The monks had insisted on returning before sunset. Saia went with them, Aili following slightly behind in the stubborn silence she'd been keeping since they’d reunited at the post office. Saia wanted to ask her what was wrong, but Dan’s goodbye was still fresh in her mind and she didn’t feel like arguing.

The group of monks walking in front of them was less than half of what it had been that morning. Daira and the rest had remained at the village, trying to organize themselves and the inhabitants against any possible disaster that could happen during Zeles’s absence. She had told people that Koidan saw them struggling with the system they had in place, so he'd sent some help their way. She also added that they were from Erimur, the village on the other side of the mountain and the second one by size. Nobody in Lausune knew enough about that place to prove them wrong, and the monks had observed the villages long enough to know how to defend themselves against any questioning.

“You shouldn't have run away,” Aili said.

It took some instants for Saia to emerge from her thoughts.

“I know, but I needed to say goodbye to Dan.”

“You could have waited for me. We decided to trust each other.”

“There were some things I needed to tell him in private.”

Aili was about to reply, but Coram slowed down until he was at their side.

“I couldn't help but notice,” he said, pointing at Saia's bag.

She looked down: the tails were still dangling out of it.

“Oh, yeah. My snakes.”

“Why are you bringing them with you?”

Saia smiled.

“Daira said I could. I want to ask the abbot to set up a tank in which to raise them. They don't need much upkeep, besides a lot of space and saltwater.”

“Why would he agree to that?”

“Sea snake meat,” Aili said.

Coram looked a bit disgusted.

“It's good,” Aili protested.

“She's right,” Ebus said. He'd detached from the main group as soon as Aili had pronounced the word 'meat'.

“Of course, we talk about food and you're already here,” Coram said. “How do you know that, exactly? We've never had sea snakes on the mountain.”

“Cailes brought me some the last time he went to Namuri.”

“Why did he go there?” Aili asked. “Did something happen?”

Coram glared at Ebus. He looked apologetic for a second, then continued.

“There are a couple of recipes in some old books I'd really like to try, but we missed the prime ingredient. Until today. Can I have one?”

He extended a hand.

Saia’s heart jumped. She glanced at Aili, looking for help, but she had her eyes on the ground, without a doubt trying to guess what had happened in Namuri.

“I…” she began, then cleared her throat. “I gave them a substance to make them sleep, but they could wake up at any moment. I don't think it's safe to touch them.”

Ebus lowered his hand.

“I’ll wait for you to bring me a dead one, then.”

“What kind of substance?” Coram asked. “I’ve never heard of anything like that.”

“Yeah, me neither,” Ebus added.

Saia's heart accelerated again.

“It's a special mixture. From our herbalist.”

Aili looked up at her, as if realizing only at that moment what was happening.

“Argeline,” she said, then looked at the monks. “It's called Argeline, and it's pretty difficult to make. He always asks me to bring him some ingredients from around the villages. They’re so weird I don’t even remember the names.”

“Me neither,” Saia added.

“Interesting,” Coram said. “I’ve never heard of it.”

He didn't look suspicious, just a bit curious. Saia feared more questions, so she looked at Ebus.

“What recipes were you talking about?”

His eyes shined at that. He started to list every dish he remembered as they approached the opening in the trees where the tent had been. The group stopped while three monks walked toward a patch of forest covered with bushes. They returned with the poles and cloth that had made up the tent and distributed the burden among the group. Ebus and Saia took two poles, Aili and Coram some rolled-up rugs.

They walked ahead. Saia hoped for a stop along the way to eat something, but apparently the village wasn't as close as she thought. They had to cross a couple of small streams with only large stones in the middle of the current as a bridge. They were placed at such precise distances that it was clear somebody had put them there, but they didn't disrupt the natural look of the forest.

In some places the trail of dots ascended so abruptly that Saia and Aili had to stop several times to breathe.

“It's normal,” Coram said, stepping aside to let the rest of the monks walk past. “The air here is quite different from the one you're used to. Thinner.”

“It's rarefied,” one of the monks said as he passed them by.

Coram sighed.

“Yes, Olus. Very useful.”

Ebus shook his head.

“Scholars, eh? Imagine how it is to live with one.”

“I don't envy you.”

