“Why do you walk so funny? You’re walking funny,” Boon said to his brother.

“Quiet you.” Crane grumbled, “I’m just in a little pain. Don’t you ever shut your mouth?”

That was unlikely.

Boon groaned and complained all the way from home. Surprisingly, Nala didn’t tend to him. She and Indel traded a glance.

“I know, I know,” Nala grumbled.

“So long as you admit to having a hand in him being such a pain.”

“Me?” Nala shoved Indel. “You obviously don’t remember how we met. Be certain and assured, he takes after you far more than you realize.”

Sometime in their squabble as they pushed through the brush, Boon quieted.

Indel looked back to see why.

Crane, holding two gavberry sticks, balanced a rock back and forth as they walked.

“Brilliant!” Boon exclaimed. “Let me try!”

But he couldn’t. The rock fell again and again. Each time Crane caught it, and each time Boon tried his luck.

Watching them walk side by side filled Indel with pride. They squabbled often, but Boon looked up to Crane, Indel decided. He could see that admiration drove the youth to shadow all that Crane did. And Crane, despite his larger size and strength, caught the rock to give it to Boon in an effort to help him because deep down, Crane admired Boon as well.

Boon was clever. Cowardly at times, but clever. Though he couldn’t hit the rock back and forth, he did balance it on one stick.

Crane let out a shriek. “How? Show me how you did that!”

As they walked on, Indel decided to look ahead.

“And it is safe to go now?” Nala asked.

“Safe or not, it is the way. My fathers and mothers brought me to the mountain. I’ll bring our sons.” Indel glanced at Nala to see the Summoner’s unease. “Yes. It is safe. It is the mating season. Usually we go after the spell, but as we are an uncommon family, we have the advantage of moving in contrast to the lands. Crane has already checked. He knows it is safe. So it must be safe.”

A growl came from behind them, along with a laugh.

Try as he might, Crane couldn’t balance the rock, while Boon, pleased with his failings, laughed out.

“It’s not so hard. Even you can do it!”

Nala shook her head. “Those two....”

“Well, I give up,” Crane announced.

“No, no. You don’t give up. You’re not supposed to give up.” Boon took the sticks back and demonstrated how to do it. “You’re never supposed to give up on anything. How can you give up?”

And on and on they went. When they reached the fog, Indel was pleased.

“Perfect. This will be nice. We shall demonstrate the dance before soaking in the water.”

“The dance?” Nala asked. “What dance is that?”

Indel lowered the sack of grubs from his shoulders as they reached the thick of the fog.

“The dance for mating.”

“Mating?” Nala’s tongues clicked. “But...what? How? I do not know it.”

“All Leveler Kings know it. We must teach it to both of them.”

They took time to eat, as most if not all things for Crane had to start with a meal. As the suns set, Indel dropped the robe from his shoulders and demonstrated the basic movements of the dance. He didn’t need much detail, as a Leveler new to mating often made mistakes. This basic dance was mostly symbolic with simple steps.

“You thrust out your hands but keep your main finger low. It is a sign of aggression to show your claw, even in a third stage.”

Crane and Boon, who sat on the ground watching, held out their hands to mimic him.

“Good. You need only one more step before you put your—”

“Wait,” Nala yapped, interrupting him. “Is it necessary to talk about...about that part?”

Indel looked over his shoulder at her. He thought to say that he hadn’t gone into any detail at all, but Nala had her strange ways.

“No. I suppose not. That part, their female will guide when the time comes. We will try it one more time together.” He held out his hand to Nala. “Do you want to try this time?”

Shaking her head fervently, Nala refused. That wasn’t surprising.

Both youths could follow the basic dance steps forward, the main finger placement, and even how to give an offering of food properly by the time they gave up for the night.

“Good. As Levelers excel in the dark, we shall stay awake tonight. Come into the water.”

Indel eased into the hot liquid, heated by the mountain itself.

Boon hesitated, as was his way. Crane ran and jumped in. He instantly climbed out again.

“That is hot!”

“You must go slow. Come. Enter, like this.”

Boon grew accustomed to it first, with Crane finally following. To Indel’s surprise and displeasure, Nala still reminded at a distance, refusing to enter.

“What is it?”

“I do not wish to be naked around them, that is all.”

Granted, it was uncommon to do this in the third stage, but they had little choice. He barely cared but Nala’s constant worry with regards to her body brought a considerable amount of limitations. Indel decided not to argue.

Still, it was custom for all to bathe in the water before returning. He resolved to stay longer and bring Nala in alone.

Crane and Boon swam, diving and jumping from below the surface again and again. Although they seemed keen on staying longer, which was usual, Indel ushered them out and urged them to gather fruit to eat.

When they walked off, bickering as they always did, Indel swam toward Nala’s sitting frame. In truth, Indel’s body felt heavy from the excess heat—this was a place for stage-one Levelers—he endured it.

Nala entered the water after surveying the area. She let out a shout but calmed in time.

