Anore let me go once Tufani came back to collect me. The Tamer didn’t seem surprised to see Kaylan snuggled in next to me, but she wasn’t pleased by it either. Her gaze ran over Kaylan like she thought the whisper woman might be hiding something as Anore plucked Kaylan up and set her outside the nest. Apparently, she was only allowed in there as long as I was—given how keen Anore was to mother me and the rest of the seedlings it made me wonder what she did to make the bird impatient with her.

  “What did you promise her this time?” Tufani asked.

  Kaylan displayed perfect nonchalance. “My wonderful company.”

  “If any of my stores go missing I’ll blame you and Anore will have to go without extras for a week.”

  Anore squawked but Kaylan shrugged. “That’s not a problem. I’m sure your stores will be just as organized as always and everyone will be happy.”

  Tufani obviously didn’t believe her, but they set aside their well worn argument to focus back on the more immediate situation. Anore stayed in her nest but I could feel her watching us as we walked away. Tufani led us around the makeshift nests and the handful of other people in the area until we reached a large tent.

  Tufani clicked her tongue as we stepped inside. “Never liked these things. It could get blown away with one wrong wing flap.”

  The tent was standard as far as I could tell. Insulating hide, reeds and rope to make the rounded frame, a couple cushions to sit on and a bed roll. A traveling pack and few other things helped to fill in the space, but it was clear that Tufani had the tent to herself when at least a family of four could have lived in this tent without piling on top of each other to sleep. Of course, she had a whole hut to mostly to herself back in the Rookery, so perhaps her standards were different.

  Kaylan rolled her eyes as she snagged one of the cushions and plopped down. “Almost everyone lives in a tent. They can stand up to the worst storm winds…as long as they are put up properly.”

  Tufani gestured back toward the tent flap. “You can go check my work.”

  I didn’t think Kaylan would do it, but something passed between that I couldn’t catch. Something I didn’t have the proper context for or know them well enough to understand. It irritated me, but I held my tongue. It could have been as simple as Tufani wanting to talk to me alone—though that was a little pointless given Kaylan’s blessing—and I could pry into the minor mystery when I wasn’t pressed for time. Shifting the crystals around in the delta had shaken what balance we had maintained before, and now we needed to act on a next step before the balance shifted again out of our control.

  Kaylan pushed herself back to her feet and tossed me the cushion she had been sitting on. “See you in a bit. There’s still that tour I should show you.”

  She slipped past me and exited the tent. I settled down where she had been while Tufani sat on the remaining cushion and rested her cane at her side.

  “You wish for us to fight.” Tufani’s words were like a stone plunging into a still pool. Not quite an accusation, but with more feeling than simply stating a fact.

  “I do.” I raised my eyebrows. “You’re here.”

  “Traditionally, fighting belongs to whisper women. You bear the goddess’s special marks, Her interest and authority. Our birds might transport you when shadows are scarce, but some might see us assuming a whisper woman’s authority should we fight.”

  “The Swirling Waters tribe fights.”

  “They have special circumstances.”

  “So do you.”

  Tufani spread her hands in front of her palms up. “If we break tradition, then that opens us up to other commands. The Peacekeepers could drag us into battles or the other sects might make demands outside transport. There’s only so many birds. If we get pulled into situations that we can’t refuse then there could come a time when there aren’t birds available when they’re needed.”

  “It sounds like you’re refusing right now.”

  The corner of her mouth twitched up into a smile before she smoothed her expression back out, eyes boring into me. “Your request is a risk, but we are here.”

  “What do you want?”

  “A liaison. A dedicated whisper woman who can refuse requests for us or bring our concerns to the necessary parties and be heard. Someone who can handle any problems that might arise from this.” Tufani lifted her chin higher. “And assistance capturing wild storm birds. If we go forward with this we will need to diversify and increase the flock.”

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  I had to work to keep my expression calm. It was true that I hadn’t thought much beyond the idea that the storm birds would be effective against the fish and she was raising valid concerns. I could name at least a handful of whisper women off the top of my head that wouldn’t appreciate the Rookery folks stepping beyond their typical role or that would seek to use them. But it was also true that there were only so many whisper women and that, as the delta showed, doing things the same way we always had, when the horde was changing and adapting, wouldn’t work in perpetuity.

  However, what was the most baffling was that Tufani seemed to think I had any say in whether she got a liaison or help capturing birds or not. It had only been about two years since I was training under her tutelage in the Rookery. I might be a Chosen candidate but I had yet to win a proxy war and all my infamy was more likely to be a hindrance than help.

  “Did you speak to Ingrasia about your requests?”

  “Requirements,” Tufani corrected me. “Or I won’t be able to comply with your request and we’ll fly back home. The risk to the birds and my people would be too great.”