They kept going even after the sun had set. The sky seemed bigger from the mountain, in all its red and orange glory, while the sea below was hauntingly dark in the areas the light didn't reach. At that point, Saia's lungs were burning from fatigue and cold air, and from Aili's heavy breathing she knew she wasn't feeling much better. They had put on the gray tunics again, but even with the hood up the cold wind was biting at their faces.

“We're almost there,” Coram said. “Just behind that tree.”

Saia looked ahead, expecting to see another slope. She saw a wall of rock covered in vines instead, a clearing of grass in front of it, and more trees. Lights shone through the holes in their trunks, each one coiled around its own wooden house. The foliage covered them almost completely, except for the windows and the doors. They were facing the stone wall, so the lights couldn't be seen from the villages down below.

“Do you live here?” Aili asked, trying to catch her breath.

“Some of us,” Ebus said. “Young families, some scholar specialized in astronomy. It's a consequence of being so many that there's not enough space inside.”

“Inside?”

Coram pointed at the stone wall. Saia stared at it for a long time before noticing that there was a spot behind the vines where the rocks looked darker. Or better, they weren't there, replaced by the entrance of a cave.

Three monks emerged from the dark.

“You’ll have to pass a quick check before we allow you to enter the village,” Coram said.

The other monks of the group walked past the three who had just emerged and entered the cave beyond. Only Coram and Ebus remained, some steps to the side.

The man and woman at the sides of the trio wore a double leather belt around their midsection. The woman at the center didn’t wear anything different than the other monks, but her expression was calm to the point of being unreadable. Her sleek black hair was striped with gray, despite the pale skin around her black eyes being almost devoid of wrinkles.

“Welcome,” she said. “I’m Riena, a scholar of the consciousness. I’m here to make sure that you’re not involved with Koidan in any capacity.”

The woman extended a hand toward Saia. She went still, heart thumping in her throat.

Aili grabbed it instead.

Riena’s eyes shifted toward her, giving Saia time to think.

“Are you involved in any way in the disappearance of Koidan?”

“No,” Aili said.

Saia focused on their hands: she needed touch to control her snakes, so undoubtedly there was something going on there. A chilling thought suggested that maybe Riena was reading Aili’s mind.

“Has he told you anything about his actual form?”

Aili raised her eyebrows.

“No,” she said, her tone a question that implored to know more.

But Riena just nodded, let her hand go and turned toward Saia. She knew she couldn’t avoid thinking about Zeles. Unless she focused on something else to the point there couldn’t be space for anything else.

There was only one thing strong enough to achieve that.

She gripped Riena’s hand, thinking about Vizena.

“I’m not involved in any way in the disappearance of Koidan,” she said, anticipating the scholar. “And he hasn’t told me anything regarding his actual form.”

A fleeting image of his sphere crossed her mind. She doubled down with a memory about the last day she’d spent with her family.

Riena’s unexpressive face tensed.

“Are you alright? I sense a lot of anger and suffering.”

Her words made Saia realize her eyes were about to fill with tears. She made a weak attempt to get her hand out of Riena’s hold. Surprisingly, she let her go.

“I’m fine. It’s just... Leaving my village wasn’t easy.”

Riena nodded, her eyebrows arching with worry.

“If you ever need to speak, there are some consciousness scholars that can talk to you through your feelings. Don’t feel like you have to go through this alone.”

Saia nodded, even if she didn’t have a clear idea of what she meant. Over time, she’d learnt that when people weren’t feeling well emotionally, they spoke to the gods. Not that she had ever tried, with Vizena and all.

Riena stepped back, and the two people who had accompanied her pointed at Saia and Aili’s bags.

“We need to examine them.”

“I have some sleeping snakes and a knife,” Saia said, handing them the bag.

The woman who examined it nodded, but still retracted a bit when she saw the reptiles. She took the knife out.

“We have to take this. We’ll probably use it in the kitchen.”

Saia nodded. The woman gave another uncertain look at the snakes.

“I’ve asked for permission to a prior before bringing them here. She said I could, as long as the abbot agreed.”

“In that case, it’s out of my hands.”

She closed the bag and gave it back to Saia.

“Follow me,” Coram said, stepping forward. “They're waiting for us.”

“For you two,” Ebus specified. “And we won't eat until you've met the abbot, so you can imagine how important it is that we hurry up.”

