Aua shivered and squirmed beneath me. I had already killed two with my words. I could not risk a third.

"Come over here," I said to Nani, and she was forced to obey. I heard her splash in the river, but I could see none of her doubtless scowl through the haze of night.

I stared into the darkness, unsure. Her unusual words still filled me with unease. I had been skewered with a dozen spears. I had bled a small ocean of red wet onto the plains. Fire had tickled my skin and nibbled on my earlobes. None of this had frightened me. But her words. My stomach still churned with sick at their remembrance.

"I am worried about Aua," I said, and I clicked my tongue in human (annoyance). I should not use her name so intimately. She was the smallest sister, and that was all I should let her be.

Nani offered no answer. Could not offer answer.

"Do you have the power to help this one?" I asked as my hand stroked Aua's fevered cheeks.

Nani made some noise, but not the sort that offered answer. I thought for a moment.

"Clap twice if " and Nani clapped twice at once. Which she would have done regardless. She knew what I wanted to do. She was dangerous.

But...

"I will unseal your lips," I said, and my stomach turned over in protest. "You will use your maijiks or your knowledge to help her."

Nani did not speak. She made no noise. I could not be sure she even drew breath. The vacant chitter of the rocklurker and the lazy roll of river filled the quiet of the night.

My course set, I puzzled over how to even return the eldest her speech.

Vacantly, I stroked my chin, and said, "Speak?"

"D̷͓̃h̸͚̆ù̴͖r̶̳͐ ̶̠͊l̵͖̿e̷̲̍ ̵̡̌m̸̝̃e̷̖͠t̸̤͆?̷̧͂ ̷͉̽B̶͎̋h̶̩͛a̵̦̿r̴̟͛ ̴͎̔ĺ̸͎i̴͘͜f̴̡̔ ̷̘̓d̴̤̋a̶͉͠r̸̮̈́,̴͈͗ !"

Nani spoke the words for a third time, and my body erupted in fire. Not the same flames the maij had used to tickle my skin. This fire burned inwards, and erased the lull of the night with my violent screams.

I did not think. I did not fear. I merely writhed as the flame spread throughout my body, burning bone and muscle to ash. A thousand little stars erupted in white flashes behind the blank black back of my eyelids.

And then, as soon as it started, the fire went out. I did not scream, but Nani threaded together every taunt and raunch she knew into a hundred different curses. I merely lay face first against the pointed grasses of the plain, unable to move.

"And I am your master, you thrice cursed spawn of thirteen petulant whores!" Nani said with one final tola of hate. "Your master!"

I puzzled over what had happened as Nani collapsed into the river. At least it sounded like she collapsed.

They had been the same words. Some sort of command granted power in repetition? It made... sense. I was a creature more powerful than the maij who summoned me. They would need some kind of leash else I would... kill their daughters and whoever that woman from the tent had been.

But how much power did the leash afford the maij?

"Bring her back," Nani said, and I felt a small itch. Everywhere. "Bring her back!"

I was on my feet before I even realized. I glanced around, but the dark was absolute.

"Bring me Sofh," I said to the rocklurker, but the words came unbidden. I was not even aware I had opened my mouth before the words tumbled out.

The jini rushed to obey. A dark mass was dropped in-front of me with a splash.

"Wake up!" I said, and I placed both hands on Sofh's chest. I felt the same bolt of lightning hot flow out my arm and into Sofh.

"W-what did you do?" Nani asked. Her voice hovered behind me.

I did not answer. My thoughts were consumed with a hundred revelations. Because this must have been what the maij felt like. Powerless to resist. A slave to my words. It was not an entirely uncomfortable sensation.

I mulled it over in my mind, and I decided it did not really matter if this Nani had complete control over me. I had been called here to obey after all. Perhaps she

"B̷͉̈́h̵̻̐ȁ̷̘r̸̗͝ ̵́͜ĺ̵̤i̶̗̓f̴̞̑ ̵̝̌d̷͎̿a̵̢̎r̵̮̒ !" Nani said, and I felt pain. "Answer me!"

"I woke Sofh," I said, immediately and without thought. My body still shook, as did my thoughts. Because suddenly this did not seem like the ideal situation to be in.

"You... woke her?" Nani muttered to herself. "I can't see anything in this blasted dark. Great Mother, why do you test us like this?"

The eldest sister was quiet for a long while. Enough time for me to realize I could not bring myself to harm her. The very thought did not seem to even occur. I knew that I could have the rocklurker crush her underneath its massive claws. I knew I could command her heart to stop. But I could not form the commands as either words or wants.

"All right. All right!" Nani said to herself. "One thing at a time. Oh, grandmother."

She allowed herself a few tears before the iron returned to her voice. Every word dripped with hate as she turned and looked me in the eyes.

"Take us back home."