If they accepted the terms, he culled every right-handed person. If they didn't … his flames devoured everyone."
"But that's insane!" Cita interjected. "How does one man, even with an army, do that? Didn't someone try to stop him?"
"We don't know how he did it." Ash shrugged. "He culled or destroyed every city, every tribe, every land, and no one could stop him. Records from that time are sparse, and records from before are nearly impossible to find. Once he finished his conquest, he turned his flames on his army, and the flame summoner vanished."
"Jayson! Dakota! Get down here! You've chores to do!"
They looked down behind the sheep barn to see Jenny and a glaive-wielding Bilal.
Jenny held a bucket that looked a lot like the one Cita had left by the pigpen.
"And Cita, you shouldn't be climbing up there — it isn't safe!" Jenny's scolding continued, "Bilal has been looking high and low for you, and where are you to be found? With these layabouts."
"Shut up, Jenny! You're not the matriarch yet!" Kody hollered back.
"Oh? Then I suppose I'll simply tell the elders and let them decide what's to be done. But there's only Grauntie Sophia here, and no Uncle Stephan to save you. Whatever will you do?"
Jenny grinned and the brothers groaned. She had them beat without lifting a finger.
"Come on — we'd better get moving," Ash grumbled. "Grauntie Sophia probably knows already, but she may turn a blind eye if Jenny doesn't raise a fuss."
Cita slid down toward the ladder, eager for distraction. He grabbed the center pole and swung around to start his descent.
"Wait!" Kody shouted.
The ladder tipped to the side.
Kody lunged for the ladder. His fingers slipped past the pole and Kody kept going.
"No!" Cita shouted.
Ash grabbed his brother with one hand. His other hand anchored into the thatch, which tore but held.
'They're going to have to re-thatch that section.'
The ladder dipped below the roof's edge and the brothers vanished from his sight.