Saia exchanged a glance with Aili. She looked down at her own clothes, the shoes covered with mud.

“Can we rest, first?” she asked, voice pleading.

“And put down the snakes somewhere safe,” Saia added.

She wasn't at ease with the idea of the abbot seeing them before she was ready to ask him for permission to keep them. She hadn't even considered the fact that he could refuse, but it seemed a very likely option, now.

“No,” Coram said. “I’m sorry, but it's the tradition. The abbot has to know everyone who lives in the village. He’s like a god, in this aspect, even if we don't actually have deities here.”

He guided them inside. After a small atrium with walls of rock, they entered a long hallway, with torches on the walls and doors set inside niches. More corridors opened on the right wall. Ebus took one of them.

“I’d love to go with you,” he said, walking away. “But they need me in the kitchens. Good luck!”

And he disappeared after the first turn of the corridor.

They walked on. There were other monks now: the families behind them, arrived from the houses outside, some people who were exiting from the doors along the corridor, an orderly line of children in colored clothes, holding each other's hand. The teacher at the front of the was Haina. She waved at them and hurried on, the kids trailing behind her.

Aili sighed.

“We won't be alone, right?”

Coram didn't need to answer; the corridor opened gradually, until they entered a huge cave. It was two times larger than Lausune’s central square and a towerlength long. There were a lot of people inside, more than the average crowd at Koidan’s ceremonies, but they didn’t make the cave look any smaller. The walls were decorated with bas-reliefs that started at knee height and continued in rows all along the round walls. There was some scaffolding in the corner where the last line of bas-reliefs ended. She wanted to get closer to see what they represented, but everybody was looking at her and Aili as if expecting something.

"Go," Coram whispered before joining the assembly.

Saia took a deep breath and marched forward, determined to get to the other side of the crowd. They were all standing, but she could see long benches near the walls, largely unoccupied, except for one full of elders and another of children. It was just like being inside a particularly large temple, or so she kept repeating inside her mind. She could feel Aili following her, until she caught up, half scared and half curious, looking at the bas-reliefs on the walls.

The crowd moved aside as they advanced, clearing up a path toward the end of the room. Saia had expected to find a statue, but there were only two people, standing beside a structure similar to a well. The base was slightly larger than the top, and it was closed by a shield similar to the ones sailors put on the flanks of their ships to signal from which village they came from. Except it wasn't made of painted wood, but a reddish metal. The well was positioned on a low circular platform that was divided from the crowd by three wide steps.

Saia and Aili stopped in front of them and looked up at the two monks standing on the platform. One of them was fairly young, standing some steps behind the other, probably the abbot. His hair fell in waves on his shoulders, completely gray. Two blue eyes were smiling at the newcomers from his light brown face. The smile extended to his mouth, and the low chattering of the monks gradually died.

"Welcome to our village. I'm abbot Laius. What are your names?"

It took an instant for them to realize they had to answer. When they did, their voices were barely audible.

“Saia and Ailima,” he repeated at a higher volume. “We're all glad to have you here. You are proof that upholding our traditions, even if it seems pointless, is worth it in the end. Traditions keep our village alive, we can adapt without leaving them behind. But let's talk about you.”

Saia glanced at Aili. She nodded, as if to tell her that she was ready.

“I was the letter carrier of Lausune.” The abbot turned an index in the air in a circular motion. Aili spun to face the crowd. She paused for an instant, taking in the vision of the cave full of people. “I love to travel and meet new people. This is the only village I've never visited before.”

The crowd cheered, then gradually returned quiet. Saia could see their eyes shifting to her at the light of the candles.

“I’m a fisher. I specialize in sea snakes, and I hope to continue my job here, in some form.” She glanced at the abbot, but he didn't seem to have a particular reaction to that. “I actually come from Suimer.”

She stopped, mentally cursing. Saying that only encouraged further questioning.

The cheer of the crowd startled her a bit. She clutched the strap of her bag, then realized the gesture could draw attention to the dangling snake tails and lowered the hand at her side.

“This is not the official ceremony,” the abbot said as they turned to face him. “We'll properly welcome you in our community as monks in about a week, with the young adults. You'll have time to prepare and ask questions, even if you'll find that a lot of them will only be answered after the ceremony.”