  I held back a sigh. “And?”

  “She said you need to get used to negotiations like this and that I should bring my concerns to the idea’s originator.” Lacking her cane to thump, Tufani slapped her thigh. “She was correct. If you’re going to have the audience you’re after, you’ll want to practice controlling the conversation.”

  My attention sharpened. “She mentioned that?”

  “It was necessary for me to consider your proposal. If you can secure the audience and then my requirements during it, I will commit this testing force to your fight. Otherwise, in the meantime, we will help with transport and surveillance as we always have.”

  “Is that all?”

  “That’s all.”

  I pressed for more information. “Barra can’t act as your liaison?”

  Tufani shook her head. “Not for this. She has her hands full. We would need someone who can focus on who’s requesting what and that can push back if the requests aren’t suitable. I would do it, but without black lips I can only do so much.”

  She said the last bit without the resentment I would have expected, but she wasn’t resigned to the realities of her situation either. I didn’t doubt that Tufani would stand up to any whisper woman that threatened her people or birds even if it meant she’d pay for the disrespect later. She knew where she stood in the scheme of things even if she might push the boundary when she was sure it was needed.

  I asked, “You want a whisper woman dedicated to managing other whisper women’s complaints for you? About where the birds might fight or not? When you already have Barra?”

  “Would that be too difficult for you, girl?”

  “I’ll see what I can do.”

  It’d be a near impossible find. Barra’s position was rare enough, and that was mainly due to the blessing she received. To find a second whisper woman to help directly with the Rookery when there was already plenty for whisper women to keep busy with…well, the idea was far-fetched at best.

  But the challenge was interesting in its own right.

  "I have my own requirement though.” I couldn’t approach this deal as a Sapling, accepting simply because someone with higher authority insisted. “If I meet your stipulations then you will give higher priority to my requests over other whisper women.”

  “Succeed and the deal is struck,” Tufani confirmed.

  I kept the surprise off my face that she accepted my terms so easily, but likely she didn’t think I’d actually succeed with my next round of negotiations. Which, even if I didn’t want to admit it was fair.

  I had plenty I wanted to ask the High Priestess and not much to trade in terms of favors. Luckily, meeting Tufani’s requirements didn’t necessarily require her permission, though it would make it easier to convince a whisper woman to relocate and others to provide assistance capturing wild storm birds.

  Tufani and I left the tent now that our discussion was finished. Kaylan cracked open an eye from where she was sitting a short distance away and then pushed herself to her feet with a sigh. “Ready to get going?”

  I nodded.

  Tufani got us set up on another storm bird since Anore was resting. The saddle still wasn’t made for two riders, so once again I found myself tucked under an arm and squeezing to the side as much as possible to lessen contact. It seemed like Kaylan was going to offer that we sit upright, but the words died in her throat under the Tamer’s glare. She wasn’t about to let Kaylan and I go off “trick” riding when the storm birds’ presence here was already tenuous at best, and we weren’t willing to test how close she was to calling her people back home to the Rookery.

  So, we got settled on our stomachs in the saddle and suffered through the extra long, bouncing, jangling run the storm bird needed to get up in the air without a cliff. As soon as we were up in the air and the flight leveled off though Kaylan did shift onto her knees and I followed suit so she still controlled our flight in the back half of the saddle and I could see past the bird’s wings and neck in the front.

  I watched as the delta swept by below us. It didn’t take long for the storm bird to cover what would have taken us hours to traverse on the raised pathways and I watched with rapt attention as the delta’s river mouth came into view.

  At first, I wasn’t sure what I was looking at. I had expected to see a regular, if wide, river breaking into smaller branches as the water was forced to flow around the thick stands of trees and other vegetation filling the delta. But that wasn’t the case.

  Instead, that regular river was further back and where the river mouth should have been there was a wide, oddly shaped pool that was abruptly cut off by a long mound of dirt that separated the pool from the delta. Some water still flowed out through channels cut into the mound, but most of the water that should have been flowing into the delta was being held back. Some of the conversations I had overheard suddenly made more sense, but it was also a small wonder that the whisper women had put this together in such a short amount of time. It wasn’t something that could last, not with the sheer amount of water flowing down the river from the First Shore Lake and other tributaries. Eventually, the pressure would increase to the point that the dam would get washed away, but when it did the rush of water pouring into the delta could flush the fish out into the sea.

  Not a permanent solution, but a powerful one.

  It didn’t take long before we were circling down towards the stretch of land between the pool and delta. Kaylan and I braced against the storm bird’s awkward landing. It was finally time for me to understand with my own ears and eyes what was happening at the delta’s river mouth.