“This is amazing.”

Indel almost let it slip that Nala nearly missed this very important occasion for no good reason, but instead, he swam close to his Summoner and pressed their foreheads together.

“Thank you, Na’am.”

“Thank me? For being so difficult?”

“For not refusing entirely. Come, enjoy the heat with me.” Indel pulled away when Nala tried to pull him closer. As it was the Summoner’s way to seek affection whenever they were alone, Indel thought to allow it, but instead, he concluded that not everything had to come back to the physical. They could just be happy enjoying the water by moonlight instead. And they did. Their two squabbling sons arguing in the distance.

“But you walk funny. It is so strange.”

“Stop saying that! Say it one more time and I won’t forgive it,” Crane called.

“Forgive it? Like I fear your threats, funny walker.”

A moment later Boon came charging out of the bush, his enraged Leveler brother at his back. That time, Nala grabbed for her robe as she pulled herself from the water.

Boon raced by but Nala stood in Crane’s path after securing her robe.

Whatever she said to Crane, it wasn’t at all gentle. With each gesturing of the hand and chatter from Nala, Crane hung his head. Eventually, Crane took a spot by the water to keep warm, and there he lay.

In this regard he was like Nala, quiet when distressed.

Nala ventured into the woods to gather more food for them. Boon didn’t offer to go. Instead, he glanced at Crane’s outline now and again.

Indel dragged himself out of the water well after Nala’s departure. At one time Indel was quick to judge a situation, quick to act, but those days were long gone. They faded the day he’d cracked Boon’s armor by mistake. Now he took his time to understand what was happening.

Dragging on his robe, and sitting down beside Boon who dangled his feet in the water, Indel found his resolve.

“You will apologize to your brother.”

Boon kept his eyes on the water, refusing to answer.

Indel said again, “You will apologize to him. You’ve wronged him.”

“He gets to be the bigger one—the stronger one. He gets everything first. He doesn’t get my apology.”

Letting out a sigh, Indel glanced at Crane again, then at Boon once more.

“His gentle nature gives you no woe? No guilt?”

That time Boon cut him a glance. “I’m not strong like him, Azal, but you know I’m smart. You acknowledge this.”

Indel didn’t appreciate the tone. “Levelers have no use for smarts. We want might.”

“Smarts is might. That’s how Earthers nearly conquered this world. Aza told me. She even gave me a book. I can’t read all of it, but I’m going to. I’m going to use my smarts. If you’d let me be king, you’d see.”

It had been ages since Nala took out that strange Summoner bible, bound together by branches and stuff.

Boon nodded to Crane again, his voice bitter as he said, “Look at your would-be king; he just gives up.”

Such nonsense annoyed Indel. “He has brawn and might—”

“So what? All I have to do is cut him at the soft spots where the armor doesn’t meet. That’ll teach him a lesson.”

The chill of his words robbed Indel’s power of speech. Never had he imagined that Boon had considered such a thing. Boon was physically weaker but this was inexcusable.

Rather than lose his temper, which was common for Indel, he tried to reason.

“A Leveler’s way is not to fight his brother. We go out into battle together, we end in battle together, we recover together. There is no ‘one for me, and one for him.’ We are we. It’s all for us. What is good for your brother is good for you. Do you understand?”

The blank expression the boy wore told Indel that he hadn’t.

Indel considered it and said, “Earther way is different from our way. An Earther will betray another for his own safety. For us, we know that our own safety is in each other. We are a collective. Everything divided between us may not always be equal, but it is for a better good. Now you’ve hurt your brother’s feelings, but what is the greater good in that?”

“I feel better.”

Indel flinch, unable to respond.

“It shows him that just because he’s big, it doesn’t mean he’s unstoppable,” Boon went on. “Your time is a time of might, Azal, my rein would be about smarts.” Indel’s expression didn’t satisfy his son because the boy went on, “You would be proud. I promise.”

“The only thing that would make me proud is to return to our old ways. It is what’s best for our people. It is what we need.”

“But you didn’t go back to the old ways.” Boon returned Indel’s gaze. “We’re living out here instead of in the roost. And you have two kings and haven’t selected the one. And Aza doesn’t even obey you all the time. And Aza followed Earther ways, she didn’t follow you.”

“And they caused her pain,” Indel corrected. “You get the satisfaction in hurting Crane. That is an Earther trait, and it has no place with us.”

“It makes it level. It gives me an upper hand I’d be dumb not to take.”

Finding interest in the pool of water, Indel gave him no response.

At length, Boon sounded gentler when he said, “Well, I can do that, too, you know—go back to tradition. You know, put everything back the way it was before Earthers. If that’s what you want. If you make me king, I could try—I could do it. No one should ever hurt like Aza. She even hides before coming into a pool of water. No one should ever be that afraid—to live that afraid. And I could fix it. I could fix the Levelers and Summoners. I could fix everything.”

Indel cast a gaze at Crane then at Boon but he couldn’t find a reply.