Saia and Aili exchanged a glance, mouthing ‘ceremony?’ to each other.

"If you have any questions or doubts about the life that you're about to start with us, this is the time to make them.”

The silence returned again. Saia looked at Aili, certain to find the same confused expression, but she was still staring at Laius.

“Yes, I have a question,” she said. “I’m worried about Lausune. I know that you will take care of everything, and that Koidan will be restored, even if I don't know what it means and I'm sure you won't explain it now. But whatever it is, why you can't do it immediately? Why do we have to wait three months? Anything could happen in three months.”

“We're prepared to solve any problem that may present.”

“But you're just humans, not gods. You can’t stop a flood, for example.”

The abbot slightly inclined his head.

“Why a flood, specifically? It's a weird fear to have.”

Aili opened her mouth, but the answer didn't come.

“I have a question too,” Saia said, then continued without waiting for an answer: “It's a bit more practical, I realize this might not be the place.”

The abbot kept staring at Aili for a second, then slowly moved his eyes to look at Saia.

“Ask. Don't worry.”

“I want to raise sea snakes, if possible.”

Some murmurs sprang here and there in the crowd at her back, but she couldn't understand whether they were hostile or just confused. She kept her eyes on the abbot.

“It's a strange request. Do you have a reason for this, besides finding a way to continue your previous job?”

“If I understood correctly, you have a problem with food and resources. Sea snake meat can be eaten, and I know for sure that at least one of you knows how to cook it. They're easy to feed and don't require much. The only thing they need is a big tank of saltwater with a bit of earth they can climb onto when they want to rest. And sunlight."

She took out a snake from the bag, holding it firmly from the head. The abbot eyed it.

“And you’ll be the one to take care of them? I don't want to charge our helpers with more work.”

“I’ve been taking care of sea snakes for two years. They won't take much of my time.”

She omitted the fact she’d never managed to breed them, despite her attempts.

The abbot still looked indecisive.

“I've already asked Daira,” Saia said. “She thought it was a good idea. That's why I'm asking.”

“Well, in that case you can proceed. I trust her judgement.”

The abbot looked at the assembly. Saia turned her head.

“Do you know of a way we could get a tank and seawater?”

A hand raised above the heads.

“I can build one after I've finished with the glasses and bottles. I'll need about three days.”

Saia swallowed. Three nights with perfectly awake sea snakes and no god to help her. She needed to ask for more cloth to bind them.

“And you'll have enough time to work on the other thing, after?” the abbot asked.

“More than enough.”

“Good. But I fear that seawater will be almost impossible to get.”

“Actually,” said a voice from the middle of the crowd, “there’s something I'd like to try.”

The man stepped forward, not enough to leave the crowd, but the movement allowed Saia to see who he was. She vaguely recognized the one that had specified that thin air was called 'rarefied'. But the monk standing next to him was an identical twin, so she couldn't know for sure.

“I’ve studied the composition of seawater. There are organisms and other substances that can't be easily found on the mountain, but I think I have a formula that can simulate it well enough to be habitable by fish. Maybe it's good for snakes too.”

“Olus, one of our chemists,” the abbot said. “Could you prepare enough to fill a tank, in about three days?”

“Yeah, it should be doable.”

Saia looked from him to the abbot and back.

“I don't have the money to pay for any of this.”

The abbot smiled.

“There's no need. We share everything. We help each other when we can. We make sacrifices for our village and the future of the mountain.”

Saia thought of how Ebus had asked for one of her snakes as if he hadn't doubted for a second she'd have accepted.

“In that case, thank you.”

“You’re absolutely welcome.”

He started clapping, and the whole assembly followed his lead. The sound reverberated in the room as if there was another crowd hanging from the ceiling and clapping with them.

They all gradually stopped after the abbot did.

“Rades,” he called, turning his head a bit toward the young man standing beside him. “Show them their room.”

He nodded.

“That's all for today,” Laius said. “You can return to your tasks. Thank you for attending and see you next debate.”

The crowd started filing out. Rades descended the steps and approached Saia and Aili with a smile. He was taller than average, with red hair and an extremely pale face.

“I’m Rades, a prior of the helpers. Please, follow me.”

And he headed toward the entrance. Aili whispered a 'thank you' to Saia before following him, and she did the same after a second of surprise.